Tips for Promoting Your Facebook Live + Bonus Workflows
Facebook makes Facebook Live out to be super simple . . . which it is . . . if all you’re worried about is turning on your camera and clicking “broadcast”. But how do you actually get people to show up live for your broadcast? Facebook is definitely missing a lot of those promotional aspects, so you’re going to need to figure something out. Luckily, I’ve tried to do that for you in today’s post!
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Facebook Lives can be a great way to connect with your audience, provide value, and promote your business.
But they can also be confusing for your viewers - especially if their experience relates mostly to webinars, which can differ from live streams just enough to prompt questions like:
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Where do I find the link for the video?
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Will a replay be available?
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How come I didn’t get a reminder?
And you’ll continue to get questions like this for every live stream you do unless you have some very clear processes and instructions. So below I’m going to address some common issues/stumbling blocks and then below that I’ve got some sample workflows that you can copy/paste and use when promoting your next Facebook Live!
Issue #1: How can people sign up for the Live ahead of time & get reminders?
Facebook live streams aren’t like webinars that have all-in-one promotional functionality. You’ll have to use a variety of different tools to promote depending on how savvy your audience is.
Scheduled Post
If you’ve scheduled your Facebook Live ahead of time (see #2) then there will be a “click to get a reminder” button on your post that people can click - they will get a Facebook notification a few minutes before your scheduled time.
Facebook Event
If you create an event for your live stream, people can RSVP which means they will get reminders several days leading up to your event. This is great, however it does rely on the assumption that people are actually checking their Facebook notifications regularly :)
Email List & Sign Up Form
If it’s better for your reminders to hit peoples’ inboxes then you’re going to have to set up a mailing list to send emails out. You could choose to send reminders to a) everyone on your list, or b) only to those that have indicated they want to attend. If you’re going with B then you’re also going to have to create a form for people to specifically sign up for your Facebook Live so that you know which specific group of people to email (and depending on what details you need to provide, that may involve just a simple form, or you may need to create a landing page with the form on it).
Note: if you do a lot of live streams on a regular basis, asking people to sign up to get reminders for each one is not a good idea - this is best for special, 1-time, or infrequent live streams. If you’re doing livestreams regularly best to make it part of your overall mailing list strategy.
Recommended Tools:
Facebook Messenger Bot
If it’s better for your reminders to hit Facebook Messenger, then you can set up a messenger bot to send the info. It’s similar to how a mailing list works - you need to ask people to opt in for updates and give them a way to unsubscribe.
Recommended Tools:
Issue #2: How can I schedule/give out a link ahead of time?
Unlike regular posts, you can’t schedule a Facebook Live ahead of time unless you are using a third party tool or streaming service. That means that what you do here depends on if you’re using a tool or just using Facebook.
No Third Party Tool (Facebook Only)
Without a specific post to send people to, you will need to give very specific instructions about where they can find the live stream once you are broadcasting.
This could be sharing the link of your page or group and letting people know to go to that link on the correct date/time and refresh the page until the live stream post appears.
If this is the method you choose, I would recommend going live a couple of minutes before the scheduled time to make it easier to find. This also gives you some extra time to share your post to relevant places to help people find it - just keep in mind that while you are doing this admin stuff you are still broadcasting live :)
Third Party Tool
With a 3rd party tool you use it to set up your live stream, which then creates a post on Facebook letting people know you have a live stream starting on the date/time indicated. Because all Facebook posts have a unique URL you now have a specific link you can send people to.
Note: don’t know how to get the unique URL for a Facebook post? The instructions for that can be found over here.
Recommended Tools:
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Zoom
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BeLive
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StreamYard
Issue #3: People can’t find the link for your live stream
This happens a lot when you’re not using a 3rd party tool, even if you have given specific instructions (see #2).
All you can do here is share the link/post as soon as you go live. If you are nervous or bad at multitasking you might want to ask your VA or a friend to do this instead so that you can focus 100% on talking.
Share it wherever people might be looking for it. For example:
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Inside the Facebook Event you created
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Inside your Facebook Group if you’re live on your Page and vice versa
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As a comment on the last post promoting the Facebook Live
Issue #4: People aren’t watching the video after the Live is over
This has to do with promoting your video and getting viewers even after your Live is over. After all, what is the point of putting all of that effort into your live stream if it's just going to sit there and gather dust?
If you have a live stream where the topic is evergreen, then you should do all you can to promote it after the fact and use the existing live streams to help promote the next ones!
Share It
Don’t be afraid to re-share your posts. You can do so simply by hitting the share button, or you can make a new post with the existing video (go to your Publishing Tools > Video Library > click on the video > click Create Post with Video).
The benefits of these methods is that the video stats will keep compiling on the original video and more views = more reach = more views = etc. etc.
And remember, once you have a post, you have a unique URL that you can share on other platforms, in an email, on your website, etc.
