Article

Julie Cave
Julie Cave 30 January 2018

Live Video Tips For Your Business

Live video may well be the catch cry of 2018, and if you’re not doing it, your business may suffer if your competitors take it up. Video is a powerful storytelling medium: it can impact viewers emotionally using sound, motion and visuals, which in turn drives deeper relationships with your brand and its audience. Do you have video as part of your content marketing?

Live video may well be the catch cry of 2018, and if you’re not doing it, your business may suffer if your competitors take it up. Video is a powerful storytelling medium: it can impact viewers emotionally using sound, motion and visuals, which in turn drives deeper relationships with your brand and its audience.

Do you have video as part of your content marketing?

The Cons of Live Video

They are unpredictable: Technical difficulties, mess ups, cough attacks… anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

They can be low quality: You are probably not an expert in audiovisual production, meaning some live content can come out quite primitive in terms of image and sound quality.

They can be misused. Live video should be used to create and share content, not to robotically repeat the same sales message you have everywhere else. High quality content is what brings value to consumers and maintains a relationship with them, no matter what the format.

What Kind of Video Should You Do?

Educational videos: They don’t blatantly promote your product or service but reveal valuable and useful information to help your audience understand how their problem can be solved.

Explainer videos: They can make the perfect pitch every time – literally explaining (not just showing) how your product or service solves the problem.

Demos and testimonials: Share explicit information, step-by-step guidance, or honest customer feedback on your brand’s advantages and disadvantages.

Behind the scenes: What makes your business tick? Transparency is interesting!

Q&A and interviews: Host question and answer sessions or interviews.

Product announcements: Got a cool new product you want to launch? Live video is a great way to do it.

Company announcements. Is something changing with your company or changing for your brand?

Brand advocate testimonials. You can use live video to show customer reactions and testimonials to your brand and its products.

Events: Promote events of your brand by streaming them live to all corners of the world.

What Live Video Apps Should You Use?

Facebook Live

Facebook gives you the opportunity to reach out to people with all kinds of profiles, and, if you have spent the last years building up your community, you already have a great headstart. Facebook Live offers a fluid user experience with plenty of analytics and engagement data. Live videos are blended directly into the Newsfeed and are given a privileged position while being transmitted.

Twitter Live Stream

Twitter joined the live video movement by inviting their users to transmit video with the hashtag #GoLive. Just like tweets, Twitter videos are easy to share, greatly increasing interaction and virality.

Snapchat

Snapchat has had a live video feature for the past 18 months. Just like any other content on this network, the videos are temporary and auto-destruct after 24 hours. If your brand counts on a young audience, Snapchat can be a great promotion strategy.

Instagram

Instagram Stories has already attracted nearly 200 million users, to little fanfare, but notably has overtaken Snapchat in terms of users.

Don’t Jump In Without Looking

As with any content effort, your video-based storytelling needs to be supported by a deliberate, strategic plan. Among the components of your plan should be an outline of the core message you want to communicate, how you want the audience to react, and what the next steps are that you want them to take after viewing.

Of course, video may not always be the ideal format for achieving your marketing goals or for the consumers you are looking to target. Your story needs to be conducive to video. Don’t just jump in because everyone else is doing it – a thoughtful, strategic approach is necessary as part of your overall marketing strategy

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