Any business owner with a Facebook page knows the pain of the algorithm changes. And with the algorithm update that Facebook announced in early 2018, the message was clear — you must use Facebook Live. But what if you don’t know how to use Facebook Live? Or what if you’ve never done one before? It can be intimidating! But it’s extremely important.
Facebook Live is a powerful tool that can help grow your presence on Facebook. The key to utilizing it is knowing how to use Facebook Live and how to optimize it so you can maximize your reach and engagement. In this blog post I am going to review with you our Facebook Live system that regularly gets us tens of thousands of viewers on Facebook Live.
How to Use Facebook Live to Increase Your Engagement
How to Prepare for Your Facebook Live Broadcast
Going Live on Facebook for the first time might be scary, but you can gain confidence by spending time preparing for your Live broadcast.
Practice Going Live
You can practice going Live on your personal page by setting your post to “Only Me” before going Live.
Choose Your Topic
For business purposes, the best Facebook Live topics educate, entertain, and empower.
Promote Your Facebook Live
A best practice for Facebook Lives is to choose a regularly scheduled time that you go Live. However, if you are not ready for that yet, make sure to promote your Facebook Live at least a week ahead of time by setting up a calendar event, posting about your Live and inviting your followers to RSVP, sending an announcement to your email list, etc.
How to Increase Engagement on Facebook Live
Now that you’ve prepared for your Facebook Live, it’s time to go Live! Here are the ways you can increase engagement while you are Live.
Prepare bullet points, but not a script
Your Live will feel more natural to you and your audience if you just make an outline of bullet points you want to cover vs. a script.
Write a compelling caption
Make sure your post have an attention grabbing caption that will stop the scroll. Address WHO this Live is for, WHAT you will cover and HOW to get more information (links, etc.).
Be yourself
Pretend you are talking to your best friend while you are Live. Going Live can be intimidating so try to relax, smile and have fun!
Ask questions and encourage interaction
Facebook will favor your Live if you not only have interaction between you and your viewers but if there is interaction between your followers as well. Make sure to ask questions throughout your Live and encourage your viewers to help each other and connect in the comments.
How to Leverage Your Facebook Live
Phew! You went Live, now what? Here’s a secret that you may not know – your post Facebook Live process is going to make or break whether your Live is effective or not. The majority of people who watch our Lives actually watch the replay. Here’s our process for making sure we get the most bang for our buck after our Facebook Live has ended.
Create a custom audience in Facebook Ads
Even if you are not planning on advertising right now you’ll want to set up a custom audience in Facebook Ads of people that watched your Facebook Live broadcast. People who watch videos are a highly engaged audience that you can market and sell to later.
Change the thumbnail
Facebook has a serious sense of humor with some of those Facebook Live thumbnails. You can change that by going to Publishing Tools > Video Library > click on the pencil to the left of the camera icon of the Live you want to change. Then select a new shot and save!
Add captions to your Facebook Live
Many people on Facebook will watch your video without the volume on. Take advantage of this behavior and add captions to your Facebook Live.
Share Your Live
Share your Facebook Live to other places you have a presence. Your private Facebook Group, your personal page (only if it’s relevant), your blog, your website, etc.
Create a Facebook Ad
If after 24 hours or less you are seeing that your Facebook Live is performing well, consider putting a little money behind it to boost your exposure to your ideal client.
Learning how to use Facebook Live can be an intimidating process, but it will be well worth your time investment as it helps build trust with your audience.
