Things to Keep in Mind While Live Streaming

Live streaming is emerging as a powerful tool to engage users for business as well as entertainment purposes. Live streaming is nothing but broadcasting a video as you are shooting it over the internet. You can understand it as video chatting with an enormous unknown audience.

Just like any kind of video production, making an engaging and professional live stream involves good live streaming software. This is because the software will let you add custom logos, high resolution, and well-mixed audio to the live stream. Moreover, because live streaming is live, unedited, and uncensored, you will need the best live streaming software out there.

Apart from software, the following are some things you should be aware of while live streaming. These tips will help you in creating high-quality videos and improving customer engagement.

Do not use any camera

If you live stream professionally, you must invest in a professional camera. The camera of your smartphone might do the job well but if you want more professional and seamless broadcasts, a professional camera is imperative.

Use a fast network

As a beginner, you might not understand the importance of your network’s bandwidth. If you use an inconsistent and low upload bandwidth, the quality and resolution of your video may fluctuate in the middle of the live stream.

Pixelated and choppy video upset the audience. Even the best live streaming software would not make any difference if your internet connection is poor. So, make sure that the network is consistent and fast enough to produce seamless videos.

Use a simple setup

Your setup should be well-lit and have steady cameras so that your videos are steady and bright. A well-lit setup ensures that everything in your video is clear to the audience. But do not go overboard with the setup, employing a number of tools and equipment.

The more complex your setup is, the more likely it is to break down. If you use dozens of things, the risk of one of them failing increases, which can disrupt your entire video.

Keep backup equipment by your side

We are not talking about keeping another live streaming software handy but monitor, cables, and charged camera batteries available. This will ensure that even if anything fails, you can instantly connect its replacement to resume your video.

Do test runs

The best way to test your video stream quality and speed is to stream using a backup account first. Keep a second account with all the settings to private. Now, live stream from this backup account and then watch the video from your original account. You can ask someone else to do this for you as well.

Stream from your original account only when you are sure that the quality and speed of your stream is desirable. This way, the audience would never see bad videos.

Engage with your viewers

You may earn followers and viewer engagement by offering good content, but you can increase the number dramatically by engaging with the audience. You can ask them to comment, post questions, suggest topics and then act as per their demand.

This will make sure that you are delivering what the audience wants to see and make the viewers feel valued and heard. As a result, your audience will keep coming back for more.

Be consistent

The audience does not appreciate inconsistent and irregular live streams. So, schedule your live streams. If your live streams are inconsistent, you may lose followers as well as waste your previous efforts. Also, update your viewers about when you will be back with another live stream at the end of each live stream.

Look straight in the camera

Just like while talking to someone in real life, you would look in their eyes, talking to an online audience also requires you to look straight into the camera lens. This will show the viewers that you are alert, focused, and conversing with them.

Final Thoughts

A successful live stream is not just broadcasting a video but ensuring you post the streams consistently, test your streaming speed and quality in advance, use quality equipment and setup, and talk to the viewers. You should also invest in the best live streaming software for more professional-looking live streams. However, you can use good live streaming software for free as well.