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Going Live on Facebook or YouTube is easier than ever using your phone and a 4G or LTE cellular connection. But if you are streaming from work or home and relying on WiFi your networking equipment could be holding you back. 

When making a live video using your phone you have a direct connection to your wireless carrier. However - cellular data connections aren't always reliable, especially in areas with poor coverage, in large crowds or during inclement weather.

Using WiFi or ethernet can be a good solution for having more control over your networking  but there are a few things to take into consideration.

For example: If you are connected to a WiFi network, your iPhone or iPad has to communicate with a router before accessing the internet.

In some cases if you have a poor "internet" connection you may be unable to stream.

Likewise, if you have a poor connection between your "router" and your iPhone or iPad the quality of your live video may suffer.

Here's an overview of how to go live when using WiFi.

Checking your internet speed

Internet is required to stream a live video. Speedtest.net is a commonly used service for checking your internet speed. There are two results you will get back when running a speed test.

Recommended Budget Router:

Persuasive, riveting, funny or inspiring. Whatever the purpose of your live video, you want it to have a big effect on your audience.

For an interview-style live video, great content starts with the interviewer. And as the interviewer, it's up to you to lead the discussion in a way that puts your guest at ease and captures your audience's attention.

Switcher Studio 3.7 introduces mobile iOS multi-camera 4K 

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on August 25, 2017. Over a four-day period it resulted in over 100 deaths and affected hundreds of thousands of homes. Relief efforts would go on for months, but one such effort took place before the storm waters even began to recede, thanks to Facebook Live and Switcher Studio.

If you haven’t done much live video, it can be intimidating. (See How to Plan Your First Live Video here.) But, sometimes the biggest stumbling block is deciding what kind of content is appropriate. If you find yourself asking, do I even have any content I could use to go live? The answer is… probably more than you think.

In our post, How to Plan Your First Live Video, we offer a blueprint for live video success. The first task in that list is: Identify your goals and message.

Why is this important? Live video is still novel and exciting. It would be easy to just hit the “Go Live” button on Facebook or YouTube and see what happens. But live video isn’t just the newest digital toy. When used effectively, it can be a strong marketing tool for your business.

How Important Are Frequency and Consistency in Live Video?

In Short, Very.

Think of a TV theme song or a commercial you can still recite years after it stopped airing. You probably remember every word because you heard it over and over again. It takes lots of repetition for those words to stick. In the marketing world, that’s called frequency. The Rule of 7 is an old marketing principle that says it takes seven impressions before someone notices your brand and will take action. There is some debate as to whether seven is the magic number, but the point is that it takes multiple “touches” for a potential customer or client to remember your brand and do whatever you are asking them to do. That’s why frequency and consistency are key components in any marketing campaign.

Whether you love seeing pictures of people’s food on Facebook and Instagram or you hate it, there is no denying that food is as much a visual experience as a tasting one. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why cooking shows are so popular. Watching a chef bring a meal to life in all its color and texture is so much more engaging than trying to follow the words on a page in a cookbook.

At Sun Basket, a healthy meal kit delivery service, the company has capitalized on the “show me” aspect of cooking demonstrations and the marketing power of live video to produce Facebook Live videos that engage their customers in an authentic way. Using Switcher Studio, Sun Basket creates videos that mimic real TV productions, without the cost and setup, and interact with customers in real-time.

Remember when Facebook began as a social network for college students in 2004? Or when YouTube followed in 2005 with those first cat videos? Maybe not, but it’s hard to deny the influence of these internet giants today, not just for entertainment purposes but as business influencers.

Video has been a central component of the growth of these platforms. Content marketing and social media strategies have replaced traditional advertising, and the advent of online video has changed the way we consume information. According to Forbes, over half a billion people watch videos on Facebook every day.