This article discusses how to incorporate livestreaming into your marketing strategy and why. It explores how it can help connect and engage customers and how businesses can use it to their advantage.
Staying on top of trends is a must for companies that want to remain relevant and experience growth. Wants and needs change, as do the ways we access information and the things we need. One trend in particular that has become widely popular is the use of video content and live streaming for marketing.
These days, live videos and streaming content are all the rage. While static content on apps like Instagram is still one of the top ways users find and access products and information, younger generations are turning more and more towards live streams to engage with followers and discover new products and brands.
Now more than ever, producing live video content is essential for brands that are looking to improve their marketing strategy. Live streaming has surpassed being a novelty and is quickly becoming a primary way users interact with brands. Integrating live video content into your existing marketing strategy isn’t just about staying relevant, but about keeping up with demands in order to succeed and improve your performance.
Why You Should Use Livestreaming for Marketing
If brands don’t use livestreaming to their advantage, they will quickly fall behind competitors and lose out on opportunities. Eighty percent of users prefer to watch live videos over reading blogs, and 82% prefer live brand videos to social media posts. Live streaming is no longer just a “cool idea”; it’s necessary for brands that want to stay ahead of the game.
Helps Marketers Reach New Audiences
With the majority of users turning to live video content, it makes sense that this is where brands can look to find new customers. When you are offering a certain product or service, marketers understand that it is all about finding your niche and targeting a specific audience to have success. With live streaming, new doors and channels are opened to brands when it comes to discovering new markets and audiences.
Boosts Social Media Engagement
Live video not only helps brands find and corner new markets but it also boosts engagement. Users tend to feel that live video content is more real and authentic. It feels less like an ad or a sales pitch and more like something they can actually relate to. Videos enhance the user experience by providing more genuine content for users to interact with.
Helps With Data Collection
The more data you have access to, the better. For years now, marketers have utilized data and business analytics to improve performance, and live video content is yet another way for brands to gather valuable data. By analyzing metrics from multiple sources — website content, ads, social media content, live video content — you can better understand where you stand and where and how you can improve.
How to Incorporate Livestreaming into Your Marketing Strategy
A good live video strategy is key to providing quality and engaging content. You don’t want to make it look like you are trying too hard, but you don’t want to entirely “wing it” either. There needs to be the right balance of professionalism and authenticity to capture your audience’s attention. Below are just a few of the many ways you can utilize live streaming to amplify your marketing strategy.
Dive Right In
While we did say that you don’t want to just wing it, there is such a thing as trial and error. The only way to have a live streaming strategy is to just go for it. You’ve got to start somewhere, and you won’t know what works for your brand until you give it a try. Don’t just upload a ton of videos at once, but a couple here and there to help you find your groove and what users respond to most is a good plan. From there, you can use what you learn to build a more thorough strategy.
Keep It Real
No matter what strategy you go with, just remember to keep your videos authentic. If they start to come across like too much of a sales pitch, users will swipe right by without giving it a second thought. Users expect truth and authenticity. They want content that feels spontaneous, relatable, and that genuinely benefits them. You want to keep it professional, yes, but there are ways to do that without making your live videos just feel like an ad.
Host Q&A Sessions
Users especially love live content that they can interact with, and live streams are the perfect way to engage audiences. Live streaming Q&As are quite simple — just choose a topic to help direct the session and then have the users post questions. Answer as many as possible, but don’t just provide rushed responses. This gives users the transparency that they want and allows them to connect with your brand.
Use It for Events
If you are hosting an event, especially if it’s exclusive — live stream it. There’s nothing that makes an audience more interested in something than experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out). Live streaming events allow those who can’t be there in person to still feel like part of the experience.
Offer a Behind-the-Scenes Look
Consumers love to know where their products or services are coming from. Live streams are a great way to give your audience a tour of your business. This allows them to see how your process works and the faces behind the “curtain.”
Make sure to keep your narration short and fun. They want a behind-the-scenes look, but they don’t want an entire history lesson or a detailed account of every little thing. Focus on the things that you think they will enjoy most.
Conclusion
The setting of your live streams is also something you’ll want to consider. You want to create fun, engaging, and authentic content, but you still want to maintain a level of professionalism as well. Your first few videos especially will set the tone for the rest, and you want to leave a good first impression. How the speaker presents themself is important, but it’s good to have a professional and engaging backdrop and setting as well.
The way you decide to market your brand using live streaming and video content is up to you and your team. The strategy and method you go with will ultimately depend on your individual brand and the products or services you offer. No two brands are the same, and you want your livestreaming content to be as unique to your brand as possible.
illustration: Social media illustrations by Storyset
Jori Hamilton is an experienced writer living in the Northwestern U.S. Her areas of expertise and topics she typically covers revolve around business productivity, marketing strategies, and web design. To learn more about Jori, you can follow her on Twitter: @HamiltonJori