Facebook Live Authority - Your First FB LIVE Stream

I want to give you a super-simple shortcut to coming up with killer ideas for your own video streams. The best way is to simply watch what others are doing – especially high profile users.  People in showbiz have got building their personal brands down to a fine art.  After all, they're constantly having to sell themselves and stay in the public eye.  They don't just need to maintain a high profile with the public, either.  They also need to make sure people in their industry don't forget about them – that means reminding producers, casting directors and suchlike that they're still around and open to offers.

Even if you're not in showbiz yourself, if you have a personal brand and are (or aspire to be) to a well known, successful marketer you can learn a lot.

Of course, Facebook Live is so new not many people (celebs, or mere mortals like the rest of us) are using it right now, so it's a good idea to “spy” on what well known personalities are doing on other livestreaming apps that have been around for a while.  Sign up for Periscope, Meerkat and suchlike and just “lurk”.  Don't participate, just watch and learn. If it works there, it will work here.

Regardless of what kind of stream you plan on doing, there's a few things that are common practice to any live stream. The first one is : Have some kind of structure to your broadcast.  I'm NOT suggesting you write everything you're going to say as a script and then memorize it.  Unless you're a professional presenter, that's probably going to sound stilted.  What you should have, though, is some sort of an agenda or outline to work through.  You can write this out on notecards or just a piece of paper.

You should then read it through to get the timings.  This way you'll have a fair idea of how long your livestream is going to last.  As I write, the maximum length is 90 minutes, but you shouldn't try to do anything that long on your first attempt.  Facebook recommend a minimum of 10 minutes, and that's right sort of length to get started.

The next thing to do is rehearse ... and rehearse ... and rehearse. This will be going out live, so you need to get it right first time.  If you do or say something stupid, everybody's going to know about it.  Practice your delivery.  Make sure you know exactly what you're going to say, and that you look and sound like you know what you're talking about.  Nothing puts viewers off more than lots of “Umms” and “Errs”.

Also, give some thought at this time as to where you're going to do your livestream from.  You'll need a good, strong wi-fi or 4G signal.  Make sure the set you're going to use is neat, tidy and free from distractions.  Pay attention to the lighting and acoustics, too.  If your stream looks amateurish, people won't take it (or you) seriously.