- In this video we're stepping through
how to live stream on mobile
with a step by step checklist to help you avoid
all the big, bad things that can happen while you're live
and to get professional results
with your iPhone or Android,
whether you're streaming to Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, or pretty much any other platform.
(upbeat instrumental music)
Hey, it's Justin from Primal Video,
where we help you leverage video
to amplify your business and brand,
and in this video we're gonna be talking
you through our step by step live streaming checklist
for smart phones to help you get professional results
and to avoid all the major pitfalls
that can ruin your live streams.
So let's jump straight into it,
and while we're going through
make sure you drop a note down below,
what's your favorite platform to live stream on,
and also share a link to your profile
and a quick note around what you talk about
so the others in the Primal Video community
can follow along with your live streams as well.
Alright, so step number one is to plan out your content.
Now this is an obvious one when you hear it,
put a plan together, but a lot of people don't,
and it can make your live stream ramble on
or be stressful for you while you're actually live,
so you gotta help your viewers to consume your content,
cause it's going to be in a logical structure for them,
and it's gonna help you
while you're pretending you're live as well.
Now you don't need to go overboard here and have a full
word for word script,
just have a simple structure that you can work from
and maybe some dot points and notes
of all the things that you wanna cover
so that you're not trying to think of things on the fly.
So a great simple structure that you could use
for your live streams is to start them out with a hook,
so that's where you're saying
what you're actually gonna cover off in this live stream,
what you're gonna talk about,
what your viewers can expect,
then jump into an intro, about you,
your channel, what you're looking to do.
Then you can get into the actual content itself
and cover off on all those things you just said
you're gonna cover.
Then you can finish it off with a bit of a recap
or a summary of everything that you've covered,
and then a call to action,
so the action that you want them to take next
after watching your live stream.
So again, you don't need to over complicate this,
but having a simple plan, having a simple structure
and some dot points or notes around
how this is gonna go down
and all the things that you wanna cover
is going to make much better for you
to produce it and much better for your viewers to watch it.
Step number two is to pick a location.
Now whether it's inside, outside,
whether you're gonna be walking around
or sitting down or standing up
is gonna be based around the type of live stream
that you'd like to create.
But a couple of things to keep in mind
would be how much light is in the area
that you're going to be filming in,
is there any distracting background noise,
or is the background itself going to be too
distracting for your viewers.
So when you're picking a location you
wanna keep those things in mind,
so that again your viewer is getting the best experience,
and so that you're not actually being distracted
while you're presenting the live stream either.
Now leading on from that,
once you've picked your location,
step number three is to test your internet connection.
Now obviously these are a live stream,
it's based on your Internet speed
as to how good the results are gonna be,
so you wanna have decent Internet,
so running a speed test
will show you how good the internet actually is
at your current location.
So do to that you just need to head to the website
speedtest.net or download the free app from Speedtest.
Now if you run a few speed tests
and your upload speed is less than two
to 2.5 megabitz per second,
then look at some other options,
maybe try a different Internet connection,
try LTE or 4G, try a different wifi if you can,
or, if all else fails,
try and move to a different location
that has better Internet,
or, at least go live but let your viewers know
that your Internet may be a bit patchy,
or may not be good enough,
and that you may experience some trouble
through the live streams,
just be upfront if your Internet
isn't going to be as good as it could be
and that there could be some potential problems.
Your viewers will understand
and will then set that expectation
that if something does happen
and if there's a drop out
then it's not so much of a big deal.
Step number four is to set up your phone,
now this is using a tripod if you've got access to one,
or setting your phone on a bookshelf,
whatever it is, wherever possible gets your phone
out of your hands so that it is stable,
now you wanna try and position your phone
so that whether you're standing, sitting, or
walking around that the camera in your phone
is slightly below eye level,
I do mean ever so slightly,
if you're struggling with it,
just hold it at eye level,
but you wanna get that height set up correctly.
For best results,
if you've got access to a microphone to plug in
whether it's a shotgun microphone or a Lavalier microphone,
they're gonna increase the quality of your stream
by making the audio good,
now if you're looking for microphone recommendations
for smartphones, check out the video up in the cards now.
If you don't have an additional microphone
then obviously still do your live streams
but try to find a location
with minimal background noise
so that you're not picking up a heap of background noise
in your live stream, or somewhere
that's out of the wind as well.
Cause wind is going to totally kill your audio,
especially if you're just using the built in microphone
on your smartphone.
And lastly, if you've got access to any lights,
make sure you're lighting yourself or the subject
of your video as the priority any additional lights,
use them to light up your background.
If you don't have any access to lights
then position yourself where you're getting light
from something like a window maybe,
or out in direct sunlight.
The biggest thing to be aware of with our smartphones
is that they're not great in low light.
So using additional lights
is going to make your videos look better.
Now once again if you don't have
any of this additional gear,
you can still get great results,
but these are the things that you could use
to up your game as you progress.
Step number five is an obvious when you hear it,
but that's to clean your camera lens.
These are our phones,
they're up against our faces,
there could be makeup or dirt or finger prints
or anything on them,
mak sure that you're wiping it your shirt
or even better if you've got a lens cleaning cloth,
wipe it on that, but clean the camera lens,
and you'll get a much clearer image.
