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Want to go live with a guest on Instagram?
Wondering how to use two-person live videos on Instagram?
In this article, you’ll discover how to bring a guest into your live video on Instagram, and how to use this feature to bolster your brand.
How to Host an Instagram Live Video With a Guest
This new feature is rolling out to Instagram users now and bringing with it a wave of creativity and communication for brands.
As with any Instagram Live video, a two-person video is simple and easy to do. The platform has simple integration and relatively smooth technology to make the process seamless for you and your guest.
Note: As of publication of this article, Instagram Live videos with guests are only available to iOS 11 users. The feature is rolling out to Android users in the near future.
#1: Start a Live Video on Instagram
To launch a live video on Instagram, open your Stories screen. Swipe right from the home feed or tap on your photo in the Stories banner at the top of the home feed to open the Stories screen.
Along the bottom of the screen under the shutter button, scroll to the Live option and then tap Start Live Video to launch an Instagram Live video.
#2: Greet Your Viewers in Attendance
Before you invite anyone to join your live video, take a few moments to greet your viewers and introduce your topic.
This gives viewers a chance to tune in and for you to get settled before introducing anyone else into the video. Let your viewers know that you'll be including one or more guest(s) throughout the video.
#3: Invite Your Guest
Now that you're ready for a guest to join you live, you must invite the person to join you. Your guest must be present as a viewer before you can bring them on your video.
At the bottom of the screen, tap on the two-face icon next to the comment box to open the list of Instagram users who are currently watching your live video.
The username of each viewer is listed for you to choose from. If the viewer is able to join (they have the two-person feature rolled out to their Instagram account), their account name will be listed beneath their username. If the viewer doesn't have the ability to use two-person video, instead of their account name, it will read “Unable to join.”
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Tap the person you wish to bring on your live broadcast from the list. On the next screen, tap the Go Live With button to bring the guest into your live video.
For now, you can only have one guest on with you at any one time.
#4: Talk With Your Guest
Now that your guest is live with you, make the most of the ability to have a “face-to-face” conversation with them. You'll both appear on the screen as two square videos, one on top of the other.
When you have a guest, that vertical screen is split into two squares, with you as the host on top and your guest on the bottom.
Be aware that comments rolling in from other viewers will appear over your guest's screen. This detail may have an impact on how you conduct your live video and what that guest does on-screen.
#5: Say Goodbye to Your Guest
When you're ready for your guest to leave the live video, simply tap on the X in the top-right corner of their video screen to remove them from the video. They'll go back to being a viewer and your video will return to the full screen.
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Five Ways to Incorporate Two-Person Live Instagram Videos Into Your Marketing
Now that you understand how to launch an Instagram Live video with a guest, it's important to think about how you'll use this feature. If you simply start using it randomly and without intention, you risk annoying your audience and may discourage them from tuning in regularly.
Instead, to ensure your brand builds on this exposure, have a plan in place for inviting guests and providing value to your audience through this feature.
Get Comfortable On-Camera
If you struggle with the idea of going live on-camera and hosting an Instagram Live video, having a guest may calm your nerves. Rather than worrying about carrying the whole conversation on your own, you'll have someone else there to help keep the conversation going and put you at ease.
Invite a friend, fellow employee, or trusted customer to come on live with you. Plan the live video in advance so you both have some clear ideas for the direction of the conversation. As you get deeper into the broadcast, you and your guest will carry on naturally and your personality will shine through more authentically.
Answer Questions
Your audience has questions, and hopefully, you have the answers. Choose a topic or even open up the live video to an ask-me-anything format. Invite your guests to bring their questions to the live video broadcast. Ask guests to type their question in a comment so you know who's going to ask which question, and then invite each viewer to join you live to ask their question and discuss the answer face to face.
@ChocolateJohnny does this really well with his audience. In all of the screenshots in this article, you can see he's interacting with his audience, inviting them on live to ask questions about business, his chocolate shop in Australia, and marketing best practices.
Get Feedback
People love to share their opinions, and inviting them to join you on a live video is a great way to get their honest feedback.
If you have a product that you want to update or improve, ask your guests to join you live to discuss which features of your product they would change and why. If you have a service-based business and you'd like to find out which services your customers would like more (or less) of, have them share their thoughts with you live. If you have a local business, invite your customers to share their experiences with you.
If your customers join you live and provide a quality testimonial for your product or service, you can also ask for their permission after the live broadcast to repurpose that statement for your marketing efforts.
Provide Training
Rather than using your Instagram Live videos to provide training to your audience on your own, invite another industry expert to share their knowledge alongside you. Use your live video the same way as you would a webinar or podcast, in which you both share tips, tutorials, advice, information, and other educational content that's valuable to your customers and audience.
This takes the pressure off of you to provide all of the training. And your audience will appreciate learning from others in their field of expertise to broaden their knowledge.
Get Personal With Your Audience
Instagram is a highly interactive platform that's appreciated for its ability to forge real relationships between strangers. If your audience is regularly interacting with you on social media but hasn't had the opportunity to talk with you directly, offering them that option can be very rewarding.
Something as simple as taking a few minutes to chat with your dedicated fans and followers can build stronger relationships and convert casual followers into paying customers.
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Conclusion
Using two-person live videos on Instagram will gain popularity as it rolls out to more people. Everyday users will enjoy the opportunity to chat with friends and have casual conversations. Businesses will need to be more strategic in their use of live videos with guests to get the best results.
Even then, however, the casual aspect of live video and in-person interactions will add a level of transparency and value for customers, helping companies build their brands.
What do you think? Are you excited for two-person Instagram Live videos? Or have you already used this feature for your business? Please share your thoughts or lessons learned in the comments below.
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