How To Easily Stream To Facebook and YouTube At The Same Time

If live-streaming sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. There are many different tools out there to simplify the process. If you’ve wondered how to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time, this ​post will show you exactly how to do that so you can be as efficient as possible.

Benefits to Live Streaming

Live streaming has seen an increase in popularity in recent years, as content creators seek new ways to successfully communicate with their viewers. As a realtor, taking advantage of live videos can help you grow your real estate business and form a stronger connection with your audience.

If you want to grow your reach and attract a bigger audience, there’s no better way than live streaming. On average, live videos get as much as 135% organic reach compared to photo posts.

Additionally, they increase audience engagement. Your audience is able to interact with you by commenting or asking questions in the chat in real-time.

Live videos also tend to build trust quicker, because they naturally showcase your personality. The audience sees you in a natural way, rather than in a polished, more traditional video.

Lastly, viewers tend to watch live videos longer than they would a recorded video, which gives you more time to provide value to your audience. People typically spend triple the amount of time watching live videos compared to traditional videos.

So since live-streaming is so important, how can you get started? And how can you maximize your time to be more efficient? Learning how to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time will save you tons of time while bringing you all the same value of live videos.

These two platforms are good ones to focus on because of their popularity. Over 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day, so you’ll be able to capture your audience there while also creating evergreen content that can live on your YouTube channel forever.

Also, if you’re just getting started with YouTube, check out my post on YouTube for real estate agents. I explain exactly how to set up your channel and optimize your videos for organic views and subscriber growth.

Basic Hardware Setup

It’s more important that you get started with what you have instead of worrying about getting the best, top-of-the-line real estate video equipment. The basic hardware equipment that you’ll need for a live-streaming set up is:  

• Webcam
• Microphone
• Laptop or computer

Webcam

A good choice is whatever camera is already included on your laptop, anything that outputs to a resolution of at least 720p.

But a better choice is the Logitech C922x, which is around $100. This is a good option if you want to step up your video quality because most separate webcams usually output a 1080p resolution.

Overall, the best choice for perfect video quality is a DSLR camera. Using a DSLR as a webcam is easy to set up, but will require some additional equipment. This includes a tripod and a cam link, which is a tool that directly imports your camera feed to your computer.

A great option is the Elgato Cam Link. You can visit Elgato’s website to check which cameras are compatible with their hardware.

Microphone

Most people might be surprised to know that the audio quality of a live video is far more important than the video quality.

With that being said, you can start with just your laptop microphone, which will get you decent audio. But even better is a pair of headphones or earbuds with an included microphone. These microphones are usually much better quality, and also help to reduce background noise for your viewers.

Another option is any USB mic. The Neewer brand is a great option, and it works with all computer types. But the overall best option is the Shure MV 51, which I personally use.

You may also want to consider purchasing a swivel arm for your USB microphone, if it doesn’t come with one.

Computer

You can use a PC, Mac, or whatever computer you prefer. The only thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that since live streaming requires so much output power, you should use at least a quad core Intel i5 processor, or even something stronger. I personally use a MacBook Pro, which has an 8 core i7 or i9 processor.

If your goal is live streaming, the processor is probably going to be the most important piece of the entire computer. Using a computer with a weak processor could cause you to miss some frames of your live stream upload, which will make your video lag. So if you try live-streaming and notice any choppiness, you might want to consider upgrading to a stronger computer.

The next thing you should keep in mind is the amount of gigabytes of memory on your computer. You need to make sure you have an optimal amount for recording to your hard drive. I recommend a solid-state drive over a hard disk drive, because the recording speeds are much faster.

Graphics Card

Usually if you purchase a computer, the graphics card will come integrated with the processor. For live streaming purposes, a separate, dedicated graphics card is preferable so that you can make sure your video quality is never compromised.

Necessary Software

Encoding Software

Encoders are an essential tool for streaming live videos if you are using a separate camera to record. Encoders take the raw video files and turn them into digital files that can be easily uploaded online.

If you’re researching different encoders, you’re likely to come across three main options:

• OBS Studio (PC and Mac)
• Wirecast (PC and Mac)
• V Mix (PC only)

I recommend OBS Studio, which is a completely free, open-source software. OBS Studio has features such as creating an unlimited number of scenes that you can switch between during your stream, an audio mixer that can help control noise suppression, and a Studio Mode that lets you preview your scenes before you go live.

Streaming Service

The key to how to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time is a separate streaming service. Without one, you’ll need an even faster internet speed because you’ll be uploading separately to both platforms. Instead, if you use a streaming service you just upload one time to that service, and it will send it out to YouTube and Facebook at the exact same time.

I personally use Restream.io for live streaming. Click here if you’d like a free trial of Restream.io.

The other benefit of using a separate streaming service is that it will automatically make sure that your video fits within the bitrate requirements of each platform. For example, Facebook can only host videos uploaded at 720p, while YouTube can go all the way up to 4k.

For my personal live streaming experience, I use OBS Studio to record a 1080p video, and then upload it and send it to Restream.io. Then Restream.io sends it out in real time directly to Facebook and YouTube, and transcodes it so that it can fit into Facebook’s requirements.

Recording Considerations

The frames per second that you will be able to upload depends on your internet speed. For my case, for one 1080p stream at 30 frames per second, I need about 7 megabits per second of an upload speed.

30 frames per second is plenty for recording livestream tutorials on both Facebook and YouTube as well. Anything higher is unnecessary unless you plan on having a lot of fast movement on your screen.

It’s important to consider this because Facebook limits your feed to 720p and 30 frames per second, which means it’s basically the same quality as just a typical webcam video.

Another aspect that you’ll want to consider as you learn how to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time is using a wired connection to improve your upload speed, instead of a wireless one. You should make sure to have your computer hardwired directly to your modem so that the connection is more reliable.

If you’re depending on Wi-Fi, you risk dropping several megabits, which can result in a choppy livestream.

Final Thoughts on How to Stream to Facebook and YouTube at the Same Time

Live streaming has become an important part of online marketing and it’s never been easier to get started. Learning how to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time will help you maximize your time so that you can focus on providing value to your audience and growing your real estate business.

What questions do you have about livestreaming? Put them in the comments below!