Instagram Publishes A 'Live' Guide Featuring Tips & Tricks During The Coronavirus Pandemic

Source: Instagram

With widespread social distancing and people being confined to their houses, there has been a significant increase in usage of social media especially when it comes to live streaming. Twitch has seen a significant rise with reports saying that viewership is up as much as 10 percent. Instagram has also seen a lot of people including celebrities and influencers utilize Live, its feature which lets users stream video to their followers.  Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Lebron James are just a few names that have flocked to the platform to entertain and connect with their fans.

As a result of live streaming having a moment right now, Instagram recently published a guide for Live, providing best practices and tips and tricks on how people can use it to connect with their community in real-time and “feel closer to the world” during the Coronavirus pandemic

The guide is a two-sheeter with the first focused on what to do before, during, and after a livestream. Some of the notable trips and tricks include the following:

• Before: Give followers advanced notice using the countdown sticker in Stories

  • Try going Live at specific times during the day/week so your audience knows when to tune in

• During: Turn on comment moderation to facilitate a positive community experience

• After: Save your Live and upload to Stories

  • Try adding a Highlights Profile to update your Live content so your community can access and watch anytime

The second sheet features what Instagram is calling Challenges, which are ideas on how you can get started. Here are a few that stood out to me the most:

• Share how you’re feeling and coping

  • Have any tips to share with your audience?

• Post-process-style content, like:

  • How it gets made (what goes into your craft or hobby)

  • Get ready with me in the morning

  • Working out

  • Outfit-try ons/closet clean-outs

• Use Live With to check in on your friends or team aboard

Insights & Analysis:

Instagram is no stranger to releasing guides and how-to resources for the platform and its features and tools. Although all of them are very helpful, this most recent one will likely be considered the most valuable given the situation with coronavirus and social distancing. Not only are people looking for new ways to entertain themselves, but creators and brands are trying to figure out how to navigate the social media space and continue to engage their communities while being respectful of the situation. For a majority of creators and brands, now isn’t the right time to push a product or service, but with people glued to their mobile devices, there is the opportunity to engage followers especially through ways that they typically haven’t done before, like livestreaming.

Despite its simplicity, this guide is a good snapshot of how creators and brands can engage with their communities and connect with the world as it features a mix of promotional strategies (i.e. using the countdown sticker in Stories), content ideas (i.e. post-process content), and perhaps the most important, how to connect with viewers (i.e. share how you’re feeling and coping).

Whether it’s Instagram, Twitch or any other platform that has livestreaming capabilities, look for livestreaming to continue to increase.

For more social media news, follow me on Twitter and/or connect with me on LinkedIn.