Facebook comes out with new features left and right, and with so many new ways to engage our followers, it can be difficult to know which ones we should use and how.

I’m going to go ahead and address this right now: new features are great and diversity is even better overall, but Facebook live video is one of the best things you can be doing on-platform.

Facebook live videos are versatile, and they themselves have had plenty of new features added to improve it in the last year or two. Even without all the fancy new features (which are super cool and definitely useful), live broadcasts are consistently one of the best ways to keep your audience engaged on Facebook. They offer incredible authenticity, and it gives your followers instant access to you as they interact with you in real time.

If you know that you want to use Facebook Live videos more but aren’t exactly sure what strategies you should use, keep reading! In this post, we’re going to explain not only why live video matters so much but also discuss five different types of live videos that you can use no matter what industry you’re in.

Why Does Facebook Live Video Matter?

Facebook live video should be a staple part of your marketing strategy right now. Social Media Examiner has recently shared data that it’s not just video marketing that is important on this always-has-declining-reach platform, but that live video gets the most views and the most engagement. More live, simply put, means more results.

Live videos are as engaging as they come, and people love being able to interact with a brand in real time. It’s also being prioritized by some algorithms (including Twitter’s, and it feels like Facebook’s), and it doesn’t hurt that your followers can get a notification when you go live, too.

Some brands go live as frequently as a few times a week, but even going live once every couple of weeks can be daunting. Let’s take a look at different types of live videos you can host so you can see what may work best for you.

1. Q&As With Your Audience

Question and Answer videos are always an outstanding choice for live videos. It’s also a pretty simple format, and its prevents you from needing to generate huge amounts of content because your audience will do it for you. It also has the benefit of giving your audience feel like they have close access to you. Sounds creepy, but it’s something that your followers will like.

For best results with Q&A live videos, keep the following tips in mind:

• Let people know you’ll be doing the live in advance, and ask for some questions up front. This will give you questions to answer while people trickle into the live so you aren’t awkwardly waiting for someone to ask something.
• Don’t be afraid to make up your own questions that you’d like to answer. If you’re doing a Q&A about a product launch or about something in your industry, you can either pretend someone emailed you a question or say “one question I get a lot is…”
• Try to answer as many questions live as you can. Sometimes they’re slow to come in, but check the post regularly as you’re broadcasting in order to look for good ones.

2. Interviews with Influencers

Interviews with influencers of any kind can be a home run for your live videos. It’s a surefire way to expand the visibility of your content, and your audience will definitely want to tune in for it without a doubt.

In the example we have here, a celebrity athlete is being interviewed by a YouTube personality. You don’t need to go this far, however; you can get other industry experts on your live, and ask long as they’re somewhat known in your community or have an abundance of information, you can have excellent results all the same.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• When interviewing someone else, go over the agenda of the broadcast and the questions you’ll be asking first. This prevents you from accidentally putting them on the spot.
• Try to take viewer questions or engage with them in some way.
• You can monitor user engagement while the influencer is answering questions.

3. Tutorials & How-Tos

“How-to” content is actually the most sought-out on YouTube, so you know there’s a demand for it. Tutorial-based lives are an excellent choice because people can see how easy it really is to complete a task; it’s live, it’s unedited, and they can complete the task alongside you. The content is valuable as it is, but it’s made even more valuable by the fact that viewers can ask questions as you go along.

Keep the following best practices in mind when creating this content:

• Do a run-through first before you go live. You’ll make sure you have everything you need for the tutorial and that you’re familiar with all the steps.
• Try to answer questions as you go through the tutorial. You can stop regularly to take questions if these is easier.
• Make sure that your live video description and title says exactly what the tutorial will be, and give quick, sentence-long recaps about what you’re doing and why for users who are coming into the live halfway through.

4. Educational Videos

All the other video types above could easily be described as “educational” in the right context, but I’m including “educational videos” in their own category. They may not necessarily be Q&As or how-to content, but they still share valuable information with your audience.

A discussion of how to dress for cold weather or layer clothing, like in the above for example, is how-to content, but it isn’t taking someone through a step-by-step process. It’s also common to see industry-update style lives, which may be regularly scheduled and share important updates to your followers. An example of this can be seen here:

Videos focusing strictly on education should:

• Cater to your audience. How technical and detailed you get will depend on your audience’s level of understanding. If I saw a live from my HVAC company about the importance of getting maintenance or a list of 5 ways to keep your AC in order and the tips were things like “run it less often,” I’d be good. If they started talking to me about the technical side of things, I’d be out of there as fast as if the AC went off in a Florida summer.
• Know that you can go longer if the engagement is up, but shorter videos will have better viewer retention rates on the replay.
• Consider having cue cards or speaker notes if this is more of a speech and less of a dialogue.

5. Big Announcements

Sometimes, the best way to share a great big business announcement or product update will be through live. Why not use the extra visibility of a live and all that exciting energy to create something great?

Announcement videos can help you portray how excited you are about something that’s coming and update your audience all at once. They’re more likely to see your lives than other content, so that’s a big plus to help you get the word out quickly.

Here are the best practices you should keep in mind:

• Keep these videos short. Whether you’re explaining a company merger or a new product, keep announcement lives short. You want to have people watching back later, and someone might not be interested in watching an hour long video that’s labeled “surprise announcement.”
• Use the element of suspense to your advantage. Promote the live early and let people know you have something exciting coming up to share. Ask if they can guess, or just let their minds wander on your own.
• Answer questions about the announcement if at all possible. If you can’t do so, say when you’ll have more information.

Conclusion

As social media continues to become more competitive and it becomes even more difficult to reach our audiences, we need to rely on the best-performing  features available. Right now, that’s live video, not only on Facebook but on every other platform it’s available to. As you expand your live video, remember that you can also use any of these strategies on Instagram live, Persicope/Twitter, and even YouTube streams.

Keep your video broadcasts engaging, and use best practices like scheduling the live in advance and sharing it once its over. Use live broadcasts to drive engagement and build relationships with your viewers, and then get as much momentum from the video playbacks afterwards as possible.

What do you think? How do you use Facebook live videos? Which types of live videos get you the most results? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!