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Your brand’s team went on Facebook Live and now the live has ended. Instead of leaving that footage to collect dust in your video library, you can repurpose it.

Think of live content like an item of clothing in your closet. You wouldn’t wear a shirt once and throw it out, right? That’s because you know you can style it in many different ways depending on the look and feel you’re going for.

Live content follows the same idea. You may think that once your live Facebook video has ended, it’s no longer usable. But in fact, you can use that same video to produce 10 more pieces of content. It’s all about reframing it to fit your goals.

With that in mind, let’s dive into how to download your live videos on Facebook and extend their shelf life.

Can you download Facebook Live videos?

Yes, you can download Facebook Live videos but only on a computer. Facebook does not currently allow users to download their live videos to their phones or other mobile devices.

The first thing you can do after downloading your video is share it on your timeline for followers who may have missed the live session. You can then use a transcription app, like Descript, to get a written version of the content, adding to your audio and visual formats. From there, you can brainstorm ways to extend the video’s shelf life.

The main benefit of repurposing live content is saving time and money.

“Live can be a great way for businesses who are light on resources to make video content. While lives can be complicated, they can also be as simple as a person in front of a camera,” says Kelly Hendrickson, social media marketing manager at HubSpot. “The biggest benefit of a live is the low cost and low production needs.”

You can save a lot on production costs by re-using past footage and building from it instead of starting from scratch.

Tips On Repurposing Your Facebook Live Content

1. Don’t force it.

Repurposing content only works if it’s valuable to your audience.

Hendrickson highlights that the question to ask when repurposing any content is, “Is this valuable to my audience?” With live content, there’s a second layer to it. You now have to ask if live content is the most effective way for your audience to get this value.

“There is a balance between providing value in the most digestible way and creating content in a sustainable way for your business,” she says. “If your audience could take the value easier in a still image or a quick text post, that will be a better option.”

She also adds that before you decide to use the live content to create another video, dig into your data.

“If the answer isn’t video, don’t force it because the algorithms won’t give you brownie points for putting your best effort forward,” Hendrickson says. “They are going to serve your audience what performs best for them.”

While you may know where your audience consumes media, they may have different expectations and behaviors on each platform. So, before scheduling that post on social, make sure it aligns with what your audience is looking for.

2. Get usage rights from talent.

Before you start repurposing, make sure your team has gotten prior approval from the talent featured in the live video.

“You often cannot repurpose live content without a contract from the talent who agrees to this, either going into the live record or after the fact,” says Jamee Sheehy, director of video at HubSpot. “If someone has agreed to one live piece of content and then there’s 20 different cut downs of it from Instagram to YouTube, that’s not a good thing, you need to agree on usage.”

The contract should include the following details:

• The timeframe of the usage – Usage rights can range anywhere from one to 12 months.
• Where the content will be repurposed – Brands will need to specify if the content will be used for organic social media posts, paid social campaigns or on digital marketing channels.

Once you have these details ironed out, it’s important to share them with your marketing team to ensure compliance across all channels.

3. Create a blog post.

One of the best ways to repurpose live Facebook videos is by creating blog posts from the key points discussed during the live.

For instance, let’s say Bike World sells bicycles and hosts a live with an influencer known for their outdoor adventures. Let’s say you mainly discussed bikepacking tips, biking communities and the best biking trails in the world during the live. You can take each topic and turn it into a blog post for your audience, including quotes from that influencer.

You could also include a video and/or audio snippets in the article to add more depth to your posts.

4. Get snippets for social media.

Just because your live video was originally on Facebook doesn’t mean it has to stay there.

You can reformat your content to fit on other platforms where your audience lives, like Instagram or TikTok. Instead of reposting the full video, take snippets of the best moments from the video.

“During a live, you’re there for the live feel, the random trailing off topics, the moments. Find the substance of the talk and edit to those,” said Sheehy. “Once you make an edit out of that, add graphics to fill out the story if something got lost in translation, or to add something that wasn’t talked about in the live.”

One thing to keep in mind when repurposing content on other platforms is formatting. You want to make sure you adapt the video frame to the platform so it fits the screen accordingly. For instance, the dimensions for Facebook Live videos are different from those on Instagram Reels. As such, you’ll need to create a platform-specific version.

You may also need to adapt the content for the platform. While a video snippet with cool graphics may work well for a short TikTok video, that approach may not work so well on Twitter. For that platform, it may be better to write out a stand-out quote from the video instead, as it’s a text-heavy app.

To generate the best results, you’ll have to adapt the content to the platform.

5. Use the audio for a podcast.

What better way to use audio than incorporate it into a podcast? It’s one of the most popular ways people are consuming information these days.

While your video may not work well as a full podcast episode, you can use snippets from the video to include in your podcast series. For instance, if you interviewed someone in your live video and your podcast series has an interview segment, it could be a great way to integrate that audio.

However, if the audio from your live isn’t so great or the conversation relies heavily on visual elements, a podcast may not be appropriate.

6. Upload to YouTube.

If you want your live video to be easily accessible to your audience for a long time, upload the video to YouTube.

Similar to social media, it allows those who are newly introduced to your YouTube channel to freely explore your past content. They’ll also get to enjoy the off-the-cuff feel that you only get through live videos.

Keep in mind that YouTube has strict copyright rules. If your live video features music or other content not permitted under fair use laws, you may have to edit that out of your video before uploading it.

In most cases, it’s best to plan out what content you will repurpose before you start your live video. That will give you direction on what to cover during your live to maximize the material you’ll get to use on other platforms.