(Hypebot) — With the music industry on lockdown, livestreaming has become the name of the game for the foreseeable future but – just like any concert – a livestream show is better with a bigger audience! Here we learn some helpful techniques for giving your livestream performance a boost.

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of the Symphonic Blog

With everyone stuck at home, live streaming has become a beacon of hope for independent artists around the world. But with everyone going live, how can you stand out? In this post, we’ve got some tips for promoting your stream before it goes live to ensure its success.

Best Ways to Promote Your Livestream

Create incentives for sharing

Getting your audience to share your content is one of the best ways to promote live streaming videos. It’s organic and strengthens the connection between you and your audience. However, to get them to start sharing, you’ve got to give them a reason to.

For example, consider offering a discount code for some new merch coming out for those who share the news. Conjure up some sort of contest and offer a personal shoutout or free merch for the winner. Whatever you can do to keep your fans engaged will help increase the reach of your promotional efforts.

Take advantage of social media

It’s no revelation that when it comes to promoting anything, the first thing that comes to mind is covering all your social media bases. Sharing the news on all your social platforms is an essential and effective first step in promoting your next live stream. Even if you’re trying 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 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” to ensure the highest engagement possible from your efforts.

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Learn more…

Virtual Platforms to Use for Your Next Livestream

Best Practices for Live Streaming

5 Email Marketing Metrics You Need To Know

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Utilize your email list

If you have one, use it! Along with your social media efforts, promoting your stream through your email contacts is another great way to spread the word. Send out an email blast detailing when you’re going live and which platform you’ll be using. Consider offering something of value in return like a free merch bundle to whoever invites the most people to the stream.

If you don’t have an email list, seriously think about starting one!! Email marketing is a great way to engage directly with your audience. Not sure how to start?

Click here to learn how to build a mailing list for email marketing.

Hashtags

Almost every successful live stream out there has a trend-setting hashtag attached to it. Come up with a hashtag that’s easy to remember and represents your upcoming stream. Not only does having a hashtag create more buzz around the event, it unifies your fans as a collective community and makes it easier for everyone to find your stream.

In Conclusion…

Keep the momentum going! Make sure your efforts are consistent. Keep sharing your upcoming stream on social media, keep your email recipients up to date with engaging messaging, create a fun hashtag. Do whatever it takes to keep your live stream from falling through the cracks. In a time where it seems like everyone is flooding the live streaming gates, these tips should help your odds of success. Good luck!