Gone are the days of having to hire a videographer to get your message to your target audience.
Facebook has created a live video streaming option called FACEBOOK LIVE. You can now talk in real time with your Facebook fans. Building your brand, inspiring your audience, and showcasing your skill set has never been easier. The learning curve with Facebook Live is short, I promise. I will show you how to use Facebook Live in this blog post.
THE CON
The one thing I hear very often is that a person is shy and they don’t know what to say or they are afraid they will “mess up”. Marketing a business is about creating a bond with your community, and there is no better way to do that then to talk with them and educate them on what you do.
This is the part where I tell you to push past the fear and do it because it will grow your business. What is the worst that can happen? We are all human. We may stutter from time or time or pause when we are chatting. It’s ok. Let’s go with Nike’s advice and JUST DO IT!
{Let me be honest, I have a large community on my Yellow Barn Media Facebook Page, and the first few times I went live I did not have anyone show up. The first few times are great practice and worst case, you delete the video. Best case scenario, you totally rock it and can reference the video in your other marketing efforts!}
So, now that you are on board and have the mindset that you are going to do it, where do you start?
THE PRO
People spend 3x longer watching video which is Live compared to video which is no longer live.
Video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts.
If these two facts are not enough to convince you, check out this infographic created by Bold Content Video.
OK, it’s time to show you how to use Facebook Live!
Step#1 – Open Your Facebook Business Page
Step#2 – Click on PUBLISH just like if you were going to write a new post or share a photo.
Step#3 – Click on LIVE VIDEO. Give Facebook access to your camera and microphone when prompted. After the first time, you will no longer receive that prompt.
Step#4 – Give your video a catchy title, one that tells what you will be talking about in the video. Also on this screen, you have the option to choose the privacy level of your video. If you are just starting out, you can choose “Only me” to get your feet wet; however, if you are using this for business you want to keep this set as public to get the most exposure.
Step#5 – Once you have everything set to go, just click GO LIVE. It will give you a 3-2-1 countdown until it starts recording and then JUST DO IT!
You can broadcast for just a few minutes, but no longer than 90 minutes. You can effectively communicate information about your service or product, introduce people to you and your business on a more personal level and do something that many in your industry may not be doing – streaming live video!
The more you do it, the easier it will become, I promise.
You can broadcast for just a few minutes, but no longer than 90 minutes. You can effectively communicate information about your service or product, introduce people to you and your business on a more personal level and do something that many in your industry may not be doing – streaming live video!
The more you do it, the easier it will become, I promise. In order to encourage participation in my live videos, I typically post something about 30 minutes prior to recording to let people know I will be going live.
As you record, you will see when people join the live session. You can say hello to them, answer any questions they have and really find out what they need from you. Then you just click finish when you are done with the broadcast and it will save to your Facebook Page.
Facebook will ask you if you would like to save your video to the camera roll and I always select yes so I can repurpose the video if and when I choose. You can always go back to the post on your Timeline or Page and edit the description, change the privacy settings, or delete the video, just like you would any other post.
I promised it was easy didn’t I? I would love to hear about your Facebook Live experiences, so feel free to share them on our Facebook Page once you have completed your first video!