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To help those in our hometown stay connected from a distance, we’re giving three free months of our livestreaming software, Switcher Studio, to metro Louisville area nonprofits, news organizations, and small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). Apply for your free account here.

Since the onset of social distancing, we’ve heard from tons of organizations that are looking for ways to take their work online. There are conference planners trying to salvage sessions, journalists trying to report from home, local government departments trying to reach their people, churches trying to hold remote worship services. We’ve seen livestreaming used in all of these circumstances, and we think it can work for your organization too.

Editor's note: Today on the blog we're running the firsthand account of a new Switcher user. As more people participate in social distancing to help stop the spread of COVID-19, we've seen an influx of interest in livestreaming — and inspiring new ways for livestreaming to be used. This is one such story. 

The day the (live) music died

My musical journey started a decade ago. I was active duty in the U.S. Air Force with a passion for music. In my spare time I would play piano at home and sing a lot of karaoke. When I was confident enough, I booked my first paying gig performing for two hours at a local dive, just me and my piano. Fast forward from 2010 to 2016 and I was a changed musician. My eight-year service in the military was ending, and I had just enough bookings that I was able to transition to a full-time entertainer without the inconvenience of a day job. I finally made the move to Music City in 2018 both to further my performing career and to start my songwriting career. Just before my two-year mark in Nashville, I had made quite a resume and name for myself as a performer, piano player, and songwriter. Not only did I have my own band and weekly residencies at the famous downtown Nashville honky-tonks, but I had also been hired to play piano for J Edwards and Jesse Keith Whitley. On March 3, 2020, I was officially hired to play piano and sing harmonies for 2019’s Indie Music Channel Awards “Best Contemporary Country Artist,” Ryan Daniel.

But on March 15, 2020, my plans changed. We had just finished a weekend rehearsal with Ryan for our upcoming tour when I was informed that the bars in Nashville were being officially shut down to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Absolutely devastating news for a musician who performs five to ten shows in those venues every week and relies on that work to pay bills. Not only did these venues close, but the tour we were supposed to start with Ryan was also postponed until further notice. In an instant, I went from being barely able to pay my bills to wondering how I was going to eat.

This week we’re gradually rolling out Switcher Studio 4.4, which includes both form and function updates to the Switcher app. It will be available to all Switcher users over the course of the next few days. So be on the lookout for these changes soon, and check out what’s new below.

As of last week, the U.S.-based Switcher team has gone all remote. We’re tackling the same projects and holding the same meetings, but we’re doing it at a distance, hoping to do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We know you’re likely in the same situation, which is why we’re amping up your Switcher Studio access to help you do your work at a distance too.

Livestreaming your weekly church services is an excellent way to grow the reach of your church virtually. Viewers can participate in the service in real time — from anywhere in the world and from any time zone. Livestreaming your church services aids not only new visitors who are checking out your church but also current members of your congregation; neither illness nor travel will prevent them from joining in the weekly service.

Of course, to extend your streams' reach, it is important to increase the engagement that takes place during each stream. On platforms like YouTube and Facebook, higher engagement means more people see your stream. By encouraging engagement, you can also helps at-home participants feel more like they're there in person.

Here are a few tips that will help you to maximize your engagement during your church's livestreams.

As a marketer, I rely heavily on media kits. They’re the first thing I look for when I want to place an ad or purchase a sponsorship in a specific content channel, whether that’s an email newsletter, a blog, a podcast, a video channel, etc.

That’s why it’s super important for livestreamers to create a media kit — and for news or multimedia organizations to include their livestreams in their media kits. Media kits help you monetize your content by presenting potential business partners and sponsors with all the pertinent information about your brand, your channels, your reach, and the cost to partner with you.

Attending local government meetings is an excellent way for members of a community to stay up to date on what's going on. But not everyone can attend meetings in person. Livestreaming local government meetings ensures that all members of a community are able to "attend," whether they can be physically present or not.

Any number of people may want to produce the livestream of a local government meeting, including local news organizations, interested community members, or the government body itself.

Here we'll cover some easy steps to take to begin livestreaming the local government meetings in your community. You'll also learn how to ensure that the members of your community know where to find the streams and how to tune into the feed.

Have you ever been watching a live video and then had to wait while the stream buffered? Nobody likes this. If a stream is sent over an insufficient internet connection, however, buffering is likely to occur for viewers. This is why it is imperative that, when you’re the one streaming live videos for other viewers, you have a sufficient internet connection.

Below I will outline a few ways to stop buffering before it starts. We’ll talk about matching stream quality to upload speed, streaming on a closed network, and bringing your own portable Wi-Fi connection.

The Radio Television Digital News Association conducts an annual survey of newsrooms across the U.S., and one of the open-ended questions they ask every year is, “What is the most important new thing you started doing with social media in the past year?”

In both the 2017 and 2018 reports, the most popular answer was Facebook Live. (This makes sense considering Facebook Live was rolled out globally in spring 2016, and each year’s report covers the previous year’s activity.) Newsrooms reported using it for breaking news, weather, polls, sports, events, behind-the-scenes content, and more. Interestingly, in the 2019 report, Facebook Live was the second most popular answer (likely suggesting it was no longer a “new thing” for most newsrooms to adopt). 2019’s top answer was strategy — newsrooms reported being more strategic about what and when they posted on social media.

Newsrooms gearing up for 2020 can learn from these reports by looking at their own Facebook Live strategies and applying the insights in the RTDNA reports. Here are a few tips gleaned from the anonymous responses quoted in the 2018 and 2019 reports (2017’s report didn’t include direct quotes):

Promo.com recently released their 2019 Online Video Statistics and Trends report, and the findings are right up our alley. Here are a few of the highlights. 

