Live videos marketing campaigns
The rise of live videos in the past couple of years has given marketers a powerful tool to add to their marketing armory. And what an excellent tool it is!
A live video creates a feeling of urgency and exclusivity. It nudges people to interact. Sometimes, it even demands them to do so. A live video for marketing is compelling on its own. However, it gives its best results when implemented as part of an integrated marketing campaign.
But, before a marketer decides to go live, he needs to figure out where to go live. For marketers searching for the best platform to share their live video content, a key deciding factor is to check where the brand has its biggest following. It’s also important to consider where the brand’s target market spends most of their time online.
Here are the best live videos for marketing platforms every marketer should tap into:
Facebook Live
Much like how Facebook is go-to social networking site for most online users, Facebook Live is also the go-to live video platform for most marketers. It’s almost a sin not to mention Facebook Live when discussing live videos. It is that prominent and beneficial.
Facebook Live is best for face-to-camera videos. It’s also excellent to cover live events like product launches, interviews, and behind-the-scenes broadcasts. Marketers can take advantage of this live video platform to reach the largest potential audience while experimenting with different video content. But, the best thing about Facebook Live is the marketer’s chance to choose a specific audience. This ensures that the content will be delivered to the viewers who genuinely need the product or service.
Facebook has also made it easy for marketers to gather analytics about the video during and after its broadcast.
Periscope
Twitter Live is Periscope, an app that the microblogging platform acquired a few years back. As such, the audience can choose between watching the live video on Twitter and directly on the Periscope app.
The drawback with Periscope is its audience base. While it’s a well-established live video streaming platform, its audience base is small (about 10 million users) compared to other social media networks. More so, if compared with Facebook with roughly 1.86 billion active users per month.
That being said, Twitter Live or Periscope is ideal for short, spur-of-the-moment live video streaming. It’s suitable for delivering breaking news or announcing contest winners. It’s likewise an excellent platform for product teasers or BTS clips that only take less than a minute.
YouTube Live
If there’s a platform synonymous to “online videos,” it’s YouTube. It’s the whole reason of the platform’s existence – to provide videos to its users. Naturally, YouTube Live is one of the go-to live streaming platforms of marketers.
YouTube Live is a channel that features current and archived live video streams. Marketers have three options for YouTube live video content: Stream Now, Events and Mobile.
‘Stream Now’ does what its name suggests. Once the marketer opens the live broadcast on the brand’s channel, the content will be sent out to the public, and YouTube will automatically start and stop the transmission using its encoder.
‘Events’ gives marketers greater control on the live broadcast. They can take a preview before going live. The channel also allows the marketer to start and stop the broadcast whenever he wants.
Mobile is, obviously, for mobile users. The only consensus with this platform is that the user must have at least a thousand subscribers to stream a live broadcast via mobile.
Instagram Live
Instagram Live is basically the Snapchat version of Instagram. Unlike other live video streams, IG Live videos disappear once the broadcast is concluded (unless it’s saved and will be available for the next 24 hours).
The video marketing content for Instagram Live is typically more casual than content for other live video streams. It’s designed for short chats, for teaser clips, and for creating a buzz around the product or service. The great thing about IG Live is its visually appealing feature. Because Instagram is primarily a photo-sharing app, IG Live also has options for filters which can make the streaming fun and colorful.
Live videos for marketing is a powerful medium that works well when there’s a structure behind it. Prepare the ground for the live broadcast, then use the live video stream to engage viewers in buying what the company is offering.