10 Quick Tips on Live Streaming Services

Live video streaming services help people watch anything and everything. Right from Facebook Live to Periscope, from Hangouts On-Air to mobile app streaming, the trend of live video streaming is the hottest phenomenon which cannot be ignored. Many expert growth hackers already predicted that live video streaming is the future of social media marketing. And no matter what business you do, if your store can be accessed online, you should definitely experiment in the live video space. In this post, I would like to elaborate 10 quick tips and some best practices to improve the end-user experience. More often than not, I shall be referring to popular live streaming services- Periscope and Facebook Live.

Plan your live video broadcast

Do not do a live video broadcast just for the purpose of doing. You should have a message. Regardless of the business niche that you and your venture are in, you should do your best to keep your audiences engaged. Plan your future broadcasts based on the feedback from audiences. Here is a checklist of questions:

• What is the message?
• Who are my target audience?
• Have I informed my target audiences about live events?
• How can I keep my target audience engaged?
• How do I take feedback from the audience?
• Do I have the right equipment?

Catchy title and description

Title of the video should be compelling. For instance, titles in Periscope should be short and inquisitive. On the other hand, video titles on Facebook Live can be long and intuitive. While the length of video titles varies from platform to platform, it is important to have catchy phrases. Remember, catchy phrases play a vital role in the promotion of broadcasts.

As far as description is concerned, Facebook Live has a separate section for this. It is important to mention a few lines about the purpose of video, message of video, copyrights (if any) etc. Videos with long descriptions look like traditional Facebook posts. As a matter of fact, people like sharing informative traditional Facebook posts.

Use Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider

Content Delivery Network is a network of servers strategically placed at various locations to quickly deliver the requested web content. Let me explain how a CDN works. When you create a website, you obviously opt for a web hosting service provider. If there are any requests from clients to your site, HTTP requests travel to the web hosting server. The server responds to the client requests. The farther away a client is from the server, the longer it takes to process the request. Content Delivery Networks reduce the response time as they use caches to temporarily store the static content of websites. If there are any client requests, they will be routed to the nearest CDN edge. Latency is thus minimized.

There are many advantages with a CDN. If a request cannot be processed by a server, the request will be routed to the next nearest available server. When it comes to managing traffic, CDNs are second to none. All the traffic spikes can be managed without any hassles. Most importantly, you can avail all the services of a CDN at affordable prices. If you have global audiences present in various countries, you should definitely leverage the full potential of content delivery networks.

Carefully choose your live streaming platform

The contemporary business leaders in live video streaming industry are Periscope, Facebook Live and Meerkat. I would like to mention a few stats: The popularity of Periscope is growing by leaps and bounds. It has more than ten million active users. Meerkat has nearly two million users. The number of users of Facebook Live is limited.

It is important to understand the demographics of users. Nearly 75 percent of Periscope’s users fall between the ages of 16 and 34 years. Facebook Live caters to millennial population.

There is no harm in having a dedicated channel for your business. You can make use of live video streaming server turnkey software such as Streamhash. If you plan to build a tube site like YouTube or Vimeo, you can bet your chances on Streamhash. Streamhash uses NGINX server to facilitate un-interruptive streaming. Apart from saving RAM, it also reduces latency.

Growth Hacking

Growth hacking is nothing but using simple yet innovative ideas to enhance the reputation of a venture. Growth hacking is all about boosting sales through genuine ways.Inform your target audience about your show on Periscope by tweeting. Do not forget to alert people on Facebook by posting a separate Facebook post well ahead of time. Ask your viewers to subscribe to your streams. Encourage them to subscribe to your channel. Ask influencers to tweet about your live streaming broadcasts. Slowly and steadily, your broadcasts gain enough traction.

Ethernet Connection

Do away with Wi-Fi. Switch to a wired LAN. Not only does it vastly improve the reliability but also quality of your live stream. When you connect to a Wi-Fi network, it is highly likely that new people may connect to the same Wi-Fi network. Soon, the quality ofyour live video streamdeteriorates. Connection speed dips. Wired LAN doesn’t make your internet speed faster. However, it provides moreusable bandwidth. When you lose connection with audiences, it just doesn’t go well with them. The attention span of humans is shorter than that of goldfish. So, do not forget to do a hygiene check of your internet connection.

Acknowledge your audience

Quite clearly, it is not possible to type when you are broadcasting live. You will see a flood of comments on the screen. Just acknowledge your audiences by saying a friendly ‘Hi’. Speak your responses. Tell them that you appreciate their presence and that their presence means a lot to you. Make an attempt to answer as many questions as possible. Nothing is better than saying, “I love you all guys. Do subscribe to my channel. Take care. See you again.”

Build a strong rapport with your audiences. Be witty. Be funny. Be informative. Your venture will be in good books of your people.

One long broadcast

Steve Watson, an experienced growth hacker who has been in the business of live video streaming for more than 7 years says, “Always plan for a one long broadcast. When you plan a series of short broadcasts, you should create different Facebook posts. Facebook has this amazing feature- Facebook differentiates between “is live” and “was live”. On the other hand, if you go offline and immediately go online on Periscope, you will have separate tweets. This creates confusion amongst your audiences. Having said that, do not broadcast continuously for more than an hour. Fatigue and boredom spoil the fun.”

Stay away from mobile

No doubt, smartphone penetration is getting better and better every day. You can access almost anything on smartphones. However, from a technical perspective, content marketers appreciate the smart usage of desktops and other video equipment. It is easy to test blips in video /audio. Rehearsal is easier on desktops. If you are agnostic to desktops, I can’t help but advise against using smartphones. Do not underestimate the brilliant capabilities of a computer.

Do not discount the importance of buying a tripod. Tripod helps you stabilize your video angles. There should be proper lighting. Use microphones if necessary. Purchase all the necessary ancillary equipment. Remember, ancillary equipment involves a fixed one-time investment. Hence, do not hesitate to buy the necessary paraphernalia.

Consistency

Consistency breeds responsibility. Responsibility breeds fortune. Every time you broadcast a new video, maintain your behavioral instincts. Little idiosyncrasies do matter. Dress properly. Maintain the best standards of decorum. Be responsible in what you broadcast. There have been many instances of content marketers broadcasting sexually explicit material. Do not breach the moral code of conduct. Your following will grow if you have informative, moral and engaging content.

The biggest challenge in live video streaming is mustering enough audiences. Communicating the right message to the right audiences is another intimidating challenge. The good news is that you can overcome such challenges by planning and rehearsing. Otherwise, your audiences can be unforgiving!

If you have any doubts or concerns, feel free to drop a line or two in the comments section. I shall reply in a day or two. Keep watching this space for insights on live video streaming and live video streaming servers. My best wishes are with you and your live video streaming pursuits. Cheers!