• 56% of respondents said that Facebook was the social platform they spent the most time on.
• 67% of respondents said YouTube was their go-to place to watch video.
• 49% of people watch more than 5 online videos per day.
• 52% of people prefer to watch videos on mobile.
• 74% of people prefer to learn about products/services through videos rather than text or photos.

We’ve discussed at length why churches should consider livestreaming and how they can get started for free, but we haven’t yet covered where they can livestream — what sites or platforms are the best fit. There are numerous streaming platforms out there, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the options. The obvious big names are Facebook and YouTube, and these are both great destinations for your livestreams, giving you the opportunity for incredible reach, engagement, and ease of use. But there are also a number of paid platforms that churches may choose if they want more powerful broadcasting options. Here we’ll break down a few of the most popular streaming platforms for churches, detailing what they offer.

More and more churches are livestreaming their worship services as a way to reach people. Much like sermon podcasts, church livestreams let you reach curious new attendees, distant friends and family, and long-time members who can't always make it to Sunday services. But unlike sermon podcasts, livestreams let these people engage with the service in real time (as well as afterward, for that matter). Livestreams also share more than just the sermon — viewers get to participate in the prayer and worship music too.

But that's the why, and we've already covered why to livestream your church services. Today we're talking about the how: how to livestream your church services — and how to do it for free.

An interesting shift has happened in journalism training just in the past decade or so. When I was in undergrad, journalism students were required to have DSLR cameras and voice recorders. We needed them for our photojournalism, multimedia, and newswriting classes. By the time I was in graduate school, just a couple of years later, journalism students were required to have iPhones (yes, iPhones specifically). And those we needed for, well, everything.

It’s no wonder iPhones are a staple for aspiring and established journalists alike. What blogs and social media did for news gatekeeping, the iPhone did for news technology. Now we’re all gatekeepers, and we all have in our pockets the tech needed to record, photograph, film, write, edit, polish, and publish a multimedia news piece. That brings a whole new meaning to freedom of the press.

We’ve curated a list of must-have apps and resources that will take your already amazing iPhone and deck it out to be the ultimate mobile journalism tool. So check out our list below, and add your own favorite resources in the comments:

Radio stations are facing more online competition than ever before. Streaming services like Spotify and Pandora provide music lovers with infinite options, and podcasts provide an inexhaustible number of talk shows on even the most niche of topics. And that doesn’t even include on-demand video services, news subscription sites, digital books and audiobooks, and all the stuff our friends post on social media. Channels abound, content abounds, and competition for audience attention is steep.

Happy Switcher Studio update day! We’ve been working on the enhancements in today’s 4.3 release for quite some time. We’re thrilled to introduce asset storage, make our multi-user plan more accessible, bring Video Chat to everyone, and turn a number of your requests into a reality. Below you’ll find an overview of the biggest additions and improvements. But before that, we wanted to introduce you to a new plan structure! 

If you are just getting started with livestreaming for your church, you may be realizing that there are a lot of options out there for putting your service online. Here I’ll outline some of the basic gear and tools you will need to livestream, highlighting a few production tips that are specific to churches.

I’ll start by saying that there is a time and place for heavy-duty gear like professional optics and hardwired cable runs. But to get started streaming your church services, you’d be wasting money to begin there. If you can remove complexity from your video production setup, you’ll be more flexible when it is time to expand. 

It’s everyone’s favorite day — update day! We’re rolling out Switcher Studio 4.2, which includes enhancements to the Video Chat extension as well as greater audio controls and more options for customizing your inserted videos.

Download the updated Switcher Studio app from the App Store to get these exciting upgrades. (If you don't already have one, you'll need to create a Switcher Studio account to use the app.)

Unless you want to enroll in a class or buy a textbook on social media analytics, it can be hard to find concrete information about how to interpret all the data points for your live videos. Rarely do I click on the unicorn of Google search results — one that provides the complete answer about how to use post insights and video data to make better content. Often the first question you’ll be asking yourself is, “How do I even choose which metrics actually matter to me?”

This is the eighth post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

It’s almost time to go live, you guys! If you’ve been following along with this series, you should have a live video content strategy document that’s nearly complete — audience identified, topics chosen, goals stated, etc.

The last step in building your strategy is to determine how you’ll evaluate the effectiveness of your live videos after the fact. Which metrics will you look at to know whether your content plan succeeded?

Sharing your church services online is a great way to reach people who are unable to attend the gatherings. By streaming the services live, you enable those who are at home, at work, out of town, or in the hospital to participate in real time and feel like they're still an active part of the congregation. Another way to help people participate is to make sure worship song lyrics are accessible.

In the church sanctuary or gathering space, lyrics are often visible on a screen or available in hymnals, allowing everyone to sing along whether or not they know the words. If at-home participants see only the video footage of people singing in your livestream, however, they'll be unable to sing along if they don't know the words. This is especially true for those with hearing loss because they may have additional trouble understanding the words being sung by the congregation.

Fortunately, Switcher Studio's live-video editing app makes it easy to display lyrics — not to mention scripture, graphics, videos, and more — as part of your livestream to Facebook, YouTube, your own site, or almost anywhere else. Just follow the simple instructions below. If you're not a Switcher user, churches can get a free 14-day trial to take it for a spin during a few services. (Since Switcher runs with just iPhones and iPads, you or your tech team can try it without purchasing any gear.)

