How can you live stream successfully? Live streaming is a powerful communication tool when you get down to these 4 Ps.
Many people don’t reap the benefits of live streaming because something is missing. Tapping into live streaming’s full potential is not easy unless you have the right strategy. If you want to live stream successfully, AKA make your efforts worthwhile, this 4 P’s checklist is exactly what you need.
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How live streaming works, and who is it for?
Content live streaming is a powerful communication tool that allows businesses and individuals to reach millions of people as if they were attending a private, in-person event. Some people want to expand their online exposure. Others need to reach more potential customers. All of it can be achieved with successful live streams.
There are too many live streaming platforms that you could use to stream. In general, live streaming works as a digital event. You create the line-up of the event or a content outline and invite potential attendees to join you at a certain time. Instead of attendees going to a venue, they click on your link and access the platform you are streaming to.
When you live stream successfully, the real-time interaction allows you to connect with your audience in a meaningful way. It’s the perfect tool to create relationships and build trust at scale. It’s not as effective as an in-person, one-on-one meeting but, given the global reach of the internet, it’s the better option.
Live stream successfully checklist
Since live streaming is such a potent tool and it’s free on many platforms, the competition, as you can imagine, is fierce. Fighting for the attention of billions of people online can be a struggle.
Instead, you can focus on this checklist with the 4 P’s to live stream successfully, which will help you attract viewers and grow online. It’s also important to remember that you don’t need to reach every person in the world, but only the right people.
It will be much easier to live stream successfully when you take the time to plan your stream, choose the right platform, prepare accordingly, and promote the online event.
Planning
If you want to live stream successfully, planning needs to be a priority. When this step is overlooked, the content doesn’t generate nearly as many results as it could. Many unsuccessful streams come about due to a lack of planning.
The three key elements to planning your successful live stream are:
- Goal
- Audience
- Relevant Content
What’s your goal?
Defining the goal of your content is the best way to assess your results. At times, your goal might be to reach as many people as possible, so you focus on shareability. Other times, you want to convert a specific audience to potential customers, which means you work harder on delivering value.
Regardless of your primary goal, your live streaming content will always have a broader impact in your marketing strategy. Nonetheless, having one goal as your North Star will help you analyze your results later on and optimize your efforts.
Who are you live streaming for?
Delivering a live stream successfully means attracting the right audience and bringing them value. Before going live, make sure you have a clear idea of who you’re live streaming for. It will make life much easier when you create the content, choose your platform, and promote your stream.
When you know your audience, it’s easier to peak their interests and motivate them to join your live streaming sessions.
Does your content bring value?
A successful live stream depends mostly on your ability to bring value to your audience. When you deliver enough value, viewers tend to come back for more and spread the word. Without valuable content, on the other hand, it’s tough to live stream successfully.
While some gimmicks, such as special offers and bonuses, might work in the short term, they won’t be as effective of a marketing strategy. If you take the time to create relevant content, the rewards will come long-term.
Platform
The second P to focus on to live stream successfully is for Platform. As mentioned before, the internet has tons of live streaming platforms, free and paid. The two most popular are YouTube live and Facebook live.
Streaming has many technical aspects to it. While some platforms might do most of the heavy-lifting, others are aimed for more tech-savvy users. Since the goal of this blog post is to get you to live stream successfully from the start, let’s keep things simple.
Find the best platform for you
The right platform for your live streams checks two boxes:
- You are comfortable using it
- Your audience is there
While Facebook is one of the most popular streaming platforms, it’s not your best bet when looking for a younger crowd.
This takes us back to the previous step within Planning. Knowing your audience also means you need to know where they hang out and which platform they prefer.
Schedule the event
Once you decide which platform you’ll use, and you’ve learned how to use it, it’s time to schedule your event. Most platforms allow you to schedule your live streaming event in advance, and they will provide you with a link.
The link to your scheduled event will help you promote your live stream in advance so that you can increase your online reach.
Multiple platform streaming
Some content creators go live on multiple platforms at the same time to increase their reach even further. Instead of choosing to stream on Facebook or YouTube, they go live on both.
It can be a useful and practical strategy if you have the hardware power and bandwidth for it. Multiple platform streams can require a lot more resources and a better internet connection, so before you do it, make sure you run some tests.
Prepare
Running tests is a massive part of the next P in our checklist, Prepare. Preparation is at the core of successful streams. Since it’s a live video production, there’s little room for mistakes. Tests, contingency strategies, and backup plans are a must.
If you want to live stream successfully and professionally, the essential elements of preparation to keep in mind are:
- Equipment
- Testing
- Dry runs
Live streaming equipment
When it comes to live streaming equipment, you’ll find something for every budget. Even if you’re on a low-budget live streaming, your production can still thrive. Many times, content creators already have some of the equipment necessary just lying around, like webcams and mobile phones.
Ideally, you would also have some backup equipment in case something stops working. But if it stretches the budget too much, just stick with what you have.
Test your gear
With any live streaming gear you put together, the secret is in running tests. Test each gadget, hardware, or software separately, and then test them together. Preferably, more than once.
Running tests is also a fantastic way to learn more about your equipment, which can be a massive advantage when you are streaming. Viewers can always tell when the streamer has confidence in what they are doing or not.
Recording dry runs
Confidence is an essential part of live streaming, and recording your dry runs can help you level-up yours. You can record yourself as if you were doing the stream with ManyCam, play it back, and assess your content before going live.
Dry runs will help you test all your equipment together, as well as rehearse your content and optimize your content.
Promote
A huge part of what it means to live stream successfully is to get people to watch it, isn’t it?
Without viewers, there’s no interaction and no success. Plus, you are creating the content to bring value to others, so you need to reach potential viewers.
Among the many live streaming promotional strategies, these actions below can get you started on the right foot.
- Invite your followers
- Send out email invitations
- Ask partners to promote your live stream
Inviting followers
Before any live stream, it’s important to let your audience know you are planning to go live. Many content creators do this too late in the game. Though notifying your followers right before you stream is part of a solid promotion strategy, you should also create some buzz around it on the days to come.
When you announce your live stream to followers, you can take full advantage of your online reach. Even if they live stream is on Facebook, you should let your audience know across all your social media profiles, from Instagram and Twitter to LinkedIn.
Email invitations
Another way to leverage your current audience is to announce your stream on a newsletter. If you already started building an email list, it’s highly likely they will be interested in your content. In case you don’t have an email list, you should consider starting one. It’s one of the most direct ways to reach your audience.
Partnerships and Collaborations
One of the best ways to expand your online reach and live stream successfully is to ask partners to promote your stream for you. When you create partnerships with complementary businesses and individuals, you’ll reach a similar audience through a trusted source, which increases your chance of getting more viewers.
Another strategy here is to do video collaborations. This way, you and your collaborator can tap into one another’s audience.
Key Takeaway
When you get these 4 P’s down, it will be much easier to live stream successfully. Focusing on planning, platform, preparation, and promotion is simple, but it’s not easy. It will take more time at first, but the results will be worth it.
Which P is the most challenging for you?
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