Am I an expert on Facebook live? No.

Am I a fan and do I want to learn more? Yes!

Facebook Live is an Important Marketing Tool

I have just started to learn about Facebook live and how I can use it as a marketing tool for my yoga classes. The day before my Hibernation Yoga registered session began I created a Facebook live video, then I sent the replay video link to my email list. I had no idea what I was doing and I only talked about my upcoming session and my reasons behind my theme.

That first video has 630 views in just one week. (See all of my facebook live videos here.) I had 4 new students signing up for the class because of that one video.

I have since recorded other short live yoga videos. The response has been so good. I have friends from far away telling me that they are doing yoga with me daily. I have students wanting the links and I have an increase in the traffic to my website and Facebook page. This is all before I did some research on how to have good Facebook Live videos.

Next I am starting a list of things to try to implement and improve on. I am excited to share this with you so that you can also use Facebook live videos to connect with new and existing students. For now though I would like to introduce you to the basics of Facebook live video.

Why Make Facebook Live Videos?

You know how your devoted students just seem to have a good connection to you? This is what it is to be a yoga teacher. It isn’t how well you do a pose – it is your teaching style combined with your personality. You are unique and when people see you sharing yoga online – they will know if you are a good fit for them and if so you will likely begin to see them in your classes.

Also — Facebook has their fancy technology (algorithm) that decides what content you see first. Videos rank higher and right now live videos rank highest. So this is an amazing advertising tool.

What do you need to do Facebook live video?

To start, you need a device (phone or tablet) that will allow you to share live video. When you go to create a post – look for option for live video. When I was doing this with an older phone it wouldn’t work, but with my new iPad it works well.

There are other things you can buy – third party software, apps, plugins, lighting. But before you go there – just try creating some video content. In this video you can see me playing around with the position of the iPad and the lighting and I am talking about some beginner tips. *Please note that this video was from when I first started. I have learned more and will create a new video soon.

How to Create a Live Facebook Video

I have put together a step-by-step guide on how to create a facebook live video for you. Feel free to share your other ideas and tricks as you learn.

Step 1 – Do a test video that only you can see.

Go to your personal profile and begin a post. Click on the sharing option (below your name) and choose only me. This will make sure that only you will see the video. This way you can test out what you want to say, the lighting and how things look if and when you move around. You can also get a sense of what the sound will be like.

If this feels comfortable and you want to test a live video out with a friend you can choose to send it to custom friends. Here you can also choose if you want a video to be public or shared just with a certain group.

It is important to remember to check your next post that you make – as it will default to be shared only with you.

Step 2 – Tell your audience what this video is about.

Here you can type anything into the description. Stay away from putting links into this space. For now it is a test video so that is what I have filled in, but what would be better is to actually create a video here that you intend to share. If it turns out well — you have the option to do that.

So type out what you want here. Think of what would get your attention. Who is your audience? What do they want to know about? Who is your ideal yoga student? Is your message geared to them?

Step 3 – Go Live

When you click on the go live button (blue button – bottom right) – it will countdown to your live video time. Here is where you want to be ready to go. People may only see the first few seconds of a video when they are scrolling through, so how are you going to make your video more engaging?

I started off always waving, pausing, fixing my hair and waiting more. Skip all of that because most people are going to watch the replay video and they don’t want to see all of that.

If you are doing a strictly test video — walk around your house and see where the lighting is best and where the sound is good.

Step 4 – Finish Your Video

The first time I created a live video – I didn’t do a test, so I had no idea how to turn the video off! The finish button is on the bottom right.

Practice ending with a call to action. What would you like your ideal yoga student to do after they watch this video? Great suggestions are to comment and to share it.

What makes you want to comment on a video or post and what makes you want to share it?

Step 5 – Trim and Post Your Video

In the two photos below you can see what happens when you click ‘Finish’. Note on the bottom left of your video that begins to replay that you can trim it. Now I will warn you that in the couple of times that I attempted to use this – there was an error reported and Facebook published the entire video. This is how I learned to engage with my audience at the beginning of a video and not rely on trimming it.

Special Note on Trimming

If you do decide to trim a video – make sure that you have moved the trimming slider, not just the white line that shows where you are playing a video from. I played around with this for a while until I finally figured it out.

In the photo here on the right you can see the blue slider – that means that I have trimmed off the beginning of the video.

If you are a yoga teacher and you would like to practice posting a video – I would like to suggest doing so in our private Facebook group – The Connected Yoga Teacher. Only the teachers in the group will get to see your video and it is a great way to introduce yourself. Use the hashtag #intro and share a short video about who you are, why you practice/teach yoga and also share your unique niche (children’s yoga, gentle yoga, private classes, etc).

If you decide to incorporate live video into your marketing – you are going to love a post I am working on next. It is full of tips for live videos. The first step though – is to begin. Don’t get caught up in it being perfect. Just start here.