How to Get Started with Live Streaming for Business (2024)

Mohan Ram Published On September 23rd, 2024 Tech Talks

Pulling your target audience and creating a separate, dedicated audience base is one of the most important factors for any business.

But how many businesses are actually achieving it, They hardly survive in the market due to heavy competition, but one strong solution in the current market is live streaming.

Live streaming for business is one of the best ways to build viewership, increase sales, awareness, and engagement. Let’s get started on how to utilize live streaming for businesses.

What Is Live Streaming and How Does It Work?

According to live streaming statistics, about 81 percent of audiences watched more live videos in 2016 than 2015 and the numbers have drastically increased now,

With that being said, let’s get into the definition of live streaming.

Live streaming is broadcasting media content through a platform in real-time to viewers across the globe.

It works by using a streaming platform, once the live streaming host goes live, the source transmits the video or audio to receiver devices.

How To Start A Video Streaming Business: The Definitive 6-Step Guide

If you consider these points below, then starting out with a video streaming business is an easy game.

• Finding your slot: from the vast space of content creation, finding your niche is crucial, as it acts as a driving force in the process of live streaming continuously.
   
• Create your ideal business plan: a plan is a blueprint for the success you are aiming for, Structure a well-thought-out plan and execute it accordingly.
   
• Invest in the right streaming platform: this is the most important step, If this helps you achieve your streaming goals, go for platforms with multi streaming, recording and customisation capabilities, as it will ease your tasks.
   
• Create engagement: Some live video streaming platforms offer engagement tools to create the engagement you seek, look for polls, chat features and other features to build a solid engagement for your streaming.
   
• Market your videos: Record your videos using the recording feature and cut them into reels and shorts to convert them for marketing purposes.
   
• Monetise for more revenue: Some platforms offer monetization plans, otherwise, you can opt for sponsorships, merchandise sales and ads to generate revenue through live streaming.

Live Streaming Benefits and Opportunities for Your Business

Live streaming popularity has skyrocketed to another extreme post-COVID due to lockdown restrictions. Here we have listed out some of the major reasons why live streaming is popular and must have for today’s time.

• Real-time interaction: Engagement is a key factor for businesses, and live streaming enables such a feature where users can engage with the audience in real-time. In addition to interaction, users can conduct polls, ask questions, reply to comments, and build a strong community.

• Increased outreach: Most businesses struggle to expand beyond their horizons, but with live streaming, reaching a wider range of audiences is easy, and viewers from across the globe do wonders and market their products worldwide.

• Cost-effective and budget-friendly: You might think that, with such benefits, live streaming is costly, but no, it isn’t it! It brings budget friendly plans to your streaming needs, and broadcasting from the comfort of your own home reduces costs when compared to traditional events.

• Most Convenient and easily accessible: with just your laptop on hand, you can live stream to people and make them attend your event from their remote areas. Some platforms, like OnTheFly , offer pre-recorded streaming and storage, benefiting both the streamer and the viewer.

• Monitor data and video analytics: Live streaming platforms are often designed with rich data analytic software to monitor your valuable data and live streaming analytics. This will help you understand your audience mindset better and track your viewership, engagement, and brand potential, and keep you highly informed.

• Great Monetization options: Using your live streaming videos and other content, you can open up different monetization options like AVOD, TVOD, and video-on-demand. You can also generate revenue through sponsorship and by selling merchandise.

• Multiple broadcasting: Simulcasting of live streaming is a feature available on various platforms, enabling users to broadcast their content across multiple platforms simultaneously. This versatility makes it an ideal live streaming solution, thereby allowing  a number of content creators to reach a broader audience more effectively.

What Do You Need to Begin Live Streaming?

Let’s get started with live streaming now.

Here are the few essential things you need to do:

• A solid internet connection: A steadfast and stable internet connection is a must to connect with your viewers seamlessly; this illustrates your content delivery and experience altogether.

• Laptop with camera and microphone: A smartphone, tablet, or computer is a must have device to connect with the streaming platform With the help of those, you can connect with the streaming content.

• A premium Live streaming platform: The most important factor is a live streaming platform that doesn’t compromise on quality and support, our recommendations are OnTheFly, Restream, and OBS (Open Broadcaster Software).

• Lighting and sound setup: We spoke about this in the top, The importance of good lighting and a microphone or headset can only be assured after you stream and fail miserably, There are plenty of good content streamers with poor technical glitches, ensure you invest in good quality equipment.

• Content: At the end, interesting content to share, gain knowledge from or explore from different perspectives is highly important to survive in the streaming world.

• Promotional marketing: Your content gets nowhere if there is no one to see it, Make the world know your content, spread the word, and start experimenting with different techniques while marketing your live streaming skills. Plus, you can partner with the best SEO agencies near me to boost your content’s visibility and improve search engine rankings.

Live Streaming Best Practices

Live streaming best practices help you build a successful career in live streaming and here are a few tips:

• Prepare with a plan: Before you start executing, plan your live stream with pointers and jot down important materials or props. This will help you get organized and deliver a healthy stream.

• Test run before live: Always go live, only after you have tested your laptop, lights, camera, microphone, and internet connection. Look into audio and video quality from a different account and go live once you are clear.

• Engage with viewers: During the live broadcast, invite your audience to engage with you. Answer the questions, address concerns raised by the audience, and use their names.

• Backup plan: Sometimes technical issues are inevitable, and it is always better to have a backup plan. Don’t go live with just one piece of equipment or light setup.

• Video analytics: Every live streaming platform will have video analytics tools to measure your performance. Viewer engagement, audience feedback, and comments help you improve future live streams.

The more you practice your stream, the more it makes you perfect! Don’t get comfortable working to get better.

Build A Live Streaming App For Your Business With MirrorFly

Live streaming is, of course, an interesting and engaging feature. Most of the content creators go with a third-party platform to take their video content to millions of audiences. But, do you notice that not many businesses use third-party streaming apps, considering security and privacy? 

Because, you’ve got MirrorFly. The solution comes with a custom live streaming API with which you can build your own live streaming platform, in  just a few minutes. 

And why would we recommend MirrorFly for developing your live streaming platform?

Quick reasons:

• The solution is 100% customizable 
• You can white-label your live-streaming app
• You get full access to the source code
• The latency can be as less as 3ms
• Performance is clean, even if user base scales up

And you can enjoy many benefits specific to your business model.

We’d recommend you to get in touch with our team to understand how well MirrorFly can help you launch your live streaming platform. 

We’d love to see you build one soon!