Remember when your social media feed used to be all about what you’d done in the past? You might have live-tweeted events or shared a few snaps on Instagram sometimes, but that was about as dynamic as it got. Now improvements in live streaming technology are changing everything. With social media platforms adapting to facilitate this trend, it’s something your business can’t afford to ignore.
Conferences
Live streaming has two big advantages at conferences. Firstly, you can use it to showcase your company’s presentations. Secondly, you can use it to get more people involved. When you live stream, people don’t have to be there in person to see what’s going on, and they can still participate by, for instance, sending in questions for speakers. That helps you connect with a greater number of talented contributors and it’s also good for diversity, as it makes it easier for disabled people to engage.
Events
When you’re running or participating in events that show your company in a good light, you want as many people as possible to see them. They could be anything from seminars to fun runs, or even international summits – broadcasting them will show what you do at its most dynamic, and there’s nothing like a live event to get your social media followers talking.
Making it happen
How can you present your live streams to best effect? Learning how to use an animated video maker app can help a lot with framing them and providing additional supporting context (and can also come in useful when you’re making commercials and information films). You should also endeavor to add subtitles, which not only makes your live streams more widely accessible but also improves their search engine rankings.
Promoting your live stream
There’s no point in talking about your live stream only when it’s happening – if you want a sizeable audience, you’ll have to let people know beforehand that it’s coming up. Get out there on Facebook, BBM, Twitter and your other social networks two weeks beforehand to start talking about it. Give people some idea what’s going to happen (without spoiling all the surprises) and let them know why it would be useful, interesting or fun for them to watch.
Secondary uses
The really great thing about live streams is that they’re not just useful at the time. You can save what you film and use it – in whole or in part – for future promotional purposes. Add it to your YouTube or Vimeo channels for maximum reach (don’t forget to add a transcript, which really helps with SEO), and embed it on your website. At no extra cost, you can have a great piece of material to appeal to your followers and potential customers.
When you’re just starting out it’s best to keep your live streams simple, but as you become more confident, you can start putting in additional camera angles and adding new features. You’ll soon get the hang of it, and then you’ll discover just how much it can do for you.
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