Live streaming is a powerful marketing tool. Studies show nearly 64% of consumers more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it, and almost 80% wanting to see more social media content from their favorite brands. All of which means:
If you want to make more money, take advantage of live streaming content.
Four ways live streaming can improve your business:
1-Allows You to Better Engage Your Audience
Engagement is vital in any business. You need to know how to interact successfully with customers to make them followers of your brand. “Going live” gives you a chance to show a unique side of yourself and create true engagement.
Going live also allows you to learn more about your audience. Not only can your viewers ask you questions, but you can (and should) ask them plenty of questions too. Getting them talking about themselves helps to make them feel special, heard, and a real part of something. So, attend to your audience. They are your business, and the main point of live streaming is to engage them.
2-Expands Your Exposure and Credibility
Live streaming provides you with multiple chances to reach your audience on multiple platforms and, at the same time, increases your credibility. With live video comes the opportunity to show your audience just how much value you bring to the table. This can be your chance to highlight and show your products, or to solve a common problem for your audience. And, showing them how you do things behind the scene will also heighten your credibility in their eyes.
3-Increases Your Authenticity and Relatability
Live streaming provides a chance for you to humanize your business, increasing your authenticity and relatability. These two vital traits—authenticity and relatability—are both needed to earn your viewers’ trust, and to run a successful business. Without trust, you can’t expect them to stay, return, or become followers.
4-Creates More Versatile and Reusable Content
Because it is interactive, live content can feel more personal and honest to your viewers. Also, it’s a great format for repurposing. It can be clipped into short videos (for, say, Instagram). It can be edited into GIFs or infographics about your top-selling products, used as short information tips, or made into a lively newsletter for e-mail subscribers.
As you can see, live streaming can add a more competitive edge to your brand and business. So, if you want to better engage and communicate with your audience, while at the same time generating more leads and revenue, you should add it to your marketing strategy.
The Top Five Live Streaming Platforms
Since 2019 live streaming has grown by nearly ninety-nine percent, and many experts believe there’s no reason for it to slow down. In fact, many online businesses report live streaming as being one of their most important tools for marketing and growing their audience.
Many steps go into setting up live streaming, but picking the right platform is one of the most important. Although there are many live-streaming platforms to choose from, the one you pick can make or break your success.
First, What is Multi-streaming?
Before you learn about the different live streaming platforms, it is important to understand Simulcasting or Multi-streaming in general. Simulcasting is using software that allows you to stream on multiple platforms, and it’s an option many people pick.
However, before you go this route, you may want to think about a few things:
- Multi-streaming works for some businesses or niches, but it may not work for everyone. So, first you want to be sure you can engage with each new audience you gain from the platforms you stream to.
- Because, while technology makes it easier to stream to multiple platforms, that doesn’t mean it will be easy for you to navigate, interact, and engage with each one. So, you must decide which live streaming platforms will be most appropriate for you.
For example, if your niche is gaming, “Twitch” still leads the competition. So, in this case, it would be more beneficial to live stream on Twitch, and then repurpose your content with a YouTube channel, rather than engaging on multiple platforms at once.
Once you decide if simulcasting is right for you, then you can pick the best platforms. But be sure to check each term of service before you go this route, as many don’t allow you to use this option if you want to become a partner with them.
Here are the 6 most popular live-streaming platforms to stream from:
In February 2020, Twitch had over fifteen million monthly active users, three million live broadcasts, and a little over one million concurrent users, making Twitch a powerhouse of live streaming. If gaming and marketing (particularly to men) are your top priority, then Twitch is your platform. Over 65% of their users are male, and nearly 91% of their live content is gaming.
YouTube Live and YouTube Gaming
Did you know that nearly 43% of those on the internet use YouTube every single month? This fact alone should make just about anyone want to use this platform. Any niche can be found on YouTube, but its vast size can make it highly competitive. But despite the competition, YouTube reports that channels that simply host a weekly live stream can increase their audience by nearly 40%.
Instagram amasses nearly 13% of all live stream content on social media. As a result, Instagram Live is by far the best resource to share how-to and informational videos, from product breakdowns to cooking and baking. Unfortunately, Instagram Live can only be used from your cell phone, making it one of the easiest platforms to go live on, but one of the least customizable.
If your audience is younger than twenty-five years old, then TikTok is the place to be. While their main focus is on short-form content, they make their way into the live world with 30-minute sessions.
Facebook Live and Facebook Gaming
Last, but certainly not least, is Facebook Live, where, like YouTube, they offer over two billion monthly users. With Facebook, not only can you go live, but you can also build a solid community using their group and page features.
There are software sites that can support your live stream on multiple platforms. StreamYard is a live streaming studio in your browser where you can stream directly to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
Thankfully, there are loads of platforms to choose from when live-streaming. To pick the right platform(s), keep in mind your audience and your business goals.
7 Tips for First-Time Streamers
It’s normal to be nervous or to experience some kind of anxiety as a first-time streamer. Getting used to improv, talking to yourself and to strangers takes time and practice. However, you don’t have to wait a long time to make the journey a little easier for yourself. You can learn to become a more successful streamer even before you go live.
The following are tips to ensure your streams run successfully:
1-Have a Clear Plan and Be Consistent
Don’t just go live without a plan. Know what you want to do and what you plan to do with the content—after the live stream. Be sure to pick a consistent schedule and let your viewers know.
2-Test First Before You Go Live
Test all your equipment and other materials before you go live. Although mistakes can (and will) happen, testing allows you to be more prepared and professional. Also, you don’t want to miss viewership because you are trying to fix your equipment.
3-Personalize
Add something to your stream that makes it different. For example, pick different colors, fun graphics, or music—anything you really enjoy or that relates to your niche.
4-Keep It Moving
Keep the commentary and content moving. When new viewers show up, you want to recognize them and establish some sort of communication. This way, they are instantly engaged and curious to see what more you have to offer.
5-Be Yourself
Even if you make mistakes, always be yourself. You don’t need to look like the most popular streamer to be successful. Copying someone else will never allow you to achieve your dreams. Eventually, you will burn out and be forgotten, because you can’t act like someone else forever.
6-Instill Determination
This won’t be a get-rich-quick business. So, you will need to have the determination to keep going, even when you have no viewers. When you first get started, this will be common. But please don’t use it as a reason to give up. Instead, use it as practice and content for marketing purposes. Just because people are not watching now, doesn’t mean they won’t later when you edit the information and share it across other platforms.
7-Use Social Media and Other Websites
To become a successful streamer, you must take advantage of all the third-party options. First, create a website that’s easy to find and repurpose your content on other platforms, such as social media, article directories, online groups, and emails. Even if you don’t live stream on YouTube, it is still vital to create a channel, and edit your live streams to use for long-form videos later. This way, you can find your audience anywhere.
As you see, being live is really only part of the job. You need to do many different things before and after to build your audience and your live streaming business. Over time, as you establish your own routines, you will gain the confidence and experience to improve and run a better stream.
If you want to dive in to live streaming more deeply, I’ve prepared a mini-training that will give you all you need to get started, including a workbook to help you implement what you learn.
Get the “Beginner’s Guide to Live Streaming” here: https://iaplifecoaches.org/lives/
