Get Started with Multistreaming – Go Live! with Restream
Confident Live Marketing Podcast
Episode 64
Episode Theme: Tech & Gear
July 24, 2020
Want to supercharge your business reach with live video? Then broadcasting live to a single-channel might not cut it.
After all, Facebook may be your preferred platform but it’s only one of many and if you want to connect with a much wider audience it’s worth looking into multistreaming/multicasting: broadcasting to multiple platforms at the same time.
I gave an intro to multistreaming in my kick-off episode of Go Live! with Restream show. But don’t worry if you missed it. Keep reading here to find out what it is and how to get started.
What You’ll Learn
Getting to Grips with Multistreaming
We all have our favourite platforms, right? Maybe you’re a big Facebook fan or you just can’t get enough of YouTube — and if you’re consistently broadcasting live on your channel of choice that’s a great start in building your audience.
But, there are so many other platforms out there and if you’re only ever appearing on your own personal favourite, you could be missing out on a whole load of people who would really benefit from your expertise.
Of course, you could go live on multiple channels separately to make sure you’re hitting all of the places your ideal audience likes to hang out online, but when you’re already spending a significant amount of time getting your live content out there, you don’t really want to increase that more than you have to.
The answer, my friends, is multistreaming.
Now, you might be a bit hesitant at the thought of trying multistreaming, particularly if you’ve tried going to live to multiple channels in the past and found it a bit of a trial.
For example, using software such as Wirecast or OBS studio, it’s possible to set up two different streams on your computer at the same time — say one directed to Facebook Live and another to YouTube Live.
However, for it to work well you’d need a total beast of a computer as well as a super-powerful internet connection to handle the sheer volume of data you’re sending out with a multistream broadcast.
When I tried it, it was clear that my poor computer wasn’t impressed as it went kind of glitchy and threatened to overheat!
Luckily, these days there are easier ways to multistream that are much kinder to your hardware and your internet connection.
Introducing Restream
Listen at [14:00]
When it comes to multistreaming, it’s now more efficient to use a cloud-based service and given that this post was inspired by my very first episode of Go Live! with Restream, it’ll come as no surprise that Restream is my preferred multistreaming tool.
When it comes to multistreaming, it’s now more efficient to use a cloud-based service and given that this post was inspired by my very first episode of Go Live! with Restream, it’ll come as no surprise that Restream is my preferred multistreaming toolClick To TweetSo how does it Work?
Listen at [15:10]
Rather than streaming to multiple places and putting a strain on your computer and internet connection, you send your live broadcast to a single destination: Restream.
Then Restream will re-broadcast it to your chosen platforms — and you can select over 30 different destinations, all of which will show your video at exactly the same time.
Of course, you have the usual suspects like LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch, and Periscope but there are other options too like Russian platform VK or Afreeca TV based in South Korea.
Also, Restream Live Studio allows you to go live directly from your browser, which is ideal if you want to keep things super simple, without compromising on the quality of your videos.
Other cool features include a scheduling tool for anyone who’s more comfortable broadcasting a pre-recorded video, and an analytics feature to highlight views and engagement — great if you suspect people are getting bored half-way through your videos and you want to up your game.
Restream Live Studio allows you to go live directly from your browser, which is ideal if you want to keep things super simple, without compromising on the quality of your videos.Click To TweetKeeping up with the Comments
Listen at [27:00]
In 2016, when I really started to embrace Live Video, multistreaming was possible but it certainly wasn’t for the faint-hearted; not only was it complicated to set up, but audience fragmentation proved to be a huge issue too.
With comments flying at you from multiple places, unless you had ten different monitors in front of you, it was pretty much impossible to manage. It wasn’t unusual to miss comments, leaving viewers feeling ignored or under-valued.
And even now that we have the software to help with that, it’s still important to remember than when you’re broadcasting to different channels, you shouldn’t treat all audiences in the same way.
Viewers on Facebook, for example, will be experiencing your video in a different way from those on LinkedIn and you might have a different type of relationship with viewers from different channels too.
So it’s definitely worth getting to grips with Restream’s comment highlighting capabilities, Restream chat, which allows you to bring in and highlight comments from all of the platforms it supports — even (finally!) LinkedIn Live.
This makes it far easier for you to follow what everyone is saying and really engage your audience during your broadcast, no matter where they’re watching you.
A wider audience, greater engagement, better reach — multistreaming is such an effective way to level up your business and increase your impact, and happily, it’s far less scary than it used to be.
If you want to give it a try, I’d definitely encourage you to have a play around with Restream’s functionality for yourself.
They offer a free plan if you want to jump straight in or you can dip your toe in with a free trial.
And keep an eye out for future episodes of Go Live! with Restream where I’ll be talking about everything from gaining confidence in front of the camera to the best tech to use for your live streaming.
A wider audience, greater engagement, better reach — multistreaming is such an effective way to level up your business and increase your impact, and happily it’s far less scary than it used to be.Click To TweetResources
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The Confident Live Marketing Show
The Confident Live Marketing Show is a weekly live video show and podcast. It’s aimed at established entrepreneurs who want to level up their impact, authority and profits through the power of live video, webinars and podcasts. We’ll focus on knocking down the 3 main barriers these entrepreneurs face when creating live content - camera confidence/mindset, tech/gear and content marketing.
It’s hosted by Ian Anderson Gray. He is the founder of the Confident Live Marketing Academy and is the host of the Confident Live Marketing Podcast. He helps entrepreneurs to level up their impact, authority and profits by using live video confidently. He’s founder of Seriously Social - a blog focused on live video and social media tools. He’s an international speaker, trainer, teacher and consultant. He has a passion for making the techno-babble of live video and social media marketing easy to understand. As well as being a geek, husband, and dad to two kids, Ian is also a professional singer and lives near Manchester in the UK.
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About Ian Anderson Gray
Ian is the founder of the Confident Live Marketing Academy and is the host of the Confident Live Marketing Podcast. He helps entrepreneurs to level up their impact, authority and profits by using live video confidently. He's a geek, husband, and dad to two kids, and trained as professional classical singer. He lives near Manchester in the UK. Find out more
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