If I’ve learned anything about church management from my decades as a pastor’s kid, it’s that church leaders have a lot on their plates, and it extends far beyond pastoral work. Sure, they preach and counsel and visit sick people. But they also run teams, hold meetings, deal with budgets, manage conflicts, and oversee basically everything. They’re like CEOs in clerical collars — or snazzy sneaks, depending on your denomination. Oh, and they answer to God. So, yeah, lots of responsibility.

This is the seventh post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

I have a friend who always says that if you have a body and you’re on the beach, then you have a beach body. Taking this sound logic and applying it elsewhere, I propose that if you’re livestreaming and you’re wearing clothes, you’re wearing livestreaming clothes.

When it comes to branding, consistency is key. Branding for live videos is no different. Your brand style tells the world what you’re all about — with a dash of your personality.

If you have a brand standards guide, GREAT! Work from that guide to develop all the live video assets you need. Incorporate your brand fonts, colors, and logos to make graphics that help drive the flow of the video.

If you don’t have a brand standards guide, fret not. We’ve got you covered. Here are the five things you need to create on-brand visuals for your live videos. By nailing down these five elements, you can make a mini brand guide to keep all of your live videos consistent. 

Almost anyone creating live videos on a regular basis wants to see an increase in viewership. You want to see that number of viewers creeping higher and higher with each consecutive broadcast.

While an increased audience can happen organically, self-promotion increases your total number of viewers exponentially. There are many ways to promote your live videos both while you're streaming live and after your broadcast ends. Take a look at the strategies below to put a positive trend on your viewership graph.

Over the past several years, I have put together a wide variety of live productions — live music shows with several bands, week-long conventions with breakout rooms, multicamera livestreams, etc. Every piece of gear you add to your setup increases the complexity. But with video, having extra perspectives doesn’t have to be a burden. It can be a utility and even a lifesaver. A second shot can serve as a backup in case a battery dies. And that other perspective allows you to reposition your shot or zoom to create a more dynamic final product. But how many cameras is too many cameras? Let’s walk through some different options for getting the perfect shot. Follow these tips for capturing your productions — whether you’re using a single camera angle or two or three.

As the inimitable Ron Swanson once warned, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done when it comes to tech and tactics for your business.

Today we’re rolling out Switcher Studio 4.1, the first round of major platform enhancements since 4.0 released in January. Download the updated Switcher Studio app from the App Store to get these exciting upgrades, plus standard bug fixes and stability improvements. (If you don't already have one, you'll need a Switcher Studio account to use the app.)

You’ve probably heard the stats on live video being the content type that results in the most engagement, which should make livestreaming an obvious way for brands to connect with their audiences. Yet a lot of companies aren’t leveraging this medium — they’re either using highly produced prerecorded videos, or they haven’t gotten on the video train at all. Here’s a look at five brands that are successfully using live video to promote themselves, add authenticity to their brands, build brand loyalty, and increase engagement.

Switcher Studio co-founder and CEO Nick Mattingly was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur at Endeavor’s 87th International Selection Panel in Madrid, Spain, last month.

Endeavor is a nonprofit whose mission is to identify, mentor, and accelerate the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world, specifically those with the greatest potential to create jobs and transform economies in their regions. It functions by connecting promising new entrepreneurs with the resources and mentors they need to succeed.

Widely considered one of the top journalism schools in the country, Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism takes a “teaching hospital” approach within its newsroom. This means experimenting with the latest tools — going beyond what even many commercial newsrooms have tried — to find transformational technologies that help reporters find, cover, and disseminate the latest news.

LinkedIn is launching live video, and they’re partnering with live-video software startup Switcher Studio as part of the launch. The Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, which boasts more than 610 million users worldwide, has dubbed the new feature LinkedIn Live.

This is the sixth post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

Free livestreaming channels are ubiquitous. But with so many platforms to choose from, which one is right for you and your organization? That depends largely on your intended audience and your live video goals. If you've been crafting your live video content strategy alongside this blog series, you have these articulated, along with your niche and your first several topics. Now you're ready to choose your livestreaming channel. 

To help you choose, we're going to dive into the pros and cons of two popular livestreaming channels, YouTube and Facebook. Although there are myriad other channels — Instagram, Periscope, and Twitch, among them — YouTube and Facebook are still most popular when it comes to helping you share great content, build an audience, engage with viewers, and turn live videos into longterm evergreen content that, over time, helps you get more subscribers and customers. 

Though it’s possible to go live anywhere, having a live video set available for your streams makes going live a breeze. With nothing to set up or tear down after each broadcast, streaming is almost effortless.

Your set also provides a glimpse into your brand’s personality. What colors are you using? What objects are visible? Your audience sees these as a glimpse into who you are and what you’re promoting — before you even say a word on camera. Your set becomes the best first impression that you can provide!

Creating a set for your live videos may seem daunting or even expensive, but neither is true. Most video sets are actually quite small, making them easy to leave up at all times. Follow the guidelines below, and you’ll be able to construct a set of your own simply and cheaply in as little as one hour.  

This is the fifth post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

From marketers and entrepreneurs to influencers and nonprofits, there are lots of people out there who like the idea of live video but aren’t sure what to stream about. They may be sold on the benefits of livestreaming but short on topic ideas. If that’s you, don’t be dismayed. Coming up with topics and ideas for your livestreams is a fun and crucial step — but it’s not the first step. And if you’re running into trouble generating ideas, it may be because you haven’t yet done the earlier steps in developing a live video content strategy.

There is no such thing as an Instagram filter for your video’s sound. Great audio is an elusive goal, and you can’t fake it with automatic software. You need to have some tricks up your sleeve to ensure you capture great audio on the recording so that there’s no need for special fixing after. This becomes even more important when you’re livestreaming because there is no post-production. The live broadcast is the whole production.

