Its Time To Go Live!

It’s Time To Go Live!

Leveraging Live Streams As A Marketing Tool For Small Businesses

The consumption of content through smartphones and the digital space has increased exponentially over the years. I mean, think about where your constant source of relevant information or entertainment is coming from? Is it the newspapers, billboards, and magazines, or for that matter, is it even your television set anymore? 

Your consumer is online at almost every instant for anything, and everything and the Covid-19 pandemic has globally impacted consumer habits on how they consume content. The pandemic forced every industry to go virtual! Gone were the live public events, trips to the shopping mall, and even your daily newspaper. All content went digital, and “Live Video” marketing has emerged as one of the most engaging content strategies for brands to connect with their audiences. What was once a novelty in the digital content space now has become a necessity. 

Live streaming under the subset of video marketing is an intimate, authentic, entertaining, and interactive form of approach for brands that have the power to expand their audience viewership of an event or a promotion by hundreds to thousands and connect globally. Whether it’s a music concert, product launch, fashion show, behind the scenes, or a cultural debate, the possibilities are endless. Real-time streaming events are popularly becoming the most common outlets for consuming content. Marketers shift their focus from archaea marketing strategies and embrace this broadcast format, which is now integrated on all social media platforms you can think of, from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, TikTok, and YouTube. 

Take a look at some of the mind-boggling statistical data if you are uncertain and unaware of their impact: 

According to a Cisco report, by 2022, video content will form 82% of Internet traffic.
Millennials are the largest group of consumers of live content. 63% of people ages 18-34 are watching live-streaming content regularly. (Neil Patel, 2018)

According to Smallbiztrends, by 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic. Furthermore, pages with videos are 53 times more likely to rank on Google’s first page. Unbounce tells us that using videos on landing pages can increase conversion by 80%.

According to a survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 47% of live streaming video viewers worldwide are streaming more live video compared with a year ago. Nearly as many (44%) said they watch less live TV due to live streaming.
82% of viewers say they prefer seeing a live stream rather than a brand’s social posts. (Tech Jury, 2020)

Today, Live Videos are a creative and cost-efficient opportunity to create a personalized live media outlet for one’s own company. Established brands are already tapping into this real-time streaming technology as an added element of engagement and interaction with their audience. We believe streaming is for everyone, whether you are a start-up, small business owner, a chef, an influencer, niche service provider, or even a company with limited resources. SO, if you are a brand that hasn’t gotten into this marketing space, you might be falling behind. (Give it a thought!)

That Marketing Lady here gives you a brief insight into how and why live streaming videos can help your brand grow:

Increased Exposure And Engagement:

The most significant benefit of live streaming for a small business is that it helps the brand connect with a larger audience in type and number. You can engage with real people in real-time worldwide without a physical geographical presence, just at a click of a button! This real-time engagement with the audience helps maximize and enhance the quality of the communication between the two parties, and the customer becomes a genuine part of it (virtually), which is not the case when you read a product blog or see an ad commercial; the content there is static, and there is little to no interaction between the brand and the audience.

Its User Friendly:

As a small business owner, it’s understandable whether adding another content marketing vertical is cost and time effective. In many cases, resources can be a limited affair. Here comes the beauty of using the live streaming technology! Hardware is inexpensive, and even with a basic smartphone, one can start streaming a live video. Third-party video streaming software is also consumer-friendly, easy to use, and available in all budgets. Your audience has access to your streaming on the communication channel as all social media networks are now integrated with this service. Of course, the creation of live videos is meant to be raw and authentic, so the audience does not expect it to be “picture perfect” anyway. This makes it more relatable and cuts down production value costs. 

ROI and SEO:

 Live streaming analytics is a great tool to measure ROI for businesses. The live streams are a useful tool that can help reach a larger audience, solidify brand association, and drive more sales. The data obtained from these streams allows the brand to measure every stream’s engagement levels, visitors, demographics, total watch time, subscriber growth, retention times, and multiple other metrics. This can help the company decide what is working well and what changes are needed to be added to the next live streaming event. Especially for small businesses and start-ups, the analytical dashboard can be vital in measuring the ROI. The goal of any marketing strategy is to drive sales and increase conversions. The streaming of these live videos on platforms like YouTube, Facebook Live, and other third party live streaming on websites help companies grow the number and type of audience viewership and attract traffic. This is a good sign for businesses using SEO for their websites, giving them more opportunities to discover their products and services. 

Brand Building:

The ability to go live in front of an audience and showcase your brand, the products, and services, who and what your company is all about is by far the most invaluable platform for a business to showcase transparency and build trust with the customers. A prepacked advertisement isn’t enough to entice the modern consumer; they want to relate to your product/service and your company on a more personal level. Humanizing your brand using live stream videos for your product launches and tutorials, Q&A sessions, behind the scenes at your manufacturing plant or an employee take over for a day at the office, influencer takeovers, event announcements, etc. are some very effective and creative ways a small business can integrate live streams into the digital content strategy to raise awareness about the brand and engage with the audience. 

Going Live is very rapidly becoming a crucial content marketing niche in the digital space. It’s needless to say that leveraging live streaming, even if on a small scale to start with to supplement your marketing strategies, should be onboarded by small businesses and start-ups. If you look around, more and more companies every day are jumping on the live stream bandwagon, and you don’t want to be left behind; this is a trend here to stay. Give it a try. Go Live!