- So one of the best ways to build your influence
on YouTube right now is live streaming.
And we actually just got done doing a live stream
here on Video Influencers.
- In this video, we're gonna be talking about
the five best tips and accessories
that we use to go live, coming up.
(electronic music)
- [Announcer] This video is brought to you
by LearnVideo.live, a one-hour online master class
on how to grow a highly influential and profitable
YouTube channel this year.
On this free training, you'll learn the proven strategies
and current best practices for growing your subscribers
and creating passive income with YouTube.
To register for free, just go to LearnVideo.live.
- What's up? Sean here.
- Benji here.
And this is Video Influencers.
Help you build your influence, income and impact
with online video.
- On this channel, we have weekly tips videos,
as well as interviews with some of the top influencers
on this platform.
So if you're new to this channel, consider subscribing.
- So we actually just finished up
shooting a live stream right here.
We set this up,
and we've got all the tools
that we're gonna be talking about in this video.
But our first tip is make sure,
before you ever go live,
plan and prepare your stream.
- Consider this live broadcast isn't just a live broadcast,
It's gonna live on to be a video that could be evergreen.
So you wanna plan your video out.
Make sure it's a title that's searchable and could rank,
because, again,
you could get evergreen views from this video,
even after you're done going live.
- Absolutely, and we also planned out all of our content.
So we opened up a Google Doc Benji and I talked through.
We did some research.
We looked up a blog post.
We looked up some data,
and we even made our points.
We even included our Question of the Day,
all those different tips.
We actually planned that all out in advance,
before pressing the go live button.
- Tip number two is equipment.
You still wanna treat this like a regular video,
so these are some of the accessories we use.
You want stability, so make sure you have a legit tripod.
Second to that is, if you're gonna go live from a phone,
you're gonna want something
that actually holds onto your phone.
This is a MeFOTO,
and consider there's two different sizes,
when you're buying that accessory,
so make sure you get the right one for your device.
- Additionally, there is audio.
Now, we really recommend going live from your phone.
That's the live stream that we just did.
And the audio on your phone will be all right.
And so if that's all you have,
don't hesitate to get started.
But there are a few microphones that we recommend.
The first one is this RØDE VideoMic Me.
It plugs right into your headphone jack,
and if you don't have a headphone jack,
maybe look for a mic or an accessory
that would work with your phone.
But for our shoot, what we just used
was we actually used a full boom pole,
with a RØDE VideoMic Pro, with this really cool connector.
Benji, what is that?
- This is a SC4 adaptor from RØDE.
This actually lets you connect into the 3.5 millimeter jack
in your phone, so you can connect your RØDE Mic
into the audio jack of your phone,
to get the clearest audio possible.
- And the cool thing about this cable, guys,
is that you could use this with any shotgun mic
you already have.
So in this case, it's plugged in to this extension cable
that goes all the way up into this mic,
but maybe you already have a shotgun mic, a lapel mic,
that only has the two prongs,
that's what this converter does.
It turns it into the three rings on there.
So that it works with a smart phone.
And so, if you wanna know more information
about any of these accessories,
we'll link them in the description below.
(electronic tone beeps)
YouTube is our main focus, over on Think Media,
at here on Video Influencers.
Instagram would be, I think, our second focus,
and to be honest, I think for most people in the community,
if you said, hey, if you could only pick two,
what would you focus on?
I think this year, YouTube and Instagram.
- Totally.
- Both are on fire.
(electronic tone beeps)
Another tip, when it comes to live stream equipment,
is make sure that your battery's fully charged,
or consider being plugged in to power.
The last thing you would want to have happen
is have your phone die
right in the middle of the live stream.
- Another thing to consider when you're going live
is your lighting, especially if you're out and about,
and you can't really plan it very well.
Use natural lighting.
We're actually out here, right next to the ocean,
actually the Puget Sound here in the Seattle area,
and we're utilizing natural lighting.
But if you can use other types of lighting,
you definitely should do that as well.
