FACEBOOK LIVE MASTERY

1. Facebook is the biggest social network and you can find lots of potential customers for your business with it. Using Facebook Live events is a great way to connect with your audience. Most businesses do not use Facebook Live because they don’t appreciate the benefits of it or they think that it is too complicated. By using the techniques in this guide you can get ahead of your competitors and use Facebook Live to your advantage. You will learn what you need to do and what you need to avoid here so be sure to read it all and implement what you learn. We have worked hard to provide you with everything that you need to know to use the Facebook Live platform to boost your brand and drive more leads and sales. You will learn proven techniques to get the best results with Facebook Live. Engagement with your audience is essential and this guide will show you how to achieve that. Other businesses have tried using Facebook Live and failed. We do not want you to make the same mistakes that they did so follow the steps in this guide and you will maximize your chances of success. Facebook is the largest social media website in the world. At the time of writing, Facebook has 2.7 billion users and every month it receives around 25 billion visitors. Most of these visitors have Facebook accounts.. The reason for sharing this with you is because a proportion of those Facebook users would be ideal customers for your business. It is easier to find potential customers on Facebook than with other platforms. You can target people by their age range, their income, their location, their gender, their interests and more. So in this guide we will show you how you can leverage the power of Facebook and in particular, Facebook Live to promote your brand. What is Facebook Live? In April 2016, Facebook launched its streaming video service called Facebook Live. With this service you can hold a live event with your target audience through your business page on Facebook. Although Facebook Live has been around for over 4 years, few businesses take advantage of it to boost the awareness of their brand. There could be a number of different reasons for this but the bottom line is that they are missing out on a great opportunity. Facebook users like live events. All Facebook Live events are recorded and after the event these become available on your Facebook page. So if any of your followers missed the live event they will be able to view the replay. When a Facebook Live event has started, notifications of the event can appear in the news feed of your followers. This can also occur once the vent has finished. This is a really good feature as some people will forget that they intended to attend the live event. It is also helpful to those followers that were unable to attend for some reason. Facebook has made a number of changes to its algorithm to give Facebook Live events a higher priority. So now there is an even greater chance of Facebook users seeing your live video streaming event. Is Facebook Live worth it? Yes it certainly is! Video marketing is a lot more effective than text based content. People like to watch videos online. Only YouTube has more video views than Facebook does. Video is a great way to establish and promote your brand. But it gets even better. Adweek have data to prove that a Facebook Live event receives three times higher engagement levels than an event video that has finished (a recording or replay). Adweek also state that the engagement levels for Facebook Live videos are five times higher than they are for an image post. So if you are looking to give your brand a boost, get more leads for your business and make more sales then Facebook Live is a great way to do it. If you have been reluctant to make videos before and show your face on camera then you need to get over this. With Facebook Live you can really put your brand on the map. Facebook Live on any Device It doesn’t matter if you use a desktop computer like a laptop or a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet, you can create a Facebook Live event. There is a simple process to go through depending on what device you want to use. With a laptop or desktop computer just use your Internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Opera etc) and login to Facebook as you would normally. At the top of your news feed you will see a box with “What’s on your mind” so click on this. Then choose the “Live Video” option. There are Facebook apps available for both Android and iOS powered mobile devices. You can easily find these at the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. Download the app on your device and install it. With an Android device you will need to tap on “What’s on your mind” and then tap on “Go Live”. With an iOS device it is slightly different. Find “What’s on your mind” at the top of your feed and then tap the icon for video recording that will also say “Live Video”. Whatever device you use you just follow these steps now. You will need to give your live event a name and provide a description about it (this is optional but recommended). You can also upload a video thumbnail. The next step is to choose the audience for your Facebook Live event. Click or tap on “Next” and when you are ready to go just click or tap on “Go Live”. You need to be aware that there is a 4 hour time limit for Facebook Live videos. This is more than enough time for your event. Nobody is going to want to sit through a 4 hour Facebook Live session no matter how good it is. We will discuss this in more detail in a later chapter. In the next chapter we will discuss the benefits of using Facebook Live for your business… Businesses all over the world are experiencing good results with video marketing. Surveys suggest that businesses that use videos to promote their brand and their products and services experience nearly 50% higher revenues than those that do not use video. One survey revealed that nearly 60% of their participants stated that video marketing provided them with the best return of all content marketing types. In the same survey 78% of the participants said that they preferred live video as it enabled a deeper connection with their audience. Main Benefits of Facebook Live Here are the main benefits for businesses to use Facebook Live as we see it. There are others too and we will discuss the benefits in more detail: • You can reach the largest audience in the world using a website that they use all of the time – Facebook • Facebook Live has some excellent audience engagement features including two unique ones which are live reactions and commenting real-time • Businesses can use Facebook Live for internal meetings or external meetings with customers etc • Video performance analytics provide excellent insight • You can use paid Facebook ads to boost your live events to reach more potential viewers When you use Facebook Live to connect with your audience you bring a real human touch. You are not a faceless organization that customers and potential customers do not know the people behind it. This is very important