Video has emerged as one of the best marketing tools in recent years. Over the last couple of years, one form of video gaining popularity is live streaming. According to GlobalWebIndex’s Coronavirus ResearchOpens a new window report in March 2020, more than 50% of the younger generation (Millennials and Gen Z) showed interest in live streaming events. Clearly, live streaming has the potential to capture audience attention.
Over the last couple of years, more brands and marketers have been actively using live streaming to host press conferences, product launches, presentations, and demos. The video format’s popularity has compelled many social platforms to invest in live streaming. Further, the number of platforms providing live streaming solutions has gone up. The ability to tell brand stories and showcase their products or services in an authentic way and drive real results has made live streaming appealing for brands.
Having said that, one key metric of a successful live stream is audience engagement. Here are a few tips to boost your audience engagement during live streaming.
Learn more: Video Marketing 101: 4 Basics Marketers Can’t Miss
1. Choose the Right Live Streaming Platform
A core component of doing a successful live stream is selecting the right platform. While there are many free tools available in the market, most of them have their downsides. For example, there could be ads running across the platform, the content may link back to the social media host instead of your website, or security controls may be limited.
Hence, opt for a professional live streaming platform such as RestreamOpens a new window , BrightcoveOpens a new window , or DacastOpens a new window . These platforms provide you white-label custom branding, SEO, and security features, and more. Another significant advantage is that many of them allow you to stream on multiple social platforms simultaneously. For example, Restream.io enables you to stream on more than 30 platforms, including a few custom ones.
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Restream.io features
Source: Restream.ioOpens a new window
Most of these professional platforms also allow you to schedule your live streams and provide you analytics once your live session is complete.
Furthermore, each of these platforms offer custom features. For example, Dacast offers a VOD platform where you can monetize on-demand content and scale your VOD business. It also provides real-time video analytics. Vimeo LivestreamOpens a new window offers video management services and an option to upload videos from anywhere. Brightcove offers monetization options and CRM integration.
Besides these features, the platform you choose should allow you to reach the maximum audience possible. Hence, select the right platform by comparing its features, pros, and cons.
2. Create a Live Streaming Schedule and Stick To It
To make the best of your live streams, you need to reach a new audience and engage them regularly. To make that happen, you need to keep building your followers and promote videos among them. Hence, ensure that you come out with live streaming sessions regularly. This can be done effectively by creating a live streaming schedule. This will boost engagement among your audience. It also keeps your high-value audience coming back for more.
To determine a live streaming schedule, come out with live sessions at different times. Then analyze the audience engagement and other metrics to understand when they are most engaged. This will help you identify the best time for your live streams.
Once you have created a schedule, ensure that you stick to it. This will generate predictability among your audience and help you create a steady audience engagement. Further, promote your upcoming sessions on social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter as well as email. This will create curiosity among new audiences and open opportunities to gain a massive viewership. Different platforms allow you to schedule your live streams at different duration in advance. They also help you notify your audience through various channels. A few good examples of such platforms include Restream and MuviOpens a new window .
Learn more: Five Hot Video Marketing Tools Coming Soon
3. Make Your Live Stream Engaging Through Questions and Polls
One of the best ways to engage your audience during a live stream is to ask them questions and use surveys/polls. Research shows that live Q&A sessions perform well and can provide you several benefits.
For instance, it humanizes your brand. People often forget that there are actual people behind the brands they love. Your live questions and answers remind them that. They are also inviting enough for people to participate. People who like to know more about your products, services, or business can pose their questions to you.
When you ask questions, make sure to go beyond the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ types. Keep your Q&A sessions interactive. You can also allow your audience to ask you questions. ‘Ask-me-anything’ types of questions are an excellent example of questions your audience can ask you.
When running a Q&A session, you can use the platform’s sidebar or chat to engage your audience actively.
Besides Q&A sessions, polls and surveys are known to engage your audience actively during live sessions. Surveys are also a great way to understand what your audience feels about your live stream and the content. If you are using Facebook Live, you can create live polls using Facebook Live Producer. The poll gets published once you go live.
If you are using a platform other than Facebook, you can create external survey forms from different tools. With an external poll tool, you can get more information from your audience and build a list of leads by collecting their contact information. External tools also allow you to customize your surveys as per your branding. Some tools you can use to create polls include Google Form, SurveyMonkey, and Kahoot!
A few best practices while creating Q&A sessions and polls are as follows:
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- Keep the questions clear and easy to answer. Your audience should be able to understand the questions you are asking.
- Keep the quiz and polls short. People are not inclined to answer lengthy questions.
- Offer incentives to people who participate. You can offer a small giveaway for those who participate in your quiz or polls.
- Run through your quiz and polls before you go live to identify typos or missing options.
4. Analyze Your Live Stream To Optimize It
Once you are done with your live stream, it is time to analyze its performance. Most live-streaming platforms, such as LivestreamOpens a new window , Restream, and DaCast, as well as social streaming platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, have analytics features built within them. Analyzing your live stream videos will give you valuable insights into what worked and what you can improve. It gives you useful insights into how your content is performing, what types of live streams are working, what devices your audience uses to watch the videos, consumption per location, and much more. For example, here is how Dacast’s analytics dashboard typically looks like.
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Dacast analytics dashboard
Source: DacastOpens a new window
The dashboard shows you various metrics like consumption by time, plays and viewers by time, and consumption by device.
You can analyze several metrics, among which, following are a few important ones:
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- Device viewership: Knowing which devices your audience uses to watch your videos helps you optimize your streams for those devices.
- Live vs. on-demand viewership: Knowing what percentage of your audience is watching a live stream or on-demand, you can create more of that content to drive people to your website more frequently.
- Duration of views: Understanding how long your audience is watching your content can help you gain more insight into your content. For example, a high churn rate means you may need to work toward making your content better. Alternatively, it may also mean that you are not reaching the right audience.
- Viewer engagement: This is one of the most crucial metrics you need to measure. Monitor the comments, chats, and conversations on your social feeds or the platform where you are live streaming. Look at how often they comment or mention your event. If your audience is continuously engaged, it means that your content is engaging. There is also a high possibility that your audience may come back.
These insights help you create the appropriate content, identify the best timings, and determine how to engage your audience better during your subsequent live streams.
Learn more: Get Ready for the Upcoming Video Marketing Boom
Ready To Go Live?
Live streams are becoming increasingly popular and have a massive potential to create awareness about your brand and boost engagement among your target audience. The live streaming features in popular social media platforms and the emergence of live streaming platforms have also made it easier to create live streams. At the same time, it is also necessary to follow certain steps to make the best of this tool. Hence, follow the simple tips mentioned above to boost your live stream audience engagement.
Which other ways can you increase your live stream engagement? Do share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .