I went live on Instagram for the first time, and here’s how it went

Being a social media manager, I knew I’d have to go live eventually, and decided that on September 21st, I would make my Instagram Live debut.

On Monday, my post announcing and advertising the live went up on my feed, and there was no going back! I wrote up my agenda for the live on Monday afternoon, and practiced once through with my notes that night.

On Tuesday, I sat down about an hour before the live to rehearse and, ideally, calm myself down before I started streaming. After about one and a half run-throughs, it was 4:59.

I prepped my streaming station with a ring light, pulled up my notes on my desktop, and propped my phone against the speaker. It was time.

I haven’t presented in a while, and I started my live a bundle of nerves. I tried my best not to show it, though my boyfriend (watching from his phone and listening from the other side of the room) said I sounded nervous; I stumbled over my words a bit. I became noticeably more relaxed during the second half of the session as I got used to being live.

One reason that I was nervous, I suppose, was that I was expecting just a couple people to watch me, and I didn’t expect much engagement on my first try. By the end of the live, I had several people spectating, and a lot of comments and questions in the chat. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude that my very first live had the traction that it did.

I titled the event “Strategic Email Marketing for New and Established Fashion Brands,” and covered:

• Why email marketing works

• My favorite email marketing platform and why I love it

• How to design emails that convert

• 10 universal email campaign and automation ideas

• Email marketing questions from the live viewers

If you’d like to see the full live, check it out on my IGTV here.