Facebook Live 101: How to Get the Most out of Your Live Stream

Something is charming and fascinating about live streaming. I remember rushing home from school to watch live broadcasts, even though the same program would be re-telecasted later in the day.

Live streaming took some time to gain a foothold in the internet landscape. Slowly but surely, live streaming and live video consumption are on the rise. This growing popularity of live videos among businesses, content creators, and the general public is pioneered by Facebook Live.

Introduced by the social media giant in 2016, Facebook Live has seen a steady rise in viewership. On Facebook, live videos see three times more engagement than traditional videos and 60% more comments than traditional posts.

Since the pandemic, live streaming has seen a sudden jump in popularity. In just one year, the global live-streaming market grew by 20%.

Although the sports and gaming industry took the lead in live streaming, businesses are fast catching up with them. Brands, marketers, and content creators are leveraging the growing popularity of Facebook Live to connect, engage, and convert their target audience.

As one live broadcaster puts it, live streaming is hard, and there is a whole chaotic world behind the scenes. You have nothing to worry about. While Facebook Live provides all the tools to live stream, our little guide will support you in getting the most out of your live videos.

Tips to Get the Most out of Your Live Stream

The reach of Facebook Live is incredible. You can enhance its power by learning to use it effectively. Here are some best practices that will enable you to make the most of your livestream.

1. Do a Dry Run Before Going Live

While there is much talk about spontaneity and authenticity, it’s important that your live streaming goes on smoothly without any glitches. Hence, before you ‘Go Live,’ a dry run is recommended.

In fact, Facebook allows you to rehearse before live streaming the content. This way, you’ll be more comfortable with the material before going on air – live before the audience. Additionally, testing your material can improve the quality of the content and the viewer experience.

Like creating a Facebook Post, Facebook Live also gives you the freedom to select your audience. Choose ‘Only Me’ under the ‘Select Audience’ tab and start recording the video.

Why Should You Do a Dry Run?

• If you’re new to Facebook Live, you can avoid nervousness by practicing before the camera. First, select the ‘Only Me’ option, then choose ‘Select Friends’ to perform in front of mock viewers. Invite comments from friends to improve your content and delivery.
• A test run can help you check video, audio, lighting, and other elements of live streaming. Paying attention to small details can help you avoid technical glitches and enhance professionalism.
• A dry run will help gauge the length of the video. Knowing how long it takes you to deliver the content can help you add or remove portions of the content.
• You can also download the ‘test run’ recording, outsource video editing, and use those clips as promotional material for your live streaming session.

2. Mix It Up: Diversify Your Content Offering

On Facebook, there is more than one way to reach your target audience. Lately, we have seen an increase in the use of Facebook ads and other paid promotional techniques. That said, organic reach is still a significant part of any business plan on this social media platform.

A growing number of brands and content creators are adopting live streaming as part of their organic outreach. The reasons for the greater use of Facebook Live are obvious. In two different experiments, live videos on Facebook saw better reach, more views, and higher engagement than Facebook posts or non-live videos.

It’s important not to fall into the trap of only using live streaming because people prefer it to other content types. Diversification of content is important to boost your organic reach.

Putting all your eggs in one basket will not make the algorithm or your audience happy. The Facebook algorithm considers hundreds of metrics, and it’s only expected that content variety would be one of the metrics. Additionally, diversifying your offerings will make your brand more interesting to your audience.

3. Periodically Update Viewers of What Is Happening

During a live stream, it’s important to keep your audience informed throughout the video. This involves taking short breaks during the broadcast to reintroduce yourself, welcome new viewers, and summarize important points covered so far.

Why is it important to do so? Live streaming is a multi-layered process. At the beginning of the live broadcast, normally, just a handful of viewers show up. As more people trickle in, it becomes imperative to restate the purpose of the video and cover the crucial points to engage them.

These short breaks you take to update the audience have other benefits too. This practice ensures that all your viewers are on the same page. Moreover, the proactive approach creates a sense of inclusivity and deep connection among the viewers.

4. Interact with the Viewers to Maintain Focus and Engagement

Whether you’re new to live streaming or a seasoned host, you need to interact with the viewers to keep them engaged. Merely presenting your content may work once or twice, but soon you’ll see the views and viewer count dip.

Regular interaction during live streaming is a technique that the best broadcasters use. For instance, Ninja (Richard Tyler Blevins), a professional gamer and online streamer, garners massive views.

That’s because he constantly interacts with his audience by responding to comments, answering viewer questions, and welcoming new viewers to his stream.

Why does interaction with the audience work? Interaction converts passive viewers into active participants. This boosts the viewer experience, which in turn results in longer watch times, better engagement, growing brand loyalty, and eventually, conversion and sales.

5. Embrace Imperfection, Cultivate Casual Conversation, and Celebrate the Unexpected

What makes live streaming stand out? Its unscripted spontaneity is in direct contrast to carefully preplanned and prerecorded content. People find the spontaneity charming and authentic, and there lies the allure of live streaming.

In casual conversations, either with friends or even clients, we make small blunders, which are often brushed aside as part of the game.

Similarly, often during Facebook Live streaming, we see the host make minor mistakes, crack a joke, chuckle, or lose his/her train of thought. These light-hearted moments make the live broadcast interesting, memorable, and more human.

So, in the world of live streaming, embrace imperfection, keep the conversation casual, and relish spontaneity and the unexpected. These are the elements that make live streaming special.

