16 facebook live Video tips & Tricks for Brands And small businesses

Using the Facebook Live Video Tips can be a fun and effective way to boost engagement, interact with your followers, and get your message across by starting the conversation with your online community. But what are your options for promoting your Facebook live video and extending the benefits even further by using your ad spend?

Options are limited, but there are a few ways you can make sure people watch when you go live. From promoting separate Facebook events and posts encouraging people to tune in to using organic messaging to spread the word, you can work around the limitations of not being able to promote the Facebook live video post ahead of time or using the link in a Traffic ad. Read on to find out what options are available.

Facebook Live Video: What You Can Do?

For those of you who may not know, Facebook live videos allow you to interact in real time with your online community. This allows your friends and followers to ask questions and you can answer them right then and there in the video. It takes your online conversation to the next level! So what are your options for boosting this even more by using ad spend to promote the live video?

Promote a Scheduled Facebook Live Video Using a Facebook Event Link

One option for promoting your upcoming Facebook Live Video is to promote a Facebook event advertising the scheduled livestream. Include the link to your scheduled livestream in the text body of the event, and use the event to get people excited to join in on your upcoming livestream. Events are great because they allow people to mark whether they are “coming” or not, and can give you an idea of how many followers will be joining you on the day of your Facebook live video. Anyone who indicated their interest in the event will also receive notifications from Facebook leading up to the event, so they are likely to remember to tune in for your livestream.

Promote a Separate Post Inviting People to Watch Your Facebook Live Video

In addition to creating and promoting an event, you can also promote a completely separate post inviting people to make sure to check out your page on the day and time of the livestream. Create and promote a post with something that hooks people and contains all the information for when and on what page they can join in on your Facebook live video. You can and should also use organic messaging across your social channels to spread the word about your livestream; even without the added juice of ad spend, organic messaging can help bring traffic to your Facebook live video.

Facebook Live Video: What You Can’t Do!

While there are a couple good, applicable options for promoting a Facebook live video, those options are workarounds because sadly, there is more that you can’t do than can in this instance. Facebook still doesn’t have any capabilities for promoting the live video link directly ahead of time, whether it be on a boosted page post or as the link in a Traffic ad.

You Can’t Promote a Post for a Scheduled Facebook Live Video

While you can schedule a livestream event and get the link to the post for this event, you will not be able to boost this post the way you can boost other scheduled or published posts on Facebook. As we pointed out above, you can create a separate post with the same information and promote that post, but it will not contain the actual link to the upcoming Facebook live video.

You Can’t Use the Link to the Scheduled Facebook Live Video for a Traffic Ad

You can get the link in advance for your livestream–however this link can’t be used when setting up an ad in Ads Manager as the link button. You can place the link into the text of the ad, but the call-to-action link button will have to lead to a different page, so it doesn’t make much sense to do it this way, as people viewing the ad are much more likely to click the call-to-action button than a link in the text of the ad. So trying to use a Traffic ad to promote your upcoming Facebook live video is not the best method. However, promoting an event or a separate post (as we talked about above) can be very effective in getting traffic for your Facebook live video. 

While there aren’t many options for promoting a Facebook live video, there are a couple workarounds that may prove effective.  While you can’t promote the actual Facebook live video post ahead of time, you can promote other posts encouraging people to visit your page the day of the Facebook live stream. And don’t discount how effective organic posts can be, so make sure to post multiple times organically leading up to the live video! Setting up a Facebook event and promoting the event can be a great way to give people a heads up about your upcoming live video stream. We are confident that, with these options, you will find an effective way to get the word out about your upcoming Facebook live video and connect with and grow your online community.

10 extra points for Facebook Live

• Plan your broadcast. …
• Be yourself. …
• Notify followers in advance. …
• Check your Internet connection and equipment. …
• Write a compelling description of your video. …
• Tag other people and your location. …
• Remember people might join part-way through. …
• Engage with your audience.

You can overcome every single one of those doubts and fears swirling around in your head.

In today’s post, we’re going to show you 15 Facebook Live tips that will help you feel prepared, confident and ready to rock your next live stream!

1. Promote Your Facebook Live Before and After

No one wants to be alone, at least not when the point is to have a crowd around you. Whether it’s your first time going live on your 100th, you always want to make sure you’re speaking to an audience.

What’s the best way to avoid those crickets?

You need to put yourself out there and PROMOTE!

But don’t only rely on sprinkling in a few Facebook status updates here and there, you need to take your show on the road. Hit up all your social media networks and let them know about your event. Tease your audience with some of the golden nuggets you’ll be sharing, entice them with solutions to their most pressing problems, and you’ll have a handful of eager beavers ready to soak up all your wisdom.

And once your live stream is down, the promotion carries on. You can quickly rack up those sweet, sweet views by boosting your live stream post and running it like an ad campaign.

2. Pick The Right Time to Go Live

When Planning your Facebook Live, timing is everything. 

Just like it’s important to find the sweet spot for posting to Instagram for maximum engagement, the same rules apply here.

