Facebook is by far the world’s largest social network and has changed the way we interact with each other around world. The media giant has given users new ways to connect to each other and share ideas, images, and videos. Now, Facebook Live now lets users do this in real time.
As of May 2017, Facebook is rapidly approaching the 2 billion monthly active user mark, and has experienced approximately 17% increase year over year. As many as 1.15 billion people use Facebook every day.
Facebook Live was originally launched in August of 2015, though it was only available to celebrities and certified personalities. This all changed in Spring of 2016 when the product became available to the rest of the world, now anyone with a Facebook profile can start streaming whatever, and whenever they want. But how do you use it?
Facebook Live is relatively simple to get going. To start, open the app and if you look just below the status box you’ll see a button that says ‘Live’. Pressing the Live button will open your camera and now all you need to do is enter a message about your video, then press Live and you’re live!
That’s the basics at any rate, but if you want to get the most out of Facebook Live there are a few other steps you should take to ensure that you’re reaching as many people as possible.
Before you start broadcasting you should post a status on social media beforehand, alerting people to when and where you will be live. This increases the chances of people being able to catch your stream right from the start.
Ideally you also want to go live when you’ve got a strong connection, we all know how infuriating it is for a video to cut out mid-stream. By ensuring you’re on a strong connection, ideally WiFi, you can minimise the chances of your stream cutting out and reduce the chances of viewers abandoning the experience.
You should also try to write as catchy a description as possible, you want to grab the attention of anyone who stumbled upon your stream. It also helps to tag anyone you’re streaming with as this will help to capitalise on their followers and subscribers also, greatly increasing your reach.
Now you should have an idea of how to establish your Live presence, but what about the actual content of your stream? Well, as you stream you’ll notice that there is a comment section at the bottom of the screen, for viewers to comment on what’s happening. Successful streamers should take note of this and try to reference those who ask questions, make comments, or just say hello. This level of community engagement can go a long way.
Similarly, you should also remind those viewing your stream to subscribe and/or update their notifications so that they know each time you go live. This will help to maximise your returning viewers.
These are the basics of how to stream and how interact with your viewers, but it’s up to you to decide what kind of content you stream.
