Leveraging the Power of Live with Facebook
Going live on Facebook creates levels of engagement and visibility that you can’t achieve by posting written content or even sharing pre-recorded video. In fact, according to a study from the website Livestream, 80 percent of web users would rather watch live video from a brand than view any other type of content. Also, many social media experts (including Kim) believe that Facebook’s algorithms prioritize video in general and live video in particular over other types of content in users’ feeds.
Creating an engaging Facebook Live experience for your audience doesn’t require expensive gear or pro audio equipment, Kim tells us, but it does take planning and an understanding of the platform. So how should attorneys go about planning and executing a Facebook Live session? According to Kim, some of the keys include:
- Make sure you have your equipment set up ahead of time. If you go live from an indoor location, you can get by with just a smartphone, but if you’re outside, you’ll need a headset with a mic to cut down on wind noise and other ambient sounds. Also, spending a few dollars to get a tripod for your smartphone can make your recordings look much more professional and keep you from having to worry about holding your phone constantly.
- Don’t go live on Facebook if you’ve never used your phone to record video of yourself. Practice using your phone to record selfie-style videos and get familiar with how the process works on your device before trying to execute a Facebook live session. Also, make sure to train your eyes on your phone’s camera lens while you record and not the phone’s screen — otherwise, it will look to your audience like you’re staring off into space.
- Most good live streams fall into one of three categories:
- A quick greeting and introduction to who are you (30 seconds to 5 minutes)
- Brief tips and training sessions (10 minutes to 30 minutes)
- A master class-style event or seminar (45 minutes+)
- Preparing content for Facebook live doesn’t need to be an intricate process. Kim says your content plan for a live stream should include three main components:
- A simple greeting with your name and who you are, followed by a quick explanation of what you’re going to discuss during the live stream
- The main content you’re going live to discuss (Keep in mind that most good Facebook live sessions should incorporate some audience interaction, and some sessions can consist almost entirely of questions and answers with the audience)
- A succinct closing with a call to action (CTA) that tells your audience what to do next (Don’t just trail off at the end of your live session!)
Getting the Most Out of Instagram
Kim also shared a few Instagram tips and best practices for attorneys during our show. A few of her tips include:
- Aim to post at least once a day; if possible, use a content calendar to schedule your posts a week or two ahead of time, then supplement that calendar with occasional spontaneous posts that showcase your office culture and the personalities of you and your team.
- Remember that Instagram is a visual platform first, so the images you post need to be high-quality. Also, make sure to view your own feed and ask yourself whether it’s aesthetically pleasing as a whole and how you might improve it.
- Use hashtags to categorize your posts, link up with existing conversations, and help potential clients find you — and don’t be shy about it. Kim says every Instagram post for a business should contain 20-30 hashtags. To avoid getting a hashtag headache, Kim keeps pre-written sets of hashtags (which she updates occasionally) stored in the notes app on her phone and pastes them into each post.
Enjoy the show, and don’t forget to check back next month for another new episode!