for developing trust and establishing credibility for your brand. A Facebook Live event provides a “face to face” opportunity that text posts and image posts cannot achieve. You can have a single host or introduce other members of your business to your audience. Questions and Answers Another benefit of holding a Facebook Live event is that you can hold a real time question and answer session. This will boost your engagement and it is a good idea to let people know that there will be a Q & A session prior to the event going live. People like to ask questions. It is likely that a lot of the people attending will have their questions answered by other attendees asking the questions. This is fine as not everyone feels comfortable about asking questions on a live video stream. You can either take questions as they come up or request that people wait until the end of the event and you will answer all questions then. By waiting until the end, you will increase the chances of your followers watching the entire event. Some businesses set up recurring Facebook Live events where they take questions as they arise. Recurring events are good if you have a lot of content to share with your audience. It is best of the content is different each time and not a repeat of what you have presented already. Great during a Pandemic At the time of writing this guide, the world is in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some countries and states are in total lockdown so they cannot attend physical events. So the interest in your Facebook Live event is likely to be higher in this scenario. Applications like Zoom have seen a significant increase in users over the past few months. So attending a live event on Facebook will not be a problem for most people. After the pandemic we estimate that the demand for online events will remain strong so the time to get started is right now. Share Product or Service updates A Facebook Live event is a great way for you to share the latest information about your products and services. Do you have a new product or service? Have you made enhancements to existing products or services? Are there any special discounts that you are offering right now? In some industries things change rapidly. If this applies to your business then you can let your followers know about the changes with a Facebook Live event. Your audience will appreciate you keeping them informed and will spread the word for you. Behind the Scenes People want to know who is behind your business. They want to see faces and know the names of your team. If it is possible (pandemic permitting) you can shoot a live event during your opening hours and give your followers a tour of your business. Interviews with other employees are a good tactic as well. Your audience can see that your team is totally committed to providing them with the highest quality of service. All of this will help to establish you as a brand that truly cares about its customers. Facebook Live is well established These days a lot of social platforms offer live event streaming. The good thing about Facebook Live is that it has been around for a few years now and has undergone a number of enhancements to make it better and fix any issues. Facebook Live has some great features that other live platforms do not have such as their advanced notification system which will let your audience know when an event is going live. You also have the capability to promote your Facebook Live event in advance now. At the end of the day, people like Facebook and trust it. The numbers do not lie here – no other social media network comes close to user numbers and traffic. So holding your live event on Facebook is the smart thing to do. Your Event Saved Facebook will record your live event and turn it into a normal video post on your Facebook page. This means that you can continue to use it for promotion after your event is over. There are always going to be some people that cannot attend a live event so you can offer the replay to them so that they don’t miss out. If you are running a series of live events on Facebook then anyone that was not in from the start can go through the recordings on your Facebook page to catch up. You can also boost your recorded video posts to gain more followers and potential viewers of your next live event. Top Notch Analytics For any online marketing that you do it is essential that you have the analytics available to see how well things went. When you use Facebook Live for your events you will have access to very well developed analytics. Not only will you be able to see the comprehensive video analytics that Facebook provides but also there are live analytics that you can access. The information that you can expect to see with live analytics includes: • Number of live viewers (peak) • Reactions to your event • Shares of your event • Comments • Your total reach You need to know which content works best for your business and the analytics in Facebook will help you to discover this. When you have a few Facebook Live events under your belt you will be able to see which events your audience responded the best to and make more of these type of presentations. You get Eight Hours Other social platforms offer live event streaming such as Twitter, Instagram and Periscope. These are fine if you want to provide short live videos. With Facebook Live you have a limit of eight hours which is more than enough time for a business to get its message across to followers. The other thing to bear in mind here is that Facebook users are used to spending quite a bit of time on the platform. So they are more likely to hang around for a live event than they could be with other platforms. The interface with Facebook is also ideally designed for a live event. Interaction With a Facebook Live event there is a lot of opportunity for interaction. Unlike other social platforms that offer live events, you can write a caption for your live video as a way to attract more viewers to it. When you host a Facebook Live event the interface will display real time comments. You can react to these comments as they arrive. Conversing in the moment like this will drive engagement levels higher and help you to build a solid relationship with your audience. In the next chapter we will discuss how to get started with Facebook Live… Some people are apprehensive about hosting a Facebook Live event and there is no need for this. It is really simple to get started if you follow the advice in this chapter. We will explain exactly what you need to do. You must have a Facebook page already set up for your business. Trying to run an effective Facebook Live event with a personal Facebook account is not recommended. There are several advantages to having a free Facebook page so if you don’t have one yet then create this first. You need the right Equipment While it is certainly possible to use your smartphone or tablet to host your Facebook Live event there are better ways to do it. Modern mobile devices do have high quality video recorders but the microphones often leave a lot to be desired. Also