Why live streaming is a game changer for your business
How many times have you dropped something to watch late-breaking news on the television or hurried to the site of an ongoing drama? People get a sense of urgency when they see or hear about something that is happening now and might miss if they don't hustle, as opposed to anything they know they can see anytime they want. This "now or never" impulse is what live streaming videos focus on, given that the current crop of online users have a short window of attention. Attention rather than convenience is the name of the social media game for many businesses, and it is currently the best way to tell your brand's story. The good news is, raw footage of real-time events is easy to produce with so many free apps feeding the frenzy, including Facebook but particularly Snapchat.
Live streaming benefits for small businesses
Real-time
People want to be where events are happening, but that is not always possible. The next best thing to actual physical presence is to view an event as it is happening. You can still garner the exposure you want for your events through likes and shares, and geographical location is not a barrier. It also engenders a feeling of "wish I was there" among your live streaming audience, which will motivate them to go to your next event.
Cost effective
The beauty of live streaming is there is almost no cost to you aside from bandwidth, and you have a measurable document of your efforts. Many network service providers are providing business with bandwidth at low cost to keep up with the demand. All you have to do is make sure your camera captures high-quality videos.
Simple
The whole point of live streaming is to show what it is happening in all its raw glory. You don't have to hire anyone to take the video or edit it, so anyone can post a live stream video. Find a platform to set up your stream and you should be up and running in less than 20 minutes.
Engaging
One of the tenets of brand marketing is to humanize the business to engage their audience more. Live streaming does this effortlessly. You can cash in on your audience's appetite for the right now by integrating a chat box into your stream so you can respond to them in real time, or posting surveys or polls to gather their feedback for later.
Wide reach
As mentioned earlier, live streaming allows some segments of your target audience that may not be physically present to participate actively at an ongoing event. This gives them the opportunity to feel they are part of the process, especially if you make sure they can engage with you through chat, surveys, or polls.
Now that you know the reasons why you should use live streaming for your business, here are tips on ways on how to do it.
Show them the event
If you have your own event or participating in an exhibit or convention, you can stream the interesting bits of what's happening to your audience by walking around and showing it to them. You can engage them more if you get their feedback on what they want to see and hear. Have a running commentary on what you are seeing to make it a more comprehensive experience. Take special note of announcements and new product releases.
Interview people
A good way to keep your video content fresh is to talk to people onsite. It could be at an event when you interview an employee or a client, or get the opinion and feedback of other people at a certain site or event. It gives you and your audience a fresh perspective. You can make your interviews consistent with your brand by asking questions that reflect the content on your website.
Give them an insider's look
You don't need an event to show one. You can give your audience an inside peek at how you do business, especially if you make your own products. If you offer a service, you can also show them how you do it. Give them a behind-the-scenes look into your business, and they will have a better appreciation of your products or services.
Offer training
You can also conduct how-to sessions for some things that you do. For example, if you make business cards, show them how you create a certain effect using Photoshop or other editing software. You can also illustrate the difference between offset and letterpress printing. The point is to show your audience something they might be interested in knowing about your business, and be available to answer their questions.
Go on the line
An alternative or offshoot to training is to host a question and answer segment on your website. Post a topic for each one so your audience will know what will be under discussion. You can use posted comments and questions to formulate your topics. Have a regular schedule for this, such as daily or weekly so your audience knows when they should be online. The segment doesn't have to be very long, and it should have a relaxed format. Think of it as a chat session with your target market. It establishes your business as a human enterprise, and establishes you as an expert on the subject.
Conclusion
Live streaming videos is the next best thing as having your audience in front of you in person. Surveys show that live streaming is garnering far more engagement than television, which means you can create and strengthen your brand identity to an engage audience far more easily than video-on-demand, or other forms of brand marketing. What do you think about that? Leave your comments and questions below. It may just be the subject of our next live stream video!
Also if you don't have a website you could always build one. All you need is a domain name, hosting and a website builder like WordPress. There are lots of helpful sites with step-by-step tutorials on how to build your own website that you could use to build a website.
