How to Use Live Streaming Video to Promote Your Business

How to Use Live Streaming Video to Promote Your Business

Brands would be always looking for unique ways to communicate with the target audience and boost engagement. Live streaming is a great way to interact with your customers in real-time. Social media live streaming platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. are capitalizing on the trend of live streaming which is quickly gaining momentum. The live streaming industry is expected to hit $184.3 billion by 2027.

With millions of users across the globe, live streaming is a lucrative opportunity that you have to take advantage of. But the question is, how exactly do you do that. How do you use live streaming to promote your business? This blog will take you through significant insights on how to leverage live streaming for business purposes and the tips and tricks to be successful at live streaming. 

Live streaming is a marketing strategy

If you are planning how to set up live streaming events to promote your events, the first thing you need to understand is that live streaming is a marketing strategy. Just like any other marketing practice, you need to craft plans to grow and promote your business. When you consider live streaming as a marketing strategy, there are a few things you need to consider. Here are the steps that you need to put into place. 

Consistency

To broadcast live streams successfully, you need o to maintain consistency for your videos. It is recommended to broadcast weekly or set up a weekly show something that is informational and value-oriented. 

For example, Benefit Cosmetics run weekly shows by bringing important personalities to share their expertise with the audience. 

Sit down to develop a plan to broadcast live videos the same day and same time every week. This will help your viewers to tune in to your streams at the same time. 

Broadcast random live videos

Another important strategy is to run random live streams. Go live from your smartphone and engage with your audience in real-time to establish a personal connection. The randomness and spontaneity give your brand a consistent value your audience would love and value. For example, broadcast live when you are traveling to make your audience a part of your journey. This is a really effective strategy when you execute it the right way. 

Finding the right target audience

When live streaming for business purposes, you need to understand who your target market is. Once you identify the right audience, it depends on which platform you are going to use. Choose the platform that offers advanced features that allows you to run live streams successfully and promote your business effectively. 

Finding your audience is the starting point. If you have an email list or an active social presence, push out the content that your target market likes and requires. Once you identify that, you will start attracting the right type of people.

Where to promote

Social media live streaming is one of the common live streaming trends that most businesses and individuals blindly follow. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or whatever live streaming platform you use, make sure it has the features to support your streaming strategy. 

For example, if you are planning to monetize your live streams, the live streaming platform you choose must support monetization and allow you to make money from your live videos. The platform must also have powerful analytics and reporting tools to gather customer data on the reach and engagement with your videos. If you want to enjoy more control over your live streams, you can consider creating a live streaming platform for your business. No matter what platform you choose you to need to be consistent with your live streams to actually stand ahead of the competition. Additionally, encourage your users to subscribe to your notifications, newsletters, or buy your products.

How successful brands get great results with live streaming

Live streaming is different from pre-recorded videos and you need to put in extra efforts to get great results. Here are some of the strategies successful brands follow to gain a competitive advantage in the market. 

Promote before going live

One of the most significant things you need to understand is that live videos are more like live events. This makes it important to generate user interest before you naturally go live. It will give you great viewership in terms of numbers and engagement. Social media live streaming platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Periscope allow you to promote your live events ahead, which means you can run targeted ad campaigns for live streams. 

For example, on Facebook, you can announce the event on your Facebook on a daily basis in the form of a countdown to let your audience know that the event is nearing. Additionally, you can also leverage email marketing campaigns and use social media to notify your audience when you go live. 

Have a plan

Unlike produced videos, live streams are not polished. However, brands might be afraid of being imperfect, and hence having a plan can help with broadcasting live videos smoothly. Your audience would love to see the real side of your brand. Live streaming involves a real and two-way exchange which has to be kept raw in all aspects. However, create a plan on what to talk about in your live streaming and how to interact with your viewers, how you will be replying to their questions. Planning these things and having a clear strategy on how to handle the problem that arises in between. This will help you to manage your live broadcasts better. 

