Live video streaming has quickly become one of the most successful ways to engage viewers. It offers a sense of immediacy and excitement that draws views much more than pre-recorded video.
Social media channels are giving live streams plenty of attention, and if your business doesn’t act, you could miss out on one of the most spontaneous ways to interact with consumers.
Social media live streaming industry was $30 billion in 2015 is now predicted to be more than $70 billion by 2021. This is the tip of the iceberg.
Why you need to get into live-streaming?
Increase your reach: Live streams are no longer restricted to a single channel. From YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to video-only resources like Vimeo, live streaming helps you to reach your target audience, expand it and engage it better. The active social component of live streaming is what makes it so useful.
Affordable to create: Professionally produced videos are costly to make, and therefore many small businesses simply avoid making a video. Due to this every business, large and small, is making use of live streaming because it’s so reasonable to create.
Helps to create brand awareness: Unpredictable, raw footage may seem counter-intuitive but, if used in the right way, it can have significant advantages. These are as follows:
- Social media channels push live streams to the top of users’ feeds and notify more often about live streams than any other activity. You’ve probably noticed how you receive a push notification when someone goes live.
- Using paid ads, such as Facebook Ads, that link directly to your live stream give s you more exposure.
- Using an influencer for your live stream or letting him or her make a live stream video that promotes your product offers instant access to a highly engaged audience. A live stream hosted in-house reaches your followers but working with an influencer expands your reach.
Helps to build a trusting relationship with your audience: A Live video is authentic and looks to be more candid and realistic. It shows that your company isn’t afraid to be open to consumers and therefore more trustworthy and reliable. It gives you the ability to chat with consumers in real-time making your brand feel more reachable and human to the viewers. They become more likely to want to do business with you and recommend you to others.
Cut through the ‘noise’
Top media publishers and competitors are aggressively using social media live streaming. With over 2 billion monthly active users on Facebook, the market is still quite untapped and you cannot afford to miss to join the bandwagon.
The goal of marketing is to cut through the ‘noise’ or competition and live video offers a way to do this. For example, creating a live video for a product release allows audiences to build up a buzz. When the video gains popularity among viewers, your brands start earning revenue through free advertising.
Ways to use live-streaming for marketing
A behind-the-scenes look: Even an ordinary, mundane activity may be unusual to someone who is seeing it for the first time. Give viewers a tour of your office and introduce your employees. Brands like Dunkin’ Donuts went live and took viewers through their test kitchen when they wanted to create a buzz for their free donut giveaway. Live streaming a company event or celebration is an excellent way to make viewers feel included and share your company values.
Webinars and events: Use live webinar as an educational tool and allow students to ask questions and receive feedback from instructors immediately. Live streaming an event where you are a speaker is a great way to share your views with an audience. Your audience will trust you more when they see you as a thought leader in your industry.
Training and how-to videos: Instructional videos like how-to or training videos can prepare an audience for getting the most of your product or service. A live demonstration is practical and trustworthy, showing the amount of time it takes to complete each step, and what mistakes to avoid.
New product releases: Build up excitement about a new product by live streaming and gain the attention of potential customers.
Increase awareness for a community event: Live streaming events by nonprofits organization can help with fundraising efforts. For example, the rescue of 92 Yorkies was broadcast live on Facebook by the San Diego Humane Society, enabling them to raise almost $100 000.
Best practices to keep in mind
Successful live streaming captivates an audience and makes people come back for more. An unfocused, rambling live video won’t achieve this.
Define your purpose: You need to have a defined purpose for creating a live video. If the purpose of live-streaming is undefined, your audience will probably lose interest. For example, Do you want a larger audience?
This type of video is created to increase the email list. Perhaps the focus is on generating leads and making sales. Another best example of live streaming that you can ask yourself is do you want people to come and join you or do you want to take them where they can’t go?
Choose the right type of video for your purpose: Video content rules – from smartphones to desktop, from smart TV to tablets.
The type of live video you choose to make will be dependent on your purpose. A question and answer session may help you to grow your audience. If you want to make sales, a product video could do the trick.
Decide where you want to share it: Each platform where you can live stream video has its pros and cons – you need to do some research to see which platform suits your purposes best and which medium is the most popular. For example, some platforms don’t allow viewers to post comments while you’re live streaming.
Do not forget to promote it: Make sure to tell your audience to stay tuned for your live video. For the announcement of Game of Thrones Season 7 premiere date, HBO announced that it would live stream the event and they would burn a block of ice to reveal the date. For a live question and answer session, tell your audience in advance so they can prepare questions.
The right call to action: Any live stream video CTA must relate to your purpose for going live. To widen your reach, ask viewers to share your video. You can add people to your email list, by including a link to your landing page in the broadcast caption.
Maintain focus: Focus plays a significant role in keeping your audience hooked. Have all the materials you need close at hand before starting. If you want to reveal a new product, demonstrate with an example. Make sure you keep your purpose in mind throughout live streaming if you’re going to keep viewers engaged.
Don’t log out immediately: Once you have hit the end of your live stream keep it open so others can post and share the video. By displaying the video on your social media pages or website, you are increasing its life and worth.
Analyze your performance: Use analytics tools and take note of the engagement rate, views, and shares. See what could be improved and apply what you learned to your next live stream event.
Conclusion
Being live is all about interacting with an audience in real time. When broadcasting live, you need to think about where you’re broadcasting from, what you want to show and how it relates to your core purpose. It doesn’t have to be a huge event to be successful, but it does need some careful thought behind it to create more brand awareness and engagement successfully.
