With Facebook’s recently announced algorithm changes, it is now more difficult than ever for business pages to achieve organic reach. However, Facebook’s announcement indicated that the News Feed would begin to prioritize Live video over standard, “passive” video, which represents an opportunity to still get your content in front of eyeballs organically.
Not sure where to start with Facebook Live? We recently created one about Facebook’s latest update. Here’s a breakdown of the steps we took to ensure it would be a success:
Step 1: Come up with a compelling topic that will interest your audience.
As a digital marketing agency, we knew that many of our clients and followers were confused by Facebook’s latest algorithm change and had lots of questions. We at Reshift wanted to advise our followers (and those who don’t already follow us) on what the change will mean for their business page, and answer any questions they may have.
Step 2: Once you’ve chosen a topic, create additional supporting content.
We brainstormed, conducted research, and organized our thoughts and findings into a free whitepaper that we could promote during our Facebook Live, so that if we didn’t cover all the questions in our session, our viewers would have access to additional resources.
Step 3: Promote your Facebook Live.
- Create a Facebook event with details about the Live session’s date/time
- Boost your event to the relevant audience. In our case, we focused on social media marketers
- Cross-promote your event through other platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Email your clients and/or newsletter database with the Facebook Live details
- Get your team to share it!
Step 4: Download the Facebook Pages app in order to be able to stream a Live video.
This only applies to Facebook business pages; personal pages can go Live using the regular Facebook app.
Step 5: Prepare an outline.
If you are offering advice or how-to information, it’s best to have a rough outline of what you’d like to convey. Think about how long you anticipate your Live video to last (Facebook allows you to go Live for 4 hours, though we would suggest a one-hour limit), and be sure that you’re leaving enough time for audience questions. Of course, it’s equally important not to over-script it. You want it to be casual and conversational, and leave yourself open to the spontaneity of live video.
Step 5: Gather your equipment.
Because we knew that our Live session would be running for nearly an hour, it was important that we set up a tripod to stabilize the video. We chose to shoot in landscape mode to capture our background. We also used a directional microphone that attaches to an iPhone to improve the sound quality (here is a link to the one we like). Test your equipment before you go live.
Step 6: Select the room/background.
You’ll need a room that has good lighting with no shadows or glares. Also consider what background you would like shown. We used our whiteboard, and wrote out our Live video’s agenda so that we had something visually relevant that we could refer to throughout our talk.
Step 7: Begin recording
Launch your Facebook Page app and click the “Live” button. You will be prompted to write a description about what your video will be about, and then you can press the record button.
Once you are live, it may be helpful to have a coworker be on the lookout for incoming comments to respond to, as this helps to keep the conversation going. You’re also able to pin comments to the top. If you’d like, you can also invite other users to go live with you. Swipe left, see the list of people who are watching your session, click on the avatar of the user you’d like to join you, and then click on “invite.”
Step 8: Repurpose the post.
After you go live, the video will appear as a post on your Facebook page. You can download the video and post it on your YouTube channel (complete with a transcript for SEO purposes). You can also embed the video on your website. Lastly, you may get people who watch the video later so keep an eye on your Facebook notifications and answer any new questions that come up in the comments, as well as any that you may not have gotten to during the Live session.