The Switcher team is pretty picky about the conferences we go to. And as a marketer, you may also find it hard to decide which ones are worth your time and budget to attend. Luckily, we’ve found some that we really like and find a lot of value in attending. Here are the top four for the Switcher team:

Let’s face it: If a video doesn’t look great, you tune out. Good lighting is one of the key components to creating better-looking video. If you shoot without thinking about lighting, the end result can be full of contrasting colors, shadows, and a range of other lighting problems.

To give you an idea of what I mean, here is what Switcher's studio looks like before and after we add lights:

Last week we talked about why native LinkedIn video is so important for B2B companies. It combines the targeting power of a B2B platform with the performance power of native video posts. But even if you’re sold on its potential, you may not be sure where to start when it comes to adding LinkedIn video to your marketing plan. The specific videos you choose to create will depend on the business goals you’ve established for your marketing efforts, but here are a few all-purpose video ideas perfect for building your brand:

Prior to late 2017, the only way to post videos to LinkedIn was by sharing YouTube and Vimeo links. These days, however, videos can be created and posted natively on LinkedIn and from within LinkedIn's mobile app itself. Native LinkedIn videos perform better in user feeds than shared YouTube links, allowing more people to see and view your content. Posting videos can help you build trust, reinforce your brand, and give others a look into who you are and how you operate. They also convey emotion better than text content. Here's a look at how to add videos to LinkedIn — whether on your profile, pages, and groups.

For companies using content marketing to drive traffic and generate leads, it’s important not to overlook the unique value that LinkedIn offers. As a social media platform, LinkedIn is particularly useful for B2B marketers, allowing you to leverage your industry contacts to increase reach. Couple this with the power of native video posts and you have yourself a winning combo: engaging, high-performing content reaching targeted audiences. Here are a few reasons it’s time to add LinkedIn video to your marketing strategy if you haven't already done so:

Going live for the first time? Hold up! Before you hit that stream button, there are a couple things you should consider. Not to brag, but we’ve gone live a few times in our day — and have run into problems along the way. Here’s a quick list of the logistics we cover before we go live and recommend you do, too.

This is the fourth post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

I recently became a first-time homeowner, taking on all the responsibilities that this entails. My husband and I bought a flipped house, so there’s not much more work to be done immediately, save for one big project: salvaging a severely water-logged yard. The problem is, we know absolutely nothing about lawn care. Enter the MAGIC OF YOUTUBE.

After a single search, we came across a video of a sweet old landscaper with a Boston accent teaching a homeowner how to install an underground drain in his own water-logged yard. We found the video so calming and informative (maybe we’re weird) that we literally sat on the couch and watched three additional videos of the old Bostonian landscaper helping people implement different types of drainage solutions in their yards.

Now this is a man who has found his niche.

Whether you’re a veteran livestreamer or a beginner leveling up your video game, it’s important to consider the tools you need to create truly exceptional live videos. These days, a smartphone is really the only gear you need to pull off a live broadcast. There are dozens of platforms making it increasingly easy to go live directly from your phone.

Not all live videos are created with equal production value, however. Who hasn’t watched a video whose creator didn’t think to stabilize their nauseating hand-held camera? Or one in which the person talking is so far away from the camera that you can’t even understand what they’re trying to say? Or, my personal favorite, one in which the video starts out vertical and ends up sideways after the first 5 seconds? Then you have to lock your phone’s screen rotation and hold it funny so it keeps playing — I mean, are we all just supposed to lay on our sides to watch this?

With a few best practices, it’s not hard to create awesome videos with your smartphone, ones that will make your audience keep watching rather than throw their phones against the wall. Below I’ve covered the basic gear you need to create great livestreams, but don’t worry if you’re not ready to invest in any gadgets yet — I also convey several free ways to improve your videos.

Today we’re rolling out Switcher Studio 4.0, the biggest update in a year for the live video-creation platform. The rollout introduces user-requested extensions like Video Chat and Scoreboard as well as a number of user experience improvements. The Switcher platform is getting more powerful and more customizable, ensuring users go live with confidence. To take advantage of all the latest features, make sure your devices are updated to iOS 12.

This is the third post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

Being a good conversationalist is all about knowing a) whether the information you’re relaying is interesting and b) whether the person you’re talking to cares. Surely you’ve had the experience of being stuck in a conversation with a bad conversationalist, someone intent on relaying the minutiae of their obscure hobby despite your obvious lack of interest. If you’re like me, you nod politely while also sidling away from the talker slowly.

Most social media platforms contain a live video component these days. From Facebook to Instagram to Twitter, platforms that started as a way to share thoughts and photos are now being used to share live videos with family, friends, and fans.

Whether you're an active livestreamer or just learning about livestreaming, you may have seen the term RTMP and not known exactly what it means. Don't let the acronym intimidate you — RTMP is easy to set up. 

Before we set up an RTMP stream, however, we need to understand what RTMP actually is, what it connects with, and how it works.

This is the second post in our Live Video Content Strategy series, helping you craft a strategy for your live videos.

Last week we covered the basics of building a live video content strategy, the first step of which is to define the business goals for your live video. Today we’ll focus on this step in more detail — covering how to identify your business goals and how to define them properly. This will set you up for success as you craft the rest of your live video content strategy.

Going live on Facebook is an amazingly fun way to connect with your friends and followers, but if you've never done it before, you might not know what to expect. Here I'll walk you through the two simplest ways to go live.

