Your Instagram account must be a professional account in order to stream to them from BoxCast. To convert your account from a personal to professional account, follow the steps below. If you already have a professional account, you can skip ahead to the next section.
You will also need to enter in a new stream key every time you go live on Instagram. This is because Instagram does not provide a static stream key to its users- it expires when the stream stops, and creates a new stream key that you'll need to submit to BoxCast.
Watch our walkthrough video, or follow the instructions below to start streaming!
Switching Your Instagram Account to a Professional Account
Start by logging into your Instagram account on a desktop computer, and clicking on the Profile tab on the left hand side. Once you get to your profile page, click on Edit profile.
Next, scroll down in your settings, and select Switch to professional account. It might be under a section called Account type and tools.
Choose to be a creator or a business (both will let you stream to Instagram), and answer the rest of the questions. Then your account is ready to receive a live stream!
Live Stream Directly to Instagram
Log into Instagram on a desktop computer, click on Create, then Live video on the left hand side of the screen.
Give your broadcast a name and select the audience. If you choose Public, it will go live to everyone that follows you. Practice will be a test that only you see.
Now you will have access to your Stream URL and Stream key. You need to enter this information in the BoxCast Dashboard.
To enter this in the BoxCast dashboard, you will login, and go to schedule a broadcast. Under Destinations, click on RTMP Destinations, and select Configure New RTMP Destination. If you need extra help with this step, we have an article about RTMP destinations here.
Select Single Use RTMP. Copy and paste the Stream URL from Instagram into the Server URL field in BoxCast, and the Stream Key from Instagram into the Stream Key field. When you are done, click Add RTMP Destination.
Reminder: You will need to do this every time you want to stream to Instagram because the Stream Key will be different each time.
Now that Instagram is added, it's time to go live. Start by going live on BoxCast like you normally would, and you'll see a preview of your stream on Instagram.
Once you are happy with how it looks, hit Go live in instagram as well. It will not automatically go live like other social destinations.
You'll manage your live stream in Instagram from this tab.
Once you are done streaming, you'll need to stop the broadcast in the BoxCast Dashboard and End live video in Instagram.
Streaming directly to Instagram is another great way to reach your audience and engage with your viewers. If you have any additional questions on how to stream to Instagram, reach out to us at questions@boxcast.com or through the chat, and we would be happy to help.
A note on 16:9 streaming
This technology is still fairly new to Instagram, and it appears that they are running regular updates to improve the platform. Based on our testing, it appears that streaming in 16:9 may end in severe crops your video (see example below). We hope as they continue to improve the service, this will get better, but for now, if you plan to stream in 16:9, be aware that your stream may be cropped.
Unfortunately, there's nothing BoxCast can do about this limitation. We will continue to stay on top of the situation, and update this article if anything changes.
View of full stream in BoxCast:
View of same stream in Instagram:
