Facebook Live for Student Recruitment
Aug 23, 2016
UPDATE: According to a reliable source we spoke to this morning, Facebook is set to begin a phased rollout of a new feature that allows for two-person broadcasts on Live. To learn more, click here.
Facebook Live offers you a very unique opportunity to reach a large number of prospective students – or segments within the larger group – with unique, valuable and interactive content.
Imagine a live broadcast for potential students entering your nursing program? Or journalism program? Or accounting program? Or engineering program?
Interviews with faculty? Students? A regular news broadcast hosted by faculty and/or students that addresses what’s going on in the program? A look at actual presentations in classes?
Or, at a broader level, regular broadcasts that address those issues that are on the minds of your larger prospective student audience – what it’s like to live and dine on campus. Social activities, broadcast live.
You get the idea…so, how do you make it happen? Well, here’s a list of key points that should be addressed…and, at the end, a few links to sources that can help you even further.
Before the Broadcast
- Prepare: Write a benefit-rich description that answers “What’s in it for me?” from the viewers’/audiences’ perspective. The clearer you are with them, the more focused you become – and the end result will be a better event.
- What’s your format? Demonstration? Interview? Breaking news? Behind the scenes? Q&A?
- Promote: You won’t have a party if you don’t invite the guests. So send out messages via Facebook and other channels that invite your prospective students to attend. Remember to include date, time and location (how to access).
- Strong Connection Required: Make sure you have a strong wi-fi or 4G connection because it really sucks to drop with a large audience!
- Use a Selfie-stick or Stand, Lighting, Microphone: Your event is going to be longer that you care to hold your own camera by hand – so consider using a selfie-stick or, better yet, a stand. And it helps if you can be seen and heard…so check out these items.
- Turn on “Airplane Mode“
- Open Camera and Check Lighting, Sound, Positioning. Make sure everything is working properly and that you have good sound/lighting/picture to broadcast.
- Where to Broadcast? Do you broadcast to “public” or to a Group or Page? Where is your audience going to be – and how will you be able to reach the largest number of your audience members?
- Don’t do it alone. There’s a lot going on, so recruit others to help. We’ve seen Live broadcasts where there has been the “On Air Personality” and a “Camera Operator” as well as someone watching the live event and feeding the “On Air Personality” questions from the viewers as well as responding to questions.
During the Broadcast
Introductions: Remember to tell everyone who you are and, if you’re working with a crew…introduce them as well!- Remind them why we’re all here together: Restate the purpose for the Live broadcast and what’s in it for them!
- Ask for a “Share”: Build your audience by having your audience invite others!
- Ask them to “Follow”. This allows them to receive notifications of future Live broadcasts.
- Acknowledge Your Audience: Greet them. Ask them if they have questions. Answer the questions. Ask them to share the video with their friends. Ask them to “follow” so they automatically receive notifications of your future broadcasts.
- Clear Call to Action:You are doing all this work in order to extend an offer to your audience – so make sure you have a unique, valuable, relevant offer and then clearly extend the offer so they can take advantage of it. Ideas? For Prospects, checklists to help them to compare and identify the best college/program for their needs, or a “How to” on balancing school with work and family. For students, your new smartphone app.
- Sign-off is Key. Have a catch phrase that makes it clear the the broadcast has come to an end – it can be as simple as “That’s all folks!” to whatever you prefer.
- Remember Replay Views: This one came from the folks at Problogger
One of the things I’ve been doing in my Live Videos lately is spend the first 20 or so seconds of the video paying attention to those watching the replay. The reality is that most of the live viewers miss that part anyway as it takes them a minute or so to join and so it gives you an opportunity to acknowledge, welcome and tell the replay viewers what to expect.
After the Broadcast
Check the Broadcast Stats: When you finish your broadcast, a chart comes up on your smartphone that shows you how many people watched the event, how many commented, how many liked the event and more. These can help you improve future broadcasts!
Verify Video Posts: Make sure the video posts to your page…this shouldn’t be a problem but the point here is “never assume something did what it is supposed to do”
Edit Video: Go to your desktop, go to the post of the video and click on the downward arrow in the top right corner of the post – the drop down menu will have “Edit Post”. Click on it and you are able to add a title to the video, edit the description, select a thumbnail, select a call to action (CTA) button and more.
Share the Replay on other Social Platforms: Upload to other video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo etc. Put it in a blog post. Tweet about it with a link. You get the point…
Plan new broadcasts – go live often and ID best Days/Times for broadcasting
Check out this post, specifically #9 for some discussion regarding length of your broadcast.
Facebook Live: What Marketers Need to Know
Patrick McGraw is VP of Higher Educaton Marketing Services and has more than 25 years experience in market research, competitive intelligence, business intelligence including database marketing and CRM, strategic planning, brand development and management as well as operations/campaign management. His work has consistently helped his clients and employers develop and implement more efficient ways to attract and retain profitable customers, enter new markets and launch new products. His areas of focus include the education, hospitality, travel and tourism, hi-tech, telecommunications, financial services, and retail industries on both the agency and customer sides.
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