Margie Barkley: How to live stream on TikTok.

Businesses, brands, and influencers use TikTok Live as a way to build communities, engage their audiences, and promote products. What should you do if you want to go Live on TikTok? Let’s see how to go Live on TikTok.

TikTok Basics: How to go live on the app

Let’s start with the basics of TikTok. All of this is important to know before you go live.

Community guidelines still apply. TikTok community guidelines apply even when you are live. The videos are moderated so they can catch you if there is a violation. The rules are fair, and they cover the standard policies such as no adult content, no illegal topics, or misleading information. You must be at least 16 years old to start using the app. The birthdate that you entered when you created your TikTok account will determine this. TikTok has a strict policy on protecting minors, so there can be no cheating. Be careful with copyrights, especially when it comes to music. TikTok has a greater range of music that can be used than Instagram or YouTube. You can’t play music from their library or that you haven’t purchased. You may be unable to use TikTok Live if you have less than 1,000 followers. Online, I’ve come across many workarounds and hacks. They don’t always work, and you’ll end up breaking TikTok community guidelines. Below you can see the difference between my @charlisays account, which has more than 1,000 followers, and @contentworks. It’s not quite there yet.

Contentworks does not have a LIVE tab in the menu bar.

The LIVE option is only available for @charlisays

How to go live on TikTok

It’s easy to go Live on TikTok if you meet the above criteria. Here are the quick steps to follow.

Tap on Live to open the Live Screen. Scroll across the screen to the tab and tap it.

example of how to go live on tiktok from agorapulse

Steps to go live on TikTokOn the screen, you can see prompts such as title, topic and goal. You’ll probably not want to exceed the 32-character title limit. Keep your title brief and captivating. Live Goals are a lot fun, because they translate to money that you can earn with TikTok credit. You can choose a charity for which you are raising money or a goal for which you have saved. When you are over 18, you can choose an icon that represents actual money. Select your icon based on the audience you’re targeting. Fans are more likely to give you lower-end donations, but this means less money for your organization. You don’t need to set a target, but it’s not advisable for brands.

TikTok says: “The TikTok rewards is our way to show gratitude towards the vibrant community of TikTokers across the globe.” This program allows all eligible users to receive TikTok benefits and rewards.

manage goal example for going live on tiktok

It’s Time to Go Live! Your followers will receive a notification when you click the button. They can then join your stream, if they wish. You can have up to 20 cohosts in your Live session. You can also edit different features while you are live. You can edit your TikTok live video up to 60 mins. This includes the ability to switch between front and selfie facing cameras, add effects and filter out comments. TikTok, however, recommends a maximum of 30 minutes due to the attention spans of its audience. I find 30 minutes to be quite long. Only use this time if you are able to remain engaged throughout. Live ideas will be coming in just a moment! After ending your LIVE, you can access the LIVE Replay from LIVE Center. Then you can choose whether to download your LIVE video to your device or delete it.

Follow these steps to access your LIVE replays:

Tap Profile. Hit the menu button at the top. Select Creator tools. Choose LIVE Center and then tap Replays. Free Ebook: Launching a brand on TikTok

You can delete LIVE replays at any time from the LIVE Center. Visit TikTok’s Help Centre for more information on your archived Live video. TikTok Live videos will be deleted once the broadcast is over and won’t remain on your profile to fans who missed them. You can save the video while it’s still streaming if you want to upload or watch it later. TikTok allows you to only save live streams.

Read this article to learn how agencies can manage their clients’ TikTok accounts.

TikTok: What Not to do

You need to know the things you will not do before you can look at TikTok Live.

Broadcast with no purpose (even if that is just engagement). Forget to interact with your audience. Acknowledge comments and questions. Thank users for their involvement. Miss the right time slot. It’s pointless to go Live on TikTok when everyone is sleeping or at work. Forget about the technicalities. It is annoying to watch videos where there’s a lot background noise, a cracked microphone, or poor lighting. Try to record your video with a good microphone and sound.

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Four Tips for Your First TikTok live

It’s exciting to go live on any social media platform because you can interact with your viewers and answer their questions in real time. It’s unscripted, spontaneous, and even a little scary. To get you started, we’ve come up with three ideas.

1. Product launch

A Live TikTok can be a great way to launch a new product. Agorapulse can help you promote your TikTok Live in advance. Tell your audience when you will be going Live, and give them a sneak peek of what may happen. Use a hashtag to track the activity surrounding your launch.

schedule your live on tiktok post

You can:

Show the product live to your team and key members of your company. Answer questions by reading comments from participants.

2. Q&A Session

81% of shoppers do research online before buying? Buyers have many questions and don’t have anywhere to ask them. Enter TikTok Live. Holding a live Q&A on TikTok Live allows your potential customers to interact with you and ask questions that they cannot find answers for. They can also see the products being used.

In a Q&A Session live video, you can:

You can use a live demo to explain complicated concepts or solve problems. Improve the authenticity of your company by having a friendly person on camera. Gauge audience sentiment about your product or brand. You can use the negative comments to feed back to the product team. Drop any links to products into the stream to encourage users to buy. Embed the Q&A on your website or FAQ section. Regain trust following a company change or PR crisis.

Creators can now access Q&A in LIVE from a separate panel. Users with Creator Accounts can access Q&A. Go to the settings page and select Creator. Then, tap Q&A. Finally, click “Turn On Q&A”.

Tip for going Live on TikTok: Be prepared to answer difficult questions, even if they are off-topic. I’ve seen Live Q&As in which the presenter was asked about recent PR issues, gender pay gap, CEO statements, or outstanding customer complaints. When you are live, there is nowhere to hide. Either answer the question honestly, or tell the user that you do not know the answer and will get back to them privately.

Read this: How to launch a brand on TikTok

3. Live Shopping

TikTok live shopping allows you to reach out to more customers who are likely to purchase your products.

TikTok live shopping video allows you to shop online.

Partner with creators and influencers to increase your reach. Offer exclusive discounts to Live viewers. To increase views, mention the discounts in your Live promotion.

4. Display the manufacturing process for your product

You can also show the “making of” your product. You can show a customer’s order live on TikTok. This could be used for any type of product-based business, whether it is food delivery, jewelry or makeup. You could do a “cook-along” like Buzzfeed Tasty. The viewers can join a live cooking program and cook with Jasmine, if they wish!

example of going live on tiktok

The channel embeds the Live videos they have downloaded into their blog, a clever way to recycle content!

In conclusion

Agorapulse allows you to manage TikToks as well as promotions, scheduling, and analytics from the same platform where you manage all your other channels. You can use your video analytics to create some amazing reports for your client or company.

Agorapulse will help you create amazing TikTok videos and much more. Schedule a FREE demo today!