Devote Digital

5 Reasons To Use Facebook Live

We’re sure by now you’ve watched a Facebook Live of someone you follow, and perhaps you’ve even tried one or two yourself. In any case, you may also be scratching your head a little trying to figure out what all the fuss is about? Read on as we share our top 5 reasons to use  Facebook Live as part of your ongoing digital strategy.

Here are 5 reasons to use Facebook Live:

  1. Better engagement: Users are tuning in to watch and engage - not just passively viewing your content
  2. Real-time connections: Hear and reply to questions or comments from your community
  3. Quick, easy and free: Remove costly and time consuming video and editing processes and go live instead
  4. Legacy: The post doesn’t disappear at the end of the live recording - you can opt to leave it on your page so that it has legacy and continues to clock up views and engagement. You can even advertise the post to reach people beyond your own page!

Results: The results are hard to top - like 7044% more comments compared to regular posts!

               

 

1. It’s not passive viewing. Your audience is actually tuning in to watch your Facebook Live videos

We all get stuck in the ‘scroll-hole’ on social media from time to time. Sure, we’re seeing some of what’s on the screen, but are we really engaging?

When you go live, your audience is actually TUNING in to watch. You can even have your users subscribe to receive notifications that your brand has gone live, which means you get a rare direct line to their notifications centre on Facebook.

Even if they don’t subscribe, Facebook will often send them a notification anyway to let them know your page has gone live.

An example of Facebook sending a user a notification for a live video that is currently streaming.

2. Facebook Live offers Real-time connections

Not only can your users receive notifications that you’ve gone live, but they can also comment or ask questions throughout the stream, creating a personal experience between consumers of your content and your brand.

You could do live AMA (Ask Me Anything) type posts, interviews, gear reviews, event coverage and more.

3. Facebook Live Videos are Cost-effective, authentic and efficient to produce

To get started with Facebook Live, the bare minimum you need is a smartphone or computer. That’s it! You don’t need a $2000 DSLR camera or to pay a videographer and editor to connect with people in your niche.

Because live is unedited and mostly unscripted, it also gives your audience a chance to see your authenticity shine through. Even if you’d like to step your live game up, tripods, some basic lighting and even microphones are available for all budgets. “Be Live” and other 3rd party software allows you to add graphics, split screens and other features if that suits the theme of your videos.

4. Legacy

It is also worth mentioning that a Facebook live stream stays on the main “wall”  of your page as a static post, even after the video ends. As long as you don’t delete it, users can still engage with your post like any regular form of content.

This means that your 5-10 minutes (or more!) of live stream effort can stay on your page and continue generating views for days to come.

Because the post remains on your page, you can also “social proof” the Facebook page post (this is our fancy, better way of boosting a post!) to reach even more of the people who matter to your brand.

5. Facebook Live results are incredible!

As if the above reasons weren’t enough to convince you, social media management tool Agorapulse conducted an experiment which pitted their live streams against their regular posts to see which came out on top.

The results were impressive::

  • 431% increase in Reactions on Facebook Live videos
  • 7044% increase in Comments on Facebook Live videos
  • 2538% increase in shares on Facebook Live videos
A great visual representation as to the disparity between live video engagement and other forms of content - we know which results we prefer!

How to go live on facebook

We've mapped out 8 easy steps below to going live on Facebook!

STEP 1: TAP "PUBLISH" TO BEGIN YOUR POST.
STEP 2: TYPE A DESCRIPTION AS YOU WOULD FOR ANY NORMAL POST, THEN TAP THE RED VIDEO CAMERA ICON.​
STEP 3: THE MENU AT THE BOTTOM WILL CHANGE. PRESS THE RED CAMERA ICON ONCE MORE.​
STEP 4: YOUR VIDEO WILL BEGIN LOADING. AFTER DOING SO YOU'LL SEE THIS SCREEN. YOU CAN SELECT FACE FILTERS AND OTHER OPTIONS, BUT TO START NORMALLY, TAP "START LIVE VIDEO".​
STEP 5: ONCE YOU'VE FINISHED YOUR LIVE VIDEO, TAP FINISH TO END.
STEP 6: BEFORE YOU EXIT, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD YOUR VIDEO TO YOUR PHONE'S GALLERY TO REPURPOSE AT A LATER DATE.​
STEP 7: TAP "POST" AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SCREEN TO POST YOUR LIVE VIDEO TO YOUR WALL.​
STEP 8: YOUR POST WILL NOW BE DISPLAYED ON YOUR WALL AND IN THE NEWS FEED. THIS ALLOWS YOUR FOLLOWERS TO LIKE, COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR CONTENT LIKE ANY REGULAR POST!​

 

Did you know you can schedule a Facebook Live video? This allows you to let your community know ahead of time that you'll be going live, and they can get a reminder to tune in! Find out how to schedule a Facebook live video in one of our other blogs!"

The best way to get started on Facebook Live is to jump in and have a go! Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly polished, it’s not supposed to be. Worst case scenario, you can delete it from your page at the end!

It may be daunting at first, but there are definitely leaniancies to live streaming. Since it isn’t being edited and chances are your production staff includes you and maybe one other, your audience is going to understand that it is simply you projecting your authentic and honest views about what you’re discussing, or the event you’re streaming.

So what are you waiting for? Jump in and give Facebook Live a try! Reach out and let us know if you have any other questions, or how you’re own Facebook lives are going!