Engaging an online audience isn’t as easy as some people make it look. It requires a lot of time, thought, and attention. You need to consider your audience, while creating high-quality content that people genuinely enjoy. To succeed at this, it’s a good idea to use multiple channels to connect with an audience, such as posting blogs, filming videos, and doing livestreams. Livestreams are particularly useful for directly connecting with your audience, as it involves a live conversation.
What is a Livestream?
A livestream is live video coverage of an object or action. That might be a single person talking to the camera and engaging with their audience by answering questions and discussing their topic. It could also involve streaming an event, such as a concert, interview, or church service. These days, many people use livestreams to connect with their target audience, as they help cultivate a more dedicated community. To manage that, your livestreams need to be engaging. You can’t sit on a livestream saying nothing and expect people to stick around!
Consider the Audience
Knowing the audience is the first step toward hosting an excellent livestream. Different audiences want different things, after all. For example, for a church livestream, most people want to focus on God, Jesus, and community-focused conversations. However, a gaming YouTuber’s livestream will have an audience wanting to watch them play video games in real-time. Choosing the right platform and topic that will engage your audience is important. If you’re running a church, a church livestream platform allows those who can’t attend to connect with your community. It allows you to stream the worship to anyone who couldn’t otherwise attend, creating a more inclusive community overall.
Host Activities
If you have an issue planning an engaging livestream, one solution is to host activities during the session. The types of activities you choose depend on your audience. Generally, though, quizzes work well! You can write a quiz and invite your livestreaming audience to participate (trusting that there’ll be no cheaters!). By making the livestream more interactive, people will enjoy it and stick around.
Don’t Go Far Off Topic
One major mistake many people who livestream make is going too far off-topic. Discussing something slightly off-topic isn’t the issue, but if you focus too much on something irrelevant, you will lose an audience. They joined hoping for a specific focus/conversation, so if they don’t receive that, they’ll go elsewhere! For example, if you’re a music artist livestreaming to get people more engaged with your EP, try to keep the focus on music.
Hosting an engaging livestream is harder than it looks. For many people, the livestream ends up dull and uninteresting, which turns the audience away. However, yours does not have to be like that. With a few small adjustments and proper planning, your livestream’s audience numbers will only increase! Just remember to consider your audience, make it interactive, and stick (at least loosely) to the topic, and your audience will be happy to stick around until the end.
