Facebook Live is a great way to connect with your audience in real time through live video. With Facebook Live, you can broadcast live videos on your personal profile, Facebook Page or within Facebook Groups. When you go live on Facebook, there are various settings you can adjust to control the experience for you and your viewers.
Previewing Your Live Video
Before you officially start broadcasting, you can preview your live video to test out the settings. Here’s how:
- Open the Facebook app on your phone or navigate to Facebook in your desktop browser.
- Click on the Live button in the status box or on your Page.
- You’ll be taken to the camera screen. Tap on the preview icon in the bottom right corner.
- This will launch a preview of your live video. You’ll see how the video looks and what your viewers will see once you go live.
- You can test out filters, switch between front and rear cameras, add titles and stickers, and try other features.
- When you’re ready, tap the “X” icon to exit the preview.
Previewing your live video is a great way to make sure your settings are dialed in before broadcasting to your audience.
Choosing Your Live Video Privacy Settings
When you go live on Facebook, you can control the privacy settings for who can view your video:
- Public: Anyone on or off Facebook can see your live video.
- Friends: Only your friends on Facebook can view your live video.
- Specific friends or groups: You can customize your audience and only let certain people or Groups see your live video.
Here’s how to update your live video privacy settings:
- Tap the Live button to access the camera screen.
- Tap the Settings icon in the top right corner.
- Under Privacy, choose who you want to view your live video.
- Select Public, Friends, or customize specific individuals or Groups.
- Tap Done to save your settings.
Setting your desired privacy level gives you control over who can watch when you go live. You can always change these settings right before you start broadcasting.
Allowing Comments and Reactions
When broadcasting live, your viewers can interact by commenting and reacting to your video in real-time. As the broadcaster, you can control whether commenting is enabled:
- Allow comments: Viewers can comment on your live video and you can see the comments.
- Disable comments: Comments will be turned off and only you can see them.
Here’s how to update your commenting preferences:
- Tap the Live button to access the camera screen.
- Tap Settings and toggle the “Allow viewers to comment” switch.
- Toggle on to keep comments enabled. Toggle off to disable comments.
- You can also disable specific reaction types like Love, Haha, Wow, etc.
- Tap Done to save your commenting and reaction preferences.
Allowing comments creates engagement with your viewers. Disabling comments gives you more control over the conversation.
Using Filters and Special Effects
Filters and special effects are a great way to spice up your live videos on Facebook. Here are some of the options available:
| Filter/Effect | What It Does |
|---|---|
| None | No filter or effects applied |
| Lark | Subtle brightness filter |
| Reyes | Vibrant, saturated colors |
| Rise | Warm tones with subtle contrast |
| Face filters | Augmented reality masks and effects |
| Text and stickers | Overlay images, text, emojis, etc. |
To use filters and effects during your Facebook Live:
- Tap Live and access the camera screen.
- Swipe left and right to browse different filters.
- Tap a filter preview to apply it.
- Tap the magic wand icon to open AR effects and face filters.
- Tap the stickers icon to add text, emojis, and images.
- Position and resize any text/graphics as desired.
Get creative with different filters and effects to make your live videos visually appealing for viewers.
Choosing Your Camera and Audio Sources
You can customize the camera and audio sources used when broadcasting live on Facebook:
- Switch cameras: Toggle between your front and rear-facing cameras.
- Use external camera: Connect an external camera via USB or HDMI.
- Built-in mic: Use your device’s built-in microphone.
- External mic: Connect an external microphone for higher audio quality.
Here’s how to configure your sources:
- Tap the Settings icon in the top right of the Facebook Live camera screen.
- Tap Camera to select which camera source you want to use.
- Tap Mic to choose your desired audio source.
- You can test your devices in the preview mode before going live.
- Tap Done to save your settings.
Choosing the right camera and mic is important for delivering a polished, professional live video.
Adding a Cover Frame
You can add a customizable cover frame that will display behind you when broadcasting live on Facebook. Here’s how to set it up:
- Tap the Frames icon on the Facebook Live camera screen.
- Browse the available frames and tap one you like.
- Use the handles to scale and position the frame as desired.
- Double tap the frame to edit it.
- Change the colors, add a logo, custom text, and more.
- Tap Done to set your custom frame.
The frame will appear wrapped around your video feed when you go live. Get creative with colors and branding that suit your audience and style.
Adding a Title or Guest Names
Displaying a title or guest names during your Facebook Live video helps provide context for viewers. You can add these details directly from the camera screen:
- Tap the Overlay icon near the top of the screen.
- Select Title to add a title that displays at the top.
- Type in your desired title text.
- Alternatively, tap Guests to add names and titles.
- Type names and hit enter after each one.
- Reposition the overlays by dragging if needed.
Titles and guest names will be shown for the duration of the live broadcast. Use them to clearly communicate what the video is about.
Pinning a Comment
You can pin a specific comment so it remains visible to your viewers throughout your Facebook Live video. Here’s how:
- Once you’ve started broadcasting live, ask viewers to leave comments.
- When you see a comment you want to pin, tap and hold the comment.
- Select Pin Comment from the popup menu.
- The comment will remain pinned to the top of the screen.
- You can unpin it by tapping and holding again.
Pinning relevant or important comments keeps that information noticeable for your audience during the entire live video.
Going Live With Friends
You can add friends as guests and go live together in a multi-person live video on Facebook. Here’s how it works:
- Tap the Live button then tap the Add button.
- Search for and select friends to invite as guests.
- They’ll receive a notification to join your live video.
- Once they’ve joined, their videos will display side-by-side.
- Viewers can see all of you at once and switch between perspectives.
- Tap a guest thumbnail to switch the main feed to them.
Multi-guest live videos allow for more dynamic chats and conversations to engage your audience.
Using Portrait/Landscape Orientation
Facebook Live videos can be broadcast in either portrait or landscape orientation. Here’s how to choose:
- Portrait mode: Hold your phone vertically to live stream in portrait.
- Landscape mode: Hold your phone horizontally to live stream in landscape.
Generally, portrait mode works well for talking head-style videos with a single person. Landscape orientation is better for videos showing demos, environments, or multiple people.
Test both orientations using the preview mode before going live. Choose the option that frames up your video subject matter in the most appealing way.
Starting Your Broadcast
Once you’ve configured your settings, starting your live video broadcast is simple:
- Tap the Live button from Facebook’s menu bar.
- The camera screen will open.
- Tap any settings icons to adjust preferences as needed.
- Tap Go Live.
- A countdown will display and your live video will begin!
- Interact with viewers and comments as you broadcast.
- When finished, tap End to stop the live video.
Your live video will be posted on your timeline or Page for replay. Use Facebook analytics to check out your live video results!
Toggling Your Camera and Mic
Once your Facebook Live broadcast begins, you can toggle your camera and microphone on and off:
- Tap the camera icon to turn off your video feed and display a static image or color instead.
- Tap again to turn your camera back on.
- Tap the mic icon to mute your microphone so viewers won’t hear audio.
- Tap again to unmute and reactivate sound.
Toggling the camera and mic allows you to pause the live stream if needed without fully stopping the broadcast.
Conclusion
Facebook Live is a versatile tool for engaging your audience in real time. Take advantage of options like filters, frames, adding friends, and managing comments to make your broadcasts interactive and polished. Test different settings before going live to find an optimal setup. With practice, your live videos will become an integral part of your Facebook marketing strategy!