holding a mobile device in your hand when you are recording is undesirable as you are going to produce a shaky video. You are running a business and want to enhance your brand, generate leads and sales. So wouldn’t you want to create the highest quality Facebook Live videos that you can? Nobody will expect you to create a Hollywood style event but they will appreciate high quality video (with no shaking) and audio. If your video is poor quality then people will leave the event quickly. The same goes for poor quality audio. Some guides suggest that you can use the built in web cam and microphone in your laptop but these tend to be of inferior quality. Be prepared to invest a little in good recording equipment. You can get an HD quality web cam for around $50 these days and a good quality USB microphone for around $100. Then there is the lighting in your home or business premises. Poor lighting will diminish the quality of your Facebook Live event so invest in good lighting for less than $100. Test your Internet Connection You want the best Internet connection possible for a Facebook Live event. If you use WiFi to connect to the Internet as many businesses do then test your connection prior to commencing with your live event. If other people share your Internet connection then it is a good idea to ask them to refrain from downloads or any other bandwidth intense activities while you are using Facebook Live. You can use a booster for your WiFi network to boost the signal to where you are located if this is necessary. The last thing that you want to happen during your event is to lose your Internet connection. If your WiFi signal is weak then this can cause your video to cut in or out so make sure that you have the strongest possible signal. It may be worth your while to use a direct cable connection to your router to eliminate the use of WiFi. Consider Third Party Tools Although you can create your Facebook Live events without the need for any other tools, a lot of businesses are finding that some third party services help them to create a better live event. They can provide additional features such as: • More than one presenter • Sharing of your screen • Adding custom graphics and titles For example, you can use Zoom to stream your presentation to Facebook which is good because Zoom offers better administrative tools for inviting people to join the event. Your event still happens under Facebook Live. It also has some good features that are not available with native Facebook Live streams. Create a Plan for your Event We do not recommend that you wing it with Facebook Live. This is OK if you want to entertain your friends and family on your personal Facebook account but it is far from ideal for a business presentation. You need to think about what you want to achieve with your live event. Will it be a one-off event or will you create a series of events? Remember that you do not have to go live straight away with your event. You can use the scheduling feature to set up your Facebook Live event up to 7 days in advance. By scheduling your event for later you will have the time to create a test event using the Facebook Live Producer feature. If you have never hosted a live event online before then we strongly recommend that you take advantage of this feature. Give thought to the flow of your event presentation. Plan what you are going to say and do throughout the event. If you plan to invite guests to your event then write an introduction script for this. You don’t need to create a full script for your event if you don’t want to. What we do recommend is that you create a list of things that you want to discuss available. Reading from a script can look and sound unnatural so just be guided by your discussion points list if you can. Another important decision is whether you will answer questions as they come up or you tell your audience that you will answer them at the end of the main event. Question and answer sessions are usually very popular so having a session at the end should increase your chances of people staying for the main event. Get Ready for your Live Event Make sure that you are prepared for your live event. There are a number of things that you can prepare for depending on the nature of your event. Lighting and background noise are always an important factor. If you are hosting the event in your home or office then you will have control over your environment and you can ensure good lighting and minimal background noise. With an event outdoors this is not so easy of course. Natural light is normally sufficient for a good stream but it can be difficult to eliminate background noise. Choose your location carefully. Use a device like a tripod to hold your camera or mobile device steady when you are recording. Shaky video is not something that your followers want to see. Holding a microphone is OK if you are outdoors. For indoor shoots use a microphone stand. You want to keep distractions down to a minimum when you are recording your Facebook Live events. Let others know that they should not disturb you unless there is an emergency. Put your phone on silent as continuous notification sounds can annoy viewers. There is nothing wrong with recording your Facebook Live event at home but you need to be aware that distractions are more likely there if you have children and pets for example. Although it can be amusing for kids or animals to show up unexpectedly in your live sessions it is not the professional image that you want for your business. Time for your Broadcast At this point you are ready for your live event. If you are using a third party service such as Zoom you will need to follow the specific instructions from them to start your live event. For native Facebook Live events follow these steps: If you are using a desktop or laptop computer then login to your Facebook account and navigate to the Facebook page you have set up for your business. Scroll down until the “Create Post” box and directly underneath this there is another box with the first icon on the left called “Live”. Click on this and then decide if you are going to record now or schedule. You will then need to “Share to a Page You Manage” from the dropdown menu. Use the second dropdown menu to choose your Facebook page. Now you can add a title for your live event and a description. This is very important so use attractive copy here. After this you an tag people, add a feeling, add a donation button and check in to a location. If you want to make a test broadcast (always a good idea) then you will see an option for this at the bottom. By using this feature you can test your presentation and interactive elements before you go live. With a mobile device the steps are very similar. In the composer page, just tap on “Live” to start the process. You can then add your title and description and do things like tag friends, add donation buttons and add a feeling. When you go Live When you first start your Facebook Live event you need to give your audience a small amount of time to join the event before you begin. Don’t make this too long or those that