Without question, going live on social media is an effective way for establishing meaningful connections and building your brand. It’s no surprise that the number of social media users continues to rise as more people realize its’ advantages in the digital age.

Businesses like yours may use social media to reach out to a larger audience and expand their customer base. This is why, in today’s market, having a social media presence is no longer a choice, but a must-have for businesses to succeed.

Before we dig into the benefits of going live on social media, let’s talk about:

What is live social media streaming
Why and how your business should use it
Basic equipment for live streaming
Social media live stream ideas

What is Live Social Media Streaming?

Live streaming allows consumers and marketers to stream unedited, live footage in real-time on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

A social stream can be used to market a product or service, engage a specific audience, or hold a live conversation.

Why Should Your Business Use Social Media Streaming?

Your goal as a business is to convert web audiences into customers. To do so, you must first capture their interest and urge them to engage with your brand.

You can use some passive content options like written posts, and visuals. If done right, maybe but not for sure prospects will click the “Like” button and share your content, but they’ll most likely see your post and scroll further.

You should start live-streaming if you want them to stay longer and learn more about your brand.

How Should Your Business Use Social Media Streaming?

If you’re ready to leap into social media live streaming but overwhelmed by the options, we’ve got you covered!

As you’ll see in the steps below, most social media platforms make it simple to go live. Where should you live stream? – that is the actual question.

First of all, you must go where your target audience is if you want to engage them, but no one forbids you to go live on two or more channels at the same time!

Let’s go over how to stream on each social media platform:

How to Go Live on Instagram

Swipe right to open your camera in the app
Pick “Live” from the options available at the bottom of the screen
Click “Live” when you’re ready to stream

It’s a good idea to verify your camera settings before starting your Instagram Live.

Open the Instagram Live mode view to do so. Then, in the top right corner, tap the wheel symbol to access your settings.

How to Go Live on Twitter

Click the camera icon from your composer
Tap “Live” at the bottom-right
Tap “Invite guests” if you plan to co-host or interview someone
Click “Go live”

Your live broadcast will appear as a Tweet in your followers’ timelines and on your profile, along with a description and location (if added).

How to Go Live on Facebook from the app

Go to the Page, group, profile, or event where you want to live-stream
Click the “Live” button at the bottom of the post composer
Add a description to your video, tag friends, check in to a location and add a feeling or activity.
Click “Start Live Video”
Click “Finish” when you want to end your streaming

The video is also recorded and posted to the page or profile so that it can be viewed later.

How to Go Live on LinkedIn

Unlike other social media platforms, live streaming on LinkedIn isn’t as straightforward as choosing a few options and broadcasting immediately. Instead, it requires some effort, asking you to fill out an application form and at least two monitors or different browser windows to manage the comments while streaming.

You’ll be notified when your application has been approved and you may go live:

To be able to broadcast on LinkedIn, you must first register with a third-party broadcasting tool.
On your third-party tool, press the broadcast button and record.

When the session is over, it will remain in your LinkedIn feed, boosting engagement even after the live session.

We recommend you to use one of the following LinkedIn Live third-party partners:

Restream (free to $)
Wirecast ($$ – $$$)
Streamyard (free to $)
Switcher ($$ – $$$)
Socialive ($$ – $$$)
Easylive ($ – $$)
Teradek Core ($ – $$$)
Wowza Cloud ($$$)
Vimeo Live ($$ – $$$)
Live U Solo ($$ – $$$)
Brandlive ($$ – $$$)

How to Go Live on TikTok

Warning: There is no way to go live on TikTok without 1000 followers, unfortunately.

Tap the “+” sign at the bottom of your screen
Choose the “Live” button
Add a title (no more than 32 characters) for your stream and click “Go Live” to start going live
Choose the “Filters” and “Smooth” buttons above the “Go Live” option if you like

Basic Equipment for Live Streaming

Consider purchasing the following items if you plan to show up on your business’s social media regularly:

3-light fluorescent lighting kit: it is possible to change how light and shadow fall on a subject by adjusting the size, distance, intensity, and position of these light sources, as well as their degree angle, creating the perfect lighting for the frame.
Microphone: amateur live streams are easily identified by their poor audio quality. The audio quality is crucial for conveying authenticity and, more significantly, keeping customers on your live streams.
Good quality camera: if you want the highest video quality, you must choose the best camera for streaming. Of course, you can use the built-in webcam on your laptop or desktop computer, but the video and audio quality will be poorer than what you can get with a special streaming camera.

