Live streaming is a newer feature on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, and it’s exploding. Live streaming is a great way to showcase the more human side of your business, building trust in your brand and promoting relationships with your customers. If your business is considering using live streaming, there are countless benefits such as expanding your reach and providing an opportunity to create a new kind of content. If you’re looking for tips on live streaming on your business’s social media, check out the post below.

Uses

Live streaming can be a very useful tool, but it has a relatively specific application. It’s a great way to have conversations with your audience, such as Q&A’s where audience members can ask questions live or an interview with an influencer. Special announcements and new product introductions are also good applications for live streaming. If your company hosts or attends a live event, this opportunity is ideal for live streaming either of the event itself or of behind-the-scenes glimpses. These types of events that engage your audience and give your company a personality are ideal for live streaming.

Don’t be too Polished

You should have a plan going into your live stream, but you shouldn’t produce your video or worry about making it perfect. Everything in your video should feel natural and organic. You should direct your video in that you should go in with a strategy and a direction to which you hope your video to go. However, you should be willing to throw away that strategy and be flexible if it doesn’t seem to be working.

Collaborate With Others

It’s important to be willing to take some risks with your videos and trust others. When you collaborate with others, not only will your video be more interesting, but you can expand the reach of your brand by connecting with everyone in your collaborators’ networks. Getting multiple people involved in your live videos will help expand their viewership.

Thank Your Audience

During your live stream, it’s important to address your audience and let them know you value them. Be sure to encourage conversations between your brand and your audience by providing them with important information concerning your company’s value. Highlight certain fans, partners, and employees to demonstrate the value you place in your audience.

Include a Call to Action

In order to encourage engagement and strong relationships with your audience, include a call to action to convince your audience to take action. Tell them to subscribe to your page or videos, include a link below that they can click on, or tell them to share their favorite part of the video in the comments. Encouraging your audience to take action will not only improve engagement but will ensure future relationships with viewers.

Build Up Your Video

Before live streaming, it’s important to tell people when and why you’re going live. Construct social media posts around the live stream and be sure to share the exact time you’re going live. It’s important to make sure that you go live at the time that you schedule in order to build trust. You should build up your video and get people excited about it before you go live to make sure that people tune in to your live feed.

Have Fun

One of the most important things to remember about live streaming is that it’s a very informal platform. It’s a great way to give your brand a personality and spontaneity. Laugh and have fun during your live stream. If you’re having fun, your audience will have fun watching you. Be flexible and don’t be afraid to go with the flow in order to create a fun and organic video.

ImageWorks, LLC | CT Social Media Marketing

Does your social media marketing strategy consistently fall short of your goals? Knowing is half the battle. If it’s time to rethink your strategy, all is not lost. Do research on what others in your industry are doing in social media: what works, what doesn’t and their tone.  Take the time to get to know what your potential clients or customers want to see from you.

We understand that social media can be overwhelming, and it's not always easy to change with each update or refresh. If you are looking to boost your social media marketing then you may want to take a step back and reevaluate the online presence you already have.