Have you ever been discouraged when your well-made, deeply invested recorded video didn’t get much views on Social Media? It’s because most Social Media platforms are weighing live videos more than recorded ones. In general, Facebook says that live videos get 6 times more reach than recorded videos. So, with these 7 things, you can crush your live videos.

1. Welcome:

It’s always important to welcome your audience by thanking them. When they choose to watch your live video, they are choosing to not consume any other contents at that time. So, welcoming them by saying “Hey, thanks for taking the time of your day to watch this video” is a great way to start your live video.

2. Acknowledge Your Audience:

You might have seen people saying the names of the audience and acknowledging them by saying “hi so-and-so”. This is what sets live videos apart from recorded videos. It’s telling your audience that you are seeing them and that you want to interact with them. I learned an interesting tip about acknowledging your audience from #SMMW2018. Because majority of people will watch the video after the live session has ended, acknowledging the future audience first is a better way than acknowledging the live audience. It goes something like this: “Hey, thank you for those who are watching the playback of this live video. I will come back and interact with your comments, so join the conversation by commenting below.” Then you can acknowledge your live audience by saying, “Hey so-and-so, thanks for joining!”

3. Introduction:

Then, you can introduce your topic. Tell the audience what you are going to talk about in 1-2 sentences. A good way to introduce your topic is by asking a question—something like “have you ever wonder…?” or “did you know…?” Questions engage people. Use it to keep their attention.

4. Invite for Action:

Before you go into the meat of your live video, there is a critical step you must do. Invite people to action. Tell them to “like” if they agree with a certain point of your message, or better yet, invite them to comment when you ask questions. THIS IS IMPORTANT, because it sets the tone for conversation between you and your audience.

5. Message:

Now, you are ready to go to your main message. Leverage the question you asked in the introduction to naturally continue the conversation. As you are sharing your main message, keep in mind that live videos that perform best are ones that engage the audience. So constantly ask questions and invite your audience to respond. You can even go deep with one person by reading one’s comment aloud and responding to it. This tells your audience that you want to broadcast with them.

6. Call to Action:

What caps a great message is a clear call to action. What do you want your audience to do with your message? Businesses are really good at this. They invite people to opt-in to a course or to buy their latest and greatest. For churches, we, too, can provide clear call to action based on your message such as recruiting or inviting them to an event.

7. Closing:

After hitting the 6 steps above, you are ready to end the live session. Again, I find that thanking your live and playback viewers are important and effective for meaningful interaction as you close. If you are trying to establish a live show, this is when you want to mention your next scheduled live video. You can take few moments to acknowledge the viewers by saying their names and thanking them. Then you can end the session.

How long should your live video be? You can make it as long or short as you want, but Facebook says that live videos that are 16-18 minutes get the most amount of reach and interactions. So, practice going live for that duration and hitting each of the steps described above.

Question: What would you add or take out from the list above? Comment below. I would love to know!