Many popular social media sites now offer a live stream feature that allow users to broadcast a live feed of their day to all of their followers with little hassle. Instead of posting pictures of your son’s baseball game to Facebook, you can stream the game on Facebook Live and let all of your friends watch the game in real time and respond with comments or emojis.
“Going Live” has become a favorite activity of various celebrities, as it allows increased fan interaction with increased convenience. For example, rather than appearing on a talk show and taking questions from fans, a celebrity could simply go live on Instagram from the comfort of their home and respond to comments on the feed.
Further, most live stream features allow users to go live together, encouraging collaboration and enticing the possibility of exciting live streams. Two users at a concert can go live together, showing their followers and friends their own different perspectives of the show in the same stream.
But going live can be more than just fun with friends or followers. It can be a valuable tool for social media marketing and a new level of video advertising.
Since live streams can essentially function as a personal broadcast, companies can use it to directly address their customers. Take a restaurant for example. Any restaurant would want to post pictures of their delicious food to draw in hungry customers. But say they went live from the kitchen, then customers could watch their favorite dishes being prepared, giving them an increased interest to try the finished product.
Companies can also use live streaming to take their corporate events to the next level. Going live at a trade show can give customers a legitimate feel of the company and the people who make it run. It can be much more powerful to watch company workers take questions and interact with others rather than just viewing pictures of the event on a news feed.
Remember the point about celebrities using live streaming in place of talk shows earlier? Businesses can apply the same principle. Rather than laboring for coverage from news media, which can be particularly difficult for small businesses, they can just go live. Instead of waiting on the local news station to run a story on a new feature they offer, they can report it themselves with live streaming.
Live streaming is an exciting new aspect of social media and potentially a key method for businesses to address their audience and to showcase their best features.
However, as with any marketing tool, it must be used with a purpose. Simply hopping on a live stream with no plan can be damaging to a brand rather than helpful. A clear, concise and focused script or outline is a necessity. Also, endlessly rambling on a live stream can disinterest customers. Streams should be timed to appropriately discuss the topic at hand, but also careful to not overstay their welcome.
this post courtesy of intern Andy Hendricks