• Remember, “LIVE” doesn’t mean “by surprise.” Let your followers know when you’ll be broadcasting live so they can plan on joining the conversation. Announce and promote an upcoming session through your social media accounts, and drive them to the applicable channel or social platform you use to broadcast. If your strategy includes a regularly scheduled broadcast, such as a weekly or monthly community wrap-up, make sure you keep the time consistent so your audience knows when to tune in.
• Use Facebook Live. Going live is as easy as having a cell phone. This free, powerful tool—built on a leading social media platform—is an effective way of reaching your community, especially during an emergency situation. Facebook Live can be accessed by clicking the Go Live tile on your Facebook profile page.

• Train your representative or spokesperson for branding and consistency. Make sure your representatives know and use the messaging of your organization and community during their broadcasts, which may include local colloquialisms. For instance, if the John W. Smith Community Information Center is more commonly referred to as the Smith Center, use it as the better-known term. This consistency and use of “everyday language” can help to reinforce and edify your representative as a knowledgeable and trustworthy source of quality information in the community.
• Repeat what you’re communicating. Key points are easier for viewers to retain when the information is repeated throughout your broadcast. Important phone numbers, websites, names, and locations are a few things that should be repeated at least three times, especially during emergencies. Don’t forget to also make that information available on your website and social media channels.

• Drive to social. Remember to ask your viewers to share and forward the content or “recorded” Facebook live session with their neighbors and personal networks across their social media. This built-in audience is essential to helping you spread the word to your entire community.

It doesn’t end there. As with any type of communication, live-stream content is also subject to public records requests and Freedom of Information Act inquiries. Live content must be archived.

The Archiving Platform™ from Smarsh archives social media channels—including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—with a single interface, regardless of your location, device, or network. Our leading comprehensive archiving platform keeps your social media content, along with any photos or live videos it contains, fully threaded in a search-ready state and in proper context for faster, easier message supervision and for use at any time for legal discovery purposes. By not flattening posts and tweets into an email-like format—or requiring you to take stills of your videos—messages can be retrieved in their entirety, including edits and deleted posts in a matter of seconds.

The Archiving Platform can also archive messages generated through Hootsuite—a leading social media campaign management platform—without losing any functionality or interrupting message delivery.

For more information and best practices for social media, download The Government Social Media Survival Guide by Smarsh. The Guide is designed specifically for government agencies, and provides tips and tools that can help you leverage social media, attract more followers, manage emergencies, and operate your profiles effectively.

Logistics: A helpful list of supplies and tips to get you through your Facebook live broadcasts

Supplies to take

• Extra power source (batteries, chargers, power cord/strips)
• Microphone and microphone adapter
• Lighting source for dark areas
• Adjustable tripod

Tips

• Check that all other background applications are closed to keep your device from crashing
• Make sure you have WiFi or at least access to 4G/LTE—and any passwords you may need
• If broadcasting outdoors, check your audio and video quality before going live
• Carry your business card or organization I.D., and any written authorization you may need to verify permission to film from an off-site location, such as a courthouse, business, or hospital
• Keep all your supplies in one place, which makes it easier to “grab and go” when you’re ready to go live