Facebook Live is a valuable tool for engagement on social media. It allows for real-time connection and interaction with an audience, injecting authenticity into digital conversations.

Viewers feel an immediate and personal connection, transcending traditional online communication.

When used strategically, Facebook Live cultivates an active community that shapes the unfolding narrative, making it worthwhile for content creators and businesses.

Here’s how to use it effectively. 

Plan ahead: Outline key points or topics for your live session. A structured plan keeps your content focused and engaging.

Promote in advance: Generate excitement by announcing the date and time of your live session. Share posts or create events beforehand to attract viewers.

Engage with your audience: Interact in real-time, greet by name, respond to comments, and address questions to foster community.

Add Value: Provide valuable content that resonates with your audience. Make sure your live sessions are educational, entertaining, or informative.

Save and Share: Save the video after the live session for later viewing. Share snippets or highlights to repurpose the content on other platforms.

The key to successful Facebook Live sessions is thoughtful planning, audience engagement, and consistently delivering valuable content.

It can be valuable, especially if you have an active audience. There are also still some creators that do well with Facebook Live that you could potential leverage depending on your topic area. Something to ask yourself is why Facebook Live over live options on IG, TikTok and LinkedIn or even just a webinar. Choose the place that makes most sense for your audience. 

From a B2C perspective, I’ve seen Facebook Live work well -- the key is promotion in advance. Promo of what the person will be experiencing (behind the scenes vs webinar) including setting expectations for level of engagement. But the best success I’ve seen has been in regular live sessions -- again, because you’re setting expectations for the audience.

From my B2B experience, it hasn’t been super successful, but that’s also because it was a livestream of an in-person event and it wasn’t possible to track ROI for the effort it took to put the livestream together.

I think so. I actually would like to do more of this in the coming year. I have found that if we pop on FB Live just before an online event we are having we have better attendance at the event.. also being with a school I would like to get our admins in for some live Q&A and town hall type sessions.. 

Asking why you’re doing it is really important, and knowing if there will be people looking for ROI or simply engagement data.

I would like to know how people manage to do a live on one platform (FB) and then ignore their audience on another (IG)?

Facebook Lives can be valuable! My advice is to choose the platform where your audience is the most active/engaged with your content.