How To Set Up Camera To Do Live Video On Facebook

I can still recall rushing habitation from high school to sentry TRL. For those of you unfamiliar, TRL (Total Request Live) was a live circulate from MTV studio in Times Square, where the one and only Carson Daly would count downwardly the 10 most popular music videos in the state. I was so impressed past the fact that Carson and his guests were able to appear and so calm, cool, and collected on LIVE television!

No, this post is not about my long-time obsession with TRL, merely rather a new live video trend for marketers: Facebook Alive.

Nowadays alive video is popular non but for big dissemination networks, but likewise for small businesses. With alive video becoming a trendy (and constructive!) tool for digital marketers, this guide volition teach you everything you need to know to grow your audience with Facebook Live.

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What is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live is a live video streaming feature on Facebook that allows you to broadcast a alive video out to your audience through your company page or personal profile. Facebook Live was released in April of 2016, and while many marketers are still getting their heads around it, the ones who are using it seem to be reaping the benefits.

In one case a Facebook Live video is created information technology volition reside on your page or contour for viewers who missed the live event to view. Videos are eligible to evidence upwards in an individual's news feed during the live issue, every bit well as after the outcome has concluded. Yet, the chances of seeing a video while it's live are now higher since Facebook has updated their ranking algorithm to bear witness more than live videos that are streaming in real-time.

Businesses using Facebook live on their pages have the ability to customize and control their audience once it has concluded. Page followers and visitors may get a notification when a folio or individual is going alive.

Why (and How) You Should Use Facebook Live

Past now, y'all take likely heard how constructive video marketing is, but did you know Facebook Live videos receive 3X college appointment than a video that is no longer alive? Facebook Live videos also receive 5X more than than standard photo posts, according to AdWeek.

Whether y'all're trying to raise make awareness, get more leads in the door, or increase interactions with your current customers, Facebook Alive is a tool yous should be using. Below are 5 ways you lot should exist using Facebook Live in your marketing campaigns:

#i: To Connect with Your Audience in the Most Genuine, Man Manner Possible

Do you lot always experience similar your audience sees you as a corporate, stuffy robot? Well, there couldn't exist a better manner to connect with your followers and potential customers than live video. Information technology's essentially like meeting your customers in person, since the outcome is happening "face to confront" and in real fourth dimension. Facebook Live gives you a chance to show there are existent, caring humans behind your business, which in plow builds trust and leads to more business concern in the door.

#two: To Respond Questions in Real Time

Interacting with your followers doesn't have to be limited to when you happen to be checking back in on your company Facebook page. Facebook Alive allows you to answer your followers' questions in real-fourth dimension. This gives you lot an opportunity to engage with viewers when they're almost interested.

The best strategy to practise this effectively is to create a recurring serial. Sephora provides a nifty example with their "Scouted by Sephora" series, where they share information effectually less well-known makeup products, and answer questions as they come up.

To nail this strategy, be consistent with the fourth dimension and mean solar day of week y'all get live, feature hosts that aren't afraid to show off their personalities, and ensure you accept someone at the ready to monitor questions and so you can answer them either in real-time in the comments or in the actual broadcast itself.

#3: To Showcase an Event to People Who Couldn't Nourish In Real Life

Facebook Alive is a great way to broadcast events and connect with your customers or leads who weren't able to attend. Perhaps you have a guest speaker come into your office or your CEO is speaking at a local outcome. As long as you have a stiff cyberspace connection and the permissions to stream the outcome live, you should absolutely do it!

A small marketing bureau headquartered in Sarasota, FL does a slap-up job at promoting and streaming their alive events. Bank check out the post below where they broadcasted a invitee speaker from HubSpot to ensure those who weren't able to nourish in person could still get value out of her workshop on email marketing.

#iv: To Share Manufacture-Related Updates

Keeping your audience informed on manufacture trends without beingness overly sales-focused is a much more than natural way to build trusted followers on Facebook. People will start turning to you as their become-to source to stay informed on manufacture news, and you'll build a loyal and engaged following.

Take social media direction tool Hootsuite as a solid example. Hootsuite started a series called #HootLive where they broadcast the latest social media news Live on their feed.

Hootsuite's #HootLive series shows their audition that they intendance almost keeping them informed and sharing their noesis, while being able to appoint and answer their questions in real fourth dimension.

#5: To Show Off Your Visitor Culture

Facebook Live is the platonic opportunity to show off the unique personalities and values behind your company, whether it be strolling effectually the office and showing off your space, interviewing employees, or sharing a sneak peek into a company outing or outcome. Sharing your civilisation with your audience has so many long-term benefits whether information technology exist for recruiting new hires, or getting new followers interested in your 18-carat brand.

At Wistia, we've found that sharing our culture with our audience has been i of the most benign ways to grow the business and build brand advocates. Below, cheque out how our social team is using Live Video to give our audition a sneak peek behind one of our video shoots. The comments really say it all.

This strategy worked peculiarly well because it was not only showing off our culture, simply it's besides relevant to the product, and helps requite video creators an inside expect into how we exercise things at Wistia.