have already joined will become agitated. As people join your event be sure to welcome them and say “hello”. Start the interaction here by asking people for their locations. You can also ask them what they want to achieve by attending your event. Look for the best comments from those that have joined your event and pin them so that they appear at the top of the comments box. Tell your audience that you will either take and answer questions as you go along or have a specific Q & A session at the end of the main presentation. When it is time for you to end your event be sure to thank people for attending and tell them that the event is ending. At the appropriate time, hit the “Finish” button and your event will end. Scheduling a Facebook Live event You can always schedule your Facebook Live event for up to 7 days in advance. Navigate to “Publishing Tools” and then select “Video Library” and after this hit “Live”. This will bring up a screen that contains your broadcasting credentials. If you are using a third party service such as Zoom then you will need to use the information on this page so that you establish a proper connection. You can write a persuasive title and description to entice people to attend your event now. Now go to the Facebook Live “Scheduling Tool” and hit “Schedule” which should be at the bottomright. You will see a preview of your event here and you can add an image (this is a good idea) as well as configure the date and time of your event. Apart from giving you more time to promote your Facebook Live event, scheduling will create a “lobby” where people that join your event 3 minutes before it starts can interact with each other. You can grab a link to your Facebook Live event and use this to publish details about it on your website or blog. If you have an email list then you can send out emails with the link included to drive more viewers. People can ask for a reminder and then receive a notification a few minutes before your event is scheduled to go live. In the next chapter we will discuss some great tips to help you to create a great Facebook Live event… Once you have committed to using Facebook Live as a great marketing tool for your business and brand it is very important that you use it in the most effective way to maximize your chances of generating leads and making sales. People that watch your Facebook Live events are going to judge you on how well you come across and the quality of the video. So we have some tips for you to follow here to provide the best Facebook Live event that you can. These tips are easy to follow and implement so please use them all. 1. Natural Lighting If your face is not clear on your Facebook Live video then you will drive people away. There have been a lot of Facebook Live videos published where the lighting was clearly wrong and the host was out of focus or the light was just too bright. One of the biggest mistakes that people make with their Facebook Live recordings is that they position themselves with their back to a window. When you do this the sunlight coming in from the window will dominate the video image which you want to avoid at all costs. So the first tip here is to face the window if you are recording during the daytime as the natural light will really enhance the video image. You as the host will be clear on the video which is what you want. If you are a glasses wearer then consider taking these off as they can cause a distracting glare. 2. Create as many Practice Recordings as you need This is especially important if you have never hosted a live streaming event before. When you create practice videos you can go over them afterwards and see what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. You can check the quality of the video for lighting. If there are shadows or too much brightness or darkness you can change your environment to improve these aspects. Also check that the audio is crisp and clear. Are you too loud or too quiet? It can be quite daunting to watch yourself presenting for the first time but after a while you will get over this. Check to see if your video flows nicely and that you come across as friendly. With practice videos you can iron out the bumps before you go live. 3. Record Horizontally with Mobile If you are going to use a mobile device to record your Facebook Live event then we strongly recommend that you record horizontally. Those vertically recorded videos just don’t look good and you need to remember that your viewers will have to put up with this for however long your event lasts. Horizontally recorded videos look much better in a Facebook feed. The other thing that you can do with your mobile device is to add a nice filter and use other tools to enhance the video quality. If you have the option of using a desktop or laptop with a high quality web cam and microphone instead of a mobile device we will always recommend that you do this. 4. Be Human Don’t miss out on the opportunity to form a great human connection with your Facebook Live events. Tell your audience some interesting things about your life and try to keep the event on a personal level as much as you can. Make sure that any personal details you reveal are positive. Nobody is going to want to listen to you complaining about how bad your life is (unless you are doing this for comedic effect). Your audience have enough problems of their own to deal with let alone listening to yours. 5. Smiling is a Must If you have a miserable or too serious face on when you make your Facebook Live recordings then you will drive people away faster than you can believe. You need to smile as much as possible when you are on camera as this will make your audience feel happy about watching you. Learn to speak with a smile too. If your speech is unfriendly or monotone then people will become bored very quickly and probably leave. You want to energize your viewers with your personality and inspire them. If it is relevant, tell your audience how you overcame specific obstacles and give them the confidence that they can do it too. 6. Ask for Interaction Always bear in mind that Facebook loves posts that have a lot of views, comments, likes and shares and will prioritize these in news feeds. Facebook has tweaked their algorithm to recognize content that is popular and help you to make it even more popular for free. So ask your viewers to interact with you. Ask your viewers to ask questions in the comments section and also ask them to like and share your event. You can drive more interaction by having a competition or a giveaway where your audience needs to make comments to win. As you are making your presentation, ask your audience questions. This helps you to check that they are understanding your message and also gives your interactivity a good boost. Make it as simple as possible for viewers to respond. Don’t ask questions that require a long answer. 