Livestreaming has become a popular mode of virtual communication since its creation back in 1995. It wasn’t until 2008, though, that YouTube pushed it center stage when it hosted its first livestream event. Since then, many social media platforms have used this feature to bring in users. These days, even more people are taking advantage of the power of livestreaming to reach friends and family, fans and colleagues. Whether it is through Facebook, Instagram, Youtube or TikTok, people use livestreaming to engage with people from all over the world. And TikTok, with its growth of over 500 million users, has made going live easier than ever.
Why go live on TikTok?
Going live on any platform can help you grow as a content creator and should be taken advantage of whenever you can. How is it beneficial? There are three important benefits of livestreaming on TikTok.
Reach more people
First, going live boosts your chances of reaching more creators, thus gaining more followers. When you livestream and users engage with you via your stream, TikTok pushes your live video to the For You Page. This allows your video to be seen by an even wider audience. There is even a feature on the app that can be useful in determining the best time to start your TikTok broadcast. As you switch over to the live feature, TikTok gives you a rough estimate of how many of your followers are active at any given time. Why is this important? Knowing this estimate, you get a higher chance of people joining your lives and engaging with your content.
Meet new people
Second, livestreaming is a great tool to meet people. TikTok is a community full of like-minded people who share the same passions in life. There are communities for all kinds of people from cosplayers, book readers, writers, marvel fans, Disney fans and more. Going live allows you to interact with them on a personal level. The best thing about this platform, like most social media apps available, is making friends and joining a community of your peers. And you thought it was just about making videos.
Learn about yourself
The third benefit of going live may sound silly, but it is true. The best reason to start broadcasting live is learning something about yourself that you may not know existed. When I started livestreaming, I learned how to express myself to people, and how to communicate better. In a nutshell, livestreaming is a great boost in confidence.
How to livestream on TikTok
Now that you know the benefits, the question is how do you start? There are two requirements in order to livestream. First, you have to be over the age of 16. For creators over the age of 18 have the opportunity to receive gifts in their lives. This feature allows users to support their favorite creators by sending virtual gifts that can be exchanged for funds. The other requirement is the number of followers you have has to be over 1,000. As far as the number of followers one must have to go live, the requirement has never been concrete. Users have poked holes in it, stating that they have been going live long before hitting that milestone, myself included.
Getting enough followers
How do you build a following so you can participate in livestreaming? Simple. Be active on the app. Create content that you think others will enjoy or stay true to yourself and create content that you enjoy creating. No matter the content, it is important to just create and put yourself out there. Be consistent with your content, post every day and be yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. Join in trends that fit you and use sounds that are not only popular and fun but that tell a story of who you are as a creator. By doing this and staying true to yourself, people will find you.
Another way to grow your account is by joining other creator’s lives. Going into livestreams and interacting with other creators is how you make yourself known. In the early days of Tik Tok, a popular theme in people’s lives was doing reactions. In these, creators show videos from those participating in their lives in order to help them grow. It’s a great way to find people you may or may not see on the For You Page. Connecting with them and engaging with them via the livestream give both creators a chance to follow each other and grow. Not only is this a great way to enhance your numbers but it will also give you ideas on what to do in your streams when the time comes.
Is livestreaming on TikTok worth it?
It may sound like a lot of work just to go live on the platform, but it is worth it. As a content creator, livestreaming is a tool worth having in order to grow and shape your channel and yourself. So get out there, create videos, gather up the followers you need and start going live.