For destination marketing, Facebook Live is an amazing tool – just do it!
Especially during this uncertainty, showing people what is going on live is a powerful tool. We believe that our Facebook live posts prior to Memorial Day Weekend had a profound impact on our website traffic (we were up 35% over the previous year). Once people visually saw the beauty and that we were ready to welcome them to our destination, traffic increased. Though to be honest, we made a few mistakes going live. So these tips, come from our own mistakes.
Watch the video:
Top 10 basic tips for going live on Facebook:
- Scope out the entire scene.
- Find the best starting location.
- Decide in advance if you are showing the view or story or you… sometimes you are an important part of the story, sometimes not. It depends on your relationship to your guest and what they want to see.
- Write a killer description for the post before going live
- Choose the orientation: horizontal or vertical. Start this way prior to hitting the record button.
If when you go live your horizontal view is sideways, see troubleshooting sideways Facebook Live. - After you are done, respond to those who comment and ask questions
- Three days later, invite those who liked your post to like your page
- Let your audience know when you’re going live in advance
- Try to avoid locations with a lot of background noise if you’re speaking
- Creating a post-it with a few bullet points you want to hit can help you stay on track/remember what you want to say (I find it helpful to stick the note to my phone below my screen)
Want to be even better? Here are our top 10 pro tips for going live on Facebook:
- Take a test run video (off Facebook) but remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, just have fun and if you goof up, that’s okay too, guests are looking for authentic experiences!
- Verbally encourage people to share and like your video
- Have a partner: Give them access to your Facebook page and ask them to answer people as they ask questions while you are live and engage with their comments live. That will further your reach.
- Typically, they say Facebook live should be 10-60 minutes, that is fine for an online webinar or teaching video but typically hotels and resorts are just sharing a beautiful sunrise or sunset or doing a tour of the property or newly renovated rooms, showcase your fire pit and show and tell resort activities, or maybe even showcasing the pool or pets (if pet friendly)… So in that case, we recommend shorter “live” videos under 10 minutes.
- Have a great video? Save the video to your computer and create closed captions and audio descriptions to upload to your website’s media gallery.
- Doing a more casual video, respond to your commenters by name
- Choose a peak time when your fans are online, you can see that by going to Facebook, Settings, Insights – then look at the time of day.
- Offer context throughout your video as people join if applicable (if you’re showing something self explanatory like a pretty sunset, this is not needed)
- If you plan to go live frequently, invite your viewers to turn on live notifications for your page
- Save the video to your camera roll to use on other social media sites or your blog if applicable
Topic Ideas for Your Facebook Live
- Sneak Peaks: Show your menu items, specials, show how a dish or drink is made, Give a behind the scenes tour (pick up first).
- Broadcast a special event live for your audience: Fireworks, concerts, sunrises, sunsets, anything happening at sunset or sunrise… whether it’s a walk on the beach, s’more time or beach volleyball? Cannonballs anyone?… What tells your story?
- Partner Up and Play Tour Guide: Spotlight on the fun activities and attractions, nearby beaches or views from nearby hikes with a link back to a blog post on how to get there and enjoy it! Maybe that partner will also do a Facebook Live for you!
- Give a “tour” of your packages and specials… romance package comes with champagne and you have a fireplace suite? Visually show this package! And of course, link back to the special or package.
Troubleshooting Facebook Live Posting Videos Sideways on Iphone
- First, you have to start in horizontal mode
- If that does not work for you: go to settings, display and brightness, display zoom and set view to standard
- If that doesn’t work, swipe down and click the auto lock on/off and finish on: Portrait Orientation Lock Off
- Yes, and when ALL of the above doesn’t work, look at the following instructions. If you are going live and your screen looks like the first image and the button says “Start Live Video” – your live video will be sideways, to correct this, before clicking start live video, tilt the camera to portrait mode and back again to sideways until you see the just the record icon on the button on the right hand side of the screen:
