Why Should You Care About Live Video Streaming?

Live streaming is a relatively new marketing channel that hasn’t been in the digital scene for long, but it is quickly rising in popularity and gaining attention from businesses who are searching for effective ways of connecting with the audience and delivering content. Live streaming proves a lifeline for business as the current pandemic COVID 19 disrupts business models and consumer behavior. It is becoming a new normal channel to drive new sales. It is clear that live streaming is becoming an integral part of businesses that want to get a competitive advantage in the industry. Now the question is why should it become a part of your marketing strategy?

To answer that, let’s discuss the power of live streaming and what makes it effective.

It is still unexplored

Like any other new digital marketing channels, live streaming is still new and is unexplored by most businesses. However, within no time live streaming will become overpopulated. Even though it hasn’t reached that point yet, more brands are leveraging it for their growth.

Despite the infancy of live streaming, its rate of adoption and participation from major brands is driving the urgency to include live videos in their marketing strategies. As live streaming is here to stay, now is the time to define how to make the best use of this technology to expand your reach and build brand awareness.

Natural extension of video marketing

We already know that video marketing is one of the important components of promoting your business. And live streaming is the natural extension of video marketing which opens up an entirely new world of interactivity. Video marketing has now become more effective and interactive through live streaming.

Users consume live videos on your time

The most powerful feature of live streaming is that it is consumed on your time, not on the time of your customers. By this, you can ensure that you are interacting exclusively with viewers who are interested in your brand and the content you live stream. Live broadcasting helps you to automatically target audiences who are more likely to convert and follow you further. No other marketing channel is powerful to offer the benefits live streaming provides.

Ability to reach highly targeted niches

Watching live broadcasts of brands require more commitment from the side of your audience as they have to watch your live streaming in your time regardless of whether the time is convenient for them or not.

This characteristic of live streaming works as an automatic filter keeping unrelated and uninterested audiences away. As it is very unlikely for viewers who are not interested in the topics you are discussing to join the conversation, you can ensure that you are reaching out to a relevant and targeted niche.

Maximize your exposure

Live streaming can help to improve the exposure for your events. for example, for the house of worship and religious communities. Church streaming software gives you the opportunity to grow your reach globally. Your live events can be broadcasted to your social media audience and reach a larger audience and facilitate online interaction. Live streaming tends to attract more engagement when compared to other forms of content. They create a sense of urgency and excitement which makes the videos compelling to watch. If you want to increase the exposure further, you also have the option to run ads to reach an even wider global audience.

Takes less effort and time to produce

When compared to any other type of content including blogs, pre-recorded videos, live streaming takes less time and effort to produce. When compared to pre-recorded videos where you have to create, edit, and distribute videos, it takes just 5 minutes to create a 5-minute live video.

Real-time interaction with customers

If you ask why live streaming is as popular as it is now, one of the reasons is the real-time interaction it facilitates with customers that allows you to join in a direct real-time conversation with them. Whenever you watch a normal video, you are watching an old work which was pre-made earlier. However, viewers watch live videos as it happens in real-time. Not only do live videos offer real-time engagement benefits to users, but it also allows brands to offer support to the audience.

It is cheap

If you think about the costs to set up and implement, live streaming is incredibly cheap and completely free as well. If you want to broadcast live on a tight budget, you can leverage social media live streaming platforms so that you just need a smartphone and an active social media account like Facebook Live, or YouTube Live to broadcast live.

While traditional video production requires a well-configured software program, live streaming is accessible to anyone easily. Alternatively, if you are looking for a professional live streaming setup, you need to invest in a high-quality camera, a live streaming software, and special equipment. But still, the investment is cost-effective as the benefits are several.

The ability to reuse content

Live broadcasts can be easily repurposed to other forms of content whether it is publishing as a video transcript on your personal blog or upload as a repurposed video on YouTube and other video sharing platforms, the possibilities are limitless. Repurpose your live streaming helps to broaden the reach of your message even after your live stream ends.

Opens new revenue streams

Live broadcasts not only help to create new business opportunities by interacting with potential customers, it opens up new opportunities to generate revenue. You can also charge your users to access your live videos which will help you to generate extra revenue as well. Even if you are conducting a physical event, you can invite your online audience to participate in the event for an admission fee.

If the live streaming platform you use permits, you can make your live videos available to just your subscribers alone. It is a great way to give more support and offer exclusive content to your most loyal viewers. Running ads on your live videos is another great way to make some advertising bucks to power your services.

What should you live stream and why?

Making live streaming a part of your marketing strategy must be considered at all stages of the event including pre, during, and post. This helps to create a community feel and maximize the engagement of your events. As discussed, live streaming is also a great option to make extra revenue with your content. If you are serious about leveraging live streaming, you can think about how to create a live video streaming website as it presents lucrative opportunities to establish your presence in the industry and monetize your efforts.

Live broadcasts can be used in several different ways. If you are new to live streaming, you might be probably wondering about content. However, live streaming content ideas are not difficult to come up with You can live stream about anything and everything.

Here are some of the different content ideas to adopt to power your live videos.

How-to tutorials

“How-to” headlines are the most trending titles on the web and have the largest search volume as well. They work well and they resonate directly with the audience who are interested in knowing how to do something. Creating live videos to demonstrate how to perform something or use a product or create something. Each video feels personal as you share significant insights with real-time how-to videos with the audience.

Discuss about latest trends

By sharing the latest trending news and information in the market. You can position your brand as a source of relevant and valuable information about things happening in your niche. For example, you can exclusively broadcast live videos to talk about the latest developments in the industry to help people who don’t have time to conduct their own research.

Broadcast Q&A sessions

Gaining access to authentic expert insight is a genuine issue in the present digital world. While there is a lot of information available on the web it is very difficult to distinguish between real and fake information. Live streaming comes to your rescue in such situations. Hosting live Q&A sessions and interviews with industry experts to your audience is a great way to offer your audience an in-depth look at a particular topic.

Live Q&A sessions don’t just help to attract a larger audience; it also propels your brand forward. It positions yourself as a thoughtful brand in the industry. Conducting interactive sessions with a knowledge expert creates opportunities for your audience to engage effectively with your brand.

Behind the scenes

Everyone loves watching behind the scenes. It is interesting and exclusive. That is what makes behind the scenes content powerful. Viewers love getting to know about the real things that happen behind an event or what goes on behind the camera. This type of content gives a sense of authenticity to brands that use it. It shows your viewers an unscripted and original side of your business, making it more relatable to your audience. If you need more reasons, researches show that users are more likely to follow brands that create authentic content. If you want to give your community personal content, share more about what happens behind the stage.

Share product updates

Building an authentic brand in front of your audience means sharing more of your brand updates. Update your audience through live videos about what is happening in your business to give your audience a closer look at things. Sharing product updates in real-time also feed your users with accurate information about the opportunities they can capitalize on. You can also leverage live streaming to make a special announcement about your new products or projects.

Broadcast product demos

Product demos are the perfect choice to help your customers understand more about your products and service. By taking your customers through your products and their features, you give them an exclusive first look at products. Sharing a demo real-time is an awesome opportunity to offer your audience with valuable and unique content which they won’t get anywhere else.

Host webinars

Webinars are online meetings hosted to the audience in real-time. Hosting free webinars is a great way to attract viewers who are interested in specific content. When hosting live webinars make sure they are interactive and give room for the ability to discuss information in real-time. This is something that is an exclusive benefit of live streaming offers. Find a topic that your customers will find informative and create webinars around it. You can choose to offer webinars either for free or for a price depending on your needs and goals.

Conclusion

Broadcasting live events gives your business a fantastic point of differentiation. Be it webinars, informal tutorials, or Q&A sessions, it is not something that is being used by many brands. Live streaming makes your content accessible to a global audience no matter where they are. Live videos also open up the opportunities to engage with prospective customers who previously might not have communicated with you. If you could take advantage of this growing technology and use it to fulfill the marketing goals of your organization, you could successfully set yourself apart from the competition.