You can learn a lot about a person from their search history — like where they live, what their interests are, and what kinds of problems they’re trying to solve on any given day. I, for instance, have been searching for fingerless gloves today. This reveals a problem I’m trying to solve: My fingers feel like ice, but I need them to type.

Your audience also has problems, problems that you or your organization can solve through products, services, education, offerings, or whatever it is that you create and share with the world. And, like me, your audience members are searching the internet for solutions. Ensuring that they find you — and that they find you helpful — is what content strategy is all about.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have their enormous user bases for a reason — they saw the future, and they ushered it in. So when all five of these platforms release live video-streaming capabilities over the span of just a couple of years, marketers better take note. Live video isn’t the future anymore — it’s the present. And its rapid growth tells us that audiences, and marketers, are loving it.

Switcher Studio's iOS screensharing feature has infinite use cases, expanding what's possible in your productions. Basically, if you can show something on your iOS device, you can show it in Switcher just by connecting your phone or iPad as a video source. From green screen and scoreboard apps to system setups and video games, the sky's the limit for what you can screenshare into your productions. 

Literally — because today we're talking about drones. Sorry, I had to.

When we launched Switcher Studio, we were determined to give creators and businesses the best value and tools in mobile video creation. Since then we’ve seen the Switcher community use these tools to make a meaningful impact in their organizations and communities through video content.

To continue to add value and new capabilities to the Switcher platform, we will be implementing a new plan and price structure starting Monday, October 1, 2018. This new structure will affect first-time and returning subscribers who join on or after that date.

Anyone making videos for Facebook, Youtube, Twitch or any other platforms can agree that one of the biggest goals of “video content creation” is to grow your audience and get as many viewers as possible. Most of the advice and strategy you’ll read about social video is likely helping you discover new ways to make your videos standout and crank up that view count.

Creating video content for your organization just got easier. Microsoft recently announced a new feature for Office 365 and Microsoft Stream called "Live Events". Now users can create live video experiences for people within their organization. Videos are automatically annotated so they become searchable. Switcher Studio is proud to be a launch partner with Microsoft for the announcement of these new features. Check out the video below to see how easy it is to pair your live event with Switcher Studio.

Tech startup offering live-video encoder service will be supported in Microsoft Stream

LOUISVILLE, KY (August 6, 2018) – Switcher Studio (Switcher), the Kentucky-based tech company that has developed a multi-device streaming platform for live videos, announced today a collaboration with Microsoft Stream. Microsoft Stream, a part of the Office 365 suite, gives businesses the tools and flexibility to securely create, discover, and share videos.

Live video is a versatile tool. However, because it offers so many possibilities, you might not know where to start. Whether you’re planning your first live stream or are looking for engaging news to feature, creating a top-level content calendar is a great way to prioritize topics.

Switcher Studio 3.8 introduces RTMPS secure streaming and more

VidCon is arguably the world’s largest conference for online video. Unlike the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, which is focused on professional video, VidCon is the Comi-Con of the video world, featuring overnight YouTube sensations, as well as industry experts.

Global cosmetics and beauty company L’Oréal has employees based in 60 countries. With a mission of beauty for everybody, the company is looking to attract a workforce that reflects the audience they serve, one of different genders, ethnicities and social backgrounds.

However, recruiting early career talent has become a new challenge. “The way you attract candidates is changing, and the way you approach recruiting from colleges and universities is changing,” says Michael Lake, L’Oréal’s recruitment manager for Global Campus Activation. “The traditional way of doing a corporate presentation and talking about how great the company is or going to a career fair and talking to people who are already interested in you because otherwise they wouldn’t have stopped by is a little bit old-fashioned and doesn’t allow us to capture what we really want, which is really a very diverse candidate pool.”

You did it. You planned the content for your video and tapped the “go live” button. Your live stream was a success. Now what?

While live video is what we’re all about at Switcher Studio, oftentimes it’s the replay of the live video that outperforms the live stream itself when it comes to number of views. We’ve seen this time and again with our clients.

If you’re a frequent visitor to family-friendly restaurants, you have probably noticed kids with their noses buried in phones and tablets. Chances are the kids are watching or playing videos, a desperate technology play designed to give parents a few blissful minutes of uninterrupted mealtime.

In some ways, your Facebook or YouTube audiences are like children. You can put a video in front of them to entertain, engage and even inform them, but once the video is over, you can’t expect them to behave the way you want them to. You have to tell them what you want them to do.

If you’re not accustomed to doing live video, or video at all, it’s something that may not even occur to you. Just like having the right sound and lighting equipment, what you wear is an important part of ensuring a successful broadcast.

Think of your wardrobe as part of your pre-production checklist.

Why is this important? We all want to look good on camera. But, what you wear is also about optimizing the quality of your video. For example, wearing fabrics that reflect light can jeopardize the visual quality of your video, and wearing large, clunky jewelry can interfere with sound quality.

You can look good, feel confident and optimize your wardrobe for high-quality live video.

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.

REDWOOD CITY, CA – February 5, 2018 – Startup Grind today announced the induction of 50 Companies to the 2018 Class of Startups. The Startup Program recognizes the Top 50 companies selected out of 130 companies handpicked from 115 countries, 400 cities around the world to exhibit Startup Grind Global 2018.

Walt Disney said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Your first live video can be a bit like that. Overthinking and fear of failure can prevent you from taking that first step. At some point, you just have to begin. The best way to overcome the uncertainty is with a little preparation and planning.

January 4th, Mark Zuckerberg said his personal challenge for 2018 is

“ making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent."

This move will shift the focus in the Facebook News Feed to friends and family while prioritizing content that

"sparks conversations and meaningful interactions between people."

