How to Make Your Facebook Live Streams More Interactive!
Last week, we shared how to promote your Facebook live event and grow your audience. Facebook live is an easy way to educate your real estate agents and borrowers. This week we are going to share tips to make your Facebook live stream more interesting and interactive and promote your event long after the event is done.
Streaming live for the first time can seem nerve-wracking! But with the proper preparation and my tricks up your sleeve, you’ll have a fun time. Plus, practice makes perfect. Our team wasn’t as confident on camera at first as they are now, so the most important step is to stop second guessing yourself and just have fun with it. We always tell our clients, “when the message is more important than your ego, you’ll get out of the way and start sharing the message.”
Before you go live, test your video and microphone by using the “Only Me” option on Facebook, and make adjustments as needed. Turn off all outside notifications, and eliminate environmental distractions such as music or noise.
Once it’s go time, keep these tips in mind:
Introduce Yourself Multiple Times
It may not seem natural to introduce yourself and the topic several times, but your audience isn’t logging in all at once. Some viewers may hop in five seconds after you go live, and others will join five minutes into the stream. Think about when you tune into a radio station or a tv show, they recap what is happening every few minutes so that new viewers aren’t lost. If you don’t do this, you are going to lose those new viewers because they are going to be confused and feel left out of the party!
A few minutes into your livestream, introduce yourself again and give a quick update of what’s happened so far in the stream. Do this a few times throughout the first 10 minutes of your live stream if you notice your viewer count steadily rising. After that, 5 to 10 minutes, you’ll get a rhythm for it eventually.
Always Interact with Viewers
No one likes talking to a wall. If you don’t interact with your viewers, that’s exactly what the Facebook Livestreaming experience will feel like.
Instead, scroll through the comments and shout out viewers by name, answer their questions, or elaborate on their comments. This makes the experience fun for both the viewers and yourself.
You can also enhance the livestream experience for everyone by assigning a friend or colleague to moderate the comments and interact with viewers throughout the stream—at Edumarketing, our producers help moderate the comments for you so you’re not trying to multitask too much. For instance, as you’re talking about a particular topic, your moderator is scrolling through comments and responding to viewers or queuing up questions for you to answer.
Have a Call-to-Action (CTA)
Throughout the Facebook live video, remember to shout out your call-to-action (CTA). Typical Facebook Live CTAs include:
- Liking the business page
- Subscribing to a video channel or email newsletter
- Sharing the video
- Commenting on the livestream
- Clicking the link in the video description
Remind viewers to do this multiple times throughout the video. But be careful—you don’t want to overdo it and come across as spammy. Again, try it a few different ways, you’ll find the one that’s right for you. It always seems scary to start, because we often try to be perfect. Of course, your first try isn’t going to be the best thing you’ve ever done, but without your first try you’ll never get to your hundredth!
Continue Promoting the Live Stream
Your Facebook live event can be saved as a video and used for future promotions. Generate more demand for future livestreams by continuing to promote your video well after the original livestream. And, as you promote the previous livestream, it’ll keep garnering engagement, which leads new fans to your page and other content. It’s a win-win!
Next week we will be sharing What to Do Once You're Live. Be sure to look for our weekly blog post on Wednesdays!
Get Started with Your First Facebook Livestream
Now that you know how to go live on Facebook, what are you waiting for? Hit that big blue live button and start growing a loyal live stream audience!
Need help honing your message or organizing your Facebook Live strategy or production? Reach out to us today! Our team can help with any aspect of your Facebook production from creating a show outline to having a producer on with you live to moderate your show. But if you never go live, none of this will help you. So, get out there and start streaming, and let us know how it goes!
