Live video is extremely popular right now on several social media platforms, and industry analysts say it’s here to stay. People love the immediacy, intimacy, spontaneity, and personal feeling of live video. You can almost guarantee views on this type of content no matter what it is that you’re broadcasting. But here’s the thing, even though most live video will receive some sort of attention, to truly get the most out of it for your business, you must follow best practices and ensure it falls in line with your overall marketing strategy and business goals.
Why You Need to Use Live Video
Did you know that people spend more time watching live videos than pre-recorded videos? How about these stats compiled by Livestream and New York Magazine:
- 80% of adults prefer to watch live video from a brand than read a blog post
- 82% of the adults surveyed prefer live video from a brand over social media posts
So, why is live video so enticing for businesses to pursue?
Here are a couple of the many benefits:
- It is extremely engaging – while you are broadcasting you can see likes and comments pouring in from your audience. You can respond and interact with your audience on a real-time basis.
- It can build relationships – This real-time interaction with your audience allows you to build a relationship with your audience and improve your brand credibility and loyalty because they can see that a real, live human that they connect with is behind the brand.
So, what kind of content should you create?
- Q & A – Here you can respond to queries, and clear doubts resulting in higher engagement.
- Training – How-to videos are a very popular format. It works great for most types of products and services.
- Behind-the-scenes – People love an inside scoop and a behind-the-scenes video gives you the opportunity to showcase your company values better. It’s a format that most employees love participating in.
- Company announcements – Instead of using a press release or other written content to let your audience know about something big going on with your company, use live video! This will allow them to see your emotional response and just how big the news is, which will make them more invested in the announcement.
- Interviews – Let people experience these interactions live and be there in the moment with you (this is especially valuable if your interviewee is someone of interest and value to your audience).
Best practices for making live videos
Here are some recommendations to make good quality live videos:
- Focus your time and effort on one or two of the live-streaming platforms. This will prevent you from spreading yourself too thin.
- Practice makes perfect. Let’s be honest, your first go at this may not be a slam dunk, but that’s OK! The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll get with your style and presentation (not to mention your comfort level with all the settings and visual add-ons that can come along with it).
- Keep your notes nearby. Before you start your live video, you should have an outline in your head of the direction you’d like to take it and the objectives you’d like to achieve. I find it helpful to keep notes nearby. These shouldn’t be read into the camera, but they can come in handy if you need a quick reminder of the topics you’d like to cover and should be used to quickly refer to (but again, they should NOT be used as a script).
- Be authentic. Let people see the human side of you and your business. If you mess up, no biggie! Acknowledge it, laugh it off, and keep going. For example, while a quiet setting is ideal and most professional, if a car happens to honk in the background or a phone rings, don’t give it a second thought. This is a live video and things will happen. People will understand, so as long as you don’t respond like any bloopers are a big deal, they won’t either.