Why Belive.TV Is Just So Cool

Note: I am a paid Brand Ambassador for Belive.tv. However, I was using the service and fell in love with it before I took the position. The following is my opinion.

If you’re using Facebook Live, or thinking about playing around with live video (as you should), you need to know about BeLive.TV. It’s become the ultimate tool for Facebook Live.

The platform launched on October 2016, just a few months after Facebook Live became available to everyone. I was one of the first people to use it, and I’ve loved it ever since!

BeLive.TV was pretty simple at first. The early version enabled users to go live from their PC via Google Chrome and to put up comments from viewers on the screen. It was very cool. At the time, Facebook itself only let you go live using a mobile device so if you wanted a look that was more professional, you’d need to do a bit of technical wizardry.

My first thought was to wonder why Facebook hadn’t thought of that. (My second thought was to slap my forehead and wonder why I hadn’t thought of that. Yeah… my head still hurts.) I also worried that Facebook would copy BeLive’s features and do to the platform what Twitter did to Meerkat. It didn’t happen. BeLive kept growing and kept adding features that Facebook missed. As it grew, Mari Smith, the Queen of Facebook marketing, became a brand ambassador, and so did I. Other bloggers and publishers have also used BeLive  and produced some pretty great results. Geva Telem of Geekstyle wrote a few blog posts about his experiences. He explained how to grow online sales using BeLive and Facebook Live; how to broadcast a Facebook Live interview; and how to broadcast from your computer. They’re all worth checking out.

So what makes BeLive.TV so cool?

First, it\’s very easy to use. You don’t need a degree in filmmaking or ten years’ experience planning shows for Oprah. You can be up and running in minutes. Check out the 14-day trial and you’ll see what I mean.

But more importantly, BeLive is also packed with features that Facebook Live still doesn’t have. It’s got no fewer than three broadcasting modes. “Solo” is great for those one-on-many broadcasts, when you want to share some information with an audience or take questions.

“Interview” mode is like a public Skype chat that lets viewers see both people on the same screen—and send them questions.

But it’s the “Talk Show” mode that’s the coolest.  Viewers get a link that lets them join up to nine other people in the green room. You can then pull them into the discussion and show up to three guests on the screen at the same time.

That’s an interview with audience participation. Neat, right?

Each of those modes also comes with their own giant bag of cool features. The ability to show your audience’s comments has always been very neat. They’re like the chyrons that run at the bottom of Fox News or CNN. Except that they come from the audience and anyone can send one in. Screen sharing makes broadcasting tutorials a breeze (Facebook noticed that one.) Photo sharing lets you incorporate the images you’ve placed on Facebook into your broadcast, and on-screen updates mean that late viewers can catch up quick.

Screen shares at the touch of a button.

One of the neatest features though, is the agenda. That really lifts your broadcasts onto a professional level, letting you plan ahead and even schedule your entire broadcast in advance. And, of course, you can add a logo and change the colors to suit your brand.

When Geva Telem started using BeLive.TV to soup up his Facebook Live broadcasts, he saw his engagement rocket. Other vloggers and live-streamers have found the same thing. If you get into any trouble, you can watch this tutorial playlist on YouTube, but I doubt you’ll need it—or the full two weeks of the free trial to understand what BeLive can do.