So you’ve heard the buzz and the excitement and you want to get involved with Facebook Live. This is a great decision no doubt and one that can give you a great edge over your competition while helping you to connect with your audience in whole new ways.

All that’s left to do is to get started! So the questions is: how do you use the new tool? What tricks do you need to know? And what features are there to take advantage of?

Getting Started

Getting started fortunately couldn’t be easier. Simply open up your Android or iOS Facebook app and then find the box you would normally type in to post new content. When you click this, you will be presented with a number of additional options along the bottom which include posting a picture or a video. And now you also have the option to post live videos – which is represented by an icon that looks like a person with radio waves emanating from their head.

Click this and you will be taken to a new screen where you can enter a description for your video, or where you can decide who gets to see the content. If you chose to post from your Facebook page, then the video will automatically be public meaning that anyone can watch it either from the Facebook Live Map or if they find your page/see your post in their homefeed.

If you posted the video in a private group meanwhile, then it will be visible only to that private group by default. And if you posted from your personal Facebook page, you can choose very specifically who you want to share your videos with.

The only other options on the page at this point are the option to switch between front-facing and rear cameras and the option to go live when you’re ready!

Going live

Once you’re live, you simply talk into the camera and aim it where you want it. Note that you can see comments left by viewers as well as their ‘reactions’ which may be a ‘like’ a ‘love’ or another expression. You can also see how many people are viewing and when someone new joins in. It’s a good idea to mention people as they tune in as it can help them to feel more involved and increase the intimacy and engagement of your videos!