There are now so many businesses using live video streaming to increase their audience and improve income streams these days.
Are you one of them? If not, it is time to think about starting to utilize video in your marketing methods.
In fact, video isn’t just restricted to marketing anymore. As you’ll see in this blog post, there are many ways you can bring live video streaming into your company that will bring many benefits.
But why is live video so big for business these days? Here are a few reasons using video streaming can be so beneficial to you and your company.
Reasons You Should Live Stream For Business
You Can Reach New Audiences
One of the biggest benefits of live streaming video is that it can help your company to reach new audiences.
This is especially the case if you now want to target the millennial generation. Young people these days have embraced streaming completely, and tapping into this media will help push your brand right in front.
It’s a trend that will stick around for a long time, so jumping on it now will help you get ahead of the curve before most other businesses stream.
It Helps To Build Trust
Were you also aware that streaming live videos can help you build trust with your customer base? It’s true!
You will find the filming live videos will cause a close bond is formed between you and your audience as there is a certain level of vulnerability when filming live. Your audience will see you unedited and they may even feel like they are interacting with you in a very real sense.
This is because of the lack of a heavily edited script, so your audience will really appreciate being able to see the real you.
It’s More Engaging For Audiences
Lots of viewers will also find live videos to be a lot more engaging. They will keep hold of your audience’s attention for a lot longer than many other forms of media. It’s live TV – anything could happen!
You’ll find that you can engage an audience of people who aren’t keen on watching videos that are too professional and heavily scripted – they prefer the spontaneity of live videos!
Videos Are Easy To Share
Sharing videos with a very wide audience is also easy these days. In fact, it will be easy for your audience to share the videos for you, especially on social media.
You just need to post a video onto Twitter and before too long, people will retweet it to their followers.
If people like what they see, then there’s a chance you could go viral and capture a large audience, which could cause a lot of new followers for you!
How To Use Live Video
So, how can your company really benefit the most from using live video streaming? Well, I’ve already briefly touched on the fact that you can use it as part of your marketing strategy, but that isn’t the only way to use it.
Here are some other great options you might want to think about:
Share Live Events
Lots of business owners like to video events they go to. This gives them the chance to share the event in real-time with people who are interested.
For instance, if you are at a conference, it could be a good idea to document your time there with live video so that those who couldn’t make it can still get in on the action. You might also want to live stream from a product launch.
This can be a big marketing plug for you, as it will help to build excitement for your target brand audience and customers.
Show Customers And Clients Behind The Scenes
Some companies like to take their customers behind the scenes. This will really help the trust that your customers have for your company as you are showing them you trust them by showing them things that other businesses might keep a secret.
You can show them what happens during the production process of all your products, for instance.
This is especially good if you make eco-friendly products as it gives you the chance to show off how sustainable all the materials and processes you use in the production method are.
Carry Out Interviews
Do you have little time to fit in face-to-face interviews with some applicants for an open job position at your company? Or do they live far from your office?
If so, don’t worry. You could carry out the interview by using live video methods or you might want to live stream some Q&As with your current employees.
This gives all your customers the chance to meet the people who work for you and who create their products. Again, this is a great way to show the public behind the scenes of your company.
Carry Out Training Sessions
Another way to interact with your audience is to carry out online training sessions. You can then live stream the session, so they get all the benefits of face-to-face training even though they won’t be with you in person.
Lots of people use these streamed training sessions as teasers. If you don’t tell your audience everything that they want to know, then they will be a lot more likely to buy several sessions from you.
Many companies find that giving away the first taste one for free is a great way to sell even more of their webinars and online training sessions.
Do Some Q&A Sessions
I’m sure that your customers will want to know everything about you.
Why did you set up the business in the first place? What do you enjoy about being an entrepreneur? What drives and motivates you?
Live streaming a Q&A session gives you the chance to answer all of your audience’s questions in real time even if they live in a different country to you.
How To Get Over The Fears Of Live Streaming?
Live streaming a video can be quite a daunting challenge, especially if you have done nothing like it before. This is one thing that puts a few people off live streaming altogether.
They get worried about possible embarrassing themselves in front of such a large audience, or end up stressed about how they will come across on the camera. Those aren’t the only worries that people have but, thankfully, most worries can be quickly overcome.
Here are some main things that stress people out about live streaming, and what you can do about them:
Practice
Practice, practice, and practice more! We all know that practice makes perfect, and making sure you try your hand at some live streaming before you go in front of a big audience will really help you out.
Plus, this gives you the chance to make sure that all of your streaming equipment is correctly working!
So, why not practice your stream on your own first. This gives you the chance to nail what you want to say. Then, you can practice streaming it in front of some of your colleagues. They will watch you and give you tips on your performance.
Have Some Notes With You
You won’t have a script for your stream, but it’s a good idea to take a few notes with you. These can just be a short bullet point list of the things you want to say in the video. That way, there is no risk of you forgetting anything or being lost for words.
Make sure the list isn’t too detailed, as you could then end up reading from it, which could look like you’re reading from a script. Keep it brief so that everything you say sounds natural and spontaneous.
Remember To Pause
It’s easy to babble on when we know that we are being watched. This isn’t always a good idea, though, as it may seem to your audience like you are trying to rush to the end of what you have to say.
Plus, you might be a lot more likely to end up tripping over your words. So, remember to pause after every few sentences.
This will slow you down and give you a chance to take a breather, and giving your audience time to take in exactly what you’ve just said.
Publicise It Widely
Worried no one will watch you? That won’t be the case if you publicize it widely for a few weeks before you stream the video.
If you post about it on social media, you’ll be able to get a lot of your followers on board.
Good luck with your live video streaming!