Facebook Live has successfully opened the door for millions of content creators to reach and engage with their fans from all over the world in real time. The live broadcasting platform has already seen significant success, as every 1 in 5 of Facebook’s 1.28 billion daily users are now watching and engaging with Facebook Live videos. To help you leverage this powerful tool, we have provided 6 tips you can incorporate into your next live broadcast to increase your overall viewership.

Tip #1: Prepare Your Broadcast

Facebook reports that people typically spend triple the amount of time watching a live video when it shows up on their News Feed. People are often drawn to live videos because of their spontaneity and in-the-moment nature. However, without proper preparation, your video can still fall flat. An awkward pause or excessive rambling may cause your viewers to leave. In order to avoid this, you should strategize what you are going to talk about. Outlining key points or jotting down a few questions you would like to ask the audience will give you better direction and more confidence going in.

Another factor you should consider before going live is your setup. Most importantly, you want to ensure you have a strong Internet connection, so your stream is consistent for your audience. You should also test your lighting and sound to make sure that you can be easily seen and heard by your viewers. Be sure to test the same equipment you will be using for the broadcast, that way you’ll practice using the equipment and you can try a few different settings to find the right one for you. If this is your first time using Facebook Live, you can practice with the “Only Me” privacy setting to make sure everything is ready to go.

Tip #2: Schedule & Promote Your Facebook Live Video

As you prepare for your Facebook Live broadcast, you will want to promote it across all of your other social media channels. This can be done in a variety of ways, so get creative with your approach. Many creators will change the banners of their other channels to reflect their upcoming stream, while others will post a countdown. One of the best ways to promote your live broadcast is to ask your followers for direct feedback about what they would like to see or questions they want you to answer when you go live. This engaging approach gives your followers a reason to tune in to see if their request or question is answered.

Tip #3 Create a Thorough & Engaging Description

Before you go live, Facebook gives you the option to add a description to your post. Your description should be attention-grabbing yet informative because it allows potential viewers to know what to expect when they tune in. A strong description can help you gain more followers throughout your stream because newcomers will be able to jump right in without confusion. You can also tag specific people or locations within your description to help move your video up the News Feed to further increase your visibility.

Tip #4: Engage with Your Audience

One of the major benefits of Facebook Live is that it enables you to have a real-time and direct engagement with your viewers, building an entirely new level of trust and loyalty. Throughout your broadcast, you should take the time to encourage interaction with your audience. This can be done simply by calling out a user by name as they join in, or asking your audience to post questions in the comments for you to answer. The more involved your audience feels, the longer they will continue to watch and invite their friends. Streaming a Facebook Live video will also give you the opportunity to have immediate audience reactions, allowing you to see what works and what doesn’t work with your fanbase. Don’t be afraid to use this time to ask for general feedback or to encourage your audience to like, comment, share, or subscribe to your Facebook page.

Tip #5: Make Your Facebook Live Video Visually Engaging

One of the main obstacles that live video streamers face is that while all videos on Facebook auto-play in a person’s News Feed, the video will remain muted until the user manually turns on the volume. To encourage users to tune-in and listen to what you are saying, you need to make sure your video is visually engaging throughout your broadcast. Moving around, changing location, or introducing new people into your broadcast are easy ways to keep your audience visually engaged. Facebook has started monitoring signals of engagement, (i.e. turning on audio, switching to fullscreen mode, enabling high definition) and has even tweaked its algorithm to rank highly engaged live broadcasts higher in the News Feed.

Tip #6: Make An Impact After Your Facebook Live Video is Complete

Many creators fail to understand that their live video can be just as valuable in attracting views long after the broadcast is complete. In fact, Facebook Live’s most popular video “Chewbacca Mom” has clocked over 170M views since its original live airdate in 2016. You never know when your Facebook Live video will go viral, so it is vital that you take proactive steps to ensure you are protecting and generating the most revenue off of the live video you create.

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Original Article Posted on 07/13/2017 by Ally Mnich