There are many reasons to go live on social media. You’ll receive instant feedback and get to interact with your audience. People would rather watch live streams than read blog content. You can create instant connections with your audience, and as most social media platforms prioritise video content, you get maximum exposure. But what’s the best way to begin? In this article, I look at the best options to get started going live.
Go Live on Facebook
Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world. So if you’re hoping to market your business using live video then it makes sense that this is a great place to do it. Facebook allows you to stream from your mobile device or desktop to your profile, page or group. Saving your content for as long as you’d like it to remain.
The video quality isn’t as good as what you’d expect from a site like Youtube, but the reach-potential of Facebook far outweighs this. All you need is a Facebook profile and a device with a camera and you’re ready to roll.
Go Live on Instagram
You will find similarities between Facebook and Instagram, which makes sense as they’re owned by the same company. Stories, which are now available on Facebook, originated on Instagram.
Instagram lends itself to shorter content than you might expect to see on Facebook. But it still gives you the option to go live for up to 60-minutes, add in the filters and the options to turn comments on/off and it’s easy to see the appeal of Instagram Live.
Go Live on Linkedin
Anyone can use Facebook or Instagram live features, but Linkedin is a little more selective. To go live on Linkedin you must complete an application to become a live broadcaster.
To become a broadcaster, you must prove that you reach specific criteria, which include having an audience, as well as proving you consistently put out quality content. Linkedin has said that this is because the service is still being beta tested. But as the platform is growing rapidly, I expect this service will only grow stronger.
Go Live on Youtube
With people watching over a billion hours worth of content a day, Youtube is without a doubt a powerful platform of video on the internet. Only on Google are more searches performed per day. Youtube provides the best quality video out of the platforms mentioned. Which makes sense as video is their primary content focus.
They give the option of streaming from your desktop, a mobile device or an encoder. However, being able to use encoding software isn’t entirely novel, as services such as Streamyard can be used on Youtube, Facebook and Linkedin.
Go Live on Streamyard
Streamyard is a live streaming studio which you run from inside your browser. This means you don’t have to download the software. You only need to login. Using a service like Streamyard means you can have the best of all worlds. By linking Streamyard to your social accounts, you can stream to many places at one time.
It has an easy-to-use interface which allows you to upload graphics and logos. It collects comments from across your platforms. Giving the option to show them live on-screen. To add guests, they just click a link then arrive in your studio. You can cue guests and bring them in and out of the stream as you wish. They are also given the option to share their screen.
You can try Streamyard for free. They also offer $20 and $39 packages which give you more recording time, extra streams and HD options. Streamyard is fast becoming a popular tool within the entrepreneur community.
Ready to Go Live on Social Media?
Facebook and Youtube are amongst the best social media platforms on which to go live. In comparison, Instagram and Linkedin are still in their infancy. But overall, there’s no need to choose between them. With software such as Streamyard, you can stream to the majority of platforms at the same time. Meaning you can build multiple audiences with very little work, at no extra cost.
