Lights! IPhone! Action! Top Tips for Livestreaming Video

Livestreaming video on social media sites such as Facebook Live, YouTube Live and LinkedIn Live is an ideal way to share an experience with viewers in real-time, create excitement and buzz around an event and generate content that can be utilized long after the moment has passed.

At the 2019 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference in Atlanta, Poston Communications was not only the Daily Conference News sponsor, publisher and editor, we were also members of the Facebook Live correspondent team. This team of reporters and technologists interviewed LMA leadership, conference speakers and attendees during daily Facebook Live segments and edited recorded interviews to air after the conference. The team also livestreamed candid moments and scenes from the various conference venues.

A word of caution if you’re new to livestreaming: The ease of “going live” may lead to underpreparing and overestimating how well livestreamed sessions will turn out. Here, we share our top tips for a successful livestream that is enjoyable to watch now and later.

Preparation

• Schedule interviews in advance and make sure all involved are aware of the time and location. Especially at a large conference, there’s lots of activity and competing priorities. By scheduling in advance, key interviews and even seemingly impromptu scenes happen in an efficient and effortless manner. Build in time for delays, technical difficulties or just a couple of minutes for everyone to settle in and take a few deep breaths before the segment.
• The interviewer and interviewees should communicate and collaborate on questions and responses well before the interview. Depending on how much time is allotted, prepare in advance five questions and clear, succinct sentences about 30 seconds long that convey key points in response to each question.
• Practice your interview questions or responses out loud in the mirror or video yourself rehearsing for the interview or session. You will notice inadvertent hand gestures, sounds, filler words and facial expressions. Once you’re aware of these distracting features, you can work to improve or eliminate what’s not necessary.
• Check and charge all phones, cameras, equipment, batteries, device storage, cables, lights and microphones.
• If possible, plan in advance what you will wear when you are going to be on camera. For most on-camera interviews, we recommend small prints or solid colors with the exception of white, red or all black. Medium to dark blues are the color of choice.

Before You Go Live

• Silence your phone, watch and anything else that could make a distracting noise.
• Take off your glasses to avoid a glare over the eyes.
• Request a moment to check your appearance in a mirror or your front-facing phone camera. Scan your face, hair and clothes.
• Take out your chewing gum and don’t eat or drink during an interview.
• Pick an interesting and attractive location and background. A distant crowd, event signage or artwork could serve as an ideal setting and convey the sense of place without detracting from the video subjects.
• Test the equipment, lighting and sound and adjust your location if needed.

During the Livestream

• Most likely, the viewer will only spend a few minutes watching and will be distracted for half of that time, so grab their attention immediately with a high-energy lead in. Facebook recommends that you livestream for at least 10 minutes, even though you could go for up to four hours.
• 

  Shannon Lanier

  Share on social media that you’re going live and provide the link. If you’re using Facebook Live, make sure to also share the link on Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media sites. Include appropriate hashtags and tag people, companies and events in the post.

• The interviewer should introduce himself or herself and the people in the video. As the livestream continues, refer to people by their names and consider wearing a visible nametag.
• During their introduction and closing, the interviewer should reference websites, hashtags and any other relevant information that identifies the company or event and makes it easy for the viewer to learn more.
• The interviewer should look directly at the camera while they are introducing the interviewee, then look mostly at the interviewee while they are answering the question, glancing back at the camera every so often to keep the viewer engaged.
• Most importantly, have fun, feel free to laugh a little when it’s appropriate (think Kathi and Hoda in the morning after wine) and smile!

After the Livestream

• Share the video recording on websites, social media and in email newsletters for those that missed the livestream.
• Transcribe the interview audio to text for added accessibility.
• Write a blog post summarizing the interview.
• Repurpose the video for marketing future events, training, recruiting and sales pitches.
• Take advantage of this fun and developing medium and let us know if you have other tips to share. Video is low-hanging fruit for improved on-page SEO results, quality visits to your website and backlinks.

Shannon Lanier is account and marketing director for Poston Communications.