Make this mantra a part of your social media tips for content creation. Although most businesses are on social media, their conversation isn’t formal. Their interaction with the target audience is casual, friendly, and authentic.

6. Pay Attention to Live Streaming Time and Duration

Want to make the most of your Facebook Live stream? Pay attention to two factors that play a crucial role in boosting your reach: the streaming time of the video and the length of the live stream.

Choosing the best streaming time makes sense. You don’t want to go live with your best material when no one is around to watch it.

Pick a time and day that are most convenient for your target audience. To determine the ideal time to broadcast live, you need to first identify your ideal audience on Facebook, and know their location and time zone. Additionally, analyze their behavior, preferences, and the times when they are most active on Facebook.

Given the popularity of videos, Facebook has also prioritized long-form videos. It’s believed that long-form videos result in more watch time, higher shares, and better interaction and engagement. On Facebook, you can broadcast live for up to 4 hours, and up to 8 hours using Live API with an encoder.

That said, the sweet spot ranges from 15 to 60 minutes. This duration gives you enough time to deliver your content, interact with viewers, and build a relationship with your audience. Keep in mind that live streams that are too long can bore and overwhelm viewers.

7. Plan for Real-Time Responses to Comments and Questions

A successful Facebook Live video engages viewers and provides them with a dynamic experience. Unfortunately, you can’t host and keep track of viewer comments and questions at the same time.

Don’t even think about broadcasting and responding to questions by yourself. This doesn’t work in live streaming.

Your best option is to assign a moderator to read, select, and respond to comments and questions promptly. This strategy will ensure no interruption to the flow of your broadcast.

When your team member is responsible for engaging with your audience, they will have enough time to sort out comments and prioritize only relevant questions.

Although all opinions expressed by the audience are important, not all of them require an immediate reply.

Only respond to those questions that would boost engagement and keep the audience engaged with the video. Most importantly, throughout the video, encourage viewers to share their views, leave comments, and ask questions.

8. Add Subtitles to Your Facebook Live Stream

Subtitles and captions are not just accessibility tools; they can boost SEO, engagement, and viewer retention.

Adding subtitles to live-streaming videos is quite easy. Facebook Live can help you generate captions in real time. Unfortunately, as many of you know, auto-generated captions are never perfect. Hence, you can use third-party software or hire a professional subtitle creator for accurate conversion of audio to text.

With multi-language captions and subtitles, you can expand the reach of live streaming to a wider audience who doesn’t speak your language.

That said, it’s important to optimize your captions to boost their appeal. What does this entail? Use proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Additionally, use a suitable font, size, and color to enhance the viewer experience.

9. Change the Live Stream to Feature Video

It’s possible to extend the life of your content even after the Facebook Live session is over. You can convert the content into a featured video.

While live streaming provides immediate connection and engagement with the audience, converting it into a featured video will expand the reach and impact of your content.

By converting it into a featured video, you can prolong the lifespan of your content. The video will remain on your Facebook page and continue to attract new viewers. People who missed the Facebook Live session can access your content at their convenience.

Featuring the video on the Facebook page after the live session allows you to refine and optimize the content. You can work on the title, description, thumbnail, and other features of the video to improve its organic reach.

10. Repurpose Your Live Video to Expand Reach

One of the biggest advantages of Facebook Live video is its versatility. You can extend the video’s reach beyond its initial broadcast by repurposing the content. How?

After the live stream concludes, convert the video into other forms of shareable content on Facebook. If the live stream is lengthy, you can use a video editor to create short clips and publish them as posts at regular intervals.

Select the most compelling visuals from the live video to create impactful video ads. With Facebook’s powerful ad platform, you can reach a new audience and generate interest in your brand.

Utilize the statistics, insights, and information shared in the live video to create one or multiple blog posts. Add more information, optimize the content, and use the blog posts to continue engaging the audience even after the live stream ends.

Additionally, convert live videos into clips and share them on other social media platforms. For instance, short, engaging clips can be used to create Stories on Instagram.

11. Promote the Video Before and After Live Streaming

Promoting your content is the most crucial aspect of maximizing the impact of your Facebook Live videos. It’s essential to devise strategies to promote your content both before and after the broadcast. Here are some effective ideas:

• Spread the word about the upcoming Facebook Live broadcast a few days in advance. Use creative and visually appealing images, video ads, and text posts to grab attention.
• Utilize email marketing tools like SendinBlue or a SendinBlue alternative to inform and remind your subscribers about the live stream. Also, provide them with a brief description of the topic and content of the live video.
• Create sneak peek teasers and other promotional materials and share them on your website and various social media platforms.
• Collaborate with industry experts and influencers to promote the upcoming live-stream event on their social media channels or accounts.
• Boost engagement with followers in the days leading up to the Facebook Live session. Encourage opinions and suggestions to generate buzz around the live event.
• Use relevant keywords and hashtags in your promotional posts to make your content more discoverable.
• Continue promoting the video after the live session by sharing video clips of pivotal moments. As mentioned earlier, you can also share the recorded video on your Facebook page.
• Even after the live session, stay connected with your audience to answer their questions, respond to comments, and share your thoughts and insights.

Final Thoughts

Facebook is the second most popular live-streaming platform in the United States. Furthermore, every fifth video uploaded on Facebook is a live stream. There is intense competition among brands to establish authentic and valuable connections with their viewers.

Our Facebook Live 101 guide is straightforward. Implement these strategies diligently, and you’ll be on the path to Facebook Live success in no time.

We would love to hear from you. Please feel free to share your tips, questions, and advice in the comment section.