What are the best practices for live streaming events on social media?

I’ve had great success doing monthly interviews with my primary focus for my LinkedIn audience. I use restream to cast it live on Linkedin, twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. They’re never more than 30 minutes and I’m sure to promote before and after.

Rather than picking the fanciest platform, go back to your goals. Who must you reach and what conversations matter most? Be a part of communities where they already do this, with a format that fits your existing workflow. Purpose and people drive platform choices - not the other way around.

In my experience, promoting the event in advance to build anticipation, ensuring technical setup and equipment are in place for smooth streaming, and engaging with viewers in real-time through comments and Q&A sessions. Use compelling visuals and storytelling to maintain audience engagement, and consider collaborating with influencers or partners to expand reach and visibility.

The promotion depends on the content. If we’re doing a live virtual event where we’re streaming through BlueJeans Studio and educating on a hot topic, we’re promoting for much longer, 4-6 weeks. For this, we’re using LinkedIn events to drive registration, messaging and inviting our audience, and emailing our list. When I’m doing my monthly LinkedIn live, that’s more in the moment, casual and doesn’t have as much promotion.

If possible, avoid using Wi-FI for your streaming machine. A hard-wired Ethernet connection will be more reliable and faster. (You lose up to 20 percent of your connection's speed when you go wireless.)

You don't have to dig deep into your pockets. Sometimes even smartphones work. But test internet, video, sound and lighting beforehand. Stay away from noisy chaos. Rehearse the flow without distractions so it feels natural when you go live.

Planejamento antecipado: Defina seus objetivos, escolha a plataforma certa e promova o evento com antecedência para gerar interesse.

Your audience is going to enjoy the fact you are taking their feedback into consideration, feeling heard is going to be appreciated from any following/audience.

Avoid just showing a slide deck or some prerecorded video. If you must do so, be sure to do a live discussion or Q&A afterwards, and before you start your canned content, let people know that you'll be doing a live discussion afterwards and you hope they'll stick around for that.

Repurposing your live stream extends the lifespan of your content, allowing you to continue generating interest and engagement long after the event has ended. This helps you reach audiences with different content preferences and those who missed the initial live stream. Create snackable social content for those who prefer short-form video or embed the entire video into a recap blog post for audiences who like a written format. Use this live stream to promote future events, either digital or IRL ones.

The best way to gain maximum value from live-streams is to get your communications staff involved. They can apply a strategic communications perspective that keeps your messaging concise, consistent and targeted.

I've helped produce MANY live events here on LinkedIn—here are a few more tips. ? Look at the camera, not at yourself or your guests. It's tempting to look at your own image or that of a guest who might be talking, but it's better to make eye contact with your viewers: get in the habit of looking at your camera. (This applies to all those Zoom and Teams meetings, too!) ? Start on time. Avoid the "let's let a few more people trickle in before we get started" trap. Remind folks who show up late that they can always catch up by watching the replay. ? Remind folks who you are. Partway through your event, do what the best radio hosts do: "If you just joined us, I'm Pat Smith, and I'm talking with Alex Williams about the latest trends..."