We’ve experimented with Facebook Live to enhance our brand awareness, and are passing along tips and tricks we’ve learned to those who haven’t taken the plunge.

Diving head first into the world of live videos can be daunting, but going live on Facebook is a hugely effective way to get your brand to stand out. Not only does it give you a free platform to boost brand awareness, it also provides you with the opportunity to humanize yourself and appear authentic instead of coming across as an advertisement.

Here at ReminderMedia, we’ve experimented with Facebook Live, and have picked up a few tips and tricks we think will be useful to small businesses who may be thinking about using it, but haven’t yet taken the plunge.

1. Don’t let your fear stop you

You’ll get more comfortable being on the spot the more you do it. Keep in mind, the whole point of Facebook Live is to be a bit more unpolished and raw than traditional digital marketing. Use this to your advantage and fake it ‘til you make it!

2. Check your service beforehand

Before you start streaming live, make sure you have good cell phone reception or Wi-Fi. You’ll want to avoid the dreaded “trying to reconnect” screen while being live; it will pause your stream for viewers and may cause them to drop off.

3. Keep moving

From our experience, the more movement and activity going on in your live videos, the better your viewership will be. Now, this part is up to you, but walking around with your laptop webcam might not be the most graceful thing in the world. Stick with a cellphone if you’re going to be moving around.

We’ve seen that viewers tend to hang on and watch longer when we’re walking around rather than just standing in one spot talking. Our most successful live video [in terms of minutes viewed], involved us moving from one side of our building to the other in a span of 10 minutes. It may or may not have included a coworker diving through a life-size Jenga set as well, but that’s for another day.

*Pro-tip: If you want to do a webinar-style live video, your computer may be the better option. Experiment with scheduling out your live videos! It’ll allow you to give your fans a heads-up about your upcoming event, and them the option to receive reminders. (Currently only available on the desktop version of Facebook.)

4. Create engagement

Engagement rules Facebook, so to make sure your content has a greater reach, be sure to encourage comments, likes, and shares.

Our engagement success came in the form of a Halloween live video where our president tried to guess our costumes. We asked our audience to guess along with him by making our caption to the video, “Can you guess our PUNy costumes?” This visible call-to-action made people want to play along with us, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s one of our best performing live videos to date.

Other ideas could include games like trivia or live Q&As. Make sure to be responsive to comments by answering questions while streaming (it helps to have someone doing this for you while you engage your audience) or simply giving a viewer a “thank you for watching” shout-out.

5. Mix up your content

When you become predictable with your content, it comes across as stale to the viewers. Create excitement around your brand by changing up your topics each time. We have yet to even scratch the surface of what’s possible on Facebook Live, but each week we try to come up with something different. Consider offering industry advice that your viewers can take immediate action on, broadcasting a live event, or just being personable and showing behind-the-scenes shots of your workspace or a weekend outing. Can you say live open house?

*Pro-tip: Put your live stream on double-duty and have it serve as a behind-the-scenes video as well as a teaser for another event. We hosted a webinar on our customers most asked questions and decided to go live as we got ready for it. This gave our viewers a look at other content we produce and it also let people know they could still register if they hadn’t already.

6. Continuously provide content

Facebook will alert some of your fans that you’ve just started a live video. It’s important to keep in mind that not everyone will be able to watch from the beginning, so remind viewers what you are doing throughout your stream so they are not left in the dark.

For example, if you started reading from this sentence, you’d be very confused about what I was talking about. But, lucky for you, I’m here to remind you that we are making you a pro at live Facebook videos! See how easy that was?

*Pro-tip: If you’re feeling savvy, ask your viewers to subscribe to live notifications!

7. Stay live for longer

Facebook allows a max live stream time of four hours. We don’t recommend staying live for that long, but having your live video go on for a minimum of 10+ minutes is beneficial. This will allow more time for your viewers to be either alerted that you are live and hop on, or see your video organically in their newsfeed.

8. Edit your video thumbnail

Most of us try to put our most flattering pictures on Facebook. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case when it comes to your live video thumbnails. Once your stream has ended, Facebook will take a frame [usually from a point where there was high viewership] and turn it into the video’s cover image. Take it from us – edit and update!

With all these tips in your back pocket, you’re ready rock the world of live video! But, for a little extra boost of self-assurance, download our free Facebook Live Checklist and get ready to make your brand shine.