How Do I Get Started with Facebook Alive?

At present that you've got some inspiration, it's time to become the wheels turning with Facebook Live. The expert news is that it's quite simple to create your first live video. All yous need is a mobile device or desktop computer that has a solid photographic camera or webcam and microphone.

Hither are 5 like shooting fish in a barrel steps to become started:

Step #1: Select the "Live Video Button"

If y'all're on a mobile device or going alive from your Facebook profile rather than a Facebook company page, a minor button will appear when drafting a post that says "Alive Video." Select it to get started!

If you're going live from a Facebook page on your desktop, you'll run into a box that says "Live Video" below the mail box, like the i below.

Step #2: Write a Click-Worthy Description

Your clarification and video thumbnail are by the far the most important pieces of your video. Without compelling copy to entice your viewers, your alive video isn't going to get much if whatever traction.

When writing your copy, ensure it'due south directly, actionable, and informative, with a hint of mystery to spark curiosity in your viewers.

For additional tips on writing click-worthy headlines, check out this postal service on 9 Tips for Writing Not bad Headlines in 2017.

Step #three: Make it Position & Hit "Become Live!"

Put on your finest brawl-gown, and style your hair! Or you tin go the more casual, authentic route (recommended) like the image of me below working from my parents' dining room (I swear my hand is not that large in existent life).

PRO TIP: If you're filming a recurring series like the examples above from Hootsuite and Sephora, try to maintain an air of consistency. While you don't necessarily need to wear the same outfit in every episode, use the aforementioned "set" and gear up up your photographic camera in the same place and altitude away from the episode hosts in each mail. It may likewise be worth looking into purchasing an external microphone to meliorate audio.

Stride #4: Click "Finish" Once Your Postal service is Done

Exist aware of where the "finish" button is (at the bottom of the folio) and then y'all tin can give a proper sign-off.

Step #5: Post Your Alive Video on Your Page & Brand Any Desired Edits

Once you're no longer live, your video can nevertheless alive on for fashionably late viewers to relish. Share your video on your page, and make whatsoever edits y'all need to the description, thumbnail, add explanation, etc.!

16 Facebook Live Best Practices

Aside from the obvious tips, like having a stiff and dependable net connection, yous may be curious how else yous tin ready your Facebook Alive video on the path to video viewing success.

Here are 16 easy tips to ameliorate your Facebook Alive video recording, leading to more than eyes on your content.

#i: Face a Window!

Far too ofttimes I meet these awful video recordings that are glaringly bright and hard to focus on because the star of the video has their back to a window, like the image beneath. Yikes!

Facing a window volition give you a cute source of natural lite, and make yous appear clear in your video frame. Just check out the difference in the before and after photos below.

Video with my back to a window

Video facing a window

PRO TIP: Remove your glasses when filming! They pick up additional glare, which can be distracting.

#2: Motion picture Horizontally on Your Mobile Device

Mobile filmers have the natural urge to film vertically since this is just how y'all're used to using your phone, but flipping your phone to a horizontal view yields a much nicer sized video. Horizontal videos look better all around, especially when displayed on the news feed.

PRO TIP: On mobile, you lot can also use that little edit button in the top left hand corner to add together a beautiful filter and enhance the frame fifty-fifty more.

#iii: Create a Few Practice Videos on Your Contour Folio

Before ripping the bandaid off and going alive, you should examination things out by creating a practise video restricted to your eyes only. Y'all can do this past going to your own Facebook contour, and selecting "Merely Me" before recording.

This will allow you to "go loose" and comfortable on the camera. It will also help ensure the lighting and sound are upwards to your standards. For example, I tin can tell from the mail below that I did not accept my own advice from tip #ane.

#iv: Get Personal

The beauty of Facebook Live is that it allows you to share your experiences in real time, and make a more human connection with your audience. Accept this a step further by sharing some bits of your life to connect with your audience on a more personal level.

No, you lot don't need to give away your social security number or dive into the details of your messy breakup, but share something positive from your life, like the example from Plated beneath.

In this Facebook Live plated video Michelle, Plated's Test Kitchen Manager, cooked a special recipe with her dad for Begetter'southward Day.

This is such a dainty fashion of sharing a function of Michelle's earth that a lot of her viewers tin can likely chronicle to, and seeing the connection between her and her father definitely evokes positive emotions from viewers.

#5: Grinning, and Be Properly Caffeinated!

At Wistia, we film a LOT of videos in house, and one tip e'er provided past our video producers is to bring energy and speak with a smile. This is something critical to remember when filming Facebook Live videos considering y'all only have one accept once y'all're alive!

Listening to a monotone, unfriendly vocalism selling a product volition put everyone in the audience to sleep. On the other hand, watching a video of an private with an energetic and friendly demeanor will evoke positive feelings in your viewers and keep them hooked. Speak with a smile, wake up with some caffeine, and most importantly, exist yourself.

#six: Embrace Modest Mistakes

Then you stuttered on a give-and-take multiple times? Or perchance you had one piece of hair that was sticking upward the entire time? Maybe yous burnt a piece of toast on your Facebook Live cooking show?

