You may be wondering what exactly you can live stream as part of your marketing campaign. There are plenty of ways in which you can engage prospects through live videos. Here are the top 7:
Interviews with celebrities or influencers
We all are entranced by celebrities and influencers like Hollywood stars and supermodels. Interviewing a celebrity or influencer of such status can be a great way to drive viewership to your live-streamed video.
You don’t always have to choose high-profile influencers and celebrities as well. You can also showcase people who’ve appeared in local movies or TV shows. Then there are micro-influencers who a sub-sect community of prospects might be very well aware of.
The objective is to get a person who your target market will love to hear from.
Question & Answer sessions with entrepreneurs & authors
As with celebrities and influencers, a Q&A with entrepreneurs & authors is excellent fodder for live-streaming. If you are a B2B company, in particular, holding a live fireside chat with a business head, can be compelling for your prospects.
These days, companies like Penguin and Harper Collins are using live-streamed conversations with authors to promote their books. Even celebrity-created book clubs (such as Oprah’s Book Club and Hello Sunshine) follow the same route to promote their brands.
Live-streamed Q&A’s give readers a rare opportunity to interact with their favorite authors. This can make live videos a very powerful marketing tool.
Special announcements
Do you have a new product that’s about to launch? What about a much-awaited update for an existing model? Irrespective of what your new release is about, you can reveal it on live videos.
You can do a great build-up to the special announcement video by posting teaser videos or other breadcrumbs for your prospects to pick-up on. These types of teasers will increase the anticipation for your live-streamed videos. They’ll increase the chances of more people tuning-in to see your content.
General Motors is a great example here. The company live-streamed the release of its Chevy Volt EV on Facebook, which garnered a lot of engagement.
Most frequently asked questions – answered by customer support
Another live stream idea you can implement – Q&A with your own customer service team.
Customers often use social media to seek help from the brand’s customer service representatives. Often, many customers will have the same query. If you notice a pattern in the questions that are frequently asked, make a note of them. You can use these questions to host a live-streamed FAQ Q&A session with your customer service team.
You can use this technique to answer the most burning questions that customers have. You can also use this as an avenue to subtly promote your products by answering questions you receive on-the-spot.
While this technique may not seem as exciting as the ones above, trust us, they work. A live-streamed chat with a brand about the nuances of using their product – no one will miss it. Banks and investment management companies often host such live streams to answer questions about their financial services.
Vlogger collaborations
Vloggers are increasing in popularity these days. And the most exciting and entertaining content they post is live collaborations with other vloggers.
Take the collaboration between Mashable and America’s Test Kitchen. The objective of the collaboration was to launch a new cooking show in America. Entitled “A Night in Havana“, this 6-part series saw David Vos and two celebrity chefs cooking up delicious Cuban dishes in-the-live. Viewers were encouraged to follow along and cook with the hosts and finally post pictures of their meals online. This vlogger collaboration was a huge hit.
Live stream of important events
The availability of the internet and access to social media across the world has made it extremely easy for brands to live stream from anywhere. In fact, you’ll be able to get the word out about an event faster through live stream than any other medium.
From covering political rallies to showcasing popular musical concerts, live-streaming is being used by many brands to engage with prospects. You too can jump on the bandwagon and do the same. Identify the key events that will happen in your industry or which your prospects might be interested in. Then, invite your prospects to join you as you live stream the event.
Behind-the-scenes videos of your office/factory
People trust brands that are personable. The only way you can create such a personable image is to show prospects that you’re human too. What we mean by this is, you should show your real, human side of the business. This is where live-streaming comes in handy.
You can use live-streamed videos to showcase how gender-equal and inclusive your workspace is. You can interview your staff while they’re working, about why they love working for your company. You can stream how eco-friendly your production processes are by showing how you carefully source sustainable resources. You can even stream how your employees celebrate religious diversity through various festivities and celebrations at the office.
The sky is the limit when it comes to live-streaming your own behind-the-scenes operations. When prospects see such videos, they are more likely to connect with you on a personal level and purchase from you.
