Creators drive engagement on Facebook with live video

Three Mexican beauty and lifestyle content creators prioritized live content production with Facebook Live. In just six months, they saw an exponential increase in video views and interactions on their pages.

To achieve this success, they identified the themes their respective audiences found most interesting and dramatically increased live video production. Creator Lupita Cardoza produced 235 live videos from May 2021 to October 2021 (352% more than the previous year) that reached more than 144 million views. “Before the last few months, I didn’t use live video very often. Now with the latest results, they have become part of my daily content strategy,” Lupita said.

Lupita learned the importance of pre-production, from having a script with key ideas to materials and props that can be used during her broadcast. She also follows a topic schedule and is always looking for trends to generate relevant content for her audience. She’s found that going live for two hours is a good length for her.

“Viewers like to learn about my life and my routine much more than any other subject,” said Lupita. “At first, we tried to talk about empowerment, entrepreneurship as the main nucleus. But speaking about life and showing my day to day have had more impact on my viewers.”

Live video also proved impactful to creators who hadn’t previously experimented with the format, such as Maggie Magaña. The creator had more than 54 million views from May 2021 to October 2021 and an overall increase in her engagement on interactions, comments, and sharing.

Now she's using live videos as part of her growing digital strategy, as the video in which she shared with her fans the experience of trying an eyebrow tint. She keeps her audience preferences in mind whenever she thinks through future videos and what people are more likely to share with their friends and followers.

In so far as video duration, she’s found that some topics are better at retaining viewers than others. A 20-minute live video, she found, generates strong audience engagement.

Maggie has some people working for her, and this teamwork has also been instrumental to her creative process. For her, "creative meetings that include brainstorming, development of themes, a weekly agenda and the uncovering of trends" are fundamental to the success of live videos.

Priscila Arias, the creator of the La Fatshionista, produced 95 videos and accumulated more than 15 million views in the period of May 2021 to October 2021, an increase of 3,059% compared to the previous year. In her view, content is what makes a live video successful and keeps audiences coming back–not fancy sets or overpriced equipment.

Priscila noted that, while successful, live video has its challenges, namely interacting with her fans while doing another activity, like putting on makeup for Halloween.

Priscila has a team that helps her keep up with comments as they trickle in. In her experience, engaging with fans in real time helps bolster engagement on live video.

All three creators shared advice for aspiring creators who want to experiment with Facebook (or Instagram) Live:

Here are a few additional best practices to help you hone your live strategy: