By now, you probably have gotten used to all the liking, tweeting, posting, commenting and pinning, but there’s another way to get your content in front of people: live streaming.

The concept of live streaming, or broadcasting something as it happens, isn’t new. At the Diocese, we’ve been live streaming ordinations, Catholic Schools Masses and other big events for years.

Live streaming an event takes about a half-dozen cameras and operators, several computer monitors and someone to code our sites to make sure the content is appearing in the ways we want, and without much lag time.

Recently, however, apps including Meerkat and Periscope have made live streaming easy enough for everyone to do from their smartphones. 

At this juncture, Periscope seems to be taking off more than Meerkat, so that’s what I would suggest using if you decide to try live streaming for yourself.

Here are six tips to get you started with a successful live stream. You’ll notice many of the tips are similar to best practices across social media platforms.

Let your existing audience know what you’re doing: If you already have a following on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, let those people know where you’re headed next. Those who engage with your accounts on one platform are more likely to engage with you on others, too. Before each live stream send out a few tweets or a quick Facebook post to alert your audience to all your great work.

Post interesting content: If your followers aren’t captivated, they’ll stop following. Your live stream doesn’t have to be hours-long, either. Something as short as a five-minute tour of your church would make for interesting content.

Interact with your followers: When you live stream, you’ll see comments scrolling down the screen. Respond to as many as possible, including when other users say “Hello” or ask questions. Unfortunately, some comments might be less than stellar. Become familiar with the terms of use to see which comments warrant a report for abuse to the platform.

Check your privacy: In the platform, you control your privacy settings. Be aware that if you do nothing, you are broadcasting to the whole world — that’s a powerful thing. For example, if you don’t want viewers to know your exact location, turn off the location features. (You can do this on Facebook and Twitter, as well.)

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: As in all things, not everything you live stream will be a resounding success, but don’t make that deter you from trying. Play around with live streaming events from your parish to see which ones are the most engaging.

Have fun: Social media is a great way to interact with people from in our Diocese and around the world. If it seems burdensome — even after some practice — and you aren’t getting the engagement you’d like from your audience, maybe it’s time to change your strategy. Don’t feel like you have to use every social network every day and from every event. Find what works for you and have fun!

Brittany Wilson is the social media coordinator for the Diocese of Trenton. She can be reached at [email protected].