Doing a Facebook Live event is easily one of the most effective ways to build a stronger brand. Not only do you get a wider reach, but you also get instant feedback from your followers, and thus giving you an insight on what they like, what they don’t like, what you could do better and what you’re doing great. More than a few businesses have taken to Facebook Live–especially in the wake of this global pandemic–so it’s a fairly competitive arena.

And while going on Facebook Live is as easy as getting on your phone and tapping that “LIVE” button, there are a few ways that you can make this an even more powerful marketing effort. Here are four absolutely easy tips that you can follow for your first Facebook Live.

Plan the content. This probably goes without saying as most people and businesses that go on Facebook Live have a specific purpose in mind. And while the best of these events have the appearance of spontaneity, a great Facebook Live event has a prepared outline of topics for discussion (if it’s a talkie), a set list for remote concerts, planned recipes for a cooking show–the list goes on. Planning will also help you determine at which point in the event to deliver your marketing message. Trust us: if you ramble without a purpose and just throw in prices for your goods or services here and there, your audience will know.

Tell people about the show well before it starts. A Facebook Live event is an actual event, after all, and you want people to come and listen to your message. You will definitely want to announce the schedule of when you’re going live. This builds some excitement in your following, and will most likely generate some page shares from that same following.

Pro tip: When announcing your Facebook Live schedule, it would be a good idea to create a poster. This increases the likelihood of shareability from your following to their own networks.

Lights, camera, sound, connection–action! No one wants to get excited about a Facebook Live event and be greeted with about 20 minutes of, “Can you hear me now?” or “This delay is soooo bad!” It is then definitely a good idea to test out your audio, video and internet connectivity equipment well before going live. To do this, you can simply go on Facebook Live and set the audience to “Only Me.” This will show you what you need to improve: the set design, the lighting, the audio, and of course, the internet quality.

Reinforce your brand often in your Facebook Live event. Say good things about your brand every now and again while engaging your audience (all within the structure of your outline, of course).

There you have it: four easy tips to get you started on your first Facebook Live event! And as another bonus tip, make engaging with your audience a fun experience, and let your creativity get your business the Facebook Love that it deserves.