These will help you in maintaining your live stream on track.

Social Media Live Stream Ideas

The most important thing about the live streaming is to provide the value, let’s take a look at how you can do this:

Set up a Q&A session

A Q&A stream increases interaction, attracts more viewers, and allows them to connect with you more directly. People value genuineness in today’s world. Either prepare some questions ahead of time or have viewers submit questions through chat.

Share your knowledge

People seem to believe you because of the effort you put into sharing your knowledge with others, not because of your years of experience. You can have more than 15 years of experience behind your back, but who cares if you’re not talking about it? But if you do, it portrays you as someone willing to help others, which improves your reputation.

Arrange a giveaway event

Live contests are a fun and effective way to increase views and subscriptions. People enjoy competing in giveaways and even more so earning rewards. This type of event can help your live stream gain traction, especially on social media.

Do a virtual party

The nicest part about hosting a virtual party is that your clients can join in and have a wonderful time regardless of where they are. Show your clients that you care about giving them amusement as much as selling them your products/services.

Finally, let’s take a look at the benefits live-streaming provides for your business.

The Benefits of Live Streaming on Social Media

1. It’s Free

Because creating a social media account is free, you can use the platforms as often as you like at no charge. You can save money this way and use the rest of your resources for other advertisements and promotions.

1. Built-In Analytics

In-stream metrics are available on many social media networks. Live analytics now provide more in-depth information than standard video data. This contains feedback, statistics, shares, and comments from viewers. It shows what works and what doesn’t, and helps to achieve greater success in the business strategy

3. Strong Conversion Rates

You can use live-streamed events to combine promotional incentives, which will surely result in sales. Even if you have no intention of selling anything when you start your live stream, just being present conveys a message to potential customers, and how you interact with them can make a major impact.

4. Building a Better Brand Awareness

There are billions of people on social media, so you have a large audience waiting to learn about your business. Many people and companies became famous after their social media posts went viral. Increasing your number of followers and having them share your content can enable you to reach a larger audience. It’s classic viral marketing.

5. Audience Engagement in Real-Time

One of the many advantages of live broadcasting live streaming allows businesses to connect with customers more personally. A live broadcast allows two-way communication between a company and its target audience. As the host, you have the freedom to provide any information during the stream. Your viewers can also write comments or ask questions, which you can respond to right away.

6. Skipping the Algorithm

Another benefit of live broadcasting is this. The fact that most social media prefer live content in their newsfeeds is noteworthy. Live videos have better engagement than pre-recorded. As a result, you may reach a larger audience with less effort.

7. Content Repurposing

Going live on social media takes a lot of planning and can be quite nerve-wracking and stressful for many people. That’s why repurposing your live stream and using it to generate a variety of different sorts of online content is a brilliant idea.

You may share clips from your live stream on Instagram, take screenshots to share teasers on social media, embed your live stream in a blog post, or even generate branded quote graphics from snippets from your live stream.

Ready to take advantage of social media live streaming?

Now that you’ve learned how to go live on social media, we recommend that you flesh out your concept, finish your attire, and choose a social media platform to begin streaming. It’s not as scary as it seems, just start, and very soon you’ll see the positive impact of live social media streaming on your business.

About the author:

Tali is a results-driven digital marketer with a track record of growing her clients’ businesses and driving revenue.

As the business owner at WSI Digital Path, Vaughan, she takes great pride in delivering powerful but cost-effective solutions for her clients.

Innovative and revolutionary digital marketing trends set the pace for the digital marketing industry. Don’t make the mistake of falling behind! Contact WSI Digital Path today and trust your digital marketing to the industry’s leading professionals.

Benefits of Going Live on Social Media