Step number six is to set up your broadcast,
or to set up your live stream.
Now if you're just going live as an impromptu live
or a random live,
then I'd still recommend that you create a title
and a description for your live stream
that you can paste in as you're live
or as you're going live
so that anyone watching or anyone finding you
on the different platforms
will at least know what you're livestream is about
and what you're talking about,
before they actually click to join.
Now if you're going live as a scheduled live stream,
or a preplanned live stream,
then again, you'll still want your title
and a description,
but you can also add things like a thumbnail image
or the links to all the things that you're gonna cover
and all the things that you're gonna mention.
You can get all of those set up first,
so that as people are watching,
all of those things are good to go,
and the moment you've finished your live stream
that thumbnail image is either there
to upload at that point, or it's already on there,
because you've set it up before you've gone live.
Step number seven is to do a test broadcast,
now this is something that you can't do on all platforms,
but on places like YouTube and on Facebook,
you definitely can.
So by doing a test this is where you're going to go live
just to yourself, or just to a closed group,
or just to a couple of friends or family members,
or someone that can check the live stream for you,
make sure that everything is as you want it,
that the background noise is good,
the audio is good, the light and everything looks good,
everything is the way that you want it
before you go live publicly.
So it's a good idea to do a test first.
Step number eight is another obvious one as well
is to actually tell people that you're about to go live
or that you're going live,
it's a great way to get people on there
if they know that it's actually happening.
So jump onto your social media channels,
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, whatever you have,
and tell people that you're going live.
Now I'd recommend here,
the earlier you can tell them the better
and maybe give them another reminder 15 minutes
or five minutes before you actually go live
so that they're actually going to jump on.
Now there's an awesome tool that we use for Facebook Live
it's called Live Leap
and that will help you automatically broadcast
and share out your live stream while you're actually live.
So you don't need to worry about doing it while you're live,
Live Leap takes care of that for you
and it posts to Facebook groups,
posts to Twitter, it will broadcast on your website,
and put a notification on there
telling people that you're actually live,
so Live Leap is a great way to
take a lot of the pressure off
in telling your audience that you're actually live.
And again, all the links to everything that we're covering
in this video will be in the description below.
And that leads us step number nine
which is to actually go live,
to press that broadcast button,
and so start your live stream.
Now you wanna make sure that you're mentioning
as soon as possible the hook
and teasing out what the actual live stream is about
and filling people in
on what they can expect from the live stream,
and the main reason that you wanna do this
is not just for the people that are watching
and jumping on immediately,
but probably more so for the people watching the replay,
you wanna keep the hook and the content short and concise
and upfront without all the small chat
and welcoming people into your live stream
so that you're respectful of the people
that are watching your videos afterwards.
In most cases you're gonna have more views
on the replay than you will people joining
your immediate live stream.
Doing this and keeping your content on point,
and concise, at least for the first part of your live stream
will also make it easier for you to repurpose this content
onto other platforms down the track as well.
While you're live you'll also wanna make sure
that you're making eye contact with your viewers,
so you're looking directly at the camera lens,
now this can be distracting if you're using
the front facing camera on your phone
because you'll be inclined to look at yourself,
but you really gotta fight that urge
and look, and talk, and communicate
with the camera lens, so that your viewers feel
that you're looking and talking directly to them.
Now obviously if you're doing a Q&A,
and you wanna read the questions and those sorts of things,
glance down, read the comments, read the questions,
but when you're answering them,
and actually communicating with your audience,
you wanna make sure that your eye contact is with them
so it's at the camera lens.
It's also a good idea
to let your viewers know in your live streams
how the live stream is actually going to go down,
how it's going to run,
so that there will be sections for Q&A,
that you be looking at the comments periodically,
and that there might be set times
for you to actually interact with them
in and around the content itself,
so again, this is all setting that expectation
for the people that are watching live,
and the people that are watching the replay as well
and trying to batch or keep all the content together,
or as close to being together
without having a heap of small talk
and Q&A mixed in amongst it.
But this is also gonna come down to the type
of live streams that you're creating
and a talk show kind of live stream,
or an interview live stream could be totally different.
But as a general rule, be mindful of the people
that are just gonna be watching the replay
and aren't there with the interactive parts,
so you can try to keep that content up front,
or at least structured together in blocks
so that the people that aren't there live
aren't really missing out on that live element
of the content.
And the last tip that I have for you
is while you're live just be aware of your surroundings
and what's going on in the area that you're actually
live streaming in.
Is there something distracting that's going on nearby?
Is there something in the background
that could be distracting your audience,
the focus needs to be on you,
and the content that you're delivering.
So just be aware of what's going on around you,
and background noise and noise levels from different things,
again, it's gonna come down
to where you're actually broadcasting,
but things like background noise
or distractions in the background
will take the focus away from you
and the content that you're delivering.
And it could mean that you need to get up
and move to a different location, midstream,
just to keep that good experience
for your viewers watching,
and it's also really really important to have fun
and enjoy the live streams you're creating.
If you're bringing good energy
and you're having fun with it,
then your viewers are going to have fun
and they're gonna be more engaged in the content
that you're delivering as well.
Now, if you're interested in the best gear,
our top gear that we recommend for live streaming
on your smartphone, check out the video linked
on screen here somewhere,
and I'll see you in the next one.