How to Prep For an Instagram Live Sesh Like a Pro

If your Instagram feed is anything like mine, you’re probably getting tons of Instagram Live notifications this year. It makes total sense—Instagram Lives are a great way to get to know your community better, as well as engage your newer followers. Lives can be a lot of things: promotional, fun, a space Q&As, or plain old silly. However you choose to spend your time on Instagram Live, we’ve got some stellar tips and tricks to help you make the most of your time and energy—and keep your followers interested and engaged.

Part One: Promoting Your Live Stream

What better way to ensure engagement than by alerting your community to look out for your live alert?

Don’t bank on that little push notification (helpful as it is) to get your Live the viewership it deserves. Why not put up a static feed post or two beforehand—ask your audience to share questions they want to be answered too. If you have a newsletter, give your audience a heads up there as well. The more eyes you have on your video, the more worth your time going it will be.

Part Two: Getting Yourself and Your Space Ready

1. Make sure you have a plan for your live stream. Organize your thoughts beforehand, and have a few topics handy to discuss in case you have a slow start.

2. Consider the space you’re recording in. Take some time to set yourself up, especially if you’re giving professional advice or showing off a routine. If you wouldn’t normally do your make-up at the kitchen table, why start now? Figure out what makes the most sense for your topic, and film from there.

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Part Three: Setting Up Your Live Stream

1. Start by tapping the plus icon in the right-hand corner of your (new) Instagram home feed. Next, swipe to the Live option on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. Your camera will open, and you’ll see the screen you typically would to make a normal Instagram Story. Tap the burger icon hovering on the left-hand side to title your Live.

2. When you’re ready to start your video, tap the white circle (which will now have a “LIVE”, red and orange icon within it).

3. Once you are live, you can explore additional options to your stream:

   • Q&A which allows views to submit questions. You can pick and choose which questions will be featured for you to answer.

   • Invite a friend to stream with you! Once your friend joins your live stream, you can add them using the stacked smiley faces on the bottom left of your screen. Note: you can only invite a friend to join who is already joined, and they must accept your invitation.

   • Add a filter! Because who wouldn’t enjoy a live stream of you as a cat.

Part Four: Engage Your Audience

1. Wait a few moments for people to join. Instagram will send out a handy-dandy push notification to some of your followers to let them know you’ve started a live video. Be sure to chat with those who have joined while you wait—you don’t want anyone getting bored and exiting before you’ve even started!

2. Give them a wave! Tap the waving icon to say hello to your followers as they join.

3. Encourage your audience to ask questions while you’re live. You can read all the questions your audience asks you by tapping the Q&A icon (on the bottom left of your screen).

4. Be mindful of the time. Not everyone can spare an hour of their day to sit and watch your live stream! Keep it short, sweet, concise, and avoid rambling answers to questions.

We hope you keep these tactics and tips in your back pocket for the next time you go live—especially if it’s your first time! Let us know how it goes, and when you’re going live, tag us in our comments. We’d love to catch one of your sessions.

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