10 Tips To Increase Live Stream Engagement

Engaging an audience is one of the most challenging yet fun parts of the streaming routine. It is a key element that influences your streams’ watch time and, in turn, impacts your business objectives. Discover the most effective tips on boosting live stream engagement from Ella Glasgow and KM Robinson.

This blog post was repurposed from a live stream hosted by Be.Live.

Tip #1: Prepare For Every Show

Focus on creating high-quality live streams that will make your viewers come back. When we say “high-quality” – we don’t push you to buy the best equipment and invest in a streaming studio.

Think of your live shows as offline events where you have to think of every detail of your presentation: an ice-breaker question, agenda, a few jokes if there is silence in the room, and a list of challenges that you might encounter during the Q&A session. Make sure to prepare all the whistles and bells before hitting that “Go Live” button.

“Oftentimes people fall into this strange notion that a virtual event is something completely other than in person and that we can just throw it together and everybody’s gonna be okay. That is not the case. If you go watch any of my live streams, I will bell and whistle it out. And I’m not even the most bell and whistle person, but I will bells and whistles”

Ella Glasgow

Have your ducks in a row and focus on preparation for your live shows.

Tip #2: Use Engagement Tools Wisely

Third-party solution for live streaming offers many amazing features for making sure your audience has fun.

For example with Be.Live, you can:

Share screen right in your live stream;
Add photos and play videos (both from your computer and YouTube);
Add sticky notes to your show;
Invite up to 8 guests;
Show comments in the stream;
And more.

All of these will help you to draw and keep your audience’s attention. But make sure to use these features wisely. If you promote a product, your audience won’t benefit in any way from watching funny videos with pets or checking your saved pins on Pinterest.

Use the engagement tools logically and in a timely manner and your audience will follow your lead while having fun watching your show.

Try Be.Live

Tip #3: Think Like Your Audience

What does your audience like to watch? Who’s their favorite comedian? Are they into longer or shorter live streams? Study who’s your audience and what will be the best formats for them.

If you’re at the beginning of your live-streaming journey, do your research, find your fellow competitors, and check out what engagement tricks work the best for them. If you were streaming for a while – analyze what features work for you the best and try to spice your shows with such things more often.

Tip #4: Build Anticipation

Make sure your audience is curious about attending your stream. How? Focus on value, invite special guests, or run a giveaway. Once your potential viewer notices your scheduled live stream in their feed they have to see something that’ll click with them.

Either it’s a special guide that will be available only for those who’re watching a live stream or an Amazon gift card – your main goal is to attract as many eyeballs as possible. By building this anticipation, your engagement will grow accordingly since people will be pinging you with the question “Hey, you’re going to share this thing, right?” or “Where can I find more information about that thing you mentioned?”.

Tip #5: Multistream

Choose multiple platforms to go live on. It’s not only about reaching more people but also about combining viewers from different social media channels into one. The audience on Amazon Live, Facebook, Youtube, and Linkedin are unalike, which is a great opportunity to test different approaches.

Besides that, by increasing the number of platforms you stream to – you increase the chances of gathering active viewers who’ll be supporting you while you’re live.

Tip #6: Add Gamification

“How To Build A Massive Community As An Amazon Influencer”, hosted by Be. Live

There are various research studies that indicate gamification as a great tool for enhancing engagement metrics. And live streaming is not an exception.

Either it’s Kahoot, a spinning wheel with promo codes, or Be.Live’s Comment Snake aka the Congo Line – your audience will be curious to see what’s next. Be creative 🙂

Try Be.Live

Tip #7: Do Shout-Outs

It’s important for you to acknowledge your audience while you’re live. Make sure to highlight the most active viewers somehow: offer them a unique service of yours or simply say “Nick, thank you for being here and commenting on my live stream”.

These tiny things are running the conversation going and involving more and more people in your show, ultimately boosting engagement.

Tip #8: Keep Engaging

Every live streamer went through a stage of talking to 0 viewers and it’s totally okay. It takes time to build that traction and find your people.

The main point here is to keep engaging and keep going, so people who accidentally stumbled across your stream can quickly get what your show is about. If you sit in silence and wait for the audience to join – it might not work out.

On top of that, remember, your live stream is not just for those watching it on the air, but also for those checking on it later. Most views come from those who watch your replay. So keep engaging even if there are not many viewers watching your live.

Tip #9: Don’t Be Still

Movement is one of the keys to keeping your audience’s attention. One way to do this is by using hand gestures, animation, and varying your tone of voice. By whispering certain things and getting louder and more excited about other things, you can capture your viewers’ attention.

To keep your audience engaged, it’s vital to be aware of how you present yourself visually on the screen. With Be.Live you can create a test broadcast and do a rehearsal of your show to see how you look on camera, how’re your hands moving, and what you might work on to improve your live show. At the same time, there is no need to exaggerate your moves and be too active. Be yourself, but remember, that you’re a performer while streaming.

“We’re sitting down, we’re presenting ourselves without our phones moving around. I may not be moving around and doing things for something like this, but on something that’s a little more social, I’d better be moving around because if I’m stationary, nobody’s sticking around for that. “

KM Robinson