Legendary Live-streams

Live-streams are in, in, IN!

According to Yahoo! The Live Video Opportunity, live video is outpacing the growth of other online video forms, with a 113% increase in yearly ad growth. This compares to just 9% for short-form video and 30% for long-form video.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise—live video has been taking over social platforms for years now. From YouTube to LinkedIn to Facebook, this type of content attracts viewership from all over and is known today as one of the top ways to boost reach and engagement within an online community.

If you’re looking to break into this promising market, we’ve put together a panel of livestream experts to give you today’s top tips on tackling live video. Let’s welcome Anton Shulke @anton_shulke and Jim Fuhs @FuhsionMktg to this week’s #TweetChat with #WinnieSun. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to level up your live-streaming with advice on organization, storytelling, audience-building, and more!

Missed the Tweet Chat? Here’s a recap:

Q1. How do you “succeed” at live-streaming? What does live-stream success look like to you? Is this analytics, engagement / chemistry, a smooth production, etc.?

Anton Shulke: The first three: engagement, engagement, engagement :) Great live streams (in terms of the content) immediately became very engaged ones. 

Humor is important for me; without it any live stream is dead.

Jim Fuhs: Success doesn't happen overnight. It takes consistency, great content, and the ability to shift as things change.

Engagement is ultimately what you want, but when you first start, you may not have many viewers, so stick with it.

Pavel Stepanov @pavelStepanov77: Live streams are successful when:

-Increase in the audience and engagements

-Powerful production

-Everyone is satisfied with the outcome

Q2. Organization makes a huge difference to your life & your live! How do you outline / organize your live-streams? Do you work from a script or wing it? What are the pros / cons of each?  What do you check & double check prior to hitting Go Live?

Jim Fuhs: Preparation is the key. We work with an outline and make sure guests are prepared in advance with questions. A run of show is a must so you stay on track.

Double check your settings and make sure your mic is not muted prior to going live.

Anton Shulke: We don’t have very firm scripts. I prefer to train hosts instead. Live is live, however you prepare, something will go wrong, and then the script might be useless. But a host who thinks on his/her feet will find the way out.

Amy Hampton @lonedaisymedia: Organized enough, but still allows for spontaneity and serendipity - especially visiting with guests. However, facilitation and organization are crucial. Tangents can confuse or lead you away from the topic at hand. You need to make sure the audience got what they came for.

Q3. How do you find the right guests to feature on your live-stream? Is there even such a thing as “the right guests”? What are the benefits to a guest with an established audience vs featuring a smaller creator? What does your guest selection process look like?

Anton Shulke: Everyone wants an ideal guest: Knowledgeable, witty, quick thinker…What we really want is not a boring one, who only speaks about how great he/she is :) Try to get a guest who likes to share not to sell.

Jim Fuhs: Building your network and social networks help you find guests. Make sure they are the right fit.  See if they have interviewed on other shows.

Exposure to your guests' audience helps both of you no matter their size.

Chi @ChiThukral: The guest’s expertise on the topic matters most - that’s how I pick mine. A small creator with interesting experiences and authentic stories gives the audience more sticky takeaways/relatable moments than someone who says cliche things but has a large following.

Q4. If you build it they will come. True or false, and why? How do you find your target audience, and how do you promote your live videos to them? How do you attract people to subscribe?

Jim Fuhs: False. Anyone can livestream, not anyone can have a quality show. Good content grows an audience.

Repurposing clips to your social channels and bringing people back to the full episode will build your audience.

Anton Shulke: It could be said about any content… Content has to be discovered, so if you help this discovery, it will work faster, much faster. In my experience, email marketing is absolutely the best for live stream registrations; well if you have a good list, that is… 

Amy Hampton @lonedaisymedia: Any quality venture can succeed if the intended audience derives value from it. To me, the biggest issue is that it's live. Right now. Ensuring that there's nowhere else they'd be than tuning into your feed is a big ask. Make it worth their valuable time! 

Q5.  Just because the Live is ending doesn’t mean the convo has to! After your live-stream ends, how can you continue to ride the engagement wave? What do you do at the end / after your live stream to thank your audience & keep the experience fresh in their minds?

Jim Fuhs: The rise of social audio with @TwitterSpaces and @LinkedIn audio can be a great way to have people share their voice and not have to be camera ready after the show.

I also think having a @volley_app group can be a great way to build that community.

Alyx @ColfaxInsurance: ​Carry the convo over to Twitter/Discord/etc.

Curate content based on what was talked about on stream

Record and share it after the fact for people who couldn't make it

Repurpose parts for a highlights/blooper reel

Q6. Houston, we have a problem! Technical difficulties & mistakes are bound to happen. What are the best tips and tricks to be prepared? What are your backup plans? What are the biggest mistakes you see on live video and how can they be prevented / corrected?

Jim Fuhs: Give your guest a tech sheet in advance with minimum specs for success.

Reboot your system prior to going live and minimize what is open.

Have them join 15 minutes early to tech check.

Have a UPS Power supply for computers and the Internet.

Anton Shulke: We have different external hosts for our live streams, our hosts are not MC, they are experts themselves. But the host has two roles in the live stream: expert and The BOSS. Training the host, get him more live streams to practice — this is the best that you can prepare.

Q7. Win-win for all! How does live-streaming benefit your business, featured guests, brand / reputation, etc.? What are the best ways to monetize your live-stream for the perk of profits? What are the simplest live-stream enhancements that make the biggest impact?

Jim Fuhs: ​​Because you are live on the platform with a public stream, new people may see you.

Stay consistent and repurpose.

Brands and others start to take notice of good streams and the lurkers will reach out to you when you least expect it.

Anton Shulke: We use live streams to build a loyal audience. Two levels of audience: people who watch us and experts who talk. It is an influencer marketing tool for us. Go for series not for single live streams, connect episodes in those series on the landing page.

Wow! The possibilities are really limitless with live streams.

Whether you’re considering hosting a live Q&A session, virtual product launch, or panel, we hope you can take today’s tips home and apply them to your next live event.

We’re sure it’ll be legendary.

To stay updated for more content like our Twitter Chats, follow @WinnieSun! Have a question for Winnie? Use the #AskWinnie to get your questions answered!