Apply these practical live video tips to stand out and make your next live stream a success!

With so many live broadcasts happening online, how can yours stand out and bring you the results you want? Whether you wish to increase your online reach, build connections, or generate more leads for your business, live streams can help, if done right. In this blog post, we’ve gathered the best live video tips to make sure you create successful live streams every time you go live.   

Why does live video matter?

If in 2019, internet users watched over 1.9 billion hours of live video across the globe, we can only imagine what these numbers will look like by the end of this year with all that’s been happening. Actually, Go-Global predicts that, by the end of 2020, live streaming will account for 82% of all internet traffic. 

More importantly, live videos stand out for all the right reasons when compared to other types of content. Over 80% of people would rather watch live videos from a brand than see standard social media posts or read blog posts (Hubspot). So, if you want to grab your audience’s attention, live video should definitely be part of your content strategy.

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Advantages of live video for your business or personal brand

The benefits of going live are plenty for businesses, personal brands, and anyone who wants to reach people online. Apart from the live video statistics mentioned above, live streams can help you grow your following, better engage your community, and establish yourself as an expert in your field of interest. 

Live videos can be a simple content medium yet powerful. More than any other type of content, live streaming videos allow you to:

• Interact in real-time with your audience
• Build trust with viewers and gain true fans
• Increase your online reach across platforms

Best live video tips for successful streams

The success of any content depends on a combination of factors, namely the quality of the message itself, the distribution strategy and relevance, among others. In other words, the content needs to bring value to your potential audience, at the right time, and it needs to be promoted. 

Successful live videos are no different. The content of your broadcast has to “speak” to your audience and deliver value. It also needs to find your audience, which is why promotion and distribution are crucial components of any video marketing strategy. 

But, there’s more to popular live streams than that. So, let’s get into some practical live video tips to help you create successful streams. 

Planning is a must

Spontaneous live streams can be a great way to connect to your existing audience and impact your overall online growth. But, that being said, properly planned live streams are the way to go if you want to maximize the power of live videos and expand your audience. 

• Set live streaming goals

Define what you hope to achieve with your live stream and the value you’d like to deliver to your audience. 

• Outline your content

A clear outline is a fantastic way not to lose track of your topic during your live video. It helps you ensure your content structure makes sense without having to memorize an entire script and running the risk of sounding a bit robotic. 

• Create checklists

Since live streaming has quite a few moving parts, checklists can be your best friends. You can create your own or adapt this live streaming checklist to your reality.

• Schedule in advance

Social media platforms, like Facebook and YouTube, allow you to schedule your live stream in advance. Users will get notified by the platform itself before your live video begins, which can increase the number of viewers.

 

Promote your live stream

Promoting your live video is vital to its success, as it is for any content you create. Many promotional strategies can potentially work. In our own experience, a combination of multiple actions works best. For instance, you can: 

• Promote across social media platforms
• Invite your email list to watch the broadcast
• Create social media giveaways to generate shares

For more tips on promoting live videos, check out this blog post. 

Choose the best platform for your broadcast

Each social media and live streaming platform has its advantages and disadvantages. The two most popular ones are Facebook and YouTube, with, respectively, over 2.6 billion active monthly users and 2 billion monthly active users.  

Multiple live streams

If your setup allows, instead of choosing between channels, you could go live on Facebook and YouTube simultaneously. Or, insert here any platform you believe to be relevant to your audience and industry. 

Get your live video equipment sorted

Even though the quality of your content itself is more important than your production value, that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Your video and audio should be crisp so that it’s engaging rather than distracting. 

But don’t worry, live video equipment doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, you can go a long way with a full HD webcam, a quality microphone, and a powerful computer. 

Check your internet connection

The critical factor regarding your internet connection that you need to keep in mind is your upload speed and how much of it you need to live stream. The higher the quality of your video, the more upload speed you’ll need. 

A general recommendation is to have:

• 6 Mbps for 720p
• 13 Mbps for 1080p

This is an oversimplification, and other things can impact the quality, but there are specific actions you can take to improve your live streaming quality as much as possible. The results might vary from one person to the next.

Test everything before your live video

One of the best live video tips we can give is to test everything before your broadcast. Test things multiple times and make sure you have backup plans in case something stops working suddenly. 

The high-stakes of live videos require you to take a few extra steps to ensure everything is good to go. Some platforms allow you to go live privately, which can be a great way of testing your live streaming setup.

 

Interact with your audience

The main benefit live video has over videos on demand is its potential for real-time interaction, but many streamers forget to take advantage of this. During your broadcast, make sure you interact with your viewers and personalize the stream as much as possible. 

A few ways to increase interaction are:

• Ask your audience questions
• Live Q&A to answer their questions
• Community shoutouts

Create a clear “call to action”

A call-to-action, also known as CTA by marketers, directs your viewers to the next action you want them to take. For example, at the end of YouTube videos, creators often ask viewers to like, share, and subscribe. Or, when you receive a newsletter, and the writer invites you to click on something, that’s a call-to-action. 

For you to make the most out of your live stream, a clear call-to-action is paramount. So, what would you like your viewers to do next? 

Final thoughts

Despite the increase in live broadcasts, going live still presents content creators with amazing opportunities if you manage to grab your audience’s attention. Hopefully, these live video tips will help you create successful streams that stand out from the crowd.

What are your live video tips for fellow content creators?