In the past live streaming was limited to a dedicated platform, but the great news is that this is no longer the case. So you have experience editing videos and uploading them to popular video sites out there like YouTube or Instagram, but when at an event, do you broadcast yourself live? Like, in real time?
It sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Well, think again! You don’t need fancy equipment, all you need is a device that has a working camera and microphone. That could be the smartphone in your pocket, a computer or a separate device. Yes, I know, it’s that simple.
According to Statista, 63% of internet users in the U.S, ages 18-34 watched live-streaming content regularly in 2017.
Top Tip: To produce a clean uninterrupted feed when uploading and downloading a live video stream you need to make sure your internet speed is 10mb per second.
Ways To Improve Engagement Through Live Video Streaming
1: Share Live Events
Live video streaming an event can make your followers feel more connected to your company. You want them to be able to feel like they are part of it and enabling engagement. 4 times as many followers say, they would rather watch a video launch than read about it.
2: Host Interviews
Your employees or clients are people just like your followers, so why not show the human side of your company and create short interviews with them and get their personal opinions on subjects related to your company. An example would be to set ahead a daily or weekly event on Facebook Live or Periscope and interview an employee or client on a topic that has been covered on your website. Thus, pointing viewers in the direction of your website.
3: Show How You Create a Product
Engage with your followers by sharing your production journey. A great example of this is Dunkin Donuts, they live streamed a tour of the store and how they create their famous doughnuts. During this live stream, they received 1.4k comments which is a huge engagement.
4: Give a Behind-the-Scenes Look
Live streaming behind the scenes content makes the viewers feel like they are seeing something. 87% say they would prefer to watch online vs. traditional television if it meant more behind the scenes content.
5: Meetings
It is important to keep staff and customers up to date with what is going on in the company, therefore big corporations could live video stream any relevant meetings that might be of interest to their online followers. NHS England is a great example of this. Like many companies already, they live stream a lot of events, but on some occasions, they will also live stream their board meetings.. This makes the customer feel more involved and have confidence that they are not hiding anything from them.
Source: NHS England
6: Host Q&A Sessions
This is a great way to allow your online followers to get to know your company better, but it’s important to have a topic in mind before you go online. Choosing a pre -selected topic for the Q&A, instead of letting followers ask random questions is a better and less risky way to increase engagement. It helps keep the session focused, allowing you to filter questions and select the most relevant ones to answer.
Why Use Live Video Streaming?
Brands can use live video streaming to strengthen direct communication with their followers. Whether used by companies or individuals, live streaming an event allows you the opportunity to interact with more relevant potential customers and followers across the world.
Build Trust
Live video streaming builds trust with your followers. These videos aren’t supposed to be big budget works of art. They are transparent, raw, unedited and in real time, showing a vulnerable, yet trusting side of the brand. Tom More, founder and CEO of Slidely sums it up nicely when he said “Live streaming adds something in terms of honesty”.
Instant Feedback
A major plus is that you receive instant vital feedback. You can see their reactions instantly and they can comment in real time, allowing you to know what sparked their interest or what makes them to react to your content. This is feedback worth considering as followers are 10 times more likely to comment on a live video stream.
Easily Shared
When you create a live video, it is likely to be shared. It can be shared either by the viewers themselves or, if you’re on Facebook, through automatically generated notifications to those who follow your brand. 92% of mobile video users share videos with others, so it would seem silly to ignore it.
It’s Cost-Effective To Implement
Live video streaming is becoming more and more popular due to the fact that it is not expensive to carry out. All you need to live stream is a solid, stable Internet connection and a device with a good camera and microphone that can shoot in HD quality.
Creates a community
Live streaming is said to create a community. Due to the fact that platforms like Periscope and Facebook Live allow people to comment at the same time as watching a live stream, the followers you are targeting are interacting with each other. Thus forging a community. This will not only improve the follower’s online experience but they are more likely to promote your brand because of being part of a community. A community also creates trust as it is not something that a brand can artificially create, it has to happen naturally.
Live video streaming is accessible and beneficial for everyone, therefore give it a go, you’d be mad not to. You don’t need a perfect video, if anything, the more mistakes and raw they are, the better. This might sound silly but by allowing yourself to be vulnerable will increase your followers trust. Live video streaming is a marketing tactic that should not be left out of your content strategy in 2018. Who doesn’t want to increase their online engagement, right? With followers 10 times more likely to comment on a live video stream than a regular video upload, the stats speak for themselves. 92% of mobile video users share videos with others, so it would seem silly to ignore it.
Guest Author: Hannah Strain
Hannah is a Marketing Executive at Hurree. Hurree is a marketing automation platform for apps that helps engage your users and keep them active at a time that suits them. It goes one step further by automatically enhancing that 1 to 1 personal experience for the user without demanding any additional time from the marketer.
If you would like to learn more about Hurree please visit www.hurree.co.