Some marketers are calling it the “End Times” for Pages and businesses on Facebook.

Is this true?

How will this affect your reach as a business? What steps can you take to still be relevant and maximize ROI?

Feedback and support from our users enables us to continue to enhance the best mobile video creation app possible for iPhones and iPads. Our latest release brings a new experience to the Switcher Studio platform by adding:

Yesterday, the FCC voted to repeal #NetNeutrality.

Who is this for: Anyone that owns a business or is building a personal brand. This isn’t just for “new” businesses but your established businesses could benefit too.

Hosted by: Erin Cell & Joel Comm

A quick way to add production value to your Facebook Live videos is to add a countdown to the beginning of your stream. Not only does it look professional, but also gives your viewers time to tune in.

What is the Facebook Creator App?

• Facebook Creator app replaces the Facebook Mentions app. The Mentions app was available for celebrities only, but the new Creator app is available for everyone.
• You can manage comments from Facebook and Instagram, and messages from Messenger in one inbox.
• Find insights and analytics about your video performance, Page and audience.
• The Facebook Creator app allows you to create videos and live broadcasts.
• Includes a desktop Live Creative Kit to add customizable video intros, outros, stickers and frames.

There are many graphics programs out there that ared used to create lower-thirds and logos. Using lower-thirds in your live videos helps to brand your guests, and using logos helps to brand your company. These graphics also help your videos to look professional and planned.

Your feedback and support has enabled us to build the best mobile video solution using iPhones and iPads. Our latest release expands on the Switcher platform by adding:

When setting up video productions using iOS devices, it is important to choose the best device for the situation. Here are some pointers to help you make the correct choice.

10/6/2017, 11:45 PM, UPDATE:

From Facebook: A fix has been deployed to production. If you are still experiencing issues with this they will clear up shortly.

10/6/2017, 6:10 PM, UPDATE:

From Facebook: We are aware of ongoing issues with the JS SDK failing to load for sites using RequireJS. We are actively working on a fix and expect it to get pushed shortly. 

Possibly the best way to run audio through an iOS devices is using one of the iRig products.

When going live, one of the end goals is to attract a larger audience by the end of each broadcast. It is exhilarating to see more and more people viewing each subsequent broadcast. Likewise, it can be frustrating to hit a plateau or lose your audience.

When it comes to creating graphics, Pixlr is top-of-the-line. Available on both Windows and Mac browsers free-of-charge, Pixlr is a cloud-based set of image tools. Experienced Photoshop users will be right at home with Pixlr’s interface, since Pixlr's interface and utilities mimic the style of the traditional Adobe Photoshop.

I can't count the number of times I've complained about Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) or been at a friends house as they complain about their internet. I've even gone as far as to turn off the WiFi on my phone while lying in bed because my cellular LTE connection is faster than my home intenet.

Turns out my problems weren't due to TWC - there were WiFi deadspots in our house.

Going live for the first time doesn't have to be intimidating. You can prep in three easy steps.

Get rid of your computer!

Creating graphics for your live videos is crucial to your company's success. Using a logo helps to brand your video. Using a lower-third helps to identify you and your guest. Full-screen graphics can help to demonstrate a point. All of these methods combined ensure that your video looks professional and well-planned.

One of the easiest ways to give your live video a professional look is to use on-screen graphics. Whether lower-thirds, logos or full-screen graphics, these additions help your broadcast to stand out from the rest.

First, we want to extend a big shout out to anyone that has used Switcher to date. Your feedback and support has enabled us to build the best mobile video solution using iPhones and iPads. Our latest release expands on the Switcher platform by adding in-app lowerthird templates, a completely redesigned online dashboard, the ALL NEW "My Videos" tab and Windows screensharing.

There are many ways to create graphics for your live broadcast. Lower-thirds add a professional appearance to your broadcasts. Logos allow you to brand yourself and your guests in your videos. Using a combination of these help to take your live video to the next level.

Louisville, KY, USA (August 17, 2017) - Makers of the original multi-camera streaming app, Switcher Studio, announced a new partnership with leading live video expert, marketing strategist, author and technologist Joel Comm, who will contribute to the company’s content and brand awareness campaign for its growing global footprint.

Switcher Basic was first launched in 2014. It is a free version of Switcher that allowed users to switch between four devices and stream live video in SD. The free version included a watermark on the video output which could be removed via an in-app purchase or in-app subsription.

Most of our development resources have gone into new products like Switcher Studio and Switcher Go. As a result Switcher Basic has fallen behind and hasn't received  updates in a while.

Switcher Basic will be discontinued and removed from the App Store on October 1, 2017. The app will continue working after this date but you will not be able to reinstall the app from the App Store or restore in-app purchases.

VidCon is an annual convention that caters to video content creators across all platforms. With YouTube leading the way in the content creation world for so long, many think of VidCon as a “YouTube convention”. While huge YouTube stars fill the halls and the panels of VidCon, this sentiment is not exactly accurate.

Audio can be the most confusing part of a video production.  If your audio isn’t perfect, people will tune out.  Here is a rundown of different types of mics you can use for your mobile video productions.

LiveU is a great tool for broadcasters that allows creators to broadcast from almost anywhere. Paired with Switcher Studio, it is the ultimate portable live video solution available.

It’s 2017 and we are still in the wild west of online video. However, the space is starting to mature, and big players like YouTube and Facebook are implementing methods to become safer for everyone while working to lessen their own risk.

