Every day the statistics of people online who go live on social media and those who watch live videos are increasing. Whether scrolling through your daily feed or on websites that you visit, it is quite common to see the live stream of an event, product launches or even influencers interacting with followers through live streaming. Among the many platforms that provide such live webcasting services, live stream on YouTube Live seems to be the most reliable in dealing with video content after being the biggest on-demand video streaming platform for so many years. Hence, here is your complete guide on how you go about a live webcast on YouTube:
How To Do A Youtube Live Broadcast Video On A Desktop?
To utilize YouTube live streaming for business marketing or any other purposes, you first need to understand how to do live streaming on YouTube. Go through the simple steps mentioned below in this social media live streaming guide to learn how to do so:
1. Get a verified account to stream from
To be able to live stream on YouTube live successfully, you first need to have a verified account on the platform. The main reason that you need verification is to confirm your identity and avoid getting spam, abused or harassed online. This is not just meant to protect you but also helps in building a healthy online community. One major perk of having a verified account is that it allows you to publish videos longer than 15 minutes.
2. Enable the live streaming function
Once your account or channel is verified, the next step is to make sure that it is enabled to live stream. For this, click on the Channel tab in the control panel on the left side of the screen and enable the streaming function.
3. Get your encoder setup
Before you go ahead with the actual live streaming, you require an encoding software that converts your video and audio inputs into a format that Youtube accepts. From all the verified software that Youtube recognises, choose the one for your encoding purposes and live broadcast your videos to the audience. A good youtube live streaming service provider may already give you as a part of the service.
4. You are ready to do a live webcast on YouTube
After you are done with all the above steps, you are all set to start youtube live broadcast video. To do so, go on the ‘Live Streaming’ tab on the screen and select either ‘Stream Now’ or ‘Event’ as per your requirement.
How To Do A YouTube Live Broadcast Video On A Mobile?
To be able to go live on social media from a mobile device is easier in comparison to using desktop devices for the same. Some of the prerequisites here are having a verified account, more than 10,000 subscribers and with operating systems updated to either Android 6+ or iOS 8+. Here are the main steps that you can follow to live stream on YouTube live:
1. Enable streaming function
The first step here is to have the most updated version of the YouTube app on your device. Once you log into the app, click on the camera icon and allow it permission for audio and video input from your device. After doing all that, you are ready to start your live webcast on YouTube.
2. You are ready to go live
Fill in all the basic information that YouTube asks of you and click on the ‘Go Live’ tab to start streaming. Once you are done with the live video, end the stream by clicking on ‘Finish’ and then ‘Ok’. Your video will be saved and archived for later viewing on your channel.
After understanding the technical aspects of how to start your own live stream on YouTube, let us also understand the ways to make sure that it solves the purpose that it was made for.
Best Practices For YouTube Live Broadcast Video
To ensure that youtube live streaming for business marketing or other uses is giving your viewers the best experience, here are some tips to improve your streams:
1. Emphasise on quality
No one wants to watch videos that are shaky and have bad sound quality. The most basic practice to start from is to ensure that the quality of your live stream is good and gives your viewers a good experience. You can ensure that by doing your stream in a nice and noise-free location, or by recording it correctly without any jerks and just being vigilant of how everything is being done.
2. Do pre-promotions
An important point in your social media live stream guide is to promote your live video before the actual date if it is not an impromptu one. This way, you can build a buzz about it, start conversations and make people anticipate it. Especially on youtube, you can schedule it in the ‘Events’ section or you can update your channel art according to the stream.
3. Use correct equipment
Another thing you can do to ensure a high-quality stream is to use the correct equipment and have the best infrastructure at hand. Listed below are some of the main things that need to be in order for a good youtube live streaming for business marketing:
- Fast speed and reliable internet connection with large bandwidth.
- A dedicated encoder to capture and broadcast the live videos to the audience.
- Your desktop device should have a dual-core processor to handle the streaming.
- Have a good quality camera and microphone to have the best output possible.
4. Follow the recommended and required settings
The recommended settings on Youtube are designed to help you with your live streams. It will have suggestions for the right bitrate, resolution and encoder settings to give you the best results. Make sure that you also fill in all the required things like metadata, title, thumbnail, description, and even closed captions to make your stream easily accessible in search.
After fulfilling all the above requirements, be sure to clear all the rights to any content from third parties that you use in your stream.
5. Work according to a plan and test everything beforehand
Pre-planning a live event is necessary because there should ideally be no mistakes in a live stream. When you work according to a set plan, it becomes easier to convey your message without missing out on anything or messing up anything. Since everything is live, you can’t edit out any issues and don’t get to do multiple takes to get something right. Doing the tests to check the running conditions of everything also comes under this.
6. Keep an eye on the feedback
Whether you are using a youtube live streaming service provider or not, it is important to be aware of what is happening in your chatbox. Most of the feedback will help you in improving any area where the viewers feel that you are lacking. If you can’t keep an eye on the chat while streaming, have someone else on the team to do it.
This social media live streaming guide has covered everything important that you need to keep in mind when using YouTube live streaming for business marketing. These will also be helpful if you are on the look-out for a good YouTube live streaming service provider as well. Armed with all these useful tips, we hope that you reach all your goals via live streaming!
Connect with the Industry's Most Experienced
Live Streaming Service Providers.
