Things You Need to Prepare for Live Streaming Marketing

Several years ago live streaming was a relatively new phenomenon, simply a curiosity for most people. Today live streaming marketing has turned into a very common way for brands to reach out to their fans, as well as an effective way to generate considerable revenues.

The majority of the population prefer visual content to written content, because it’s more engaging and interactive. Thanks to faster Internet speed and mobile devices, it’s easier than ever to watch videos. Under such circumstance, live streaming videos become more popular as an online medium. Moreover, live video means you could receive live feedback, such as user-contributed questions or comments, which helps your audience connect with your brand.

Before you dive into the world of live streaming, here are some tips for the preparation of a live streaming. Although they may sound simple, they will have a profound effect on your marketing result.

1.    Set a goal

It’s good to start your live streaming with a specific goal, such as growing your audience, increasing your mailing list, generating leads or boosting sales.

Going live without a specific goal is a disaster. Your broadcast will likely be clunky and disjointed, which can do more harm than good to your brand. Even if you are lucky enough to have a successful broadcast, you may have no idea of why it went well — and you won’t be able to replicate the results.

2.    Raise your brand awareness

Live streaming is a powerful way to raise public awareness of your brand. By focusing on trendy subjects that lots of people are interested in, it is possible to deliver your brand message and present yourself in front of tens of thousands of people.

This topic should be closely connected with your industry but easy enough for the audience to understand, so that people will be willing to stay with it for a relatively long period of time. This could be live coverage of a large event, engaging audience in popular ways, or hosting an online event with several big industry influencers. You could cooperate with a paid influencer to expand your reach.

3.    Live Q&A

Live Q&A is probably one of the most fruitful types of livestreams you can do, meaning you give real-time answers to questions asked during a broadcast. It's a great way to interact with your audience and get as much information as possible from the audience on what they think about the brand, new product or service you offer.

4.    Choose the right platform

There are a number of platform options for people to broadcast their story live — each with its own pros and cons. The most popular platforms are Facebook and Periscope (in partnership with Twitter). Facebook far exceeds Twitter for live streams, and this gap shows no sign of narrowing.

5.    Collect data for future marketing efforts

The information collected from live streams, especially from broadcasts on social media platforms, can be extremely useful in improving your social media strategies. For example, if people have a lot of comments or question towards a specific topic during your Q&A session, you can cover it more in your future posts or blog articles.