Switcher Inc returns to VidCon 2017 with some big updates to its Switcher Studio platform. YouTube and Facebook Live creators, social media influencers and anyone looking to improve their social media presence will find value in these new additions. Key features in the new release include:

Is your iCloud account full, and you want to add videos to your camera roll?  Below are a few ways to help get that video off your computer or other devices and onto your Camera Roll.

Getting started in live video and need some guidance or inspiration? Look no further. We've met lots of experts in the field of live video and it can be hard to decide who really knows what they're talking about. Here are 5 people we think you should follow. 

Scheduling your event on Facebook Live is an amazing feature. Using the scheduling function allows followers to know in advance when you plan to go live. Your followers can also subscribe to get notifications and get a reminder for when you will be live.

NEW FEATURES

Live video has become crucial to businesses, entertainers, and laymen alike, with social media networks pushing the idea that “going live” is both the best way to get your ideas across and the best way to interact with your audience. Facebook has Facebook Live, YouTube has YouTube Now, and sites solely dedicated to streaming such Periscope and Twitch have become huge contenders in how people obtain videos.

The 2017 National Association of Broadcasters Show featured leading industry professionals highlighting the latest advances in streaming, engineering and content creation. Switcher Studio travelled to Las Vegas to exhibit at the show from April 22-27, 2017.

Here's a selection of Switcher Studio news from the event.

One of the best things about working at Switcher is seeing all the cool stuff that people do with Switcher Studio. When we developed the product we couldn't have dreamed of all the interesting content that would be created with it. 

That said, we don't want to keep all this fun to ourselves. Here's a quick roundup of awesome videos from the first quarter of 2017. 

Creating TV style productions is a big operation. Lots of equipment, lots of people, lots of time. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.(d/b/aWWE) is an entertainment company and the largest professional wrestling organization in the world. Since its inception, they have amassed a global audience of over 36 million.

Switcher Inc. (www.switcherstudio.com) today announced it is expanding its live streaming ecosystem with a new strategic partnership with DJI. As a result of this partnership, Switcher is extending support for the DJI Osmo Mobile 3-axis gimbal system for smooth live streaming to Facebook Live and YouTube.

While amazing graphics can be created with traditional programs such as Adobe Photoshop and online replica websites such as Pixlr, it can be challenging to create a graphic from scratch and then load it into Switcher Studio, especially for those new to mobile video creation and graphic design. As a result, many users spend their time searching the App Store for graphics creation tools to help them create their graphics right there on their iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches.

You must go into your general iOS settings and connect each device to the same WiFi Network. This allows each of your devices to see one another when you open the app so they can wirelessly sync to the main device.

Why do video?

When you think of video for sports we tend to think of live full game coverage with an announcer and play-by-play commentary. As an athletic director or coach you know fans look at ESPN as the model and if you are going to promote video of your team you want to be as close to that level as you can get. As a media provider or journalist you have many of the same goals.

Arguably the most reliable way to use Switcher Studio when streaming live video is to hardwire your devices all to the same local network via ethernet.  This is now possible on some newer iOS devices using a few adapters. We recently had the opportunity to stream day 2 of Summit.Live’s event in Los Angeles using this method.  The event was held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The annual Summit.Live conference took place from Feb. 22-Feb. 24, 2017, in sunny Los Angeles, California. Many speakers including David Basulto, Luria Petrucci, and Ross Brand took to the stage to educate their audiences on how to make bigger and better livestreams for their brands and their businesses.

Download now in the App Store!

To many people, livestreaming is a hobby. Or it’s “that new fad” that people are obsessed with on Facebook. Whether on Facebook, YouTube, Periscope, or more, live video has been everywhere for the past few years, and it is being used for virtually all reasons. Want to see how a friend’s vacation is going? They might be streaming it. Bored in an airport waiting on your flight? Boot up your phone and share your boredom with friends and family. Live video is definitely making social media easy.

With the hustle and bustle of daily life, it is important to really take some time to yourself. Focus on the simpler things. Meditate. Push away your worries for just a little bit in order to gain some real peace of mind. These few minutes a day can really help to recharge your internal “battery” and to help you focus properly on what is needed to get through the rest of the day. For many people, this relief comes from nature. The simplicity of nature is a direct contrast from what we normally experience in day-to-day life, and that peacefulness and serenity can help one's mind to get its bearings back on track.

When picking a musician to headline your event, you want someone who is adaptable. Instead of someone who will play the same repertoire of songs regardless of the situation, you need someone who can take both the mood of the room and the theme of the event into account and choose their songs and style of music based on that. For anyone Down Under, we have just the musician for you. After touring throughout the South Pacific for quite sometime, Andy Mammers has now settled down in his native Australia, and plays for many weddings, clubs, and other events each and every month. Proudly endorsed by products manufacturer D’Addario and audio solutions specialists KV2 Audio, Mammers is a musician who shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon! 

Morning announcements. The majority of people can remember being subjected to their school’s morning announcements from kindergarten through their high school graduation. Normally, the events of the day were quickly rattled off, often with little to no focus from students, teachers, and other staff alike. They were simply there, and anything important would be repeated during the afternoon announcements before students were released for the day.

Most people find it important to have a sense of community in their neighbourhoods. It helps to keep everyone “in the loop” with the happenings around them. From yard sales to vandalism reports to construction updates, most towns will have routine meetings where all members of the community can show up to learn the Who-What-Where-When-Why-How of their surroundings. But what about the people who can’t make it to those meetings, whether as a result of their jobs, their families, or their travels? Shouldn’t they get the same opportunity to see what all happens in their community meetings rather than a condensed newsletter days later? 

This update stomps out bugs and improves quality for older devices.

