Facebook Live is an awesome tool that was first launched in April 2016 and has quickly become an incredibly valuable video resource for small businesses, large companies, and even associations.
The concept, if you’re unfamiliar, is simple. With a push of a button, you can go “live” straight from your phone, using your camera to capture live video of whatever is happening around you and sharing it with your Facebook page’s followers in real-time.
Your followers will be notified that you’re “live”, and tune in. These broadcasts are also archived and can be watched after the fact on your Facebook page, and can even be uploaded to YouTube.
Essentially, what this means is that it’s easier to stream live video than ever before. Because your association already has a Facebook page – and probably quite a few followers – you already have an audience! All you have to do is start broadcasting, and people are sure to watch.
Live videos have a number of advantages over pre-uploaded videos. First, followers are more likely to keep watching a Live video – on average, viewers spent 3x the time viewing “live” videos than they did watching videos that were not live. You can also view and respond to real-time feedback – and viewers tend to comment about 10x more often on live videos.
This is especially handy for small-to-medium sized associations who need a way to share their conferences and events with the world. Not all members of your association will be able to make it to the conference, so they’re sure to want live video of the event that they can enjoy from their own homes.
But how can you use Facebook Live most effectively at your association’s next conference? It’s easy! Here are 5 ways you can use this powerful new technology to expand membership in your association, and connect with members who may be unable to attend your conference.
1. Share Teasers About The Event Site To Get People Excited!
Facebook Live isn’t just great for sharing information and events with people who can’t come to your event – it’s a fantastic way to build up hype and get people excited about your association’s conference.
Before the conference begins in earnest, give a small “teaser” tour of some of the facilities that they’ll be seeing when they attend, and share some information about the awesome events that will be happening all throughout your conference.
By doing so, you can really get people excited about your event, and make sure they register for the conference.
2. Take People Behind The Scenes
People love to go behind the scenes at big events, and see how everything comes together. It’s satisfying, fun, and often very interesting! So take people behind the scenes with Facebook Live.
You can do this before the event itself, and show the process of booth assembly, transforming a large empty space into a showroom floor, and talk to one of your event managers about the entire process of getting ready for the conference.
You can also stream behind-the-scenes footage during the event itself – you could go into the green room before a large keynote and show the speaker who is about to go on for a couple quick words, or give people a look at the audio/video technicians who are helping the event go smoothly.
3. Stream Keynote Events
Most large conferences have dedicated video staff to provide a live stream of big keynote speakers – but if you’re part of a smaller association, you might not be able to afford that.
And that’s fine! Modern smartphones do a fantastic job of recording – and with just a tripod, Facebook Live, and an audience, you can easily get great footage of important keynote speakers, and share it immediately with your audience.
4. Interview Speakers And Other Industry Professionals
This is an absolutely fantastic way to connect with your audience – and the best part is, you don’t even have to come up with questions! You can take questions from the comments on your Facebook Live feed, and let people really interact with their favorite industry professionals and keynote speakers.
Just start streaming, ask your audience for questions, and watch them flood in. You can pick the best questions to ask, and provide some seriously engaging video content.
5. Give People A Tour Of The Show Floor
If you have members of your association who weren’t able to attend, they’re going to love a comprehensive tour of the showroom floor – especially when it’s hustling and bustling, and there’s plenty of action to see.
Use Facebook Live – And Make Your Next Conference Your Best Yet!
Facebook Live is a total godsend for smaller associations who need a better way to interact with their members online. It’s easy to use, extraordinarily engaging, and totally fun.
A final word of advice – if you do plan on using Facebook Live at your next conference, we suggest creating a schedule with information about your planned broadcasts and putting it on your Facebook page a few days ahead of time. This will ensure that your followers are aware of when you’ll be streaming and that they won’t miss your “live” notification.
So during your next conference, grab your phone, pull up Facebook Live, and get ready to create some incredible, engaging video content.
Sign up now, all the cool kids do it!
