How to Live Stream From Home During COVID-19

The COVID-19 has impacted our lives in a way we couldn’t predict. People all around the world are staying at home self-quarantining which also means that they are spending more time online. We no longer have access to the resources we had before and live streaming solutions have been extremely helpful for both individuals and businesses to connect with people. With organizations shut down, brands are finding themselves alternative solutions to take their business forward. Whether you are a business, a content creator, a gaming professional, a church, or just a streamer, this blog will guide you through how to get started with live streaming. 

But before we start, we would like to remind everyone to stay healthy and sage and use the information about the Coronavirus from reliable sources like the guidance from WHO. 

Getting started with live streaming

Live streaming can be fun and an incredibly powerful tool for growing your brand in the crowded digital landscape. It is no secret that creating professional and engaging live videos contains many aspects. However, when you can pull off everything together, the result is big.

The competition is fierce among content creators and with some best practices and tips, you can achieve success with your live streams. To succeed with live streaming, you have to be extra creative with your resources as well. The most important part of live streaming is the live streaming platform you choose to broadcast live. 

Things to consider when starting with live streaming

From small startups to big organizations, businesses of all sizes have embraced live streaming for communication with the audience, brand building, customer engagement, marketing, and sales. Here are some of the essential things to consider when starting with live streaming. 

The purpose of your live streams

Like any other marketing move, your live streaming efforts must also be geared towards a specific purpose or goal. For example, is your live streaming going to a part of your new product launch, or do you want to grow your audience or will you be focusing on customer questions on your live videos? Whatever be your purposes of broadcasting live, define it, and find ways to measure the success of your efforts. 

Live streaming set up

The live streaming setup can be challenging and if you have limited resources and space, it is important to create a setting for your live broadcasts. If you have a dedicated space, you can use it as a studio space when broadcasting live. With the right lighting, cameras placed right, you can transform any space to great live streaming set up. First impressions can be crucial to retaining new viewers and it is worth putting in efforts to design and maintain a live stream setting. When you are curating your setting, consider your branding into account as well. Build a space that works for you and visualize the viewer’s experience. The basic equipment you require is a camera, microphone, audio mixer, laptop, live streaming software, and a stable internet connection.

Consistency is the key

Whenever you are live streaming, the key is to consistently broadcast and keep your videos regular so that your viewers will know when to expect you online. Think ahead and create a schedule, and update your viewers about the time changes or when you plan to broadcast live. 

Nurture your online community

Build an online community around our live streams to stay connected with your viewers both on and off stream. Consider the strategies that help to engage your community and more importantly how to keep our viewers stay in tune with the live broadcast throughout the stream. To nurture your online community, make sure your content is always fresh and always keep your viewers informed. If you create compelling content and interact well with your audience, you can make sure your community will grow in time. It will not happen immediately but you need to put some real efforts to reap the benefits of live streaming. 

Give the viewers incentives to return

Live streaming is a little different from traditional content creation, you need to put extra efforts to keep your viewers coming back to your platform for more live videos. Giveaways are one of the best ways to achieve this. You can give away gift cards, subscriptions, voucher codes, etc. While you can also give other kinds of gifts like products, giving off digital gifts will save you shipping costs. Depending on the live streaming platform you use, you can decide what to offer your viewers. For example, live streaming platform Twitch offers subscriber-only streams.

More streaming tips for a professional live streaming

Once you arrange decent live streaming set up, it’s time to go live. Follow these live streaming tips to make your live streaming as professional as possible. 

Keep your live streaming set up simple

When you start out, start simple with minimum equipment as each price of the equipment you add increases the complexity of your set \up. 

Look at the camera

When you are broadcasting live, make it a practice to look at the camera. If you are having another monitor set up near you, look at the camera, not the monitor. Live streaming is a great opportunity to create a real-time connection with your audience, and for that, you have to treat your audience as if they are in front of you. Resist the urge to look somewhere else and ensure you look at the camera lens. 

Respond to your audience

In every live stream, look into the comments your audience is posting and make sure you respond to the comments live whenever possible. If you need help, you can appoint a team to pay attention and respond to the comments. Interacting with your audience will help to enhance engagement with your viewers and keep them back in search of your videos.

Choose the best live streaming platform

When it comes to choosing a platform to live stream, people might have different opinions. From Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Periscope to Instagram there is no shortage of social media tools for live streaming.  The main point is you need not restrict yourself to just one platform. If you want to reach a wide audience, you can live stream simultaneously to different platforms.

Another alternate is to consider how to create a live streaming website to gain the most out of your live videos. If you feel the free social media live streaming platforms don’t offer professional-grade tools for your live videos, go for creating a live streaming website that allows you to customize settings for personalized branding, monetization, and security. 

Conclusion

Brands across the globe are embracing the power of live streaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The epidemic has compelled people to stay inside their homes and this shift catapulted the development of the live streaming industry. 

For both B2B and B2C businesses, live streaming offers lucrative opportunities to connect and engage with the audience. Live streaming is an effective marketing tool to improve your branding and create a personal relationship with both existing and potential customers. Even when the pandemic ends, we wouldn’t be surprised to find yourselves leveraging this virtual technology more.