Thanks to Instagram Live Producer, all professional accounts (which includes both Business and Creator accounts) can live stream with Ecamm. And don't worry if you don't have a professional account. It's easy to create one or switch your personal account to a professional account. (More on that below.)

Instagram Live Producer allows you to stream from a desktop app, so you can switch between multiple cameras, use external microphones, add graphics, and much more. This means you can level up your Instagram Live and really stand out from the crowd.

What's more, when you're using Ecamm Live for your live streaming, you can stream to multiple platforms (for example, YouTube and Instagram simultaneously), and you can bring Instagram viewer comments into the stream. This helps your audience feel like they're part of the show because they literally become part of the show.

Before we get started, you have to make sure you have the latest version of Ecamm Live. To check what version you're running, head to the Ecamm Live menu at the top of the screen beside the  menu and pick Check for Updates.

Next, let's make sure you have a professional Instagram account. In addition to that, your account needs to be linked to a Facebook page. Don't worry. It's easy to check and easy to set up.

In the Instagram app on your phone, head to your profile page, and if you see Professional Dashboard, you already have a professional account.

Tap Edit profile and check the section called Page. If you see that a Facebook Page is connected, you're good to go. You can skip the next section.

If you need to switch to a professional account, head to your Instagram profile. Tap on the three lines in the top corner to find the Settings and privacy screen. Scroll down to the For professionals section. Here, you'll see Account type and tools.

Follow the prompts to switch to a professional account. Note that these settings can always be changed later. Also, note that your page must be public. Once these changes have been made, you will now have the professional dashboard on your profile.

If you don't yet have your Instagram linked to a Facebook page, do this now. Note that this linking is not required to stream but will give Ecamm Live the ability to display viewer comments.

Tap Edit profile in Instagram on your phone, and scroll down to the section called Page. Tap it to connect a Facebook Page or create a page. Note that you can also link your Instagram to your Facebook Page on the Facebook website or in Meta Business Suite.

In Ecamm Preferences, go to the Destination tab and check to see if you have a Facebook destination listed. If not, click Add New Destination and link a Facebook account. If you already have Facebook added in, there's no need to do this again.

Once you've linked your Facebook account, click Add New Destination again, and this time, pick the Instagram icon.

Pick the Instagram account that you want to use for streaming. If you don't see it listed here, this means that it is not linked to your Facebook account. If you just linked your Facebook, and you don't see the account listed, quit and re-open Ecamm Live and check again.

Once you've picked your account, click Add to add the destination.

On your Mac, go to your Instagram profile in a web browser. Click the + (Create) button in the left-hand sidebar, and then pick Live video. Note that if you don't see the Live video option here, this could be because you do not have a professional account. (See the beginning of this article for details.)

Then, pick Public or Practice. Practice mode is great for testing, but note that you will not be able to test Ecamm Live's viewer comment feature in Practice mode.

Instagram will provide a Stream URL and Stream key. The Stream URL is based on your geographical region and will not usually change. The Stream key, however, is unique to each broadcast and must be copied and pasted in Ecamm Live for each broadcast.

To create a new broadcast in Ecamm Live, click on New in Ecamm's main window and add your Instagram destination.

If this is the first time you're setting up Ecamm Live with Instagram, click the tiny pencil icon in the purple destination area, and copy and paste your Stream URL from the Instagram website into Ecamm Live, then click Save.

Now, copy and paste the Stream Key from the Instagram website into Ecamm Live's Stream Key field. You'll need to do this each time you set up a broadcast.

You are now ready to stream! You can add additional destinations if desired. Note Instagram does not support scheduling a stream ahead of time with a thumbnail and description. If you're streaming to multiple destinations, you can still do that for other destinations, such as YouTube, but it's not going to add an announcement on Instagram.

When you press Go Live in Ecamm, any other destinations will be live automatically after a few seconds. For Instagram, there's still one more step before you're live.

After a few seconds, you'll see your video stream on the left-hand side of Instagram's Live Producer window. Once you see this, click the blue Go live button in the top-right corner.

Note that although you won't be live until clicking this button, the preview portion is being recorded in your Instagram archive. (So if you repost directly from your archive, it's going to include the pre-live content.)

When you're ready to end your broadcast, we recommend ending the stream in Ecamm Live first. (Click the Finish button in the main window.) After waiting for it to go dark in Instagram Live Producer, click End Live video there.

Note that if you end your live stream in Ecamm Live but don't end it in Instagram Live Producer, you can join back in on the live stream if you still have your stream key. Instagram stream keys last for 5 hours from when you first create them.

Many of the things you can do with Instagram Live on your phone can't be done when streaming from the desktop:

Set your stream's shape in Ecamm Live's Options menu.

Streams to Instagram can be any shape. However, most Instagram viewers are going to see your stream as 9x16 vertical, especially if they're watching on a phone. If you're not streaming in this shape, these viewers will see a cropped video stream. In this case, keep in mind that you need to really focus most of your stream on the area in the middle.

Use Ecamm Live's Vertical Safe Zone feature to keep tabs on where you'll need to confine content. You'll find the vertical safe zone in the Options menu.

Stream size (resolution) and frame rate settings are not so important for Instagram Live. Instagram recommends vertical 720p30, but other sizes work okay in our tests and will be transcoded to 720 for Instagram viewers.

When streaming to multiple destinations (for example, if you're also streaming to YouTube), increasing the resolution will allow viewers on the other platforms to see a higher-quality stream. Streaming at a higher resolution will also result in a higher quality local recording in Ecamm Live.