4 Tips to Building Your Non-Fiction Fan Base With Facebook Live

Posted by Arthur Gutch
Published On May 6, 2016

Building a non-fiction readership is all about becoming an expert in your field. The more you make yourself the go-to person for questions in your niche, the more books you're likely to sell. One of the best new tools you can use is Facebook's new streaming video tool, Facebook Live. This allows you to broadcast live video right onto your Facebook wall. Fans will see your live broadcast and can ask questions right while you're speaking, making for a great interactive experience between you and your readers. It's absolutely free, making it one book marketing tool you can't afford to pass up Facebook_live_infinity_Publishing_author.jpg.

How to Use Facebook Live

You'll need an Android or Apple mobile device to stream from. For now, this program doesn't support webcams. Open the status bar on your Facebook page as if you wanted to make a post. You'll find an icon of a human being -- that's the live button. Click on this button to prep your livestream. Choose who you want to see the stream -- everyone on Facebook, only friends, or just you -- and write a description for your livestream. Press the OK button and you're streaming live. 

Preparation

You won't do any good just randomly deciding to post a livestream on an odd Thursday afternoon. Begin by choosing a day and time when you think many of your readers will be home and online. Advertise your livestream by posting multiple times on Facebook the day before and the same day. This allows fans to adjust their schedules to include time to watch you. Include a teaser in your posts to interest people in watching your livestream.

What to Livestream

As a non-fiction author you've got a distinct advantage when it comes to material to share with your fans. Do a weekly Q & A session about your niche. If you write about container gardening, cover one plant or planting technique each week. Put your device on a tripod and do live demonstrations, allowing a few minutes at the end of the show for questions. Talk about exciting discoveries you've made in your niche, or do a live survey with your readers about their opinion on some controversial topic in your subject. Every niche has got something that everyone's talking about. Why not lead that discussion?

Tips for Great Livestreams

Plan to stream for 5-7 minutes. It's enough time to allow questions, but not so much that you bore the always-moving Facebook crowd. facebook_live.jpg

Remind viewers to follow you so that they can get notified about future livestreams. Mention this once at the beginning of your show, and once near the end.

Add information and links to the livestream on your website and your other social media accounts.

Vary the setting of your livestreams if possible. Take your viewers on mini field trips. Let them see your knowledge about the subject matter in a different way besides books.

Keep the Faith and May the Force be with You!

 

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