You want to make sure your audience is not:

• – Catching up on their beauty sleep
• – Attending any BIG events (like the Superbowl)
• – Making that coin at work

Check the analytics for your Facebook page and see what times your audience engages with your posts the most.

If you’re still stumped, throw up a poll on your page and ask your followers to vote for the time they want to watch your content.

3. Don’t Wing Your Live Video

Unless you’ve kissed the Blarney Stone or you’re naturally blessed with the gift of the gab, talking for 10-minutes can feel like a daunting task. What if you get confused, panic, forget what you were saying and then there’s awkward silence? That’s the stuff nightmares are made of. The solution? A solid plan.

Whip out your notebook and make a list of your main and sub talking points and keep it in your line of sight to avoid going off-topic.

If you’re hosting a Facebook Live to demonstrate a product or give a tutorial, do a quick dry-run. It will help you avoid those dreaded technical difficulties.

4. Flex Your Copywriting Skills and Compel People to Watch Your Live Video

Do you have the answers to questions people are DYING to know?

Like how to become a gazillionaire in 30-days?

Make sure people know the value of tuning into your Facebook Live with a compelling description.

Grab their attention with your words and keep them around with your witty and valuable banter.

5. Respond to Questions Live 

What is it about Facebook Live that draws people in and skyrockets engagement?

It feels like a two-way conversation. 

But only if you encourage comments by answering questions live.

It makes your viewers feel included, seen and heard.

Plus, the more buzz you generate in the comment section, the higher your Facebook relevancy score.

And that means Facebook’s algorithm will finally be on your side. You won’t need to shell out those extra dollars to get a little love on people’s News Feeds.  

6. Call People Out

Want to make your viewers feel special? Use their names when answering their questions.

It’s a super-easy way to build a connection and make your followers feel apart of the discussion and excited about watching the rest of your video.

7. Practice Re-introducing Yourself

Unlike Instagram Stories or YouTube videos, people can tune into your Facebook Live at any moment.

To make sure your new viewers know what’s going on and who you are, keep re-introducing yourself and briefly recap the discussion.

For example, you can say:

“Thanks for joining us! I’m talking about how you can spin straw into gold at home, and we’ve just covered how to hide your gold from those pesky dragons.”

Top Tip: If you really want to increase your brownie points, greet your new viewers by name!

8. Keep Asking for Engagement

Beat the Facebook algorithm at its own game by asking your viewers to like and share your broadcast.

You can sneak it in with a quick:

“Thumbs up if you like watching videos of cats!”

Or with an incentive:

“Share this video with your fellow entrepreneurs and you’ll get a 30% off voucher for my retreat!”

9. Broadcast For At Least 10-Minutes

The longer you broadcast, the more time you have to gain:

• – Likes
• – Shares
• – Comments

It gives Facebook a chance to push your video out to more News Feeds and boosts the chances of viewers discovering your video.

10. Link to Resources

Before you hit that “go live” button, get all your resources in order.

If you plan to mention any of your blog posts, open them up in a separate tab ready to go.

By having your resources organised, you can quickly direct people to your blog post or sales page while they’re super interested in how you can potentially solve a problem in their lives.

11. Face a Window

Your face is basking in gorgeous natural light, and your video quality will be on point – even if you’re using a webcam or smartphone.

12. Film Your Broadcast Horizontally

Speaking of smartphones, if you’re using your device to film your video, use the horizontal view.

It looks much better in Newsfeeds, and you can use the edit button in the top left corner to add a filter!

13. Leave Your Viewers With an Actionable Sign-Off

Resist the urge to push the finish button as soon as you’ve come to the end of your last talking point.

Instead, leave your views with a strong call to action.

Think about what you want them to do after your live stream ends. Maybe you want to drive traffic to your website, grow your mailing list or get people to sign up for your latest course.

A great sign-off for a Facebook Live should have:

• – You mentioning your name one last time
• – Thanking your viewers 
• – Sliding in your call to action
• – Saying goodbye

14. Use The Power of Analytics

Facebook’s analytics are full of juicy details. 

At the end of your broadcast, take a deep dive into your “Insights” tab. Here you’ll find all the tea on how well your video performed, what worked, and what was a flop.

You can use Facebook Live Video analytics to find out:

• – Minutes viewed
• – Unique viewers
• – Total video views and 10-second views
• – Average completion rate
• – Number of reactions, comments, and shares
• – Peak live viewer count
• – Average watch time
• – Total number of people reached
• – Demographics of viewers

You can even zoom in and see which moments had your viewers in an engagement frenzy.

Maybe it was when you spoke about a specific topic? Use that data to inspire your next video or turn it into a product and make it rain dollar, dollar bills ya’ll.

15. BONUS: Add Captions to Your Broadcasts

If you’re feeling fancy and you want to go the extra mile for your viewers, add captions to your live video at the end of your broadcast.

It’s a great way to connect with viewers who are hearing impaired. You can also use it to capture the attention of users who haven’t turned on the sound for your video yet.

You can easily generate captions through Facebook or upload an SRT file.