A few years ago Facebook began offering a Facebook Live option. This feature allows you to host live video events through your Facebook page. This can be a great way to share your event with your alumni and followers as well as engage with your viewers. The recording of the live event will be published to your Facebook page for others to watch later.
And good news! This feature is available in Facebook business pages AND Facebook Groups. All chapters with Facebook pages can use it!
Start Your Facebook Live Event
To get started, open up the Facebook app on your mobile device. Note: you can do a live event from your desktop or laptop computer but I assume you’ll likely only do these on location where you will not have a PC.
Step 1: Open up your Facebook page and start a post.
Note: I manage my chapter’s Facebook page using the Facebook Pages Manager app.
Step 2: Enter a description of your Live post in the “What’s on your mind?” section. Select Go Live from the options to start your broadcast.
Give your broadcast a description, which will show up on people’s News Feeds like a status update above the video. To get people to tune in, write an attention-grabbing headline and help them understand what your broadcast is about.
Step 3: Tag friends, choose your location, or add an activity.
Tap the icons at the bottom of your screen to tag people who are in the Facebook Live video, add the location from where you’re shooting, or share what you’re doing in the broadcast. These touches can add more personalization to your video, increase discoverability, and make people want to tune in.
Step 4: Add a theme or change the lens or filter that will display in your broadcast.
I recommend using the Live Video theme which allows people to see you and your surroundings clearly; however, I found a fun filter for my school when I scrolled through the filters (the magic wand icon).
Step 5: Make sure your camera is ready to go.
Do one last camera check to make sure your broadcast will be a success. Be sure your camera’s pointing in the right direction. Check your lighting. Make sure you are safe if you plan to walk while broadcasting. Use the icons at the bottom of the page to adjust these features as needed.
Pro tip: You can choose if you want the image to be horizontally or vertically mirrored, too. Tap the magic wand icon in the corner of your screen, then tap the tools icon at the bottom of your screen to film from a different view or to adjust the video’s brightness.
Step 6: Click the Start Live Video button and give it a few seconds to start.
By the look on my face, this is serious business.
Step 7: You’re live! Now start talking.
A few tips for your broadcast:
- Start with who you are, where you are and what you’re doing. The longer the broadcast, the more times you need to repeat this.
- Make sure to introduce others who join you in your broadcast
- Ask your viewers to follow you, like this post and adds their comments
- Broadcast for at least 10 min to maximize the amount of people who will get to see you
- Get creative. Make sure your live broadcast stands out!
Your broadcast can be up to 90 minutes long. Keep in mind that the longer you broadcast, the more people who are scrolling through their News Feeds on Facebook will stumble upon your post.
Step 8: Interact with viewers and commenters.
To keep your viewers engaged, encourage them to interact with your live video (which will help your ranking in others’ News Feeds). You can also interact with them both by speaking directly to them in your video and, if you are setup for it, by having someone else respond to comments from their desktop computer or mobile device.
While you’re broadcasting, you’ll see the time elapsed at the top of the recording along with the number of viewers. The comments will show up live on the bottom of your feed. They’ll appear in reverse chronological order.
Source: Facebook Newsroom
Note: You can block viewers during a live broadcast by tapping the profile picture next to a viewer’s comment and then tapping “Block.” You can unblock someone you’ve previously blocked, too.
Step 9: Click “Finish” to end the broadcast.
The video will stop and begin to save. This may take a few minutes for longer broadcasts.
Step 10: Post your replay and save the video to your Facebook page.
Once you finish your broadcast, you’ll see the screen below. If you want to post it, just click Keep and it’ll be posted to your Facebook page. Don’t like what you see or you were just testing? Click Discard.
Step 11: You’re done.
You can always go back to the post on your Timeline or Page and edit the description, change the privacy settings, or delete the video, just like you would any other post.
Facebook Live Tips
- Promote your live event before the event. Let people know what time to tune in to see you.
- Test before going live
- Use them sporadically but spontaneously
- Keep reintroducing yourself, who you represent and what you are doing throughout the live event. Remember, not everyone will join you from the beginning.
- Encourage your watchers to engage with the video by liking, commenting and sharing.
- Engage with your audience by verbally responding to their comments and calling them out by name. (Note: have someone monitoring the comments so they can help you with that.)
- Broadcast for at least 10 minutes.
- Thank people for watching and let them know that you are ending the broadcast.
The Alumni Club Ambassador 