This time last year, I was put in charge of planning and conducting a Livestream for a high-profile event my employer was organizing. Seems easy enough right? Not quite. There are many ways to conduct a Livestream but not every solution fits all. Spur-of-the-moment #FacebookLive videos with your built-in camera and microphone might work for a quick, unplanned Livestream but you might not get the desired reach and professional look your organization wishes to achieve in this way.
Is a Livestream required?
Before going the extra mile, you should first ask yourself what the goal of the Livestream will be and if a Livestream is the best solution to achieve your goal. In my case, the goal of the event was to bid farewell to an outgoing executive and welcome the incumbent into their new position. The Livestream was required for two reasons. The first was due to the health restrictions at the time of the event that restricted the number of people who could physically attend and the second was to give the audience the opportunity to interact with the outgoing and incoming executives as they were formally changing positions. A simple video or photo post on social media would not have satisfied these two requirements therefore a Livestream was selected as the best solution. Now that the decision to conduct a Livestream has been set in stone, planning can begin.
Photo of a man on computer with a Livestream setup. Photo retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/bde4ftc9
Planning for a Livestream Event
Planning should be carefully thought-out to ensure the widest reach and to periodically remind attendees about the event. I would recommend starting by creating an event on Facebook and linking the event to your business’s social media pages. The event should include the 5Ws, have a clear title, an attractive cover photo and at least one catchy hashtag. In the weeks leading up to the event, you should focus on promotion. There are many ways to promote an event on social media. You can post photos, video teasers, and stories about the event, highlighting the key information about it and linking the event page to the posts. Another way to promote the event is through online giveaways by encouraging followers to like, comment, tag others and share your posted content for a chance to win a prize. This method costs very little and can have a huge effect.
Time to “Go Live”
You’ve now reached the big day. If you’ve done your planning right, you should be in for a stress-free day. More detailed steps for going live can be found here but all you must do is simply log in to Facebook, select your event, and click “Live Video”, followed by “Go Live”, and follow the prompts. From the “Go Live” page, you can insert a Livestream title and description, select your media source, and preview your feed. Once you are on-air, the dashboard will give you important information about your viewers, likes, comments, and shares. Pro tip: be sure to keep an eye on the comments section throughout your Livestream so that you can fix issues that viewers identify such as poor audio levels or video quality.
Have you ever done a Livestream? If so, what kind of content did you share? Did your viewers get Involved and interact with you?
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 