How to Get the Most Out of Facebook Live

Facebook Live is a live-steaming platform that helps you broadcast to an audience of your friends and followers. If you have a Facebook account and a smartphone, you can use Facebook Live starting now.

The options for how to use Facebook Live are endless, but let’s take your annual conference as one example. You can use Facebook Live to to interact with your members on your trade show floor or share highlights from your keynote that will broadcast to all your followers – not just those in attendance. You can also answer questions that come through in real time and gauge how the broadcast is going by watching your Live Reactions.

Using Facebook Live is simple. In three steps, you can begin streaming to your members:

1. Tap “What’s on your mind” at the top of News Feed.
2. Select “Live Video” from the dropdown menu.
3. Add a description and choose your audience before hitting “Go Live.”

Most associations are already looking for easy ways to introduce video and live stream. Why not connect instantly on Facebook, where many of your members already follow you. Facebook will even send them notifications when you’re live so your members know to tune in.

Now that you know the basics, here are three tips from Sarah Kinsler, social media manager at the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau, for how your association can make the most of Facebook Live.

1. Always “Go Live” for at least 10 minutes. You want to give people enough time to realize you are going live. I usually stick between 10-15 minutes, but if you are streaming a program/event, it can go longer.

2. Have a plan with a few goals. When you go live you never know exactly what you are going to capture, but having a plan will help guide you when filming. (For example, plan where you are going to walk with the camera, if you are going to talk to people, where you want to end the video, and any scenes you feel are important to the live stream).

3. Have a partner. It always helps to have someone from your team on a computer to answer questions as they come in from your live. This gives the camera person the ability to give full attention to the video.

Photo credit: Logo from Facebook