WITH KINDERGARTEN enrollment stagnant in our school district, the communications department went looking for an innovative approach to reach our young families.

With six kindergarten teachers alongside, we went live on Facebook last January to answer questions from parents of potential incoming pupils. Our one-hour broadcast attracted more than 24,000 viewers and sparked a love for Facebook Live in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Carrollton, Texas.

We’ve since used Facebook Live to broadcast graduations, scholarship presentations, homecoming announcements, athlete signings by universities and numerous parent education presentations, enabling our community to engage when they cannot attend an event in person.

Why Live Video?
Streaming video is a vital part of our social media strategy. With increased competition in public education, school districts must use innovative approaches to market their schools.

While most live content creators concentrate on the broadcast, school districts ought to consider three important stages to create a successful Facebook Live broadcast: The Buzz, The Show and The Follow-Up.

THE BUZZ. With any big event, you must promote it to generate awareness. A mixture of traditional and digital marketing can create a built-in audience for your broadcast.

The best place to promote is on the platform you are streaming from. If you plan to stream on Facebook Live, the first place to market is on Facebook. But don’t limit your pro-motion to that.

We rely on our content distribution channels to make our community aware. We use the school district e-newsletter, Twitter, Instagram, our website and our phone messaging service.

The essential elements of your messages should be the why behind your broadcast and the date and time of your broadcast.

THE SHOW. Once you build your audience, you need to produce a quality presentation. It takes planning to engage an audience.

You want your audience to feel they are part of an immediate experience, yet you want your broadcast to flow. Our district scripts a show outline to drive the broadcast. This guide has talking points for specific announcements.

We also are conscious that new viewers can join the stream at any time. We schedule times throughout the broadcast to remind our viewers of the purpose.

Another talking point is to ask your audience to like, share and comment during your broadcast. Audience interaction shows Facebook interest exists in your broadcast, which tells the Facebook algorithm to share your content with more people.

Engagement is better when you interact with your audience. Comments are an excellent way to engage. When someone comments, be sure to respond.

Comments also serve as an excellent call to action. You can respond to a comment with a link to your website or an invitation to your next event. Always be engaging.

THE FOLLOW-UP. You are going to have far more viewers on the replay of your broadcast than on your live stream. That means optimizing your final content for future viewers.

After saving on your Facebook timeline, post it on YouTube and on your district website.

By sharing your broadcast on other platforms, you allow different audiences outside of your Facebook page to see your content. It is an excellent way to get more people to see the great things happening in your district.

Successful Foray
Going live is not for the faint of heart. It takes hard work from multiple departments. The public can be highly critical of a troubled broadcast. Beware of the trolls and always be prepared.

In the end, our first foray into Facebook Live succeeded. The district saw 5,000 views during our live broadcast, and an additional 20,000 people have since viewed the video. As a result, along with additional tactics, we saw enrollment numbers increase more than 10 percent for kindergarten.