Why using Live Videos should be your new content strategy?

While video content is surging ahead in 2017, marketers are going a step further with live video marketing. Live streaming has been here since past few years, but it gained notoriety with the introduction of Facebook Live in 2016.

Live video is set to outpace the growth of other types of online videos, with a 113% increase in ad growth yearly.

Why Do Live Videos matter?

1. Video content is taking the center stage of Internet

We are at forefront of videos becoming the norm in content marketing. Cisco, projects that video content will account for 74% of all online traffic by the end of 2017, and by 2020, 80% of the world’s internet traffic will be video driven.

Videos will remain the fastest growing content category across all devices, be it mobile, tablet, desktop at least till 2020, predicts eMarketer.

This is because 87% marketers prefer using video content for their websites because videos, being visual content, resonate easily with the audience than any other medium. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to the 10% retention when they read it.

The live videos, after their broadcast, can also be shared on the social media, generating 1200% more likes and shares than text and images combined. Even if you share a video on your landing page, your site is 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the SERP.

2. Live Videos offer Higher Engagement

As live videos are typically unrehearsed, they feel more authentic to viewers than the scripted and pre-recorded content.

Live videos are more appealing to brand audiences: 80% would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video from a brand than its social posts.

Live Videos also offer real time conversions. A video of a live event increases brand favorability by 63% according to Twitter. The above study also revealed that 67% of live video viewers are likely to buy a ticket to a concert or event after watching a livestream of that event or a similar one.

Live video elicits greater emotional reactions, with 25% emotional engagement rate compared to 17% in pre-generated videos.

Live videos are growing across all social media platforms be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat.

• People spend more than 3x times longer watching Facebook Live videos compared to the pre-recorded videos.
• Twitter and its content partners streamed 600 hours of live video content and drew over 30 million viewers in the last quarter of 2016.

3. Live Videos are affordable, easier

A Live Video is really cost effective to implement for social media marketing. Real-time mobile video broadcasts are absolutely getting easier and quicker with the top live streaming social apps like Facebook Live, Youtube, Periscope, Meerkat etc.

All you need is a smartphone and you can start live streaming. You don’t even necessarily need to have prepared content for the same.

The recording of Live videos require some sources of media including:

• A video camera (mobile, laptop or professional)
• An audio interface
• An encoder (Already integrated in mobile platforms; you’ll have to use a separate encoder if you are using separate video setups to record your video)
• A Content Delivery Network (or a dedicated ethernet/4G/Wifi)

How can your brand use Live Videos?

To create the right video, it is important to learn some tactics from the brands who are doing it perfectly well. Let us discuss these:

• Live Events

Mostly brands use real time live streaming to promote company events. These events can be product launches, conferences, tradeshows, seminars or other such formal events.

For example, Dunkin Donuts, a well-known donut company and a coffeehouse, took to Facebook and posted a live video giving a glimpse of their kitchen and creating their latest product -”A donut wedding cake”. The video in itself attracted 43K+ viewers with 500+ shares and 1.4K+ comments.

Even the major tech brands such as Apple, Google and Samsung livestream their new product launches now. This generates user’s interest and social media engagement with new products. This is true since:

4X as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than reading about it, according to Animoto survey, 4 in 5 millennials would watch videos when making a purchase decision.

Live stream of events also encourages the audience to join the actual event. Digitell says 30% of people who watch a livestream of an event will attend the same event in person.

• Behind the Scenes

Another way to boost the customer trust is to livestream behind-the-scenes videos. Offering users something that is typically off limits is a great way to boost engagement.

87% of the audience prefers to watch online vs. traditional television as it has more behind-the-scenes content.

You can share your production process or how your team works as it increases the value placed on the finished product. For example, General Electric used Periscope to give their audience an inside view of their facilities in Texas as part of a week-long event known as “Drone Week”.

Another example is of Turkish Airlines, which became the first airlines to broadcast a flight over Periscope, giving audience a behind-the-scenes view of the cockpit, crew cabin on their journey from New York to Istanbul. The video helped the company gain 5,000 new followers besides reaching out to a total of 4.5 million people.

• Challenges/Contests

Engage with your audience and promote your brand by running a contest or a challenge. Creating such content can lead to viral videos that are great for your brand exposure.

For instance, BuzzFeed started a livestream of their employees trying to explode a watermelon by applying rubber bands to it.

The video garnered more than 800,000 simultaneous viewers while it was streaming live and has since then racked up a grand total of more than 10 million views. Also, “#watermelon” ended up getting the most used hashtag on Twitter when the video gained popularity.

• Interactive Q&A

Live video is interactive so it’s great way to directly interact with consumers and answer their queries. Brands usually use Facebook Live to conduct Q&A’s or AMA (Ask me anything) sessions which helps building trust with your audience.

You can host such Q&A sessions on weekly or monthly basis. Make sure you choose a specific topic for each session.

For example, Rob Greenfield (a well-known environmental activist and the creator of The Food Waste Fiasco campaign that strives to end hunger in the world), organizes AMA live sessions occasionally answering humanitarian queries of nearly 800+ people.

This is great way to engage with existing and prospective customers. Facebook revealed that people comment more than 10x times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos.

• How to/Demos

Tutorials are the most popular videos on YouTube, and can be successfully implemented as a part of live videos. You can use live streaming to not only demonstrate how your own product/services work, but also show tasks related to your industry. This helps build your reputation as a helpful and trustworthy brand.

For example, Elise Strachan (a well- known author and a food host) shared a DIY pins video at her Facebook Page- My Cupcake Addiction.

Some general Tips to make engaging videos

1. Choose the right platform and tools

When it comes to live streaming, choosing the right social media platform is of great significance. For example, the right choice for a fashion brand would be Instagram.

Pick a reliable platform which offers a reliable service without any technical or buffering issues. You should ensure greater video quality, as it remains the most important factor for 67% of viewers when watching a broadcast.

2. Promote your livestream

In order to successfully use livestream marketing, you need to promote your event in advance on social media sites. Use a strategy to generate user interest in your livestream video.

Be sure to have a content strategy in place, as compelling content is the primary motivator for live online viewing.

Remember: Daily posting of videos will turn off your visitors; make it a periodic treat to maintain your brand’s integrity.

3. Generate Value for customers

Use streaming to create conversations, give consumers important information, highlight products and new technologies and to talk about emerging trends. The best part of live streaming is that you can interact with the audience during the broadcast. Take time to respond to your customer queries as this is an important aspect of live streaming.

If somehow, you fail to reply to their queries, respond to them when the video session is over as your video will still be accessible to the users from your news feed.

4. When Less is More

A key mantra of engaging more audience to your video is “shorter length”. The sweet spot for video’s length is between 45 to 60 seconds.

This time slot is long enough to grab the interest of your customers by highlighting the main points of your product. Viewers often tend to lose interest in case of longer videos.

Your take:

Getting to know all this about the live videos, I’m sure you must have made up your mind to include one in your marketing strategy. And, why not! It is going to be a tremendously powerful tool to grow your popularity and increase your revenue. So, shoot and go live now!

If you’ve had an experience with live videos, share with me in the comments below. I’ll love to read them all!

Guest article written by: Dami Oyez is the director of DGreat Solutions, a reputable SEO Company Adelaide. He has years of experience in Digital Marketing and a very strong background in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In his spare time, he enjoys playing the guitar, basketball, swimming, tennis, and travelling.