7. Put your Mistakes to good use You are going to make mistakes recording a live event. As you become more experienced you will probably make fewer mistakes but they are going to happen. If you get a bit tongue tied then don’t fall to pieces! Laugh at this with your audience and move on. People watching a live event are not expecting perfection. In fact some of them look forward to the mistakes because they provide a fun break. So you need to learn to embrace your Facebook Live mistakes and keep going with your presentation no matter what has happened. When you make a mistake it underlines the fact that you are human just like your viewers. Nobody is going to hate you for making mistakes. Mistakes can add personality to your event so accept them and keep going. 8. Get help with Questions If you are expecting high viewing numbers with your event then you should line up some help with the questions you will receive. It can be very tough trying to make your presentation and having to read and answer questions as you are doing this. So we recommend that you have another person read the comments and reply to them. Obviously this person needs to know what they are talking about so that they can answer any questions correctly. When your audience asks a question, be sure to call them out by their first name. This will help you to created an even stronger connection with your audience. The people that ask the questions will feel good that you called them out and it will encourage others to ask questions too. 9. Have a Call to Action at the end It is essential that you ask your Facebook Live viewers to do something at the end of your event. So think about what you want your viewers to do once your event is over. Do you want them to join your email list or check out an offer that you have at the moment? Whatever you want them to do be sure and tell them. If you don’t tell them what to do then the likelihood is that they will do nothing. You can add a link under your video so tell them to click on this and take the necessary action. Always thank your viewers for watching your live event at the end. 10. Add a Custom Thumbnail When you add a compelling thumbnail to your Facebook Live event you should persuade more people to attend. Once your event goes live your thumbnail is the most prominent thing that people will see. After your live event your recorded video will appear on your Facebook page. You can then edit this post and this is the time to add your compelling thumbnail. Facebook will choose an image from your event if you don’t do this which will probably not be as compelling as you would want it to be. 11. Add Captions to your Event Video If you add captions to your event video then you should attract a lot more viewers. Sometimes people will see your video in their newsfeed but it will not be convenient for them to watch as it is late at night or they are outside in a noisy environment. A lot of people tend to watch Facebook videos without sound these days so providing captions is a must. You can create your own SRT file for your captions or you can have Facebook generate them automatically. Always check that your captions match what is being said in your event video. 12. Pin your Video Post By pinning your event video post you can make it appear at the top of your Facebook page. This is a good way to get more eyeballs on your video and people to watch the recording. Visitors to your page are always going to see what is on top so take advantage of this. 13. Consider Boosting your Event Video If you are happy with the way that things turned out with your Facebook Live event you can pay for a post boost once the recording is on your Facebook page. You will be able to specify your audience using a number of different factors such as age range, gender, location, interests and more. Get an embed link for your recorded event video and use this on your website or blog and other social media accounts to drive more traffic to it. Never believe that after you have recorded your live event that your work is done. It has only just started. 14. Use Facebook Analytics A few days after your event you need to check out the insights on Facebook for your event video to see how well it did or didn’t do. You will see all of the usual video metrics such as number of unique views, comments, likes shares, average time watched and so on. As this was a Facebook Live video there will be additional metrics as well such as the peak number of views, average view time, the reach of the video and demographic information. Use all of this information to make improvements in your next Facebook Live event. In the next chapter we will discuss the new Facebook Live features for 2020… Facebook are always looking for ways to improve their features to help businesses and in 2020 there were a number of new features added to Facebook Live. Here are the exciting features that they have added: The Trimming Feature With the trimming feature you will be able to edit the start and the end of your live event recorded video. Quite often the start of live events have empty sections that you don’t want to appear in the recorded video. Users of Facebook Live requested that they could add a “standby page” and this has now appeared. The start of your event video is critical. If there is nothing going on then some viewers are likely to leave. It will irritate those that remain and they could start to lose interest in your event. So use the new trim feature so that you can make the start of your event videos better and to cut away any worthless footage at the end. Duration now Extended This is a new feature that may not be of any consequence to you at all but we wanted to make you aware of it. The maximum duration time for a Facebook Live event has been extended from four hours to eight hours. Facebook made this change in response to some broadcasters that needed it such as those that use Facebook Live for sporting events, news events and so on. It is extremely unlikely that you will want to create an event anywhere near 8 hours long for your business and brand. In fact we strongly recommend that you do not make your events too long. Watch Parties This is definitely a new feature that you should take note of. People usually like to watch a video together with family and friends and now you can use this feature for your Facebook Live events. Studies by Facebook have shown that when people watch a video with family and friends they are likely to leave a comment by up to 8 times more than they would if they were watching a Facebook video alone. You can now schedule a watch party from your Facebook page prior to your Facebook Live event starting. An announcement post is generated when you use this feature and your audience can opt-in to receive a notification about when your party (your event) starts. Facebook has also added some useful new metrics for watch parties. You can now see the minutes viewed and there is also a unique 60s views metric. This reveals the number of unique viewers that have watched a minimum of 60 seconds of the watch party. So take advantage of the new watch party feature for your Facebook Live events. In the next chapter we will discuss content ideas for your Facebook Live events… Now that you know Facebook Live can be a great tool for promoting your business and your brand how will you use it? Coming up with new content ideas for Facebook Live isn’t always easy so in this chapter we have some great ideas for you so that you can create some awesome live events and market your business. 