Social Media Tip: Boost Your Online Game To a New High Tech Level

Going live is now cheaper, easier and more accessible than ever before. The live tools on YouTube, Facebook, and now Periscope are slowly gaining momentum and if you pick up these tools right now you will be among the first few in the country to enter the space.

Yes, versions of these tools have been around for a while now, but almost no one in India has really picked up these tools and worked into their lives to a point that everyone knows where to find them. This is a great way to even get some solid word-of-mouth.
So just stop whatever you are doing right now and go set up one or more of the technologies that I introduce you to:

Periscope:

By far the easiest of the options to work with. No setup required other than downloading and installing the app on your phone. The downside though is that, being the youngest player among our contenders, it also currently has the lowest audience numbers. This app is available on both the App Store and the Play Store for free. Download it now. The app gives you a really cool world map from where you can see streams from all over the world. Some are really cool, and some are just really lame—streaming Youtube videos of computer monitors and fluttering curtains. Really weird!

YouTube Live:

Still in Beta, so you know that you will be ahead of the game if you get on this right now. YouTube is clearly the world’s largest video platform and you want to be here as soon as possible.
Set up the encoding software on your computer, which is a 10 minute process and includes a download. The tutorials on YouTube will walk you through every step. Authorize the downloaded app to broadcast on YouTube and you are good to go. We chose the Xplit broadcaster and it worked quite well.

Facebook Livestream:

The big blue works on Livestream, a simple and powerful streaming tool. Livestream plugs into your business pages very neatly and you will gain a new tab. We set up very quickly and were ready to go with little fuss. It available as an app as well as in your computer browser.

(Jacob Cherian is the Chief Ideas Officer at www.SocialMediaForRestaurants.IN and www.WindowsToNGOs.com-- digital media agencies that specialize in the hospitality and development sector specifically.)