By Esmée Hardwick-Slack
During lockdown, many businesses have turned to webinars and online talks as a way to market themselves. Live streaming is a development of this – but delivery is in real time. Live streaming is transmitting live video footage over the internet to an active target audience. In the past, live streaming was typically done on a dedicated platform such as YouTube or Vimeo. Today, social media has expanded the reach of live streaming to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Video is an engaging medium that grabs the audience’s attention and allows businesses to engage in brand-building efforts as well as selling products. It’s now cheaper and simpler than ever to deploy high quality video and businesses can deliver compelling and emotionally engaging content to consumers and forge a strong brand connection. The latest smartphones and tablet devices allow users to shoot high quality video that can be used to live stream updates, tutorials and new product launches to customers over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other popular social media sites.
The biggest advantage with live streaming is that it creates real-time engagement with potential customers. It gives your firm the opportunity to interact with the audience, answer questions and gather feedback in real time. Live streaming also gives businesses an opportunity to build trust with potential customers. Modern customers tend to be quite sceptical of pre-drafted adverts and marketing collateral. Brands that engage with audiences in real time are seen to be more authentic. When audiences have the opportunity to see a brand without carefully scripted production, they can see that brand as being more transparent and more trustworthy.
People buy from people. If you create a brand that embraces live interaction with your target audience, you can create more effective engagements with potential customers. In the current business environment, live streaming gives your customers an opportunity to engage with people in real time. When face to face contact is not always possible, live streaming can add a human touch that brings interactions with your firm to life.
Has live streaming or video content become a larger part of your marketing plan? Let us know in the comments or on via our LinkedIn page.
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