1. The How To Event There are always many searches online for “how to” type videos. People like to watch a video to learn how to do something and you can give your audience what it wants by creating Facebook Live events around known problems and provide the answers that they need. When you create a live event video that really helps your audience they will certainly appreciate it. Not only are you likely to receive a lot of positive comments and likes, but a lot of the viewers will share your event video with their followers. People will often watch a good how to video more than once. They may not have got all of the information that they needed from the first viewing and need to go back and watch it again. So think about the how to videos that you can create using Facebook Live to keep your audience happy and make them share with others. 2. New Product Launches A lot of businesses successfully use Facebook Live to announce the launch of a new product or service. You can get the news out about your new launch very quickly with live video. Create a live event to let your audience know that your new product or service is coming soon. Be sure to build up anticipation and excitement during the event. As soon as your product or service is ready create a Facebook Live event around it. Invite all of the people that attended your first event so that you will maximize your chances of making sales. Make sure that you answer any questions that viewers have in both events. 3. Expert Interviews If there are experts in your niche that will be willing to participate in an interview with you then you can make this a Facebook Live event. This kind of event is usually advantageous to you as well as the expert. Ask the expert to notify all of his followers (including their email list and on other social accounts) when the vent is taking place and what will be discussed. Your expert will know people that you don’t and vice versa. When you are just starting out you will benefit more, but over time this will even itself out. 4. Product or Service Demonstrations This will work well for a lot of niches. Let’s say that you sell a software product, you can use Facebook Live to demonstrate the different features of your product. Maybe you have added new features and want to get the word out about these fast. Facebook Live is the ideal way to do this. Demonstrating the features of a product or service is going to help you to sell more of it. People do not always pay attention to product features and when you enlighten them with a Facebook Live event you have a higher chance of converting them. 5. Ask Me Anything or Q&A This is a great idea for Facebook Live content once you have established your brand. People really like these kinds of live events and they will usually have high levels of interaction. A live questions and answers session always goes down well. You can structure these events around specific problems that your audience has. For example they might want to know how they can generate more traffic to their website. So create a live event that will answer questions from your audience around this. By carefully choosing your subjects you can keep your audience focused and get higher levels of engagement. In the next chapter we will discuss how you can create the most engaging Facebook Live events… To create really engaging Facebook Live events there are things that you need to do prior to the event, during the event and after the event. You will provide your brand with a well deserved boost if you create engaging events and all it requires is some thought and a following a few simple steps. Unfortunately, there are many examples of poor Facebook Live videos around. These videos look like they were an afterthought or a business just going through the motions. They are boring and uninspiring. We don’t want you to create these kinds of events so follow the steps below and produce engaging events instead. 1. Create your Event around what your Audience wants The more that you know your audience the better. They will willingly tell you what they want in terms of content for your next Facebook Live event if you ask them. When you are able to create a Facebook Live event that helps people to solve the problems that they have then your audience will love it. Engaging Facebook Live events are exciting for the audience. If you really want to excite your audience then ask them to choose the topic of your next event. You can ask them directly, run surveys and polls and create the theme of your event around common questions that your audience has about the niche. 2. Schedule your Event and Promote it first You want to build up as much anticipation for your Facebook Live event as you can. So we recommend that you schedule your event for the following week and then use the time before to promote as hard as possible. If you create an informative video for YouTube or write a great blog post then you will publish first and then promote. But it doesn’t work that way with Facebook Live. You want to get as many people to view the live event as you can so promotion before it happens is the best approach. You can create posts on Facebook about your upcoming event and then boost these post so that you extend your reach to people that are not your followers yet. This is inexpensive to do and can be highly effective. Target your audience specifically and make your post really appealing and you will get good results. We recommend that with each post you make about your upcoming event you share something different about it with your audience. Don’t just use the same message over and over again. Talk about some valuable information that you will share and include different tips in each post. Don’t just use Facebook to tell the world about your next Facebook Live event. If you have other social channels then use these to get people excited about it. Send emails out to your email list telling them about your event. Publish posts on your blog about it. Utilize every channel that you have available. 