How To Use Facebook Live For Musicians

Facebook Live. I’m sure you’ve heard of it or seen it by now – Facebook literally sends people notifications when friends and Pages go live – basically, you can live stream whatever you’re doing, and have people interact with you live.

Facebook Live is possibly the best feature on Facebook you can use right now, but it’s so new that you may not be using it to its full potential. However, artists that are leveraging it are getting more reach, connecting with more fans, and also having a lot of fun in the process.

Live is available to all pages and profiles. It’s also available across all platforms, making it accessible for everyone.

The live stream will show up in people's news feeds, and after you’re done broadcasting, you can choose to have the video remain on Facebook and in people’s news feeds just like a normal video.

Why You Should Start Using Facebook Live In Your Music Career

All you need to get started with Facebook Live is a Facebook page and a strong internet connection. Wi-Fi is best, but if you don’t have Wi-Fi, 4G or LTE works well (just keep an eye on data usage). Here’s why you should start using it!

Facebook Live Gets You More Organic Reach

It can be very frustrating figuring out how to reach the fans that you fought so hard for. Many of them would actually love to see your content, but don’t simply because you can’t get enough reach without paying for it.

Native videos and certain types of posts will get you more reach, but nothing will go farther than a Live video.

Live is a new feature for Facebook, and it’s typically content that people are interested in, because it has so much potential for interaction. So, Facebook pushes it pretty hard. It will even notify some users when you go Live so that they can tune in right away.

The Content Can Have Legs Beyond The Initial Music Video Or Recording

A great Facebook Live post can have just as much longevity as any post you put up. You can choose to post the live stream after it’s done, and people can continue to interact with it and share it.

It will even show up in people’s news feed as a story: This Band was Live!

You Can Still Edit The Video Like Any Other Video

The video can still be edited, deleted, and customized after it’s been posted – just like any other post!

Facebook Gives You Tons Of Data

If you’re into this sort of thing, Facebook gives you analytics to check out after you’re done streaming.

On regular videos, Facebook lets you analyze minutes viewed, 10 seconds viewed, number of unique views, and how many people finished the video.

Facebook Live gives you all the analytics, plus peak live views, comments, interactions, reach, etc.

There Is So Much Opportunity For Great Content!

We’ll get into some examples of artists using Facebook Live effectively later. But what you need to understand is that Facebook Live is an unbelievably powerful tool for connecting with fans.

Artists have been doing Q&As on Twitter for years. They go very well, because it’s an opportunity for fans to be acknowledged by artists they love, and it’s a great way to build connections and delight fans.

Facebook Live takes everything that is awesome about a Q&A and makes it even better by providing a visual and audio component.

Now you can do a Q&A, song request, even stream an entire set, and people can interact and watch from the comfort of wherever they are.

Get Inspired – Bands That Kill It With Facebook Live

Here are the bands that inspired me to write this post.

Vulfpeck – Album Release

Okay, I write about these guys a lot, but only because they are literally geniuses at music and marketing.

When they released their latest album, The Beautiful Game, they did a Facebook Live post. But not just any Facebook Live Post.

They put a camera on a drone, flew it up into the air in the middle of a soccer field, and Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck’s frontman), lip-synced the entire album and danced around the soccer field. It was perfection.

Check out the video here.

That’s basically the best use of Facebook Live I’ve ever seen.

John Mayer – Love On The Weekend Release

John Mayer just released his latest single, “Love On The Weekend”.

Before the release, he did some standard social media teasers, but the day it was released, he did a Live Q&A session, and at the end of the session he streamed the song, Live.

John Mayer fans went crazy for it, obviously! He answered all sorts of interesting questions, interacted with fans, and at the end of it everyone heard his new song.

You can check out the Q&A with John here:

Just so you know, over 55,000 people interacted with that one post, which is at least twice his average amount of interaction.

A Few Tips For Doing Facebook Live Well

There are a few things you should do to make sure your stream goes smoothly and has the maximum amount of reach.

Have A Laptop Or Desktop Computer Open Or Have Someone Reading The Comments To You While You’re Streaming

It can be hard to see the comments when you’re the one holding the phone. Make sure you don’t miss anything by having your laptop open or by having someone else read you the important comments so you can respond to them.

Engage With Commenters & Call People Out By Name

One of the best ways to increase your reach with a Live post is by engaging with commenters. The higher you can make your relevancy score, the more the post will be shared in news feeds.

This also makes it more fun for viewers. They feel like they’re really part of something.

Broadcast For At Least 10 Minutes

The longer you’re broadcasting, the more people you’ll have tuning in and the more you’ll have people commenting, liking and sharing the stream. This increases the reach of the post.

Of course, you should reintroduce yourself for the newcomers and always keep the content interesting so that people will stick around.

Have you started using Facebook Live? Do you have any tips? Let us know!