With more than 1.5 billion people already on Facebook, that is where the audience is! The large network is one of the reasons why Facebook Live will succeed. Facebook says that its initial data shows that people comment 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos.
If your event has yet to explore using Facebook Live to engage with your audience, particularly those not in attendance, you should start thinking about how you can since it is a channel that is sure to bring you closer to your event’s target audience.
Facebook Live works in a straightforward manner; it allows anybody to stream a video from their smartphone and broadcast it live. The video can also be accessed, like any other post, in your newsfeed. This makes it different from other live streaming apps like Periscope and meerkat that doesn’t store videos beyond its streaming time.
If you are ready to use Facebook Live at your events, here are 3 tips to ensure that your stream gets as much engagement as possible from its audience.
-
Check your connection
It would be ideal if your venue has wifi that you can connect to. If you are going to be reliant on data to upload your video, you will need to do checks to ensure that your internet upload speed meets the minimum requirement.
The minimum internet upload speed is 2-4mbps, and if it isn’t met, you will lose quality like audio or your video will be pixelated. You can use speedtest.com to check your upload speed at the location you will be streaming from, before the event, to ensure you have minimum strength. If data stops sending while you are uploading, Facebook will take it that the session has ended and will stop streaming which potentially means losing your audience. -
Share information on the Facebook Stream before streaming
A successful Facebook Live is a stream that has your audience participating with comments and reactions. This will allow you to engage with them in real time, responding to their questions and interacting with them by mentioning them in your discussions.
Do you expect guests to your events to turn up if you don’t send them an invitation? Of course not! The same rule apply to your Facebook Live session. At 48 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours, 1 hour before your stream, share on your social media channels that you will be going Live on Facebook and what you will be sharing on it. This way, they will anticipate your session and be prepared to watch it live. -
Prepare your content for your Live Session
Before you go Live, prepare your content for the stream. People tune in to get information and content that would not be easily available to them, like behind the scene access, special interviews with speakers, and highlight attendee experience to show them what they are missing out on.
If you know what you would be sharing on your stream, you can do the necessary preparations beforehand so that when you are streaming, the content is much more coherent.
Facebook Live is still a relatively new space and there is much you can do to experiment with the type of content that you share with your audience. Experiment with formats and measure what brings you the most engagement, and you can narrow down your focus to those content.
Share with us in the comments how you have been using Facebook Live to engage with your audience at your events.
This article is done in collaboration with Primal Video, a community of entrepreneurs, leaders and extreme sports aficionado’s producing video content online; Better, Faster.
