It’s becoming harder and harder for livestreamers to stand out from the competition. True or true?
Everyone knows that streaming on a single platform is no longer enough. You lose out on millions of viewers by streaming to YouTube or Facebook only. What’s worse, one of these platforms might get down one day and you can’t stream at all. There’s nothing you can do about it.
Now, you think of the best social media platforms where you can reach your audience. YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn… which is which? How many platforms can you use for livestreaming?
We say, how about you stop cherry-picking and stream wherever you want?
Today, we’re going to introduce the concept of multistreaming using Restream. With this tool, you’ll learn how to multistream, grow your audience and boost your sales faster.
What is Multistreaming?
Most streams are either YouTube creators that are looking to grow their subscribers and create a full-time career out of YouTube. Or, they’re entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business with video and YouTube marketing.
Multistreaming, also known as multicasting, is the idea of going live in one place and having it go out to all of your networks at the same time.
Instead of sticking to one platform and posting chunks of your stream on several sites, multistreaming does all the work in reaching out to your audience from different platforms. It’s an amazing technique that will grow your audience very quickly.
So how to multistream? For starters, you’ll need a few simple tools to get this off the ground.
- Your laptop or PC
- Your webcam, headphones and mic
- An internet connection with a speed of at least three gigabytes
- A multistreaming tool
Yes, you need a multistreaming tool. This will replace OBS and other heavy software you’re using on your device. We’ve tried a few, but Restream is the best multistreaming tool today.
What is Restream?
Restream is an online broadcasting tool that allows you to send your live streams to multiple platforms at the same time. It can replace OBS or any of the other free software you might be using, which means you get a cleaner stream.
With Restream, you can stream your zoom calls on YouTube or LinkedIn or Facebook Live. It also provides you with a live broadcast studio tool where you can manage your stream with everything you need.
Why Should You Use Restream for Multicasting
- Stream to more than 30 platforms at the same time. Boost your audience reach by learning how to multistream at full HD to Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, LinkedIn and more!
- All-in-one chat support. Whatever platforms you’re streaming onto, you can read and reply to your viewers. You can see all of their chat in one place.
- Unlimited streaming time at an unlimited bitrate. Stream for how long you want to. Everything’s limitless.
- Scheduling pre-recorded content to go live. Want to take some time off or stream in a different time zone? You can upload and schedule videos to appeal to more audiences and manage your streaming schedule.
- Comes with Restream Studio that gives you amazing features. Appeal to your audience by customizing your stream with background images, overlays and watermarks. Upload and play your own videos and even invite guests to your streams. You can also play copyright-free music while you stream!
So first, take a look at the upper right-hand side and click on “Setup.” This is where you can see what video you’re working on. It allows you to put a title and description of your stream. You’ve probably seen this before, but it’s showing you where it is so that you can edit it if you need any last-minute changes.
The graphics are so cool. Restream gives you a series of pre-made overlay graphics that you can use on your own. If you didn’t see anything that fits on your stream, you can also upload your own customized graphics.
This is your video countdown timer. And we highly suggest you use this. When you restream onto multiple channels, it’s going to hit all of those platforms at slightly different times. So having this countdown timer just syncs everything up.
Restream also has some background graphics where you can check here.
And then your chat area, you can manage all the chats from Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, and other places that you’re streaming. You’re coming into this broadcast studio and then you’re going to meet all of your audience where they already exist.
You can also use the control buttons below. You can mute yourself, turn your camera off/on, share your screen, invite guests, play a video, and use the Settings button to choose which camera, audio and speakers you want to use.
What are Their Pricing and Plans?
They have plans for individual content creators and companies.
- Free – $0
- Standard – $16/mo
- Professional – $41/mo
- Premium – $83/mo
- Business – $249/mo
You can choose a plan based on the number of platforms for multistreaming, stream participant invites, and message delivery time. For more information, check out Restream and find the best plan for your livestreaming needs!
How to Multistream Using Restream?
Ready to grow your audience so you can grow your sales?
This step-by-step guide is divided into two parts:
- Enable YouTube stream
- Set up Restream to learn how to multistream
How to Enable YouTube Stream:
Okay, so let’s get started by making sure that you’re clear to stream on YouTube.
- Go to YouTube.
- From the upper right, click on “Create” and then on “Go live”.
- If this is your first time, you’ll be redirected to a different page where you’ll see a “Live streaming isn’t available right now” message. Click “Enable” then follow the prompts to verify your channel. They may ask you to verify through your mobile or email.
Enabling your first livestream may take up to 24 hours. Once enabled, you can start livestreaming!
How to Set Up Restream to Start Multistreaming:
- Once you’ve logged into Restream, connect the channels that you want to be able to restream to. You’ll see the top four streaming platforms below, but go ahead and click on “Add Channels”.
- Focus on Youtube events. As you go live on YouTube, you should go live on multiple different platforms as well.
- Click “Connect” on YouTube events.
- You’ll see a Settings window pop up where you can label your test stream.
- Now click on the Add Channel button, and add more channels of your choice. For example, you can add your Facebook page and my LinkedIn page.
And that’s it! Click the “Go live” button, and your stream will go live.
Key Takeaway: Is Multistreaming Worth It?
A big, big yes. Almost every content creator has tried livestreaming once in their lives. But you can even step it up by streaming to multiple platforms at the same time.
This is where multistreaming comes into play. And with Restream, you can go live on Facebook, YouTube, and more than thirty other popular platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Twitch.
It all happens in one browser tab. Stream in Full HD, customize your background, add copyright-free music, share your screen with the audience, invite guests, and more.
As long as you know how to multistream, you’ll eventually maximize audience reach and grow your brand.