What Is Facebook Live And How To Use It

In recent years, live video on social networks has become one of the favorite formats of users, and of course, Facebook had to join this trend. Its streaming platform, Facebook Live, offers brands a very powerful tool to generate engagement and connect with the audience. In this guide, we will see what it is, how it works and what it can contribute to your marketing.

What Is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live is a Facebook streaming tool that allows you to broadcast live videos on this social network, both through the computer and from mobiles. The sender of a video can tell who can see it.

For brands, Facebook Live is a very useful resource for engaging with your audience at key moments and events. Users can communicate with the issuer through reactions (“I like”, “I love”, etc.) or with comments. Since live broadcasts easily capture the attention of users, Facebook “rewards” this type of content, enhancing its reach.

In addition to using Facebook Live for commercial purposes, it is interesting to know that live broadcasts on Facebook can also be used for charitable purposes. Pages that meet the requirements for Facebook’s non-profit organizations can add a “Make a donation” button to their live videos and in this way raise funds for charitable causes, whether their own or from third parties.

Why Incorporate Facebook Live Into Your Marketing Strategy?

1. Because It Is A Profitable Way To Do Video Marketing

Marketers are aware of the advantages of video marketing, but sometimes it is still perceived that creating video content is a long and expensive process.

Facebook Live takes the pressure off of making perfectly edited and produced videos, as most users expect authenticity first and foremost on live streams. Therefore, it is not necessary to have expensive equipment or spend hours editing.

2. Because It Helps You Connect With The Audience

According to Hubspot, videos on Facebook Live generate three times more engagement than traditional videos. The interaction in real-time generates a feeling of connection and makes broadcasts become an event that users want to be a part of.

In that sense, the boom in live broadcasts during the world confinement of 2020 is not surprising: watching live videos and interacting with people behind the scenes make us feel part of a community, as well as being interesting as entertainment.

3. Because You Can Organize Events At Low Cost

Facebook Live is a great tool for “kicking off” special occasions, at a much lower cost than a non-virtual event would. In particular, many brands have successfully used it for product launches.

The magic of the live shows that the viewer does not know what is going to happen, and that generates anticipation and emotion in the viewer. With a proper promotional campaign, you can get users on the go and connect every time you post a new video to stay on top of what’s new.

4. Because It Generates Traffic To Your Page

The Facebook algorithm likes live videos, and they also have great potential to generate engagement. Combined, these two factors make them highly visible and serve as a “magnet” to attract users to your Facebook page and thus develop your online community.

5. Because They Include Integrated Analytics

Facebook’s analysis tool, Page Insights, allows you to obtain detailed information on the performance of your live broadcasts so that you can understand in depth what is happening and make the necessary adjustments to your video marketing strategy.

In particular, I recommend paying attention to these metrics:

• Performance of the publication: here you can see the results of both the publication and the video itself and compare the live broadcasts with other types of content.
• Engagement Percentage: The percentage of users who performed an action related to your video, such as sharing, clicking or commenting. You can easily see which videos have managed to generate more interaction to replicate the keys to their success.
• Spectator retention: number of views and peak of users who have seen the video at the same time.
• Clicks: Here you can see the users who have specifically clicked on your video (instead of automatically playing in their latest news section) and clicks on calls to action, page title, or “See more” links.
• Organic and paid scope of the issue.
• Negative Reactions: Here you can see how many people have hidden the post, marked it as spam, or stopped following your page.

How To Use Facebook Live?

1. From phone

With Facebook Live you can make live broadcasts from a page, group, profile, or event through the Facebook application (both in Android and iOS versions). You just have to follow these steps:

• Enter the page, group, or event from which you want to transmit.
• Go into the post editor and tap the Direct button (at the bottom).
• Edit the video description. In addition to writing an explanation about your video topic, you can also tag friends, record a visit to a location, or add feelings or activities.
• Tap Start Live Video. You’re already streaming! When you want to finish, touch Finish.

2. With A Camera And Specialized Software (Live Producer)

If you want to make your live videos look more professional, you can use Live Producer, a new way to do live broadcasts on Facebook with a camera and streaming software (also called “encoder” or “encoding software”).

Depending on the type of content you intend to transmit, one encoder or another will be more suitable. You can choose from several programs, including open-source software.

3. How To Schedule A Broadcast With Facebook Live

With Live Producer, you can schedule a live broadcast up to a week in advance. In this way, you can keep your audience up to date with future broadcasts and increase engagement.

When you schedule a live broadcast on Facebook Live, these two posts are automatically created:

• A notice post, which is posted on your page to alert the followers of your next broadcast. Users who see this notice will be able to click the “Receive Reminder” button to have the page send them a notification shortly before the transmission begins.
• A live broadcast publication. At the start time you have scheduled, a post will be created automatically with the live broadcast and another notification will be sent to interested users with the link to it.

4. How To Moderate Comments

Once you have started your live broadcast with Live Producer, you will see user comments in the left column. You’ll also see a drop-down menu with different options to moderate them :

• Frequency limitation: Only one comment can be made every 10 seconds.
• Conversation: The chat will only show comments that contain at least 100 characters.
• Follower: Only followers will be able to comment.
• Restricted: Only followers whose accounts are at least two weeks old can comment.
• Protected: Only people who have followed you for at least 15 minutes can leave comments.

How To Invite Other People To Your Streaming

You can add guests to your Live Producer broadcast through platforms like Be. Live, Stage Ten, or easylive.io. You can also do a live broadcast on Facebook with multiple participants through video conferencing software, such as Zoom or BlueJeans.