In recent years, health and fitness have become popular topics in an increasingly unhealthy society. More and more people are becoming instructors for services like Spin Cycle, Barre, Pop Pilates, and Beachbody classes. People are quitting their jobs to become independent personal trainers. Hashtags like “#FitFam” and “#GirlsWhoLift” are prevalent on social media means such as Instagram and Twitter. Everywhere, you see success stories featuring dramatic weight loss or muscle gain with the conclusion, “If I could do it, you can do it, too! NO excuses!” 

A complaint that many students across all majors have is that courses sometimes seem to have no real-world application to them. Or that there is no way to test their knowledge of real-world applications, leaving their lessons to seem far-fetched or imaginary.

BoxCast Opens its Platform for Switcher Studio Integration

Switcher Studio (www.switcherstudio.com) announced it has partnered with BoxCast (www.boxcast.com) to bring professional streaming solutions to organizations that require higher video production value and more sophisticated live delivery capabilities than are currently available on the market today from free streaming services and solutions.

Most people could stand to make a few extra bucks these days, but few people can find a good, consistent way to do that. From selling old products on eBay to subscribing to commission-based companies like Beachbody and Younique, there are a variety of options available to try your hand in a new business. More and more options like this are quickly gaining in popularity, but some people are still looking for a more “traditional” means to gain additional income. Everyone has heard of the great successes that can come from the stock market. Hollywood Films like Wolf Of Wall Street, Boiler Room, and Capitalism: A Love Story showcase the pros and cons of trying their luck at choosing stocks. Middle school and high school students are often given a crash course on how stocks work.

LOUISVILLE, KY (September 22, 2016) – Switcher Studio today announced it has secured $400,000 in strategic investment. Investors include Poplar Ventures, Kentucky Enterprise Fund, Cherub Fund, Sequel Fund, NexStreaming, Pioneer Ventures, and Ed Henson (member of NAB board of directors). This investment represents Switcher Inc’s first round of funding; the Company will be closing on additional investments in early 2017.

The team at Switcher Studio has been receiving a lot of great feedback and questions on the newest release of Switcher, featuring Director Mode and support for Final Cut Pro X. Thanks for sharing the love!

New Switcher Studio V2.7 Also Adds Hardware Accelerated Video Processing, Battery/Storage Notifications and Several Under-the-Hood Performance Features

Here are some basic lenses that can make a big difference in your video productions.

Here are a few audio devices that we have found helpful in creating multi camera video productions with iPhones and iPads.

When starting out as a musician, you have a lot of things to juggle. Where do you go for recording? What about music videos? Concert footage? Photographs? Marketing? Tours? It can all quickly become overwhelming during what should be an exciting time. If you are lucky, you may find a recording studio that can handle a lot of this for you. Not only will they record your music for you to distribute, but they may also include photography services, marketing services, and the like. When going this route, you want to make sure you find a reputable studio who can produce a high-quality product that you are proud to show off, and who won’t drive your band into obscurity or embarrassment. Musik Factory’s Chiodo Studio is one of these establishments. Located in beautiful Magenta, Italy, Chiodo Studio is an independent studio that provides recording services, venue scheduling, live recording, and basic photography all in one nifty place, and company founder Alex Chiodini is looking to expand his clientele even further with the addition of Switcher Studio. 

When you think of a radio station, people generally don’t think of video. But stations already cover so many events in their community...why not set up a camera? With Switcher Studio stations can easily produce video and start to connect and engage with their audience in new ways.

When the audio and video get out of sync, it is often referred to as lip flap or a lip sync issue. This is a common problem when importing iOS video into video-editing software because mobile devices don’t record at a constant frame rate. As a result, when you try to edit mobile video footage in the timeline on a post-production program like Avid or Adobe Premiere, it may not handle these elements properly. The strange thing is that the video will often play OK when watching individual clips in QuickTime, VLC, or Window Media Player. But what good is your video if you can’t edit it, or when you do and it ends up looking like a kung fu movie? There is a solution!

Never streamed before? You've come to the right place.

It’s an exciting day here at Switcher Studio. Since we first launched over a year ago, we’ve been gaining some amazing traction - thanks to customers like you and the amazing feedback you’ve been sharing with us. So what’s got us so excited? We get to share with you an incredible new upgrade to Switcher Studio, featuring live streaming directly to YouTube! No more bouncing back and forth between your computer and Switcher - do it all in the app. Streaming with YouTube has never been easier.

The first step to improving any video production is using a tripod. This allows you to get steady, stable shots that are inline with what your audience is accustomed to seeing on TV. There are a number of mobile media cases for iPhone and iPad that make it easy for you to attach your iDevice to a tripod.

There are primarily 3 different types of microphones used to capture audio for video productions. The type of microphone you need will vary depending on your situation. Below is a description of how each microphone can be used and the types of events they are best suited for.

Switcher Studio® has been pushing the boundaries of creating video with iOS since its launch. Now the app is even more powerful with the addition of “Director Mode”. This update allows users to assign fixed frame rates, record 1080p HD broadcast quality video from multiple angles using mobile devices and export compositions to Final Cut Pro X. Yes, it’s good enough for TV and there are already stations using it for on-air content.

Nick Mattingly, CEO and co-founder of Louisville startup Switcher Studio, is presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco (Sept 21-23 2015) . TechCrunch is one of the largest online technology blogs that profiles startups, Internet products and new tech (TechCrunch is owned by AOL). TechCrunch Disrupt is a showcase of some of the most innovative companies and products in the startup scene hosted by the online news source.

An Evening with Robert Scoble - Louisville Digital Association