Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of the Symphonic Blog

Although socially-distanced live shows have been slowly creeping in around the world, live streaming is still alive and well. We’ve already covered some live streaming best practices throughout the year, but we’re not stopping there. Interested in learning how to use your livestreams to grow your audience even further? We’ve compiled some of our best tips and tricks to help you do just that. Here’s how…

How To Grow Your Audience With Livestreams

Promote Like Crazy

Did you know that visual content is 40x more likely to be shared on social media? Mobile video viewing has increased by more than 1,000% since 2012. Promoting your livestreams before, during, and after the event can help you garner more viewers on the stream and new lifelong fans at the same time.

• Using YouTube for your live streaming efforts? They posted a killer quick guide to promotion on their platform. Check it out here.

The more you hype up your livestream in advance, the more people will be ready to check you out once you go live. Be sure to announce your livestream on all your socials, let everyone know exactly which platforms you’re using, and tell them exactly what time they can expect you to hop on. In addition, consider giving sneak peeks into what’s to come, showing your behind the scenes set-up, teasing some new songs, etc. — Just get creative with it!

Let’s Talk Social Media…

Even if your goal is to reach new audiences, odds are your current fans will share what you’ve got to offer with their friends. And in the best case scenario, their friends will share it with their friends, coworkers, family, and so forth.

Although spamming the internet with promo seems like the right way to go, It’s important to choose your most beneficial platforms and focus your efforts there. If most of your fans use Facebook the most, prioritize your efforts there. If they frequent Instagram, do the same there as well.

• To optimize your reach, check out our “Best Times to Post on Social Media” post to ensure the highest engagement possible from your efforts.

Try a Giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff! Not only that, but giveaways are a sure fire way increase likes, shares, and engagement. The best way to find out what your audience wants is to just ask them. Try posting a poll on your Instagram Stories, Facebook page, Twitter, etc. asking what your fans want. Then, you can announce a giveaway that they can only get access to by sharing your content and watching your livestream.

(In addition to increased engagement, doing giveaways gives you a great audience to retarget for future ads.)

Save & Share

If you hosted your stream on a platform like Facebook Live, you can go ahead and save the video after it airs. Then, you can upload the video across your socials for extra promo.

Of course, Facebook Live isn’t the only platform that lets you do this. Depending on where your audience is the strongest, you’ve got other great options to choose from. 

Wherever you decide to share it, at least share it to YouTube, no matter what. This huge platform brings a massive audience out to play. With it, your video has the potential to reach new heights that just can’t be reached on Facebook alone.

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Expand your mind…

How to Use Content Pillars to Define Your Artist Brand

Short Attention Spans Are Dramatically Altering Songwriting: Here’s How

5 Differences Between In-Person, Digital Concerts

3 Great Ways To Spark More Conversation With Your Followers

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Make Some Mini Video Babies

Don’t just set it and forget it. Now that you have access to the full video, dice it up and make a bunch of additional content from it. Trim bits and pieces of it to share on Instagram, Twitter, etc. — Posting these smaller clips creates a bit of FOMO and entices viewers to check out the full thing.

• There are many online trimming tools out there that are relatively easy to use for beginners. If you happen to be a video editing pro, however, it’s easy to take some cool bits from your original livestream to share on Instagram Stories or add to your profile highlights.

• Not a video editing wizard? No problem. — Check out, “How to Use TikTok’s Video Editor for Instagram Stories” to make it easy.

Utilize Your Partnerships To Promote It

Brand sponsorships, partnerships, and collaborations are some of the most lucrative opportunities you can get as an independent musician. If you’ve got partnerships in your arsenal, use them! Reach out to your sponsors and see if they can promote your upcoming stream on their own platforms.

Keep in mind that brands typically aren’t going to promote you for free, so be sure to offer something in return like a product promo or brand shoutout during the stream.

Always Include a Call-To-Action

Once you finish all the action, be sure to include a call-to-action. Direct your audience to your socials, streaming platforms, your website, etc. Since you’re so incredible, people are going to want to know where they can get more. (If you’ve got merch, now is a great time to do a quick promo.)

In Conclusion…

Livestreams offer major potential to grow your audience beyond just the stream. These online performances are opportunities to show off what makes you you. By promoting your stream across social platforms, you can share your greatness with existing fans and beyond. By creating new content from your stream, you can share double the engaging content from a single video. — Just think of the potential!

Livestreams aren’t meant to be posted once and left for dead. Make the most of them. Not only are they intimate and personal shows, they’re social content, advertising, free promo, and so much more.