Today, we’re gonna share four tips on how you could be creating more engaging live videos that are more memorable and more valuable to your viewers. Let’s talk about the 3 P’s of live streaming – how to elevate the preparation, performance, and production value of your live video streams.
1. Preparation
So the first P of live streaming is preparation. Our number one tip is always to begin with the end in mind. What is it exactly that you’re trying to achieve with your livestream? Are you there to educate, entertain, or persuade your audience?
Once you have that in place, the next thing that you can do is what we call the 10 x 10 formula. This is where you’ll write down the top 10 frequently asked questions about your business, your product, or your service. That’s something that you can easily find on your website, the FAQ page, in your emails. If you have a sales team, you can ask them what are the most frequent questions that customers ask?
Next, you wanna do the top 10 should-ask questions. Questions that people should be asking about your business, product or service, but they don’t know because they’re not the expert, you are. When you do this 10 x 10 formula, you now have 20 ideas that you could use to launch your livestream!
Now that you’ve prepared for your livestream, you know what it’s going to look like, it’s time to think about that call to action. What do you want your viewers to do as soon as your live video ends? It could be to visit your website, join your mailing list, or even subscribe to your channel.
2. Performance
The second P when it comes to live streaming is performance. It’s how you show up on camera. When you’re confident on camera, your viewer is going to be confident in the results that you can get them. One thing that we advise to do before going live on camera is to think of that one time where you absolutely nailed it. It could be something like going on stage and knocking it out of the park. Or, think about that one time where you felt the most confident in your life. Or, check out this post for more tips on how to feel more confident!
In addition to being confident on camera, it’s all about driving engagement. Because once your viewers are there, you have to engage with them. If you don’t engage with them, then you’re just doing a webinar. So engage with your audience and ask them a couple of icebreaker questions like, where are you tuning in from? Another fun way that you can engage with your audience if you’re doing a livestream on Facebook is by leveraging the Live Producer. In Facebook Live Producer, you have the option to create polls and questions where your audience can let you know what they’re thinking and feeling. You can also check out this post on how to convert more customers on live!
3. Production Value
And the third P of live streaming is focusing on your production value. These are things like your visuals and your camera. You could go ahead and livestream with a built-in camera, or you can make a small investment in an external webcam. Or, you could even be using a DSLR. But no matter what kind of camera you use, lighting is absolutely essential. So if you can, invest in a lighting kit, or make sure you have ample natural lighting coming in through your windows.
Another thing that you really wanna pay attention to when you’re live streaming is the angle of your camera. Some people tend to keep their camera at the very bottom, right below their eye level, and unfortunately, that’s a huge mistake as it can feel like you’re looking down at your audience. The best thing you can do is keep your camera at eye level, just as you would if you were talking to a client.
Along the lines of angles, let’s talk about framing. What can your audience see when they’re watching your video? Do you have a messy background? Do things need to be tidied up? Is there something that is really interesting that you wanna include in the background?
Once you’ve done all that, you can have the best video, but your audio has to be good too. So if you have the budget, you can invest in an external microphone. If you have earbuds, then they could be helpful too. Earbuds with a built-in microphone can reduce echo as well as minimize background noise.
Additional Tips to Improve Your Livestream
Now, if you don’t have a standalone web camera or an external DSLR, here are three tips that you can do to still improve the quality of your livestream.
1. Clean the Lens
You see, a lot of people that go live on their mobile devices, they don’t think about how many times they might’ve accidentally brushed against the camera. So use an alcohol swab and clean your lens right before you go live.
2. Use Natural Light.
And the reason for that is because the sensor size of your webcam is really, really small. Without enough light, the image quickly degrades. The best thing that you can do is to face a window, and let the natural light come in. Now, if that’s not possible, another quick tip that you can do is to take a desk lamp and just bounce the light off the wall to produce a softer light.
3. Use a Third-Party Tool to Manually Control Your Webcam.
This is gonna be super helpful for you if you want to control the exposure and the white balance for your image. So keep it simple. Head on over to Google, and just search for the keyword phrase “webcam control app”.
Now, there is actually one last P to live streaming and creating more engaging live videos, and that is promotion. After you’ve planned, and you’ve done all of the preparation, it’s all about promotion. Stay tuned and learn all about promoting your livestream in our next post!
