Livestreaming: How you can broadcast your business news to the world
Apparently livestreaming isn’t just for music festivals, celebrities, and video gamers. Many businesses around the world take advantage of livestreaming, creating live videos to connect with their clients, potential customers and audiences. In 2016, according to online marketing expert, Neil Patel, livestreaming was already a $30 billion industry. Companies who have used livestreaming to their advantage include Lululemon, Blinds.com, and Southwest Airlines.
In a bout of bad weather and consequent flight delays, Southwest Airlines turned to livestreaming to keep their clients informed and up-to-date. Vimeo states, “According to the Financial Times, 100,000 people watched the livestream.”
What is the difference between livestreaming and just posting a video online? Quite simply, livestreaming is broadcast live, video is not. Some marketers argue the former is more engaging and interactive. Viewers can comment during a livestream for real-time answers and response from business owners, CEOs, or employees. According to Facebook, people are 10 times more likely to interact during a livestream than they would for a video.
Vimeo Live did their own research with New York Magazine, and discovered in a survey of 1000 marketers, government employees, educators, and others, that “80% of them would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog.”
The possibilities for livestreaming are numerous, and can include:
-New product launch
-Live product review
-New brand/logo launch
-Showcase a new technology you are selling or using
-Hold an event and broadcast it to followers or global partners
-Use internally to connect with employees or partners around the world
-Q&A with the business owner or someone who advocates your service/product
-Give a “behind the scenes” look at a process that is unique to your business, or of a client using your product or receiving your service.
There are many livestreaming tools to choose from. The list includes:
IBM Cloud Video Streaming Manager: Good for talking to large audiences because of its cloud-based platform.
Facebook Live: Easy to access and free, you can interact with followers through comments and check the analytics after you have gone live.
Vimeo Live: If you want HD and the highest quality video, this one might be for you, but at a price.
Livestream: Another pay-per-month service that produces high-quality video broadcasting.
Busker : unique because it allows viewers to comment on content as you livestream, creating even more opportunity to build rapport with new customers.
Instagram Live Video —allows you to share video with your followers.
Others: Google Hangouts on Air, Periscope Producer , Bambuser, YouTube Live
How do you let people know you are going live?
It’s not the 6 o’clock news, where you can turn on the radio or the television at the hour and expect to hear all that is going-on in your town, city, world. So, how do you let your viewers know you will be going live?
For Facebook Live and Instagram Live, you have access to followers. Those followers receive notifications and you can create teaser posts about your launch, event, or whatever you are livestreaming.
Start the conversation on your business’ already existing social channels, for example on Twitter or Instagram. If you are already working on a campaign to market a new product or service, build hype and mystery over several weeks before you broadcast the news, product or service to your followers and existing clients.
Find others in your industry who might be interested in partnering with you to make your livestream multi-faceted and have access to their followers.
Are there marketing advantages for investing in livestreaming? Transparency is a big one—not just to differentiate ourselves and our products and services, but to build trust. Customers and clients are more discerning than ever, and building that trust is everything.
The immediacy of live video gives people the feeling of being informed and up-to-date. Like they are on the leading edge of something important or exciting that they can tell their friends about.
Greater connection . As mentioned above, because livestreaming is interactive due with the ability to ask and respond to real-time commentary and answers, it is more engaging for participants than a blog or video.
The question may remain: Is livestreaming really for me, or suited to my business?
Neil Patel makes an interesting point —Instagram is not just for travel photographers or National Geographic. Your business and its content doesn’t have to be high-gloss-magazine-cover-worthy to qualify for and be successful in livestreaming. It might be fun to get creative about showcasing aspects of your brand and business for livestreaming.
Try it out! It might be worth a go.
Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPhL_eAR1Qs
https://livestream.com/blog/livestreaming-for-business
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/11/top-livestreaming-tools-small-business.html
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297831
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/live-streaming-video-for-business/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9442-how-to-livestream-advertise-for-business.html
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-live-for-business/