How to Go Live on TikTok (and Set It Up to Sell)

Step 1: Start the stream

Mobile only for starting: open TikTok, tap the + (Create) button, swipe the bottom bar to LIVE (between Photo and Templates). Add a title — this is the single line viewers see while browsing lives, so make it a hook, not a label. 'Liquidating last season's jewelry, 60% off tonight' beats 'Jewelry live'.

Optionally set a topic to help TikTok distribute to interested viewers, choose a cover image, then tap Go LIVE.

Step 2: Set up selling BEFORE you talk

Pin products from your shop catalog before your energy goes into performing — fumbling for SKUs mid-stream is the #1 beginner tell. Decide your product order in advance: hero product first, bundles in the middle, scarcity item last.

Enable Q&A so viewer questions queue visibly — answering named questions is what separates a live from a video, and it's what keeps people watching.

Step 3: Session settings that move the algorithm

Duration: 60–90 minutes. Under 30 minutes, the distribution algorithm rarely gets going; over 2 hours, host energy drops and conversion drops with it.

Frequency: 3–5 sessions per week minimum. TikTok's live distribution rewards recency and consistency — five 60-minute sessions beat one 5-hour marathon.

Timing for US audiences: 7–10 PM EST on weekdays, 2–5 PM EST on weekends. Announce your next session at the end of every stream — returning viewers are the strongest ranking signal you have.

Step 4: The 5-minute loop (what to actually say)

Viewers arrive continuously, not at the start — a 200-viewer stream may turn its entire audience over every 20 minutes. Structure your content in 5-minute loops: hook new arrivals in the first 30 seconds, demo the hero product, answer comments, state the offer, tease what's next.

This loop structure is the core of how mature live-commerce markets run streams. Our full breakdown — with word-for-word openers per category — is in the scripts section.

The 15-minute pre-flight checklist

Before every stream, run the same checklist until it is muscle memory: products loaded and LIVE prices set in LIVE Manager; phone on power, Do Not Disturb on, notifications silenced; camera lens wiped and framing checked at eye level; a glass of water within reach; the written cold-open and product order on paper beside you; second device signed in to watch your own stream.

This takes 15 minutes and eliminates the four failure modes that end beginner streams early: dead battery, notification interruption, fumbling for the first product, and a lost opening. The checklist is also what lets you start exactly on time - and starting on time is part of the schedule trust that builds returning viewers.

Your first 10 sessions: what to optimize (and what to ignore)

For the first ten streams, optimize only three numbers: session length (hold 60+ minutes), peak concurrent viewers (the distribution metric), and comments answered (the interaction metric). Ignore revenue as a scoreboard - early sales are noise, and chasing them produces discount panic that trains your audience to wait for deals.

Everything else - revenue per session, follower growth, clip views - becomes meaningful after session ten, once the algorithm has learned your stream and you have rehearsed your loop. The sellers who burn out in month one are almost always the ones grading themselves on month-six metrics.