3. Prepare your Environment The main difference between Facebook Live events and live streaming on YouTube is that Facebook is seen as more “easy going”. A YouTube live event tends to be a lot more serious. Despite this, you want to eliminate as many distractions as you can to create the most engaging Facebook Live events. We suggest that you forget about the “easy going” reputation that Facebook Live events have and try to create the most professional production that you can. After all, this is your business and your brand and you do not want it to be a shambles. More people are going to watch a live event than they are a standard video so put your best foot forward. Check your environment before you start recording. Are there things in your environment that could distract your viewers? How good is the lighting? What does the audio sound like? You can do a test recording to check for all of these things and then make any subsequent changes. Broadcasting against a plain background can work well. If you have a background that has a lot of clutter in it then your audience can be very distracted by this. So keep it minimal. You want your viewers to concentrate on you and what you have to say. 4. Timing is everything If you conduct your Facebook Live broadcast at the wrong time then you will seriously reduce the number of viewers. You need to do your homework on where your audience are located and determine the best time for your event. If you schedule your Facebook Live event for a time where most of your audience are working then you will get dismal viewing figures. The figures will be even worse if you hold your event when your audience are normally sleeping. Facebook Live is a global tool that you can use to boost your brand no matter where you are located in the world. If you live in Europe and your target market is North America then you may have to make sacrifices. You may have to run events that are late in the day for you but are timed well for your audience. Remember it is about them and not you. 5. Keep Updating your Audience Now we are into tips for engaging Facebook Live videos during the event. One thing that you always need to bear in mind is that people can join your event at any time. Not everyone is going to be there from the start, so you need to make announcements at different times during your event so that everyone is up to date. So you can say things like “welcome if you have recently joined us. We are talking about XYZ at the moment and before that we discussed ABC”. You get the idea. It’s always a good idea to share an agenda for your event with your viewers so they know what to expect. This will help to keep them viewing your event for the longest possible time. 6. Interaction is King We have mentioned the fact that you need a good level of interaction in your Facebook Live events a few times in this guide and the reason for this is that it is so important for a truly engaging event. A lot of people that attend Facebook Live events want to interact with the host so don’t deprive them of this. You want to give your audience the feeling that your event is really a two-way conversation with you and your business. People leave comments on a Facebook Live event more than ten times more than normal videos. Make sure that all of the comments are visible live with your event. When others see these comments they will be more inclined to share their own thoughts. You will probably need some help here. Comments can come in thick and fast and if you have someone assisting you they can make you aware of the most common themes etc. Respond to comments as fast as you can. An alternative to this is to have a session at the end where you will address them. This is the same as a question and answer session which can be very effective. People want to know that you take their opinions seriously and responding to their comments is the best way to do this. Give some shoutouts with your event. When your event finishes the recording will be available and you can bring attention to this by sharing a post thanking all those that attended your event for example. Try asking people for even more comments and questions about your event. They will feel good about this and it will help to boost engagement. 7. Use your Events to Build Relationships Don’t use your Facebook Live events as one long series of advertisements. There are different ways that you can promote your products and services using Facebook Live and we will cover these in the next chapter. Focus on developing a strong relationship with your audience. Some of the viewers to your live events will not have heard of you or your brand before. So you need to take the opportunity of building trust with them. You need to treat each event like you are trying to make a good first impression. 8. Promote your Video after the event Take every opportunity that you can to promote your recorded event video to those that did not attend live. Make a post on your website about it and use other channels to get the word out. If you have a YouTube channel then you can post the video there as well. Don’t go overboard with this. Most people have a Facebook account but not everyone has and you may find this is the case with some of your list subscribers for example. That is why adding your video to YouTube where anyone can watch it is important. 9. What can you do better? When your event is over go through your recording to see how well you performed. Did you come across in a friendly way? What mistakes did you make? Did anything go wrong? You can always do things better the next time around. Use the metrics available within Facebook to see how many people attended the event and what your reach was. Facebook has a lot of insightful metrics that we encourage you to use after your events. Learn about all of them and use them regularly. In the next chapter we will discuss how you can use Facebook Live to drive leads and sales… You can use Facebook Live to drive leads for your business and generate sales. While this is certainly possible, you need to use the right approach for success. So we have some great tips for you here so that you can maximize the number of leads that you generate from your Facebook Live events and the number of sales too. 1. Use Promotions and Discounts during your Events This may seem obvious to you, but it is amazing how many businesses that host Facebook Live events forget to talk about their promotions and discount offers. Live videos are a great way to generate leads and make sales so you must include these things in your events. You don’t want to go crazy with this. Just mention your promotions and discount offers now and again. Maybe you have a free offer that will really benefit your audience. Warm your viewers up about this at the start of your event and then share the details half way through and again at the end. Discount offers are really powerful and a lot of people that attend a Facebook Live event from a business will be expecting this. So don’t disappoint them and be clear about what the discount is and how viewers can obtain it. 2. Use Prompts for Lead Generation You need a good sales funnel setup to support your Facebook Live event. Then you need to steer your viewers into your funnel. You want to capture their email address so that they join your list so offer the download of something valuable for free for example. Tell your event viewers what you are going to cover in your video. The most effective Facebook Live events share value at the start and then pitch a related offer after this. You want your audience to stick around for the pitch so make this as exciting as possible for them. Tell them that it will solve a specific problem and it is worth hanging on for. The use of prompts as you lead up to your pitch is usually very effective. You want your viewers to interact with you so ask them a question like “if you are excited then let us know in the comments” or “if you want to know more about our products then please type “yes please” in the comments”. After the event you can follow up directly with those that responded to your prompts. You know that they are interested so the follow up will be pretty easy. Be sure to follow up as soon after the event as possible when the leads are the hottest. 