Educational
LIVESTREAMING TIPS
Jan
“Whether it’s in relation to a large-scale Annual Conference or a family member’s milestone birthday, a book launch or a political rally, a fundraising program or a weekly religious service…and in recent times, even a funeral service, there’s someone out there who’s simply exercising his or her digital citizenship by asking; Will it be live-streamed?”
Korede Fagbola, Your Guide to Livestreaming Equipment https://holoceneinnovations.com/2022/09/30/your-guide-to-livestreaming-equipment/
It’s 2023!
No more poor video-quality livestreams.
No more ear-deafening audio-quality livestreams.
No more glitchy, boring I-can-never-waste-my-data-to-watch-this livestreams.
The question is, how do we get there?
How do we all get to the place where we hold people spell-bound, glued to their screen and paying attention to the beautiful content, events, offer or value we are bringing to them through our livestream broadcasts?
The tips below will make you the master of the game, with them, your subscribers’ list will grow like wildfire, your followers will not only watch your 1hr livestream to the end, but they will also ask you for a Part 2, Part 3, 4…till infinity.
Are you ready to take your business, service, events, or organization to the next level? Then the tips below are yours for the taking.
It’s a GOAL!
No, not the one with a ball flying into the goal keeper’s net.
But a goal as ‘an objective or target that someone is trying to reach or achieve’ (dictionary.com).
Perhaps streaming for you began as a hobby or something borne out of an urgent necessity, but if you have seen this as something you’ll do more intentionally, then it’s time to define an ‘objective or target you are trying to reach or achieve’. Do you really want to be a successful streamer? If yes, then you should use goals to track your progress and growth (you can read about goal-setting theory which shows that your chances for success increase when you actively set goals).
A classic example is the Twitch streamer, Kaitality; he used the power of goal setting to scale from 50 followers to 6000 followers in 3 years.
And you may ask, what goals are there to have when it comes to livestreaming? Oh, a hundred and one of them! For starts, your goal for the next 6 months might be to build a community, the strategies for doing this will be slightly different if your goal was to double your followers (which is not to say that one goal cannot organically lead to the accomplishment of multiple unspecified goals). Other goals might be to monetize your stream, gain partnership with a streaming platform or increase broadcast frequency.
Can’t Nail It, if you don’t Niche It
Oh yes! If you are a content creator who wishes to take advantage of this ever-expanding streaming industry where people spent a whopping total of 8.99 billion hours on livestreamed content in the Q2 of 2021 alone (according to Streamlabs), then choosing a niche for your livestreaming content is the way to go as it helps you establish a loyal customer base, minimize competition, demonstrate expertise, reduce marketing cost and increase your profit. Here are some popular
niches you may focus on;
- Storytelling Livestreams
- Product Launches
- Faith-based events or services
- Contests and giveaways
- Webinars
- Interviews/Q&A
- Behind the scenes
- Gaming streams
- And many more
The Set-Up
First, don’t panic.
This is the part many fear as their minds begin to think of heavy gadgets, wires and machines in sci-fi movies.
Nah, it’s not that huge, you just need some quality streaming equipment properly set up to get things running.
Luckily, a concise and well-specified list of gadgets you’d need to crush your livestreaming goals has been fully covered here;
And the Software
Remember we agreed that “no more poor video-quality or ear-deafening audio-quality livestreams”. This is why you need to choose a good streaming software that’d give your audience the best user-experience. So there’s OBS, there’s XSplit, vMix, Streamlabs, Wirecast and a host of others. Depending on your budget and other factors, these software all have different features and specs that’d inform your choice. Good for you, many of the features and specs are well-highlighted in this article, https://holoceneinnovations.com/2022/10/21/streaming-software-for-houses-of-worship/ .
Choose Your Streaming Platform
It’s really a simple rule at this point; choose a streaming platform that best works for your content and audience. For example, a Facebook Live or Instagram Live would work just fine for a free masterclass, gamers would rather opt for Twitch or Youtube Live, it would be also Youtube Live for a music concert and again, Facebook or Instagram Live for a Travel blogger.
Good enough, you can livestream on multiple platforms and Streamslab or Restreams are very good tools to consider for this option.
Test-run! Test-run! Test-run
Remember you want to be the best.
Remember you want people to ask for Part 2, Part 3, up to Part 14. Then you can’t afford to miss this simple but crucial advice.
Test-run your presentation, set-up, software etc. before you hit the ‘live’ button. This can help you avoid bloopers, technical hitches and other mistakes.
Your Livestreaming Tips Checklist
Nothing can stop you from being super successful at livestreaming if you pay attention to these simple but profound tips.
- Define Your Goal
- Niche it
- Set up your equipment
- Choose your software
- Choose your platform
- Test-run! Test-run! Test-run