Formatting is significant

How you shoot your videos when you live stream is an important aspect to consider. For example, broadcasting horizontally is better than shooting vertically. However, before going live, you need to test to know what gives a good view. 

In some cases, when you shoot vertically, you might seem too close to the camera which might not be looking good or not suit your purposes. If you want to show more of your surroundings or an event, a horizontal view serves better as it will capture more on the screen, whereas if you want to have an intimate chat with your viewers, you can keep your angle vertical. 

Time is an important factor

The main point of broadcasting live to reach out and engage with your audience. The last thing you want to do is to broadcast live when your target audience is busy or not available. To time your live streams intelligently, you have to understand your target audience and when they will be active and online. You can use live streaming analytics to learn about when your viewers interact with your videos the most. Initially, you might require some test streams to understand the best timing. However, as you progress you will get a clear idea about what timing is right for you and your audience.  

Limit distractions during live streams

While live streaming is less complicated than other types of marketing tools, you still require a solid plan to make it work for your business. Whatever you do during your live broadcast will represent your business and you cannot afford a bad impression. 

Before going live, test your video and audio quality, your light, and ensure a good environment to make sure there are no distractions during your live broadcast. Make sure you don’t have anything distracting in the background that could distract the attention of your viewers. Ensure you have a strong broadband connection as well to ensure the smooth delivery of our live streams.

Be responsive

What makes a live stream engaging is the comments and reactions the customers make. If you want to make your live broadcasts successful, it needs to be a two-way interactive conversation where you have to respond to the comments of your audience. A very powerful way to increase user engagement is to engage with you through the comments that they post in your live videos. When you respond to your users, they will feel encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions about the topic you are streaming. If you feel you have too many comments to respond to, appoint a team to respond promptly to your audience. 

When you go live, have fun

When you broadcast live, maintain a sense of humor as a part of your personality or when things don’t go according to your plans. When your plan is not working, you need to ditch the script and take charge of your live streams. Plan, adjust, let go, and enjoy the moment. That’s the real and the human aspect of live videos. 

Display your company culture

Live streaming is a lucrative opportunity to show off the real side and company culture of your business and the value behind your brand. You can live stream an office tour, interview your employees, bring in industry experts, or give a sneak peek into an important event. 

If you have an important business event taking place in your organization, you can actually post a live stream on the topic. This strategy is a benefit on the long term basis, especially when it comes to capturing new customers and followers. As you display the authentic side of your brand, customers get to trust you and your brand. It is a powerful way to build genuine brand advocates and it will show your potential customers what goes into creating your products and service they get from you.

Consider the video length and delays

Once you start broadcasting live, it might take some time for the audience to show up. Hence, make sure you fix at least a minimum of 15-20 minutes of live streaming time. This will help more people to tune in to your live streams and engage with your audience effectively. One more thing you need to consider is the amount of delay in your videos. This is why it is important to have a solid internet connection. 

Promote through other social channels

Live videos don’t revolve around the live streaming platforms alone. One of the major advantages of live streaming is that you can promote live videos on social platforms where your viewers mostly engage. You may not get everyone on your follower list to watch, but once you provide a link to your live streams, it will be easy for interested audiences to watch your live videos again and again and share it with their friends. 

Analyze the results

As with any other marketing strategy, you need to analyze the performance of your live streaming and learn from the data you gather. It is important to check how many people have viewed your live streams, how many unique audiences you got through the metrics of the live streaming platforms. The more you learn about the preference of your videos from the analytics, the better you would be at creating more powerful live streams in the future. 

Conclusion

These are some of the tips and strategies to promote and grow our business through live streaming platforms. It is very hard to argue about the benefits of live streams in a digital environment where more people are looking for authentic brand experience and personal connections. Stay in tune with the live streaming trends to always stay ahead of the competition. The connection you make with your audience in your live streaming is an important aspect that would sharpen your marketing efforts. Businesses that are listening to the preferences of audiences can design live streaming content around the topics that audiences are interested in. With the tips above, it will be easier for you to start live streaming for your business.