It Makes You More Personable
Live Streaming is a great way for your audience to get to know you and vice versa. It enables your viewers to have a personal conversation with you from anywhere in the world in real time. Live Streaming helps remind your followers that you’re human too, not just a brand.
Engagement
Live Streaming is a great way to grow your platform as it brings in more interactions and engagements than a typical post. Think of it as watching live TV except the viewers can comment with questions and hear your response in real time.
If you decide to start a live stream be sure to save it as a post once you shut it down. This will lead to even more interactions and engagements beyond the stream. It also helps viewers go back and rewatch any parts they missed.
Different Types of Live Streams
You can live stream almost anything. Events, questions and answers, product showcases and whatever else you believe your audience would be interested in. Depending on the type of stream it is good to have an outline of key points you want to talk about before the stream is over. For example, a product showcase, know what you want to say about the product and what you want your viewers to know before you start. It can be easy to forget important points while you are reading the chat and answering questions.
Live streaming events are great for viewers that are interested in said event but couldn’t make it out. These are growing ever more popular due to the pandemic. If you do need to stream an event, depending on the size of the event it is best to hire a production company to provide high quality audio and video to give you peace of mind that nothing will go wrong.
Questions and answers are where you will see the most engagement. Most of the time there isn’t a set outline to follow, you just go off what your viewers are asking. Make sure you try to reply to every comment you see in order or someone that may have been unintentionally skipped will leave and likely not come back. Another tip for more engagement is to try and reply to their question with a question for them. Start a conversation with the viewers. This can be difficult keeping up with everyone at first but just like recording videos it takes time and practice. Keep in mind every comment you see in the livestream will show up as a regular comment in the post once you’re done. This will boost your engagements and bring in more followers as your page will be recommended more to others.
There are a ton of other types of steams you can do. Be creative with it.
Don’t Stress
The idea of live streaming can be scary at first because as stated before, it’s like live tv. Here are some tips to make your live stream go smoothly. Make sure you are in a controlled environment, somewhere you are comfortable and know nothing unexpected can happen. Most people I know have a certain room in their house or place at their business that they stream from. If you can, try to have a live stream setup with good lighting and background decorations that aren’t too distracting.
Slip ups will happen. We are all human and make mistakes. Don’t try to be perfect and act like a robot on your streams. Why do we find it funny when a news anchor or sports commentator slips up? We sometimes forget they’re human. Funny slip ups can even lead to more interactions and engagement. When it happens, don’t stress it or be embarrassed by it.
Start a test stream for a few minutes before you go live. This will get you prepared to go live and help you feel comfortable.Be consistent when you stream. Having set schedule for streaming can be great andgive your viewers more of an opportunity to join. Be sure to make a post a few hours before you stream to inform your viewers about it.
Don’t let your live streams be short. Try to make sure it lasts longer than fifteen minutes. Short livestreams don’t give your audience much of a chance to join.
Don’t let a low view count keep you down. During a typical live stream you will often peak viewership in the first few minutes. When you hit that peak try to keep the audience engaged. Offering a small give away at the end is a great way to keep viewership. If you do a giveaway make sure everyone has liked and shared the stream to be entered.
Finally, have fun. Live streaming can be very entertaining for your audience and even you. Everyone I know that streams loves it and it is the best part of their day.