3. Demonstrate your Products or Services Nothing sells a product or service better than a live demonstration. So take the opportunity that Facebook Live offers you to do this. When your audience sees what your product or service can do for them they will be a lot more likely to want to know more or make a purchase right away. Plan your demonstration in advance. What features of the product or service do you want to highlight? What will have the biggest impact on the audience? How will your product or service save time and / or money? Only demonstrate one of your products or services live at each event. Don’t try to demonstrate your whole range! We recommend that you provide value in your event first by explaining how your audience can overcome a specific problem that they have. Then demonstrate your product or service showing them how they can solve their problem a lot more easily and save time and possibly money. So for example if you sell products or services that help people generate traffic to their website you can show them some manual ways to drive traffic first and point out how time consuming these methods are. Then you can introduce and demonstrate your product or service which automates the methods and saves time. 4. Strong Call to Action You need to tell your event viewers what you want them to do. The best way to achieve this is with strong calls to action during your event and afterwards. Never assume that someone watching your event will know instinctively what you want them to do. Spell it out with a persuasive call to action. Add your call to action to the event recording post as well. Make a comment that reminds people about it. It will not take a lot of time to set this up and it is worth it because you are likely to generate more leads. 5. Ask your Viewers to Share your Event If your audience is enjoying your live event then they will be happy to share it with people that they know. A few of them will just do this instinctively, but it is always best to ask them to share your event during your presentation. This can really extend the reach of your Facebook Live marketing campaign. Make your audience part of your marketing team. You could provide an incentive for sharing your event such as a discount or free download for example. In the next chapter we will share the best practices that you need to follow to get the most out of Facebook Live for your business… Here are the 8 best practices that we strongly recommend that you follow to create the very best Facebook Live events to promote your business. You can really enhance your brand and drive a lot of leads and sales from Facebook Live events. We believe that if you follow these best practices you will have the maximum chance of success. 1. Understand what Facebook Live is It is important that you understand what the Facebook Live platform is and how you can use it to give your brand a boost and increase leads and sales for your business. Facebook users are much more likely to view a live event than they are a prerecorded video or a standard post containing text and images. You can use Facebook Live on a computer or mobile device. 2. Benefits of Facebook Live You need to be aware of the benefits of using Facebook Live in your marketing strategy. Facebook is the largest social media platform by a long way and has billions of users. When you use Facebook Live the right way you can establish a very good connection with your audience. There are some great analytics as well. 3. Get Started the right way with Facebook Live It is essential that you take your Facebook Live events seriously. This starts by making an investment in the right webcam and microphone to produce high quality events. Make sure that your WiFi signal is strong before you record. You need to plan your Facebook Live events and it is better to schedule them in advance so you have time to promote them. 4. Use Proven ways to create a Great Facebook Live Event There are things that you need to do before, during and after your Facebook Live event to get the best results. Prior to recording your live event you need to ensure that you use the right lighting. Create a few practice recordings so that you can check everything. During your event be as human as possible and smile often. Learn to smile when you are speaking so that you come across well. Be sure to ask your audience to interact with you and always learn from any mistakes. Always use strong calls to action in your events. After your event you need to promote your recording. Add captions to it so that more people will view it. Consider boosting your recording post to extend your reach. Create a custom thumbnail for your recording that entices users to view it. 5. Keep up to date with New Features Facebook is continuously updating their Facebook Live platform to make it better for their users. They are always adding new features and it is important that you are aware of these. In 2020 they added a useful trimming feature, extended the recording duration and introduced the Watch Party feature. 6. Use Good Content Ideas If your Facebook Live event contains good content then you will get more viewers and higher levels of engagement. You can create “how to” events, product launches, interview experts, demonstrate your products and services and run question and answer sessions. 7. Create Engaging Facebook Live Events Engaging Facebook Live events are the most successful. Find out what your audience wants and create events around this. Make sure that your environment is right for your event and schedule it at the best times. Update your audience regularly during your event and persuade them to interact with you. Review your events afterwards to see what you can do better. 8. Drive Leads and Sales with Facebook Live Use tactics to drive more leads and sales during your Facebook Live events. Tell your audience about any promotions and discount offers. Set up a sales funnel and then use prompts during your event to drive viewers to it. Always include a strong call to action in your events. Ask your audience to share your event. If you have read this guide from start to finish you will have a good understanding of how you can use Facebook Live for the benefit of your business. It is important that you do not just jump onto the platform without knowing what you are doing. Now it is over to you. While reading this guide will make you a bit smarter, only by taking action will you be able to leverage the Facebook Live platform to enhance your brand and drive more leads and sales. We hope that you found this guide to be informative and useful. Get started today with your Facebook Live marketing. We wish you every success promoting your business on the world’s largest social platform!