As the name suggests, Darlington Stream Space, well, has streaming capabilities! In the past, we have live-streamed award ceremonies and webinars. If you have an idea, we can generally look for ways to make it a reality if it involves a camera. But what is live streaming, and is it something you could implement in your business? Find out in today’s blog!
What is Live Streaming?
Becoming popular with the gaming community in the early 2010’s, live streaming is a way of delivering real-time content to an audience through a live streaming platform. It can be used to actively engage with an audience as well as make revenue through the right channels.
Where can you live-stream?
Live streaming is all online, as that’s how you connect with people, and your audience in turn can see your content. Examples of apps and sites you can live stream on include:
- Twitch – Often used to stream gaming content, it is known for it’s chill and quirky streams. Twitch was one of the first places that streamers started to get big and make a living through live streaming.
- YouTube – YouTube has a live streaming function, where you can talk to your community in real time while streaming gameplay or just having chill chats. This is the place to be streaming if you already have an established community on YouTube.
- Whatnot – This is a streaming platform best for selling items, often collectables and is great for auctioning. You can build a community through Whatnot as well as participate in Whatnot events, where your business receives a budget for stock.
- TikTok – Integrated into the TikTok app, TikTok Lives are another way to catch up with your favourite creator and share more about their lives.
- Kick – This is very similar to Twitch, where you can watch a wide range of content from your favourite creators. Whilst Twitch is still the leading platform for growing a community, Kick has shown that it is best for creators looking for increased revenue through live streaming.
Should you live-stream?
Similar to podcasting or even setting up a TikTok account for your business, deciding on whether your business should live-stream is like asking how long a piece of string is.
You can measure the success of a live-stream by what you set as your goals. If you are a shop looking to sell more products, then setting up a Whatnot or TikTok shop and selling through live-streams may have a positive impact, and even if you get 1 sale, it shows that it is worth looking into. If you are a digital marketer and everything you work on is under an NDA, you might need to ask yourself what you would have to make content from, and whether it is worth spending many hours a day streaming to an audience that isn’t asking for a marketing stream.
Many times, we see the potential of an idea before it goes into production, and many people you ask would also get that gut feeling. It’s worth doing your research and seeing if there is anything similar out there. If not, does your idea seem like it’s going to stand out (or is there a reason no one else is doing it?!) If other people are streaming that content, does your idea sound like it will cut through the noise? This isn’t to say your idea needs to be a success straight away – but live streaming requires commitment and longevity, and if you can’t commit to a regular schedule, you are more likely to see your live-stream flop.
A popular format that could work with a range of businesses is the more community-driven chats, which are in some ways reminiscent of a podcast. You can talk with a co-host in your stream about a topic and get the audience watching to ask questions or have their say on the topic.
Types of Live-Streams you can try
As we’ve mentioned, there are loads of different types of live-streams that you can try out to see what works. See below a few of them:
- Gaming Content – One of the most popular forms of live streaming is Let’s Plays and gaming content. You can stream yourself playing your favourite game. This could have your commentary over the top, and you are able to use the chat functionality to talk to your audience whilst playing.
- Unboxing – If you are a business selling stock, allocate an amount of your stock to do unboxing videos. This brings in audiences wanting to see hands-on reviews of products, which could then lead on to giveaways in future live streams.
- Reaction videos – Reaction videos are still huge even after years of the trend existing. You can react to all sorts of content, including news and even recent releases such as film and game trailers.
- Behind the scenes content – Live Streaming is a great way for your audience to get a peek behind the curtain at the things you do! During lockdown, it was popular for businesses to have live streams that allowed them to chat with people from across the country, while restrictions were in place. It gives your audience a Q&A opportunity that makes them feel heard.
- Hobbies – Whilst we’ve covered gaming content, you can also just stream something you enjoy doing! Art streams are fun and pleasing to watch, with audiences being able to see the process behind an artist creating something in real time. These can be pleasing and relaxing to watch, and also don’t rely on the streamer to talk – just to do what they do best!
How to get started
As we#ve mentioned, there are so many platforms out there for you to start streaming on, so there is an easy point of entry there. Think about some of the equipment on top of the platform that you need. If you have a smartphone, you will have a camera already built in, but for people wanting to stream games or external programmes, having a capture card is a must. This allows you to share your game or programme with the streaming software and share it with your audience.
If you are looking to improve the quality of your streams, consider investing in good-quality mics and lighting to make your live-streams more attractive to new viewers. Look at how you live stream on streaming software with custom designs for your brand, chat boxes and more! Live-streaming is a lot of fun, with a lot of the fun coming from the problem-solving and creativity that comes with it.
If you’re looking to stream content for your business, get in touch with Darlignton Stream Space, where we can help bring your live-streams to life.