YouTube is an unbelievable platform to construct a loyal and engaged viewer that feels personally related to you. In case you’re seeking to take your personal interaction with your viewers to the following level, you must think about adding live streaming to your YouTube strategy.
Once you live stream on YouTube you possibly can interact with your viewers in real-time, respond to their questions and comments directly, and allow them to interact with you in an unedited way. More than this, it’s a good way to grow your audience on YouTube and construct up trust with your subscribers.
In this article, we’re going to take you through the way to live stream on YouTube, easy methods to promote your live streams, and more.
Step 1: Enable live streaming on YouTube
You could be eager to get your live streams up and running but before click on that ‘go live’ button it’s worthwhile to ensure that your channel meets YouTube’s live stream necessities. You first should verify your channel (this could take up to 24 hours) and verify that does not infringe on any live stream restrictions. You’ll additionally want to make sure that your live stream content is aligned to the community guidelines.
In case you plan on doing all your live stream through a mobile system, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers. This restriction doesn’t apply to other gadgets though.
Step 2: Plan & prepare for your live stream
Relating to living streams there’s something to be mentioned for being improvisational, permitting viewers to get to know the real you. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t do some preparation for the live stream to ensure you and your viewers get the most value from it.
Plan the format of your live stream – normally it’s going to fall under one of many following varieties:
- Presentation / Demo
- Live class (interactive)
- Q&A discussion
- Interview with a guest
- Live event
- Gaming live stream
How are you going to supply value to your channel and viewers? – to work this out answer the next questions:
- What’s your aim for the live stream?
- What do your viewers get from watching it?
- How does having a live stream improve this topic?
- Will viewers who missed the live stream enjoy watching the recording later?
Plan your key factors – jot down the important thing areas you need to cover during the live stream.
Call to action – what do you want your viewers to do after watching your live stream?
Video web optimization – similar to any regular YouTube video, ensure that to optimize the video for SEO. This implies you should put in some analysis and plan for the next:
- Title (Targeting a particular keyword/topic)
- Description
- Tags
Select the perfect time to go live – to determine the perfect time to go live you need to verify your YouTube Analytics to see when most of your subscribers are online. If possible, you can even run a poll along with your viewers to see what instances they like (that is additionally an excellent alternative to seek out out what topics they want you to cover).
Need some firm? – you would possibly consider inviting a co-host to your live stream to assist maintain the energy levels and interplay excessive throughout the length of the live stream or at the very least somebody to assist reasonably and respond to the comments and questions which are coming in. It may be a problem to do all that by yourself.
Ensure that your channel and video branding are up to scratch – to attract viewers (and subscribers) to your channel and videos it’s vitally necessary to design everything to attract viewers, this consists of:
- A channel icon or logo – in case you don’t have one attempt one of these top logo makers.
- Channel artwork – should you plan to do common live streams, you can highlight that in your YouTube channel art.
- Video Thumbnail – Create an effective thumbnail to drive views to your live stream and recording
- Have a Starting soon screen to your video – good branding alternative and offers viewers time to head over to join you in your live stream
- Overlay for the live stream (solely available in case you are utilizing live streaming software)
- End Screen – for when your dwell stream ends.
Verify all these off and your channel and video branding are good to go!
Step 3: Promote your live stream before it goes live
You’ve now deliberately out your live stream. The following step is to promote it ahead of time to get individuals keen on attending. Listed below are some ways to just do that.
Schedule your live stream in advance – doing this enables individuals to set reminders and ensure they have a spot on their calendar to watch your live stream.
Highlight your live stream in your branding belongings – as we’ve already mentioned you possibly can highlight your live stream schedule in your YouTube channel art. You may also do the identical throughout your different social profiles such as on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and many others.
Make a trailer – you can make a quick trailer to your live stream and put that video within the ‘welcome video’ slot to your YouTube channel.
Encourage your subscribers to turn on notifications – this implies whenever you go live on YouTube they may get a notification (and will hopefully attend your live stream).
Promote it throughout your other channels – ensure that to spread the word throughout your other social channels and via your email listing to garner interest. You may simply create posts and stories to your social profiles with a tool like Placeit.
Step 4: Pre-live stream checklist
It doesn’t matter what platform you utilize for your live stream, whether it’s from a mobile system, computer, or via live streaming software you must always check the next before you click on ‘go live’:
- Frame space – ensure that there are no distractions or something confidential within the background.
- Lighting – set up your lighting accurately so that everything is effectively lit. Listed below are some tips for that.
- Audio – Do a mic verify to make sure everything sounds as it ought to.
- Batteries – Check the batteries of your camera and mic to make sure you stay connected throughout.
- Connection – check your web speeds with a tool like speedtest.com
- Distractions – make sure to avoid any possible interruptions of your live stream e.g. put your mobile on silent.
- Accessibility – is your live stream accessible? In case you have 10k+ subscribers, you possibly can turn live automated captions on.
- Monetization – in case you’re seeking to make money on YouTube you’re going to need to ensure that monetization (such as displaying adverts) is on to your live stream.