Facebook lives are key to driving engagement in your business. It is essential to connect with your audience so they can really get to know you and your energy, especially if your business is primarily online.

You can absolutely build your business with written posts alone, and I encourage you to tune into your energy to do what feels best, but going live does wonders for securing confidence and authority in your niche.

Choose Your Platform Wisely

Remember that each platform is different, and your lives will be different on each one. For example, Instagram is much more casual and many people prefer going live for the first time on Instagram to get more comfortable.

Linkedin is much more professional and structured, and great for business-oriented discussions. Facebook is more structured and great for discussion-based lives. Platforms like Twitter only allow your content to last for 15–20 minutes, and it can be difficult to get a decent live audience, especially as you’re starting out.

Where to Start

Choose a topic for which you have immense passion. Think about a topic you could talk about for 20 minutes without any notes or prompts — and do that! This allows you to show up as authentically as possible.

You need to allow your true personality to shine so the most aligned people are drawn to watch. Choosing something you’re passionate about will also make going live less daunting and put you more at ease. You can also choose to discuss a new insight or aha moment from your own or a client’s life journey (confidentially, of course, or with permission).

The next step is choosing a title. You want your title or catchphrase to be buzzworthy and draw people in right away. When people scroll through their feeds, they only have an attention span of about 10–15 seconds maximum, so your title needs to catch someone’s eye in that time frame. Use keywords within your niche or words that draw your attention, that would make you click on someone else’s content! Using “Three Steps to” or “How to” can be helpful phrases.

Once you have a solid title, prepare yourself physically, emotionally, and cognitively for your live. Get yourself jazzed up! Do whatever you need to get ready and put yourself out there. For me, this is meditating and listening to zen music. Some people like to get up and dance before their lives. Do what makes you feel best!

It can also be helpful to prepare a few talking points. I would not recommend writing out a script, as this can seem robotic and disconnected. Instead, write out a list of key points to refer back to. When you choose a topic you are truly passionate about, it can be easy to go off on tangents. Keeping a list of key points will help give your live a better rhythm and flow.

Going Live

You are now ready to go live! During your live, you want to maintain this structure to ensure the most success:

1. Introduce yourself at the beginning of every live. This helps new people know who you are and what you are all about. It also serves a solid reminder of who you are for yourself, as our business goals can shift and change over time.
2. Ask your audience for engagement. Ask them how they are doing or if they have any questions before you begin. This not only helps with the algorithm but allows you to connect and build a relationship with your audience, which is the ultimate goal of going live.
3. When people comment, be sure to greet them by name. This makes your audience feel truly connected to you and will establish even more of a relationship.
4. Specifically state what you are going to discuss during the live. Of course, this is in your title, but you want to give your audience a solid understanding of what information they are going to be receiving.
5. Give the people what they came for! While you want your live to be educational, you want to mix in entertainment and personality. People aren’t going to give you their time if they are bored out of their minds. A great way to do this is to provide personal stories of your own experiences. This establishes credibility and makes your audience feel like a friend.
6. Once you are done explaining your topic and have given at least one tangible takeaway they can implement now, do a quick summary of what you just spoke about.
7. The most important structural piece of your live is right before you sign off: provide a call to action. This could be a new course or product that you are releasing, or it could just be letting your audience know that you are available in the comments or DMs to answer any questions they have. Be sure to put any links in the comment section of your live, as Facebook does not like when people put links in the description.

Final Key Tips

If you’re still nervous about going live, try starting a private Facebook group and going live there! This way, you have control over who is watching your live and the message that they are receiving. You can also tag people from your group in the comments section to remind them to hop on and engage with you!

I highly recommend not rewatching your live videos. Trust that your message got across to your audience the way that it was meant to. They clicked on your video for a reason!

Above all, do not worry about being perfect. Nobody can relate to perfection. Remember that going live is all about connecting with your audience, as mentioned above. They are not worried about your hair being out of place, or if you stumble on a couple of words, or if you lose your train of thought. Your audience is so grateful for you, your message, and your wisdom. So give it to them and have fun!

Want even more advice? Check out my Youtube video HERE!