Live streaming is one of today’s most versatile and effective digital marketing strategies. An effective live stream can reach millions of viewers across the globe, effectively expanding a business’s brand recognition and reach while increasing the overall value the business provides to the customer. The great thing about live streaming is that there are hundreds of live-streaming platforms available for everything from webinars to product how-tos and Q&As and beyond.
So, you want to learn to live stream like a pro? Luckily, live streaming is easy when you have an understanding of the basics. Even if it’s your first time broadcasting a stream, there’s a good chance you’ve had some experience with live streaming via social media platforms or even gaming platforms like Twitch. YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Instagram all offer their own take on live streaming, but when it comes to live streaming for business, these platforms can be a bit too casual. We’ll focus on professional live streaming services like Vast Conference for this article.
What is Live Streaming?
Live streaming is a type of digital live video content that businesses leverage to host all kinds of events. These can include:
- Product Demonstrations – Showing customers a tutorial on how to use or troubleshoot new products in real-time
- Q&As – Customers can ask questions about the business, its products and services, or the industry, and get answers in real-time
- Industry Expert Interviews – Businesses can interview industry experts in real-time to speak on behalf of the efficacy of the business’s products or services as they stand against competitors
- Product Launches – Businesses can launch new products on video in real-time to show customers the features, cost, and quality of a product before it hits store shelves
- Customer Support – Businesses can host weekly support live streams to offer troubleshooting help or advice on how to best use the business’s products
Benefits of Live Streaming
Live streaming is a versatile tool that offers benefits to businesses of all sizes. Whether it’s a web-based brand or the brand has roots in brick-and-mortar locations, live streaming events can help drive traffic, increase brand awareness, and more. Here are some benefits of using live streaming.
Reaching Wider Audiences
Live streaming is built for providing real-time value to the viewer, and with diverse and accessible platforms. It’s become one of the most popular kinds of web content for reaching audiences. Many web streaming platforms integrate directly with a business so a company can stream content directly from their own website. Or businesses can connect via social media platforms to reach their followers with Q&As or product launches in real-time.
With video encoding software, live-streamed content can be compressed to meet any bandwidth needs, making it accessible to both desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. This also means that customers in places where high-speed Wi-Fi isn’t the standard can still enjoy the live content in a good resolution.
Building Personal Connections
Brand authenticity is something that customers want these days. The old days of simply advertising to a customer are long gone, and the average consumer wants something of value—and not just monetary value—from their favorite brands. They want to feel like people instead of numbers, and the best way to do that is to interact with customers and get to know them.
Live streaming is one of the best ways to get to know customers and show that the brand is genuine and willing to work to improve the customer experience. When customers know they can ask questions on the live stream and get answers in real-time, it proves that their favorite brand actually wants to hear and listen to what they have to say.
Around 57% of consumers believe that less than half of all brands produce content that feels authentic. Authenticity gives the brand a personality and makes it more of a friend than a hollow entity that just wants to sell a product. Businesses are leveraging live streams across the globe to draw customer attention and increase their overall authenticity through transparency and real-time value.
Time and Cost Savings
The time and cost aspect of producing high-quality video content on a regular basis can be overwhelming for any brand. Video tools, streaming platforms, and the consistency of a dedicated video crew, along with editors and scriptwriters, can add up to thousands of marketing dollars. Live streaming is a solution to this problem.
With live streaming, all you really need is good equipment and great live streaming software. Hosting live events weekly can produce enough high-quality video content for a website, social media page, or both. And since that video content is stored on the cloud, businesses can recycle it or edit out the best parts to turn into standard web content.
Ease and Convenience
One of the most enticing benefits of live web content is that it’s both easy and convenient. With a simple camera setup, a business can produce several pieces of viable web content each week. That web content can act as a landing page or even an interactive ad for the brand and its products.
A troubleshooting live stream hosted once per week can even help reduce the need for a dedicated help desk. If you run a troubleshooting live stream for just a few hours each week, customers will know that their questions will be answered in real-time instead of waiting on a phone queue.
What You’ll Need to Start Live Streaming
Although a mobile device is a decent temporary option for live streaming until you get new equipment, a business that invests in video and audio equipment can maximize the profitability of every live stream by providing higher-quality content. Consider streaming in full HD resolution. To start streaming, a business should acquire a few tools.
1. Audio and Video Equipment
Successful audio and video content is the backbone of the streaming experience. Without the right hardware, your video feed can be choppy and the audio garbled, which disrupts the message and makes the live stream less effective.
Webcams, DSLR cameras, and camcorders are viable options for video capture. Webcams should produce a minimum of 720p to be considered “high definition”. It may be a good idea to hire a professional videographer to help produce the live stream if you’re not familiar with lenses, lighting, and other video production techniques.
Audio equipment includes your microphone and any audio devices you’ll use during the stream.
2. A Video Encoder
A video encoder is one of the most important tools to have for a successful live stream. The encoder is responsible for compressing the video into a digital format to send across the web. Video compression helps ensure quality and consistency for the video. With a video encoder, people from across the globe will be able to watch the live stream, and compression also allows for uploads to platforms like YouTube or the business’s website.
Encoding software can be easily updated when a new version or upgrade is available. Professional broadcasters usually rely on a hardware encoder.
3. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) or Live Streaming Platform
While there are many free options for live streaming available, including some social media platforms, businesses can benefit from the customization and security that a CDN or live streaming service can offer. Where free platforms can restrict the user to limited tools of the service, CDNs or live stream platforms customize the experience for the brand.
A professional live streaming platform allows a business to create invitations, RSVPs for data collection, event landing pages, and brand their live streams with logos and other company information.
Choosing a Live Streaming Platform
Choosing a live streaming platform means first looking at what you need or expect from the live stream. Are you looking to create webinars on a regular basis? Are you hosting customer discussions or Q&As? Most streaming platforms include basic features like custom videos, mute and player controls, and third-party website or software integration. But choosing the right one for your business depends on these factors.
- Need – What are you using your live stream platform for? Do you need third-party integration? Event moderators? What are the goals you hope to accomplish by leveraging live streams?
- Price – The price of your live streaming platform affects the company’s bottom line. If you don’t feel you’re getting a good ROI from the platform, it wasn’t a good investment. Check prices and compare among competitors to see which offers the best feature-to-price ratio within the business budget.
- Features – With so many features available on live streaming platforms, it’s a challenge to know what you need and what is mere bells and whistles. Advanced features like analytics aren’t necessarily needed, but they’re helpful for narrowing down your audience and creating message-specific content. Look closer at what the business needs as far as functionalities to help determine your budget.
- Audience – The audience is also a factor when choosing a live stream platform. Businesses who simply engage with customers on a friendly basis for Q&A-style interactions may want to use free services. Businesses who plan to create webinars, product demonstrations, and other advanced video content should leverage a paid service to maximize their content and reach.
4. Stable Internet Connection (Or Enough Mobile Data)
One of the biggest problems a live stream can run into is an unstable connection. Even with the best video and audio equipment, the latest encoder, and the best live streaming platform, a live stream can be ruined by a poor connection.
If the business is live streaming often, it can put stress on the network’s bandwidth. It’s helpful to run a few tests before your first live stream to determine if the network needs an upgrade. This investment will pay dividends later when you’re streaming high-definition content to viewers across the globe.
Live Streaming Tips: A Checklist Before You Go Live
Before you go live, it’s important to double-check everything to make sure the live stream goes smoothly and keeps customers engaged. Here’s a checklist to consider before starting your first or 100th live stream.
1. Pick Your Platform
Choose the platform you’ll be using for this live stream. Maybe you’re going to produce a webinar, so you’ll need to use your paid service for maximum quality. Off-the-cuff Q&A sessions might benefit from a free platform like social media.
2. Plan Your Live Stream (a.k.a. Create A Script)
Every good live stream starts with a plan, which can include a written script. This guides the content and provides a road map for the viewer. When you’re writing your script, be sure to include answers to potential questions. It’s a good idea to read over the content and ask questions from an audience perspective for greater clarity.
You can break the live stream up into sections to make it easier to plan and to allow for breaks between important points. This helps drive audience engagement by giving everyone a break for a few minutes before tackling the next content block.
3. Promote Your Live Stream
Promotion is a crucial step in creating a live stream because it’s how you get the word out to potential viewers. Promotions on social media can encourage your current followers to tune in, and email promotions to current and potential customers serve as a written reminder of the event.
Include the important details of the live stream in the promotion, including a link to the stream, the content you’ll be discussing, and a point of contact for questions. Determine if you want to include an RSVP to capture audience information and also maintain control of attendees.
4. Test Everything
Before you start streaming, make sure to properly configure for each piece of equipment and software you’ll be using and troubleshoot any issues ahead of the stream. This helps avoid interruptions during the stream and ensures all of your equipment is in working order. Engagement can drop significantly when a live stream host has to stop and fix a hardware or software issue.
Testing also includes rehearsing the content to familiarize yourself with it. The more confident you sound, the more the customer will trust what you’re saying and stay engaged with the content.
5. Set Up Social Media Monitoring / Lead Capture Software
Leads may find themselves staring at your live stream and wishing they knew more about your website or social media page. Make it easy for them by including a mailing list sign-up, social media link, and other information that new leads can use to contact and follow the brand. Live streaming is one of the best ways to generate new leads, but you can only leverage those leads if they know how to connect with your business.
What To Do After Your Live Stream Ends
A lot of planning goes into the live stream. It can be incredibly rewarding to see people appreciate that effort and truly engage with your brand. But the process doesn’t end there. Once you’ve finished the live stream, it’s time to upload the content to your company website and create a permanent archive. You can also edit the live stream to create new video marketing materials and drive additional viewers to your site.
Next, you’ll want to study the analytics. Uncover where your audience comes from, what ages and genders they are, and how long they engaged with your content. Lastly, follow-up with the viewers. Send a quick thank you email with links to your social media and brand website and let them know when to expect more content.
Wrapping Up
Live streaming is one of the best ways to drive new leads to a brand’s website, social media pages, and products. Live streams offer a versatile digital content platform for all kinds of content and can integrate with other software to cast a wider digital net. A good live stream is in a high-definition resolution, has a good script and plan behind it, and the best tools for the job. Consider this guide before your next live stream to maximize your content and impress your customers.
