How to Go Live with Someone on Instagram

Going live on Instagram with a guest is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience, expand your reach, and create genuinely engaging content. But figuring out the tech, the timing, and the invites can feel a little intimidating at first. This guide breaks down everything you need to know, from the initial planning stages to repurposing your content long after the stream is over.

Why a Joint Instagram Live is a Game-Changer for Your Brand

Before getting into the step-by-step technicals, it’s worth understanding why this format is so powerful. Unlike a solo stream, a joint Live session transforms your broadcast from a monologue into a dynamic conversation, bringing huge benefits for your brand or business.

Tap into New Audiences Instantly

When you go live with a guest, you’re not just broadcasting to your followers - you’re broadcasting to theirs, too. As soon as you add them to the stream, Instagram notifies a portion of their active followers that they’ve gone live with you. This is an incredibly direct way to introduce your brand to a new, relevant audience that you might not have reached otherwise. It’s an authentic collaboration that provides instant cross-promotional value for both you and your guest.

Boost Engagement and Add Different Voices

Let’s be honest: a conversation is almost always more interesting to watch than one person talking to a camera for 30 minutes. The back-and-forth dynamic of a joint Live keeps viewers hooked. It encourages more questions and comments because the audience feels like they're part of a real-time discussion. This format shows that you’re connected within your industry and willing to share the spotlight, which builds trust and authority.

Create High-Value, Repurposeable Content

A single 30-minute joint Live stream can become a goldmine of content for weeks to come. One session can be chopped up into multiple short-form videos for Reels or TikTok, powerful quote graphics for your feed, a full-length video for YouTube, and even a written summary for a blog post or newsletter. You can create a dozen different content assets from one broadcast, saving you tons of time in your content creation workflow.

Phase 1: Your Pre-Flight Checklist Before Going Live

A successful joint Live stream starts long before you ever hit the broadcast button. Proper preparation removes a lot of the stress and ensures you and your guest can focus on delivering a great experience for your audience. Here’s what to sort out first.

1. Settle On Your Topic and Format

What’s the point of the broadcast? Define a clear goal to keep your conversation on track. You don’t need a rigid script, which can feel rehearsed and unnatural, but a simple outline with 3-5 key talking points is a great idea. Some popular formats include:

• Q&,A Session: Answer audience questions about a specific topic.
• Expert Interview: Introduce an expert from your field to share their knowledge.
• Product Tutorial or Demo: Showcase how to use a product or service with a partner or customer.
• Behind-the-Scenes Tour: Give a collaborative look into your workspaces or creative processes.

2. Choose the Right Guest

Your guest should be a natural fit for your audience. Look for someone who:

• Has knowledge or a perspective your followers will find valuable or entertaining.
• Is comfortable and engaging on camera.
• Has an audience that aligns with yours. The size of their following is less important than the level of engagement they get. Someone with 1,000 engaged followers is more valuable than someone with 10,000 who are completely inactive.

Reach out with a clear, concise pitch that outlines the topic, the proposed date and time, and what’s in it for them (like exposure to your audience).

3. Test and Confirm Your Tech Setup

Technical glitches are the fastest way to derail an otherwise great Live. Before the big day, get these essentials sorted:

• A Strong Wi-Fi Connection: This is non-negotiable for both you and your guest. A weak connection results in a pixelated, laggy stream that will cause viewers to drop off fast. Test your Wi-Fi speeds beforehand.
• Stabilize Your Phone: Nobody wants to watch a shaky broadcast. A simple phone tripod or even a stack of books will do the trick.
• Consider External Audio: While not required, an external microphone (even the one on your headphones) can dramatically improve your audio quality and make you sound more professional.
• Find Good Lighting: Natural light from a window is your best friend. If you’re streaming at night, a simple ring light placed in front of you can provide soft, flattering light and eliminate distracting shadows.

Pro Tip: Do a quick, private "test" Live with your guest a day or two before the scheduled stream. This allows you both to check your sound, visuals, and internet connection without any pressure.

4. Schedule and Promote Like Crazy

Don't just go live 'cold turkey.' Use Instagram's promotional tools to build buzz. First, schedule your Live event a few days in advance. This creates promotional assets and an automated reminder system that Instagram shows your followers.

Here’s a simple promotional checklist:

• Use the Countdown Sticker in Stories: Create several Stories promoting the live stream and include the interactive countdown sticker. Followers can tap it to set a reminder for when you go live.
• Make an Announcement Post: Create a polished graphic for your feed that includes photos of you and your guest, the title of the Live, and the date and time. Make sure you tag your guest so they can easily share it.
• Ask Your Guest to Promote: The magic of a joint stream comes from cross-promotion. Send your guest any promotional graphics or copy to make it easy for them to share with their audience.
• Go Live Briefly Ahead of Time: A few hours (or even a day) before the main event, you can go live on your own for just 2-3 minutes to quickly remind people about the upcoming broadcast. Say something like, “Hey everyone, just a quick reminder that I’m going live with [Guest's Name] tomorrow at 7 PM to talk about [Topic]! Don’t miss it!”

