“Going live” on social media can seem scary and intimidating. But live streaming has plenty of benefits to make it worth conquering your fears!
According to a study from Salesforce, 80% of brand audiences would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts.
Why Live Stream
Here is a statistic that will persuade you to go live: live videos get more than double (135%) the organic reach of a photo post. When a brand is live-streaming, users know that it is happening now and they can engage with the brand in real time. For example, while on Facebook Live, users can comment, ask questions, post reactions and communicate with other viewers. This helps brands gain immediate feedback as well as answer viewer questions/comments/concerns.
All of these reasons will help your brand build a stronger relationship with your viewers, helping turn viewers into loyal customers. This humanizes your business and makes you stand out from the crowd.
Reasons to Live Stream
There are several ways you can utilize live streaming for your brand marketing. Host a question and answer session to inform the public about your company and find out what questions your customers might have. Tease an upcoming product launch to get your audience excited about new goods or services. Or simply show people a look “behind the scenes” so that they feel like an insider. You can even live stream an event such as a concert, conference, performance, demonstration or interview so that your viewers don’t have to leave home.
How to Live Stream
There are several options for your company to live stream, including Facebook Live, Instagram Live, YouTube Live and Periscope (for Twitter). The most popular, Facebook Live, has the largest potential audience with both desktop and mobile capabilities.
Remember that most viewers have a short attention span, so catch their attention right off the bat to keep them interested. Since this is a live stream, you don’t want to read a script but it is important to be prepared. Write down three to five bullet points prior to your live stream and remember these while you’re on camera.
Quality over quantity; keep your live stream short and to the point so that you don’t lose your audience’s attention. Most importantly: be yourself and have fun! Has your business hosted a live stream? What did you find that worked or didn’t work for your brand?
