With live content now accounting for more than 80% of traffic online, Meta has been tinkering with new ways to improve live broadcasts for some time. These include allowing up to three co-hosts and guests, as well as moderators for comments and turning audio and video on and off. The latest feature is currently being tested: The Live Producer tool allows live streams via your desktop.
Only on instagram.com, creators can now use the Live Producer Tool to enhance their live streams. Kolsquare offers you an overview on the new feature, what you need to know about the technical requirements and reasons why marketers should think about incorporating live content in their next influencer marketing campaign.
The Live Producer Tool is the ability to stream live online with streaming software like OBS, Streamyard and Stremalabs via laptop or computer. Previously, this was only possible with the mobile app. As of August 2022, the Live Producer Tool is still in the testing phase, as Meta told the website TechCrunch.
A spokesperson of the BigTech company stated, “We’re always working to improve Instagram Live and make it a place for shared experiences.” The test is currently being conducted with a small group of partners, they added. This novelty expands the possibilities for creators with additional screens, microphones and cameras.
Some features are not yet fully developed. Accordingly, comments can only be displayed and answered within the tool itself. So far, the following functions are not yet supported by Live Producer: live rooms, shopping, fundraising, pinning comments, and the ability for Q&As. As the company announces, moderation is also not yet supported.
You must meet a few requirements before you can go live using streaming software. Instagram recommends:
– 9×16 aspect ratio, which is not strictly required, however.
– 720p @ 30 fps, even if producers want 60 fps this is possible, just the preview screen will still show 30fps (Instagram is looking into this bug)
– 720×1280 resolution
– Video bitrate range: 2,250-6,000 Kbps.
Regarding the audio format, the following are standard and also supported by OBS:
– Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
– Stereo: channel split
– Bitrate: up to 256 Kbps
Preparing a live stream is not difficult at all. After choosing either Streamlabs, OBS, or Streamyard as your software look where you can enter your URL and stream key. Check out instagram.com for more technical details, though. Here is how to submit your live stream directly to Instagram Live. Click “Add Post” and select “Live” from the dropdown menu. After choosing your title you can decide if you want to practice first (“Practice”) or go live directly and for all followers (“Public”).
It is important to finish the broadcast first in Live Producer before doing so on the streaming software. If you forget to do this, the live video will continue on Instagram, only that the last image received by the software will be displayed.
It is very easy to watch, share and also download your live video in the archive. Feel free to save the post-live video as VOD to further increase your ROI.
But why are live videos so attractive for marketing campaigns in the first place and how can you collaborate with your influencers in this regard?
Influencer marketing is so attractive mainly because influencers have gathered loyal followers who value their opinions. Mostly over years, influencers have built their audience with trust and transparency, and their particular tone of voice has set them apart from others. Consequently, influencer marketing is a much more personal form of marketing that can be extremely lucrative for your ROI.
To take advantage of influencers’ touch points with their followers even more, live streaming is a great way to do so, as the real-time nature of the videos means more immediacy. Questions and even conversations are possible, as influencers naturally speak directly to their audience live. Followers are more than just consumers or viewers, but can actively participate, which in turn positively influences the engagement rate.
Furthermore, live streaming makes influencers more approachable, because especially with macro and top influencers, the content often appears highly curated. Professional photos, videos and stories may hardly give a glimpse behind the scenes. Live streaming can change that and show the audience that they too are “normal” people who communicate with their community at eye level. Brands can use this authenticity for their marketing campaigns and learn from it at the same time. The industry is constantly evolving and consumers no longer want polished advertising. Thus, it makes sense to co-host the livestream with your partners, for instance.
In addition, Lives are given preferential treatment by the algorithms. On Facebook and Instagram, for example, profiles that are currently live appear at the top of users’ feeds, which naturally increases visibility and reach.
Despite the spontaneity and immediacy of live streams, influencers and brands should pay attention to high-quality content, which is now easier with the Live Producer tool.
Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, a data-driven solution that allows brands to scale their KOL Marketing strategies and implement authentic partnerships with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders). Kolsquare’s technology enables marketing professionals to easily identify the best Content Creators profiles by filtering their content and audience, and to build and manage their campaigns from A to Z, including measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors. Kolsquare has built the largest community of influencer marketing experts in the world, and offers hundreds of customers (Coca-Cola, Netflix, Sony Music, Publicis, Sézane, Sephora, El Corte Inglés, Lacoste, …) the latest Big Data, AI and Machine Learning technologies to drive inspiring partnerships, tapping into an exhaustive network covering 100% of KOLs with more than 5,000 followers in 180 countries on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. As a Benefit Company, Kolsquare has been pioneering Responsible Influence by championing transparency, ethical practices, and meaningful collaborations to inspire change.
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