Do’s and Don’ts of YouTube Live

Live streaming is a fantastic way to reach your audience and enrichen a variety of content. All the major social media platforms offer an option for going live - you can live stream through Facebook and Twitter Periscope, but YouTube is surely surpassing all the others with its innovation. YouTube has always been on the forefront of video development and Live is no different. Many people try and not everyone succeeds in making live streaming their medium. But there are some do’s and don’ts to check to make the stream watch-worthy.

• …set your live stream public when you actually want your notification to be sent out to your audience. Put your live stream public between half an hour and ten minutes before the event so people will get the notification close enough but not too close either.
• …check when your followers are available. It would be sad to have you plan an amazing stream just for no one to be able to see it.
• …ask your viewers to push the bell to get notifications for all your content, that way they will get notified when you will go live.
• …schedule the stream through the YouTube website. You can still use the app, but any scheduling must be done on a desktop.
• …promote your stream via your other social channels beforehand. And not only half an hour before, give people enough notice so that they can make time and tune in. You want to get the word out there, so optimise your notification strategy to the max. Have a look at how bigger influencers are doing theirs and when they post on social media or mention it in other videos.

• …use questions, polls and conversation to increase audience engagement. This helps to keep the audience watching your stream. An engaged creator makes the experience much better. Even as a brand, encouraging responses from the audience will drive future engagement and brand loyalty. Whatever content you have, if there is a way to involve your viewers, even if you just encourage them to comment and give you feedback, go for it.

• …stray from the recommended settings. To ensure that your stream looks it’s best, double check that you are following the live encoding settings.
• …live stream on multiple channels. With many major social media platforms offering valuable live streaming options, you might be tempted to use all of them at the same time. But that isn’t necessarily the best idea. It’s actually best to pick the platform with your largest audience and use your other channels to send them over. If you have a massive Twitter following, funnel people over from Facebook or Instagram by posting before and during the stream. The result is you’re tapping into your whole audience while ensuring the maximum exposure.

• …expect your first videos to be perfect. Getting it right might just take a few attempts. Listen to any feedback, watch the videos again and evaluate. This will make you grow and make future streams much, much better.

If you need more guidance on YouTube Live and how it can help you grow your channel, drop us a message.