Embed It
Like YouTube, Facebook allows you to access the embed code for videos you’ve made. Snag that code and add this video to your website, a blog post, or a landing page.
Compile it With Similar Resources
If you have a lot of Facebook Lives on your Page you can compile them into a playlist that shows up on the Video section of your page - you can give it a title, description, and set the order of the videos.
If you are doing Facebook Lives inside your Group, you could create a learning unit and add them so they can be found in 1 place.
Make it Easy to Consume
This is most relevant for longer videos, but it’s also a good practice for videos of any length:
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Add captions to your video once the broadcast is done
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Add time-stamps to the video description like a table of contents so people can simply fast-forward to the sections they are most interested in
Promote It with Ads
Video view ads are some of the most budget-friendly Facebook ads out there. You can use the existing post (especially if it already has a lot of engagement on it) or you can make a new ad post using the existing video.
Just be aware that your video has to comply with Facebook advertising terms, which are much more strict than the regular terms of use. For example, when I’m live streaming I often swear, which is allowed. But if I tried to promote one of those live streams it would get declined.
Why pay for views? In addition to getting more relevant eyes on your video, any other videos or posts that you put out while your video is running are more likely to get additional eyes on them as well :)
Sample WorkFlows!
Copy & paste these to use in your own task management app :)
Using Facebook Only on a Page
At least 1 week before the live stream:
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Create an event on my page for the live stream
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Make sure the event location is set as my Facebook Page URL
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Mention in the event description that the live stream will be on my page, not in the event, and list the link again
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Invite personal friends to the event who might be interested
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Pin the event post to the top of my Facebook page
In the week leading up to the live stream:
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Post reminders inside the event and to your page
5 minutes before the live stream:
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Create the post and go live 5 minutes early
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Share the post into the Facebook event
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Optional: share the post into your Facebook Group if you have one and the topic is relevant
After the live stream is over:
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Edit your video to choose (or add) the best thumbnail
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Make sure the captions are generating and edit if required
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Update the post description to include a summary of what you discussed, including timestamps, linked to mentioned resources, etc.
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Optional: add the video to an existing playlist
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Optional: download a copy of your video
Using Facebook Only in a Group
At least 1 week before the live stream:
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Create an event in my group for the live stream
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Make sure the event location is set as my Group URL
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Mention in the event description that the live stream will be in the group, not in the event, and list the link again
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Invite all members to the event (note: you can only invite up to 500 group members)
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Mark the event post as an announcement
In the week leading up to the live stream:
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Post reminders inside the group and the event
5 minutes before the live stream:
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Create the post and go live 5 minutes early
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Share the post into the Facebook event
After the live stream is over:
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Edit your video to choose (or add) the best thumbnail
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Update the post description to include a summary of what you discussed, including timestamps, linked to mentioned resources, etc.
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Use YouTube, Otter.ai, Searchie, etc. to generate captions and upload the caption file
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Optional: add the video to an existing unit where other similar resources are stored
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Optional: download a copy of your video
Using 3rd Party Tools on a Page
At least 1 week before the live stream:
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Use your live streaming tool to schedule the live stream post on your page
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Create an event on my page for the live stream
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Make sure the event location is set as the post URL
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Invite personal friends to the event who might be interested
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Pin the live stream post to the top of my Facebook page
In the week leading up to the live stream:
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Email my list with the link to the post URL so they can get Facebook reminders
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Repeat email as required, with a last minute reminder 10 minutes before the event
5 minutes before the live stream:
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Share the post URL into the Facebook event
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Optional: share the post into your Facebook Group if you have one and the topic is relevant
After the live stream is over:
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Edit your video to choose (or add) the best thumbnail
-
Make sure the captions are generating and edit if required
-
Update the post description to include a summary of what you discussed, including timestamps, linked to mentioned resources, etc.
-
Optional: add the video to an existing playlist
-
Optional: download a copy of your video
Using 3rd Party Tools in a Group
Once you choose your tool:
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Authorize the tool to access your Facebook Group
At least 1 week before the live stream:
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Use your live streaming tool to schedule the live stream post in your group
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Create an event in my group for the live stream
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Make sure the event location is set as the post URL
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Invite all members to the event (note: you can only invite up to 500 group members)
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Mark the event post as an announcement
In the week leading up to the live stream:
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If your mailing list can join the group, email them with the link to the post URL so they can get Facebook reminders (if your group is only for a specific segment of your mailing list then make sure you are tagging them properly so that you can sends email only to them)
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Repeat email as required, with a last minute reminder 10 minutes before the event
5 minutes before the live stream:
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Share the post URL into the Facebook event
After the live stream is over:
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Edit your video to choose (or add) the best thumbnail
-
Update the post description to include a summary of what you discussed, including timestamps, linked to mentioned resources, etc.
-
Use YouTube, Otter.ai, Searchie, etc. to generate captions and upload the caption file
-
Optional: add the video to an existing unit where other similar resources are stored
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Optional: download a copy of your video
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