With live video, these mishaps are bound to happen, and these things are actually what makes alive video so much fun. Rather than getting embarrassed and catastrophe the video mid-mode through, embrace your mishaps. Make fun of your pilus, and laugh at the fact that yous're a professional chef that always burns toast! This will add together personality to your video, and as well assistance your audition come across that you're a real homo, with flaws, just similar them!

#7: Ask Your Viewers to Interact

Y'all're probable aware that posts with more likes, comments, shares, and views are prioritized on the news feed. Facebook's algorithms recognize popular content, and really go far even more popular without the advertiser needing to pay extra for more eyes.

Don't be like this

Interaction on your videos too gives them a vote of authority, and provides new viewers with confidence that they're non wasting their fourth dimension on snooze-worthy content. To gain more interaction encourage information technology from your viewers! During the broadcast ask questions, and then ask your viewers to answer in the comments. Enquire them to similar and share the post. Perhaps fifty-fifty run a live contest asking them to similar, share and comment on the postal service to be entered into a costless giveaway raffle.

#8: Have Someone Monitor Comments and Feed You Questions

With Facebook Alive it tin be hard to host your video and reply to comments at the same time, which is why you should have a colleague answering your comments in text class, and prompting yous to respond the most relevant questions during the actual broadcast.

"One of the most amazing opportunities Facebook Alive offers is the ability to engage with your followers," says Christine Austin from Affect. "With reactions, comments, and viewer numbers shown in real-fourth dimension, you can prompt responses by asking and answering questions in your broadcast."

#9: Call Out Your Commenters by Name

When answering questions over your broadcast make sure you call out the user past their starting time name. This helps build even more of a connection, and will make them experience special that you chose to answer their question live.

#10: Give an Actionable Sign-Off

The worst thing y'all can do is merely casually push the finish button and so walk away. Rather, give a proper sign-off with an actual ending for adjacent steps.

Later on the broadcast, what practise you want your viewers to practise? Subscribe to your live video channel? Visit your Facebook folio for a discount code? Share the recording on their folio? Whatever information technology may be, be certain to cease your Facebook Live post with something actionable for your viewers to exercise.

Here's a not bad sign-off example from Refinery29 where they restate their names, give thanks viewers for tuning in, and encourage them to check out their "very absurd shoes" using the link at the bottom of the video.

#eleven: Upload a Custom Thumbnail

Your thumbnail image is the first, nearly prominent affair people will see after your video is live, so y'all demand it to be compelling!

In one case your video appears on your folio later on recording, click "edit video," and you'll run into an icon (like the one below), which will allow you to upload a custom thumbnail paradigm.

Typically, choosing a high-quality paradigm of a person with minimal distractions is what will yield the best results to get late viewers to click play and tune into your Facebook Live recording. Yous can likewise upload an prototype with text overlay to give Facebook browsers an instant hint into what the video content is about before they melody in.

#12: Pivot Your Mail to the Top of Your News Feed

Like to how you pin a tweet on Twitter, you can pin your alive video to the acme of your newsfeed to get more than traction. Take reward of this to ensure information technology'south the kickoff thing people see when visiting your folio.

#13: Add Captions to Your Video

I don't know well-nigh you, merely I often gyre through my Facebook news feed when loved ones around me are sleeping. Whether y'all're effectually resting family members, in a loud setting like a motorcoach or train stop, or just attempting not to disturb the people around yous, viewing videos without audio is quite mutual present. That's where captions come in.

Not only that, but captions make your video more attainable to a larger audience. Make certain to add together captions to your Facebook video by either generating them through Facebook or uploading your own SRT file.

#14: If Your Video was a Real Striking, Make it the Featured Video

Changing the settings of your alive video to a "Featured Video" volition permit it to appear forepart and center on your page, equally well as your video page, driving even more eyes to it.

#15: Promote Your Video After the Fact

Once your video is washed livestreaming you can boost your mail and run an advertising campaign just like on your other Facebook videos and posts. Accept advantage of the audition and geo-targeting features to get your recorded live video in front of a larger simply nevertheless relevant audience.

#16: Analyze Your Masterpiece

After your video has been upward for a few days, become into your "Insights" tab to estimate how your Facebook Live video performed.

At that place you'll be able to meet all of the same metrics you tin can from pre-recorded videos like minutes viewed, unique viewers, video views, ten-second views, average % completed, number of reactions, comments, and shares. Facebook Live videos also provide metrics around peak live viewers, total views, average view time people reached, and demographics of who watched.

Using these metrics will allow you to proceed to perfect your Facebook Live video strategy going forrard.

This guide should get you lot on the right path to Facebook Live streaming success! Feel complimentary to exit comments below if you have any other questions, tips, or communication you'd like to share from your own live streaming experiences.

PS: For live video tips on other social media platforms, cheque out our blog posts on Instagram Live, YouTube Live, and fifty-fifty how to go live on TikTok. Check em out!

Source: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/07/31/facebook-live-guide

Posted by: kennedymiltrared1985.blogspot.com

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