Which social media channel is right for your live stream?

Going live on a social media channel live stream adds an element of inclusivity and interactivity to your stream. Most people in the UK have some kind of social media account, whether that’s Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or Instagram. With this in mind, we’ve taken a look at the top social media platforms to help you determine which is the best site to host your live stream.

We’ve included very brief guides as to how to publish streams on each platform if you’d like to dip your toe in. However, Kinura can help you plug in broadcast-quality production in to any platform and send a single stream to all of these platforms simultaneously.

When finding the right social media channel for your video live stream, you need to keep your target audience in mind. Where are they more likely to be? LinkedIn streams are great for targeting business-minded individuals, Twitch is an entertainment platform, suited for video games and popular media, Facebook is a one size fits all platform. Event planners need to consider the implications of using a particular platform, so we’ve outlined the benefits and drawback of each channel below:

• Facebook Live
• LinkedIn Live
• Twitter Live
• YouTube Live
• Instagram Live
• Twitch

A live streaming platform should provide administrators with a multitude of ways to engage with attendees, including live chat, polls and more. With this in mind, we have chosen the following social media platforms as the best way to bring an audience to your live stream.

Facebook Live

Facebook is the default social media platform for most of the population, meaning that it’s highly likely your audience will use this platform every day. This also means that using Facebook Live for your live stream is likely to get you the most views on your content. Use Facebook live when you have a definite brand message that you want to share to as many people as possible. Facebook is great for face-to-camera live streams, as well as staged broadcasts from live events.

To start your Facebook livestream, simply select the “live video” button near the top of your app. This will allow you to create a room to host any kind of broadcast you desire. Here, you can select from your custom audience lists to choose who you want to broadcast to, add a short subscription then go live!

Unique benefits:

• largest audience of any social media platform.
• Upload broadcast straight to Facebook page.
• Choose an audience from segmented follower lists.

LinkedIn Live

When it comes to driving engagement to your professional audience, LinkedIn is one of the top performing social media platforms. LinkedIn Live allows you to build deeper connections and drive more engagement with a professional community.

It’s important that you know your audience before deciding to host your livestream on LinkedIn Live. Knowing your audience is key for creating engaging content, so stick to topics that perform well on LinkedIn. If in doubt you should review your page analytics and get an overview of your audience demographics. This will help you find content that will resonate with them. Alternatively, use the content suggestions tool and see what topics are trending within the scope of your target audience. Then use these ideas to brainstorm for your next live stream.

In order to go live, you need to connect your account with your recording tools. Once these are connected, you’re ready to go live. Just click the button that says go live or start streaming. You should enter a short title and description before you go live to draw in viewers that are interested in your content. Take extra precautions to ensure that your setup looks professional, since LinkedIn is the main professional social network, it’s especially important.

Unique benefits:

• Easiest way to target a large, professional audience.
• Good place to upload informative, professional content.
• Use audience insights to effectively target your livestream.

Twitter Live

Twitter lives are great for if you have a short punchy message, and you have a method of attracting your audience’s attention quickly. Twitter is a fast-paced social media platform, so if you have “thumb-stopping” content, this is a good place to broadcast it.

To go live on Twitter, simply click the “camera” icon when creating a tweet, then select “LIVE”. You can construct a tweet, alerting your followers that you are live. You also get the option to easily add another twitter user to your live video. You can choose to go live with audio but not video, tap the microphone at the top right. This will turn off the camera, and you’ll be heard by viewers, but not seen. You can even tag your location if you want local users to know that you are live.

Unique benefits:

• Easiest way to address your Twitter followers.
• Capture attention quickly.
• Easy to set up and use.

YouTube Live

Although YouTube was the original video streaming giant, it is still playing catchup to the likes of Facebook Live. Anyone can live stream to YouTube from their desktop, although live streaming from a mobile device is limited to verified content creators with over 1,000 subscribers. Making it a little inaccessible for a large number of corporation.

If you’ve decided to stream to YouTube, keep in mind that doing it from your desktop computer makes the process much easier. Using a desktop, simply click on the camera icon in the top right hand corner of the screen. From here, you can select “Go Live.” and enter your stream settings. Select your webcam and enter a title and description for your stream. You can also choose to schedule your live stream for a later date. Click “save” when you’re done, and then “Go Live” to begin streaming.

Unique benefits:

• Accessible – Majority of your audience will know somewhat how to use YouTube-
• Can schedule future live streams.
• Easy to set up and use.

Instagram Live

Instagram is a platform full of beautiful, aesthetically pleasing images and videos. For this reason, you want your Instagram live streams to be bright, colorful, creative – anything to help you stand out from the crowd. Keep them casual, but fun!

Instagram is frequently used to produce content similar to your Facebook Live broadcasts (promoting product launches, Q&As, interviews, and behind-the-scenes moments), it’s best to use Instagram for short chats and demonstrations with your most loyal customers. Keep it cosy and you’ll find that you grow a loyal audience on this platform.

To start recording, tap the camera icon in the upper-left corner of the home screen (or swipe right) and then tap Live. Tap Start Live Video to start recording. It’s really that simple. What’s more, live videos will be shown on Instagram’s explore tab, and could even become trending content. Lives with a large audience and engagement are pushed to the top. Similarly, Lives that occur in the audience location will be promoted to them.

Unique benefits:

• Easy to set up.
• Easier to become trending with the help of the explore tab.
• Good for casual chats with your most loyal fanbase.

Twitch

Twitch began as a live streaming platform dedicated to the gaming community. It’s micro-subscrition model has made game streaming a viable career and allowed individuals access to a global audience. As well the gamers themselves Twitch is now features regular live streams from brands and products related to the gaming community. Broadcasting to Twitch needs a little more know-how than other platforms and broadcasters require video encoders (OBS, VMIX, etc) to get started.

Unique benefits:

• Large, well defined community
• Built-in monetisation
• Feature rich broadcasting

Choosing the right social media channel for your live stream is definitely not an easy task, so hopefully our article gave you a push in the right direction.

Need help setting up your virtual event? Kinura have been helping businesses and brands deliver live streams, virtual events, webinars and social media live streams since 2007. Once you’ve chosen your platform, we can help you prepare, produce professional graphics, provide expert technicians and a camera crew, as well as ensure that the video quality and sound is up to scratch. Work with us and you can rest assured that your upcoming virtual event is successful, without technical issues.