6 Steps to Start Live Streaming
(Episode 2 of 2 with Christoph Trappe)
Welcome back to another episode with Christoph Trappe. In the last episode, we discussed how to start live streaming. In today’s episode, we’re going to get specific with six steps we can take to start live streaming.
Live streaming is taking off for many reasons. From the streamer’s side, companies are looking for ways to stand out, and live streams are a great way to do that, especially if the streamer has a personality that stands out. They’re also fairly easy to produce; I could go live within a few minutes of deciding to do it if I wanted to. It’s another opportunity to reach and engage with people, and most major platforms have a way for us to do it.
From the consumer’s standpoint, live streams generally provide knowledge or entertainment, similar to a podcast. Sometimes they just want something playing in the background or the streamer is someone they admire. They may want to learn something new, or they may stumble across it and randomly watch because they are bored. Generally, it follows the same concepts as any other piece of content.
We Can Get More Listeners on a Live Stream Than a Podcast
Generally, when companies start podcasts they get 10 to 20 downloads or more if they’re lucky. When they live stream to their social channels, they likely already have a following, so they can expect higher numbers, hundreds or thousands depending on how big their following is.
Algorithms are currently favoring live streams, so it is easier for us to get more viewers. They often show who is live at the top of the feed and many automatically notify users when someone they follow goes live. Amazon is putting live streams on the product pages, and LinkedIn replaces the banner on someone’s profile with the live footage.
“These networks are trying to figure out how they can engage people and keep them on those networks, and that’s currently one way to do it,” Christoph said. We should take advantage of this so we can reach more people with our content.
1. Forget About Perfection
“Forget about perfection; 100 things can happen. . . . Something will go wrong, and you just have to roll with it,” Christoph said. He explained that when he streams, there are a lot of dominos that have to fall in the right place, and chances are something will go wrong.
We might freeze or our dog might walk through the background, but our viewers likely don’t care. They know we are human and that things happen. We want to be perfect, but that is hard in this world, so we should just do the best that we can.
2. Test It Out
Before we have our first official live stream, we should do a test run. The only way to test a live stream is to do a live stream. People will show up, sometimes more people than on a planned stream, and they can help us know what is working and what isn’t.
Recently, Christoph did a test live stream, and more people tuned in than a scheduled one. Christoph was just hanging out with them, and they were able to tell him if it was working on different platforms.
We don’t need to feel a ton of pressure with these tests; it is okay if people tune in, and it is okay if they leave. Similarly, we shouldn’t put pressure on ourselves for our first several streams. Christoph said, “My first few live stream episodes were horrible. It’s okay. We’ll grow as we move forward. . . . Evolve as you’re going. Get better as you’re going.”
3. Invite Guests
It can be hard to fill a whole episode with no one but ourselves. This is why inviting guests to our show can be helpful. Christoph does both kinds — episodes with guests and episodes without. He finds episodes with guests much easier than episodes without.
With guests we can play off one another, having a conversation and moving the topic forward. As one person speaks, something they say might remind the other person of a story, which might lead to an insight from the first person, and so on.
Guests can also be great for networking. When I invite someone to my show, suddenly I have a connection with this person, especially after the episode is finished because I’ve had a long conversation with them. Guests can also help us grow our audience when they promote the live stream on their channels.
4. Have a Real Conversation
If we are interviewing someone on our live stream, we should treat it as a conversation. This will help it feel more natural to us, our guests, and our viewers. Christoph explained that we shouldn’t be afraid to disagree or have an interesting debate.
He once had a lawyer on his show, and after Christoph explained what he does when it comes to permission on podcasts, the lawyer said, “That might be fine, but you’re not a lawyer. Here’s what I would recommend.”
It’s okay to not agree with people, as long as we aren’t rude about it. We should treat others and their opinions with respect and be honest and open about our own opinions.
5. Engage with the Audience
Since live streams happen in real-time, we can engage with the people who are watching. We can show their comments on the screen so we can see them and others can as well. We’ll want to read the comments and respond to them, just as we would if they were talking to us in real life. Often comments are questions or insights relevant to what we’re discussing, so they add value to the conversation.
Some people also welcome or say hi to individual members of the audience as they come in. This won’t necessarily add value when we repurpose the content later, but it can make our audience feel better connected with us.
6. Repurpose the Content
Christoph repurposes his content through Switcher Studio with Restream. Both platforms save the video. Christoph puts the video into Google Drive and then into Anchor Audio, which automatically extracts the audio. Then he edits out the parts of the stream that won’t give his audience any value. He can then publish the audio as a podcast for his podcast listeners who didn’t catch the live stream.
Repurposing content is a great way to optimize our time and still share knowledge with users from different platforms. Christoph likely has people that listen to his podcasts consistently but never watch his live streams. Repurposing a live stream can give these people the same valuable information the live stream viewers got.
Key Takeaways
Thank you so much Christoph for sharing your stories and insights with us today. Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:
- Live streaming provides an easy way to stand out and reach more people.
- Live streaming can provide education or entertainment for viewers.
- Live streams often attract more viewers than a recorded episode because of algorithms on popular platforms that preference live streaming content.
- We shouldn’t pressure ourselves to be perfect. We can just do our best and improve as we go.
- The only way to test a live stream is to do a live stream. The test or our first few streams might not be perfect, but that’s okay.
- Guests can be a great way to make a live stream more natural. Inviting guests can also be a great way to network and reach more people.
- We should treat live streams as a conversation to help the shows feel more real.
- We can engage with our audience by greeting viewers and responding to comments and questions.
- Repurposing content is a great way to optimize our time and still share knowledge with users from different platforms.
Connect with Christoph
To learn more about or connect with Christoph:
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Visit his website at AuthenticStorytelling.net
Next Steps
- Get a free ebook about passion marketing, and learn how to become a top priority of your ideal customers at PassionMarketing.com.
- Subscribe to Monetization Nation on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, our Facebook Group, and on your favorite podcast platform.
