Nowadays, there is no shortage of live streaming platforms. That is because several of them and more are still being developed as technology advances. Despite the many media, choosing the right one has become the most challenging part. Picking a streaming platform is not about just signing up and going live. It requires you to take your time to consider several factors.
What you need to do before choosing a streaming platform is to consider both your short-term and long-term goals. You also need to list all the features you need and the quality you want to achieve and then get Twitch followers. After that, you can proceed to the online market and choose a platform with the features you have listed.
This article explains six steps to selecting a streaming platform to guide you through.
Table of Contents
Identify your core Target Audience.
The first thing that should cross your mind before any other thing is knowing who you are creating content for. Knowing your audience is not all about just knowing the age groups and gender. It involves understanding your audience more profoundly. That will guide you in the content you want to stream and the quality the audience expects from you.
Having a better understanding of your audience will help you ensure you create valuable content that is within their interest. Once the customers are satisfied with your content, they will even help you market it more by luring their friends and relatives into it. You also need to identify the challenges that your audience wants t to solve, and that will help you ensure the content you produce is in line to help them solve their challenges. It would help if you also considered some of the solutions they have tried and how they have failed. That will guide you to avoid repeating the same mistake.
Define Your Goals
Another important thing when choosing a streaming platform is defining the goals you want to achieve. Once you have determined who your audience is, the next thing is to define goals that will enable you to cater to the needs of your audience. You can also ask questions from your audience to help you know what they want.
One thing that will help you define your goals is knowing what stage your audience is in your funnel. You need to see if you need to educate them first or not. Also, you need to identify a collection of unique challenges that you can explore in-depth. All these will help you to ensure you set your goals right.
Research Your Competitor
Live streaming is just like any other business. As usual, most business people always think negatively of their competitors, not knowing they play an essential part in your business, especially when you are just about to start. Remember, business involves a lot of competition, and you need to know that. The only best place to get competitive knowledge is from your competitors. Some of the critical information you need to know about your competitors include:
- What type of live stream do they produce
- Their monetization strategies
- Their platforms
- Their promotion channels
Align Your Goals with Features You Need
After you have defined your goals, it is now essential to find features to help you achieve them. Live streaming platforms come with different functionalities. Therefore, that will require you to come up with a list of features you want that will help you achieve your goals. Below is a list that can help guide you through:
- Video content management system
- Live video monetization options
- Auto-record to VOD with monetization and distribution
- Global payment processing
- Go-live notifications
- A brand streaming platform
- A fully-customizable website
- Live chat engagement tools
Match the Platform with your audience
One of the most common mistakes live streamers usually make is that they go live on every available Platform and stretch themselves too thin. You need to focus your attention and efforts on one Platform. That will help you optimize your live stream as your audience in that Platform will get used to seeing you live and engage more frequently.
Get started with Live streaming.
After considering all you need, what you want to achieve, and who your audience is, it’s now the best time to go live.
Conclusion
Live streaming is a step-by-step process. Once you have followed the steps correctly, you will choose the best Platform to give the best results.