Live streaming allows you to present your content to an online audience while establishing yourself as an expert in that category. We are fans of live streaming because it’s an engaging format and highly informative – which tends to result in better outcomes. Whether you are a huge brand or a niche startup, let’s see how live streaming can work for you.
Live streaming can be a cakewalk, or it can be a hassle. The secret is mastering a few basic rules of streaming, and doing enough research to know which platforms work the best for you.
What are live sessions?
A live session is like a digital alternative to something like selling tickets at an in-person event. It allows you to reach people across different demographics and spaces. You can conduct any event that you would do the in-person space on a live session. Ranging from cooking, performing arts, educational sessions, and even fashion shows, the sky’s the limit with what you can do in a live session!
With the outbreak of the pandemic, some of the most successful brands today have harnessed this potential in their favor.
Why YOU should be Live streaming for your brand?
Too many people are afraid of going live because they are not sure they look, sound, act, talk, etc well enough. However, just like public speaking, the only way to get better is to practice!
You can only host a successful Livestream if you make an honest attempt.
Let’s check out how going live can help your brand –
- Generates a buzz around your business or brand.
- Increases your social media/ youtube following which eventually translates to more customers.
- Increases user engagement across platforms.
- Provides you with an inexpensive and effective marketing strategy.
- Allows your product/ contest/ session to reach a wider audience than it is conventionally possible.
- Helps you to study consumer behavior and narrow down on your target audience.
- Helps you gain valuable feedback on your existing business.
Platforms you can go live on
You might be wondering, “Which platform is best for me to live-stream on?”. Well, it really depends on a number of factors. The platform you use can also be dependent on who you want to view the stream. Different audiences use different channels, so you’ll want to pick the one that’s most likely to draw the crowd you want.
Having a clear idea of your target audience will help you pick the platform which works best for you/ your brand.
Facebook live is an extremely lucrative platform for businesses. A Facebook live session reportedly produces 6 times the interaction of a normal video stream!
It also allows you to schedule your streams early and send a notification to your followers. Additionally, the Facebook mobile application makes it easy to Livestream from a mobile device too!
Some tips for Facebook live-stream-
- Go live for at least 15 minutes. FB wants people to watch lives while they are live. In order to get the most reach, make sure to stay on stream for at least 15 minutes.
- Ask an easy-to-answer question like ‘where are you viewing from’ or ask them to click on Like if they can hear you loud and clear. This will bring you great engagement and boost your reach as it will show your live video to more people.
- Consider using a Facebook service (like Live Leap) which will allow you to broadcast and notify multiple Facebook groups, pages, notify your audience on your other social networks, your blog/website, email, and even SMS, This is a simple tool to expand your reach.
Instagram is a popular platform for live-streams. If you are looking for fun and unconventional ways to engage with your users; Instagram is the right choice for you.
Some tips for Instagram live-stream-
- Instagram allows you to save a replay of your Livestream and post it as a story! This can be marginally beneficial in reaching consumers. Instagram stories are viewed by 500 million users every day- the highest story engagement among all platforms.
- On Instagram Live, you can’t label your video. As soon as you go live, type a comment with your video title or topic and share it. Then, select your comment and Pin it. This keeps your comment (with the topic or title) visible to all viewers coming on throughout the live broadcast.
- As you are Live have your viewers share the live video on their personal profiles simultaneously which will provide you greater reach.
Youtube Live
If you’re looking to boost revenue — which 75% of marketing professionals are using video to do — YouTube Live is one of the best platforms to use.
Some tips for streaming on youtube-
- Encourage people to tune in by notifying them in advance using posts or stories.
- Source questions from the audience in advance and prep your answers
- A lot of creators wait a few minutes to allow the live audience to tune in, which is a mistake as the replay audience will likely click away and not sit through “dead space”.As soon as you go on live, you want to be energetic, vibrant, and be ready to be ‘on’. You can ask questions or chat with your audience through this phase.
- When you create your Live Stream, think about how you are going to repurpose it. Download the video after live-streaming, add it to YouTube, share it on the other social platforms, and embed it on a blog post.
Things to keep in mind while going live!
It is extremely crucial to have everything ready before going live. Once you start streaming, it’s all about keeping your audience captivated!
- If you have two, you have one; if you have one, you have none. Always have a spare for devices you use for streaming. Make sure everything works well together. A good practice is to always keep an extra pair of cables and chargers handy!
- Keep your cables and connectors organized in such a way that you can easily tell someone elsewhere to find something. Messy and tangled wiring is a big no-no!
- Use Wifi networks as far as possible. In case you end up using cellular data, try having a backup plan, preferably from a different service provider. It is common to have multiple networks connected and ready as a backup.
- If something worked yesterday but doesn’t work today, troubleshoot the problem by replacing one component at a time. The key is to isolate and identify the problem. Your backup components will play an important part here!
- Check your internet upload speed at a site like speed test before broadcasting. Disable any data draining or battery draining apps running in the background.
- Set up your stream early. This will allow you to check the lighting, check your devices, and connectivity. Also, make sure to plug-in any devices that might have a low battery life.
- Use a tripod or a camera stabilizer to keep your shot steady.
- It’s a good idea to use a camera operator and/or multiple camera angles to provide your audience with a better experience.
- Spend some time with your camera operator(s) and let them know exactly what you want to see out of the camera ( like zooming/wide angles).
- Always go through your checklist twice. We cannot stress this enough! It is also good to practice to have more than one person go through the checklists. That way, you make sure that nothing is left out!
Conclusion
Live streaming is a powerful tool in today’s times. However, using it to your benefit requires planning and effective execution. It might take you a few tries to become an expert in streaming. The key is to keep going, keep creating content, and keep coming up with creative ideas!
Along with taking the time to work through your plan for producing and promoting your live streaming endeavors, ensuring that your team is on the same page is an important part of healthy, successful, and robust live streaming initiatives.
If you’d like to know more about social media and the trends check out – Creative ways Indian brands are reaching audiences during COVID-19 and Our favourite social media challenges going on during the lockdown!