- Tip number three is set up your live.
And so, we're here on the YouTube app.
We just click the camera.
We click the live button,
and this gives us a couple options.
And so what we did was, we type in that title, and again,
we did our research for our title ahead of time,
wanting to think about the evergreen ranking possibilities
of the video.
And the second thing that you wanna do
is shoot a thumbnail.
And so, you can shoot a thumbnail right from the mobile app.
And we actually went in front of the house here,
got in front of the garage in a nice shady place,
to get a solid thumbnail.
Because, as we know,
thumbnails are one of the most important parts
of getting your YouTube videos clicked on,
not just when you're live, but also during the replay.
- There's a couple more things that we wanna mention.
Really important is testing the speed of your internet.
Don't just assume the Wi-Fi is fast enough.
In fact, when we use Speedtest.net,
in fact, you can actually download the app, Speedtest,
the Wi-Fi wasn't fast enough.
So we actually used a cell phone signal,
and that was actually faster, and fast enough.
Five megabytes per second upload
is what you're shooting for.
Another thing, especially if you're using your phone,
and the cell phone signal, is put it on do not disturb,
and more importantly, phone forwarding.
Because if you get calls,
it could actually disturb your live broadcast,
and you don't want that.
- Tip number four is actually go live.
And your goal here is to be brief, be bright, be fun,
and be done, right?
Bring your best energy.
Bring your best content.
But a few practical tips as well
is that, if you have your phone up on a tripod,
and it's a ways away from you,
really consider having a second screen.
During this live stream, we had the laptop right here,
to not only look at our notes,
so that we could go through our content,
but also to open up and look at the comments
from the live chat live.
Benji also had his phone out,
so he could look at the comments as well.
So having a second screen or screens is a great power tip.
- So another tip here is to definitely engage live.
That's the power of live,
you can actually answer people's questions right away.
But consider the replay.
You still want an intro.
You still want an outro.
You wanna ask for comments early on,
because the comments go away, and it refreshes afterwards.
So make sure you're considering the evergreen potential
of this video when you're going live,
and don't just treat it like a live broadcast.
- So true, and that's actually one of the big differences
with, say, YouTube Live and Facebook Live.
Facebook Live is actually mostly about the live stream,
but not a lot of people are gonna watch that
a week later, or six months later.
But on YouTube Live, if you do it right,
people could watch it six months later,
even a year later,
and that's a lot of times the case,
with even the live streams we do here on Video Influencers.
- Power tip: While you're going live,
consider someone helping you.
We have a cohost situation where,
as Sean's talking, I'm replying back to comments.
I could be sharing on social.
But in our case, we have nice Chris behind the camera.
He helped us with the thumbnail.
He's doing those things I just talked about.
But you don't even have to have someone with you.
If you have a friend, maybe like your sister,
or your friend that's out of town, but can be on socials
to distribute this on your social media platforms,
to help engage with people, and help with spam comments,
it's really important to get that help,
because you're gonna double up the efforts
while you can focus on the live broadcast.
- Okay, and tip number five is after you're done
with your live stream, you're not done.
The next thing that you're gonna wanna do
is go back to the video and optimize it for the replay.
And so this means make sure the title's good,
but also fill out the description, add tags,
you can even upload a different thumbnail
that maybe has a little bit more polish on it,
has some words, and some design.
- And continue engaging.
One distinction about live broadcast
is the live chat actually disappears,
so all of those comments, all those questions go away,
and the new comments come up,
and you wanna engage with those, and reply back.
Remember, engagement is huge,
'cause the algorithm is gonna look at it,
and it's gonna help rank it forever.
Question of the Day.
What are your tips for going live on YouTube?
Put it in the comments down below.
- Thanks for checking out this video.
Subscribe if you're not subscribed,
and for more tips on live streaming,
click or tap the screen right here.
For another video from Video Influencers,
click or tap the screen right here.
- As always,
we're helping build your influence, income, and impact
with online video.
We'll talk to you later.