Make Money on Your Facebook Live Events

While we were following stay at home orders, most of us used Zoom, WebX, Facebook Live and other sites to stay connected. We participated in online happy hours, games of Quizzo, work meetings, book clubs, classes, parties and seminars. We are all pretty much virtual meeting experts as we enter month 6 of the quarantine.

Businesses really had to flex their creativity muscles during this time to figure out how to keep their clientele interested and engaged, so they too used these sites to help connect.

Facebook Live was popular during this time. I was part of many Facebook Live entertainment events, especially in the early months. Bars I used to frequent, friends I used to see, hosted Facebook Live events to keep us entertained, engaged and connected. These events were free or paid via the honor system and a cash app.

What is Facebook Live?

If you have not attended or hosted a Facebook Live event, here is some information to catch you up.

Facebook Live lets your live stream events from a phone, computer or connected TV. You can Livestream in an Event, on a Page or in a Group.

Livestreaming on a Page has a few advantages over the other two options.

• The ability to crosspost to other pages. Only live broadcasts to a page can be crossposted.

• The ability to access detailed insights in Creator Studio.

• The ability to restrict access to your Livestream to a specific geography or age demographic on Facebook you can use Age and Geographic Gating.

How Can I Make Money on FB Live?

Now Facebook is launching paid Facebook Live events. This will allow users to charge and live stream all on one platform.

This feature will be available to pages in 20 countries, the US being one of them, and for those pages that meet the monetization guidelines Facebook has outlined.

For now, Facebook will not be taking a cut of your profits, but it will cost attendees extra money if they are using iOS. Facebook stated they reached out to Apple to see if they could work out a deal but were denied.

Messenger Rooms

Facebook launched Messenger Rooms back in April. These were an alternative to Zoom and the like. In order to join a room, a person did not need to have a FB page.

Messenger Rooms also allowed up to 50 users.

Messenger Rooms can be used with FB Live paid events.

Now businesses that had to shutter their doors have options to still host events. This launch has great timing as we enter colder months in many areas in the US.

Insights for Paid Live Events

You will be able to get basic insights into your data for Live events. You will be able to see:

• How many people purchased access to your event.

• How many free access invites you have extended and how many have been accepted.

• Estimated earnings for your event.

Guidelines for Paid Events

Facebook monitors paid events. If your event is not following the guidelines, FB will ask the creator to make changes and recheck it in 24 hours. They can also stop registration or cancel the event and refund the attendees. If a page has multiple violations FB will remove the page from being eligible to post paid event for 90 days.

The guidelines are:

• A clear and accurate description of the event

• Events must be live. If showing parts of a prerecorded video, this information must be disclosed

• Changing the time or date or content of the event makes attendees eligible for a refund

• If using a third-party application, their policies must be followed.

Facebook, like many social media platforms, is positioning itself as the place for people to go to make money and grow their business. FB has recently added paid ads in groups and Pinterest is growing its online sales.