Elizabeth Stephens uses Facebook Live to promote her community newspaper by allowing community members to tune-in the community pitch meetings. This not only builds engagement from the community members, but also builds trust because of the transparency of the operation. She posts information about the scheduled Facebook Live stream before hand (days prior) and reminds the viewers what time it will be up (the day of).
Elizabeth says the community pitch meetings work perfectly. They are just the right length of time: live streams should be 10-20 minutes. This allows for audience members to open and share the stream but doesn't drag on only to lose retention times. Most interestingly, Elizabeth said that 2/3 views actually happen after the meeting. Because the live stream turns into a video after it closes, community members who could not join in on time (because of work, school, etc.) can still see what is going on inside the newsroom.
Facebook is perfect for these meetings because it boosts engagement, the majority of the community is on Facebook and has access to Facebook Live. This expands reach and allows the community to have a say and ask questions on/about what is happening.
Facebook Live is looking towards working with local elected officials and town hall meetings to build on this type of engagement and transparency with the necessary flexibility of time restraints. If your organization can benefit from free tools such as Facebook Live, it is important to understand how to utilize them perfectly.