How To Go Live on TikTok And Broadcast Video In Real Time
Many TikTok influencers like Ariel Martin, Loren Gray, and Zach King use the TikTok live broadcast feature as a way to speak directly to their followers.
Going live on TikTok can be a fun way to let your followers see events happening in real time, like a concert or special event. It’s also an easy way for you to gain more followers. Many companies and influencers spend a fortune on advertising, but you can rise above the noise without breaking the bank. You can boost your presence with buying TikTok likes as well, which may make your content shine among millions of daily messages!
This combined with the raw appeal that a live video offers is one reason why TikTok is booming right now. Live videos seem more authentic than pre-recorded ones.
Things to know before going live on TikTok
- You must be at least 16 years of age — this is determined by your birthdate when you initially create your TikTok profile.
- You’ll need to have at least 1,000 followers to unlock the capability to go Live.
- If you’re 18 years old or older, you can also earn Gifts while going Live.
- The Weekly Rankings for creators is based on the number of Diamonds collected. The more Diamonds, the higher the ranking!
- LIVE Activities are events hosted by TikTok that offer prizes to LIVE Creators on the leaderboard. It is a great way to get recognized by new viewers and build your audience.
- You should be aware that you can’t actively solicit gifts or offer incentives for providing gifts while you’re live. Otherwise you’ll violate TikTok’s community guidelines.
How to go live on TikTok: A Step-by-step Guide
Step 1: Open the app and tap the create icon (+) at the bottom of the screen
Step 2: Select LIVE from the menu
Step 3: Once you select LIVE, you’ll be able to see a preview of your video feed. In the preview, you can add a title to your livestream, turn comments on or off, add effects or filters, choose a charity to support, and share your livestream through connected social media platforms or a messaging service
Step 4: When you’re ready, tap Go LIVE to begin streaming your video
Once you’ve finished with your Live event, simply tap the power button on the bottom of the menu screen to end your stream. Unlike a pre-recorded video that you take time to create and edit and post to your TikTok feed afterwards, a livestream will disappear as soon as you’re finished, so enjoy it while you can!
How to prepare when going live on TikTok
All good things about live streaming sounds good in boosting your TikTok followers, but don’t mistake it to be a foolproof tactic to strengthen your social media presence. As with anything that’s real-time, live videos too are pretty uncertain at that. Keep in mind that there are no retakes when you go live on TikTok – so preparation is everything!
1. Make a plan for what you’re going to say or do
It’s important to create a map or outline of your live TikTok broadcast. This helps keep your video focused and on track. Otherwise, it might easily run off the rails.
Write down all the points you want to cover, as well as how long you want to cover them. Are you reviewing a product to your viewers? Are you interviewing an industry thought leader?
Most live videos consist of one shot of the presenter talking to the screen. Sometimes, you’ll have an interview set up with a split-screen. To keep it visually interesting, you have to change “scenes” regularly and introduce prerecorded elements.
2. Figure out the timing of your live broadcast
Figuring out when your followers are most active on TikTok can be challenging. And this becomes all the more difficult when you have viewers watching your live content are in different time zones. Also, the duration is really up to you, but 30 minutes is a good best practice to consider.
However, if you switch to a TikTok pro account (which is free), you can be able to check your analytics to find out what time of day or day of the week when you had the most views for a particular video. This is why it is essential to track the most important video metrics to analyze when most of your followers are online.
3. Find out where you’ll host your live broadcast
Once you have determined when your TikTok followers will be most active, it’s time to figure out where you’ll host your live TikTok broadcast.
While live videos give you the freedom to connect with your audience from anywhere, at any time, they bring with them the potential to get interrupted. If you don’t have a video studio or if you love to live stream on the go, unexpected hosts, say, kids, pets, or random people (if you’re out and about) can interrupt your live stream. Now, some of your viewers may be forgiving. But many may be put off by these interruptions. And, you may lose a chunk of them if your live videos aren’t well planned and executed.
4. Have essential video recording gear
It’s a well-known fact that going live on TikTok doesn’t cost a penny. When it comes to live streaming alone, it’s virtually free.
But you may want to spend some money on video-production essentials like proper lighting, a microphone and a high quality camera. A high quality broadcast is key in keeping your audience engaged as they will be able to clearly see and hear what you have to say. Remember, there are no cuts or editing when you go live on TikTok, so you have once chance of getting it right!
5. Have a good internet connection
A fast and reliable internet connection is crucial to running a live broadcast.
An unreliable, slow, or lagging internet can cause lots of problems like a blurry or glitch videos, or poor audio quality. Your internet connectivity or speed should be the last thing to worry about. We recommend having a minimum upload speed of 5 Mbps for going live on TikTok.
To grow an avid fan base on a platform like TikTok, you need to deliver a quality experience. A reliable camera and good audio equipment are all important investments for any dedicated streamer, but none of that makes much of a difference to those watching if your stream freezes and staggers throughout the broadcast.
Conclusion
You now know that live broadcasts offer a great tool to gain more exposure through your video content. However, engaging and building a good relationship with your audience takes time and energy. It’s not enough to just answer a few questions on a live stream. You need to listen to your followers and give them what they want.
