By: Elizabeth Coffey, Marketing G2 Digital Marketing Specialist

Every day it seems that a social media platform is releasing a new feature. In April of 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Live which gives users and brand marketers alike the ability to reach people in a new way.

News publishers are always looking for ways to increase their audience and Facebook Live may be an effective way to promote your news site content. Use the tips and tricks below to effectively use Facebook Live to market your news.

Getting Your Journalists Started

Your journalists should whip out their mobile device and open up the Facebook app. The option to go “Live” is under the field that they can use to update their status. Your journalists will have to give Facebook access to their cell phone camera in their phone settings.

Privacy Settings

Since they’re posting for your news brand, they should choose to make their Facebook Live video public. If your journalists aren’t comfortable with going ‘live’ right away, they can choose the privacy setting “Only Me” to preview it first before making the video public.

Writing a Description

You want your journalists to write a compelling description of their live video and to link their live video posting to your website as a teaser for the full story or for further updates / developments as they happen.

Some Other Practical Tips

People should be tagged when they can be tagged and when it is appropriate. Your journalists should also add a geo location so viewers can know where the story is unfolding. Also, as any photojournalist will tell you, it’s important to have your camera facing the right way, so make sure your journalists know how to switch from the front-facing and self-facing camera views on their phone.

Go Live

All that’s left is to click the blue “Go Live” button and your journalists are broadcasting. Click “Finish” to end the live video.

Share and Interact

Share the live video to your brand’s official Facebook page and remember to interact with those who are commenting and reacting to the video.

Creating a community around your news brand is important to establish and maintain trust in your journalism and to encourage more subscribers. What do you use Facebook Live for at your news organization?