Why Go Live On YouTube?
We were recently tasked with finding an easy and cost-effective live video streaming solution for one of our amazing clients, Hay House author Sonia Choquette. In the past, she’s exclusively used Facebook Live to connect with her thousands of followers.
However, we as marketers wanted an easy way to stream live to her own website — where we control the real estate surrounding the live video.
YouTube makes embedding live videos easy (no more difficult than embedding a normal YouTube video). Like Facebook, your followers can chat with you and comment on your live stream in real-time, making YouTube Live an amazing way to keep your followers engaged.
Best of all, you no longer need to download and operate overly complex video encoding software or use 3rd-party applications like Wirecast to stream embedded video. (Hallelujah!)
There are four other benefits to using YouTube Live:
- Lower Advertising Cost: Facebook advertising costs are skyrocketing right now, and YouTube is far cheaper per impression.
- Platform Diversification: as content marketers, it’s just a bad idea to put all of your audience growth dollars into one platform.
- Potential Reach: YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet. (WOW!)
- Google Marketing Suite: YouTube is already connected to your Google account and with it all of the analytics tools, GoogleAds, display network (for retargeting), etc.
Want to see how we set everything up in YouTube? Let’s get into the step-by-step how-to…
How To Go LIVE on YouTube
Log Into YouTube Account
- First, go to www.youtube.com and sign into your Youtube Account.
- You are now signed in and will find yourself on the main YouTube page.
Find The YouTube Live Dashboard
- Near your Sign-in image/icon you will see a small camera.
- Click on the camera Icon.
- A drop-down will appear. When it does, click “Go Live”.
Input Settings for YouTube Live
- After clicking “Go Live”, YouTube will bring you to the screen below. Click “More Options”.
- It will then prompt you to enter information about your Live Stream in the “Webcam stream info” window. See close up below.
- Name your Live Stream and type it into the “Create a Title” Section. I will call mine “How To Test”.
Choose Your Desired Privacy Settings
- Click on “Public” and a drop-down menu will show three privacy setting options. You will see Public, Unlisted or Private.
- Determine which Privacy Setting is best for your live event.
Public: Your YouTube Live Stream can be seen by anyone and can be searched for on YouTube. This is the default setting.
Unlisted: Your YouTube Live Stream is not searchable on YouTube. The stream will not show on your channel either. To invite your audience to see your Live Stream, you will have to provide them with a link. Once they have the link, they can then see your Live Stream.
Private: Your Live Stream will not show up under any search results or channel list.
Note: In order to have a YouTube Live Stream broadcast to your website you must choose “Public”. If you’re embedding the stream on your WordPress site, we found this free plugin very handy.
- In this example, I have chosen “Public”
Schedule Feature: You can schedule your Live Events ahead of time. By switching on the Toggle beside “Schedule For Later” you can schedule your stream to go live on a specific date or time and alert your audience when you are going live.
Add a Description: This area allows you to give a brief description of what your YouTube Live is about. Think of it as the “copy” for your YouTube Live.
Content Category: This area is where you can categorize your Live Stream. It helps your viewers and YouTube identify your content. If you click the drop-down, you will see a number of options. In my case, I will choose the content category “education”.
About Advanced Settings
- Click on “advanced settings” at the bottom of our Webcam stream info.
This will bring you to the screen below. Here you can turn on or off chat options and set age restrictions for your Live Stream.
During your live Stream, you may include paid product placements or endorsements. You need to notify both YouTube and your audience. Turning on this toggle notifies YouTube.
- Click the arrow on the upper left-hand corner and go back to the “Webcam stream info” page.
Go Live!
- Once you are back on the Webcam stream info page, Click next.
- You will then be prompted to take a Thumbnail Photo for your live stream. It this case, I uploaded the Peaceful Media Logo.
- After you have taken the thumbnail photo or uploaded an image. Click “Go Live!”
- Congrats! You are now Live and can chat with your fans on the right-hand side of the screen.
End Live Stream
- After you’ve had your fun, you can click the “End Stream” button on the bottom of your screen.
- You will then be asked if you want to finish your YouTube Live. Click “yes.
- Then you will see a summary screen. It will give you general stats about your live stream such as average watch time ect. Now click “Done”
Where Are the YouTube Live Recordings Stored?
Now that you have finished live streaming the recording can be found in your Youtube Channel’s Studio under “Videos”. You will see a list of your past live streams. Below, you can see the one I created.
And That Is How You Go Live On YouTube!
We hope to see you all broadcasting and streaming away on YouTuve Live! Enjoy the real-time interaction with your fans and followers! If you have any questions or comments feel free to share them below!