Phase 2: Launching Your Live and Bringing on Your Guest

When the time comes, getting your joint Live started is fairly straightforward. Here is the step-by-step breakdown:

Step 1: Start Your Live Broadcast

1. From your Instagram home feed, swipe right to open the Stories camera.
2. Slide the bottom menu to the “Live” option.
3. On the left-hand side, look for the title icon. Give your Live a descriptive title so new viewers immediately know what the topic is.
4. Finally, tap the circular broadcast button to start!

Once you’re live, it’s a good idea to chat for about 30-60 seconds on your own. This gives Instagram time to notify your followers and allows people to start trickling in before you bring on your guest.

Step 2: Add Your Guest to the Stream

1. Once your guest has joined the stream (they'll appear in the comments section), tap the Camera+ icon which should now be in the list of bottom navigation options on screen.
2. This will bring up a list of viewers. You can search for your guest’s username at the top or scroll to find them.
3. Tap on their name, then tap the “Invite” button.

Your guest will receive a pop-up notification on their end. When they accept, the screen will split, and you’ll both be live together!

Alternative: Allow Guests to Request to Join

Your guest can also proactively request to join your stream. As soon as you are live and they’ve joined as a viewer, they can tap the "Request to Join" button that appears in the comment submission area. You’ll see a notification pop up, and you can accept it to bring them on screen. After your guest joins, you can also have other people join. An Instagram Live with one guest is sometimes referred to as a 'dual Live session', however, you can actually add more friends to the stream for an even more dynamic event.

Phase 3: Hosting an Unforgettable Live Stream

Now that you're both live, it's time to create a memorable experience. Keeping the energy up and interacting with the audience are some of the fastest ways to build your connection and grow your following.

Mastering Audience Interaction

• Welcome New Arrivals: As people join, say hello and mention them by username if you can. It makes viewers feel seen and more likely to stick around.
• Use the Questions Feature: Before you go live, prompt followers to submit questions for you and your guest using the "Questions" sticker in your Stories. During the Live, you can access these by tapping the question mark icon and displaying them on the screen for everyone to see.
• Pin Important Comments: If someone asks a particularly interesting question or makes a great point in the comments, you can tap and hold their comment to “Pin” it to the top. This keeps it visible for all viewers.

Guiding the Conversation

Your job as the host is to keep the conversation moving smoothly. Listen carefully to your guest, ask follow-up questions, and gently steer the discussion back to your outline if it veers too far off course. Most importantly, have fun! Your audience can feel your energy, if you and your guest are genuinely enjoying the conversation, they will too.

Phase 4: Maximizing Your Impact After the Stream

Don't just let that joint session disappear. In most cases, the post-stream is where the marketing power happens.

Save and Share the Recording

As soon as you end the broadcast, Instagram will give you a few options. Always download the video to your camera roll as a backup, and share the video to your Instagram feed.

Repurpose Like You Mean It

The video you just shot can live on long past twenty-four hours. Start by pulling out key moments. Find some two- to three-minute highlights to share as a teaser post, or a few fifteen- to thirty-second clips for short-form video. You also now have great promotional content for all of your other marketing outlets.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Trim compelling 30-60 second clips to use as Instagram Reels. Add captions and a trending audio track.
• Take powerful quotes from the conversation and turn them into eye-catching graphics for your feed and Stories.
• Upload the full video to YouTube and write up the highlights for the top of the description.
• If you are working with an editor, send them the raw file so they can edit it down into the best sound bites and short-form videos for all the various video platforms, from TikTok to YouTube.

Final Thoughts

Going live with a guest is a fantastic way to boost your social media presence. Each event you host demonstrates your confidence and industry clout while allowing you to share your success with another creator. It's a win-win, creating an event that benefits from the combined forces of both your audience and that of your guest. Once you get past the tech nerves, you can start tapping into this dynamic part of social media.

Planning a series of Live events is just one piece of a complete content plan. Those Reels, quote graphics, and behind-the-scenes posts you create from your broadcast still need to be scheduled and managed. At Postbase, we built our visual calendar and scheduling tools specifically for today’s busy creator, helping everyone from entrepreneurs to marketing teams and small companies plan their entire content mix - from short-form video to feed posts - across all platforms. With a tool like Postbase, it's a lot simpler to stay consistent without all the chaos.