Live Videos For Marketing

Content in the form of video has always been preferred over text. Taking it to step further, live videos have emerged as the most powerful marketing medium for brands to interact with customers.  Live streaming allows the brands to connect with the people, get their immediate feedback and expand the reach.  All this has been possible because of the availability of High-speed internet and massive advancement in mobile technology.  This trending feature has now become a necessity and no brand can afford to miss out on including this in their marketing agenda.

Reason to leverage live videos in Marketing

• More than 80% of the audience prefers to watch a video than read through the blog.
• Over 30% of viewers hop on the brand’s official webpage to view live video.
• Campaigns with video content witness 60% more conversion than text-based content.
• More than 80% of millennials say that they have bought a product after referring to a video, be it product demonstration or video depicting product features.
• 8 out of 10 video marketers have witnessed better returns on investment.
• Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year.
• The average stay of users on a website with video is over 80% more than a website with only textual content.
• Users are able to retain for longer and recall it quickly if seen via video.

Live feature on social platforms:

There are various platforms which have introduced video streaming feature

• Facebook live: Mark Zuckerberg had emphasized that Video is the future of digital marketing.  Facebook introduced the Live feature in April 2016. Users are thrice more engaged in watching the video as compared to social posts.  75 million people visit Facebook video platforms every week.  Facebook has over 8 billion views per day.
• YouTube Live: Like Facebook, YouTube also provides an option of streaming live.  A user base of over 2 billion people, it’s a massive number to target. YouTube subscribers view more than 1 billion hours of video each day.  Brands utilize YouTube live for storytelling and product demonstrations. You can attain maximum concurrent views on your YT live videos by gaining maximum subscribers which is a slow process and needs a lot of efforts to build the same, adding to the organic way, there are also paid ways to gain real youtube subscriber which can help boost your subscriber but the same need to be optimized well.
• Twitter Live: Live streaming lets users stream events live and viewers can interact via real-time comments.  Post streaming, the video stays in the user’s feed. Mobile technology has been a boon for a platform like Twitter on which over 90% of videos are viewed on Mobile devices. More than 50% of total subscribers prefer to engage and interact with videos shared by a celebrity or a brand.

Advantages of using Live videos:

• Higher User engagement: Live video streaming has become extremely popular among online users as it allows real-time interaction between brands and customers.  Users prefer to watch a video than read a blog.  Live videos across various platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram witness a higher engagement rate in comparison to any other modes of advertising. Brands can host product demos, provide a glimpse of upcoming products or a back-office video giving a sneak-peek into the brand’s working environment.  Spike in engagement rate often results in potentially higher conversion numbers.
• Enhance brand value and trust:
  Gaining the trust of customers is key to building long-lasting relationships with them.  By going live and addressing user doubts and queries, providing them valuable information at the right time contribute towards strengthening customer-brand relation.  Potential customers can connect with these videos to gain more insight into a brand value which could result in the expansion of the brand’s customer base.  Sharing authentic content in real-time creates transparency.
• Ease to use and engage with: Another huge benefit of this feature is its extreme ease to use and doesn’t require rigorous preparation.  Brands just need to decide the platform on which they want to go live depending on the target audience and the content to be displayed. Unlike a usually recorded video, there isn’t any requirement of recording team and editing experts.  This is also easy for users to engage with these videos as they just need to get on a social platform and watch it live.
• Reusable videos: Live streaming videos can be recorded and used in the future.  They can be turned into on-demand videos and posted on the brand’s webpage.  Any live video with informational stuff for customers can later be put on the website which will be beneficial for users.
• Expands reach: By going live on social platforms brands are able to reach a massive user base.  Users get exposure to brands by interacting with these videos which helps in building brand awareness.
• Instant connect and communication:
  Live videos are the only marketing medium that lets the brands to connect with their consumers in real-time and build an instant connection. Brands are able to respond to customer queries immediately which enhances the user’s experience.

Disadvantages of using Live videos:

• Technical Challenges: Although technology has undergone massive advancement still it is not risk-free.  Live streaming largely depends on the speed of the internet, quality of camera and clarity of the microphone.
• No retakes: With live videos, there is no second chance for brands if anything goes wrong.  Any bloopers if happens will be visible to all.  To avoid any such situations, businesses must plan for the content they would display and they can perform a rehearsal.  With that, they will be able to figure out the improvement areas.
• Instant results: Be it positive or Negative:
  Live videos are unpredictable; you cannot guarantee how the viewers will react.  Comments and questions from viewers are live and any negative remark will show up to the entire audience. 
• Timing of going live: If your brand has an international presence, starting the video stream at a time to accommodate all viewers can be a challenge.  With different time zones, brands need to plan the sessions in a way that maximum users can join.  Setting up the same session on multiple occasions is not feasible for smaller brands.