It’s hard to miss the headlines touting the growing popularity of live streaming video. According to a recent survey, 80% of consumers would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog or social media post. So, why should you even read this post? Clearly, to start researching live streaming’s potential!
The greatest benefit of live streaming is the thrill of immediacy. Like a one-to-one Facetime or Skype call with a good friend, live streaming conveys a personal, real-time connection. But unlike those experiences, live streaming allows your presenters to leverage scale and multiply that personal connection to hundreds or thousands of people.
The back-end technology with live streaming is also different. Without getting too techy, its sweet spot is a one-to-many approach designed to simultaneously broadcast to thousands of smartphones, tablets and desktops. Office video conferencing tools, for example, are not specifically designed to support that need as reliably.
Live chat, moderated Q&A and polling can all be part of the experience whether you’re embedding the live feed on the company intranet or using platforms such as YouTube, Livestream or Facebook Live.
As you read on to explore popular use cases, keep these thoughts in mind:
Whether you’re an industry leader or a Fortune 500 company, you can deliver timely business updates and immediately ask your employees for feedback through moderated Q&A and live polling. Here’s one example of how it works:
READ MORE: Comparing live streaming & web conferencing for internal meetings and town halls
Your product teams and design engineers put in endless hours of work. The thrill of the announcement is only exceeded by the compelling product story you’re about to tell your customers.
Live streaming helps build anticipation and funnels excitement toward the launch date.
The scale of this event depends on the aspirations of your brand. You can do it “Steve Jobs-style” or like a high-end vehicle launch with a large stage and luminous LED screens. Or you can adopt a smaller-scale approach with a simple backdrop and select camera angles. Product launches can be hectic, so it’s important to collaborate with an experienced live events partner to take on the myriad details while you manage the brand message.
READ MORE: What An Event Professional Will Want To Know When Planning Your Next Live Event
You’ve just spent 14-hour days on the trade show floor developing face-to-face relationships. How do you leverage the valuable contact information you’ve gathered from attendees?
Instead of scheduling impersonal slideshow webinars with poor audio, build more credibility around your brand with a series of short live streamed sessions.
If your product is tangible, definitely use it as a stage prop. If it’s a software tool, show the screen on a large monitor behind the presenters. An experienced live events partner will help you set this up. During the program, they’ll switch between cameras to get the best close-up angles of your product.
Training and education are a natural fit for live streaming. Use its inherent show-and-tell advantages to educate your audience and immediately surface their questions.
When you record your live streamed program, you can stretch your content even further.
READ MORE: Using Video on Social Media To Promote Your Brand
These five use cases only scratch the surface of what’s possible. Think about ways to generate excitement around your brand and further develop a personal connection to your customers or employees.
Like all digital tools today, there are a bevy of analytics at your fingertips to evaluate the number of viewers, watch time and other important metrics.
While the technology is readily available, live streaming succeeds by using best practices and efficient workflows that vastly improve the experience for your company and customers.
Having a live streaming partner like Plum Media can help showcase your brand. Our team includes experts in television broadcasting and live streaming with a track record of success. We’ve partnered with large corporations, small businesses, non-profits and educational institutions. Our experienced producers offer guidance on show flow, presentation options and technical set-up. Contact us to start planning your next live stream event.