Top 5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Live Streaming in 2020

Image by Stefan Coders from Pixabay

The growth of live streaming is driven by the unparalleled level of interaction and engagement that it offers. This makes it a popular choice for niche areas like education, marketing, movies and much more. As per a popular survey, 82% of people prefer to watch a live stream over reading a post on social media because it brings viewers up-to-date, informative and accessible content.

Live video broadcasting over the internet, has changed the way people and brands all over the globe communicate. Some of the factors that have contributed to online video streaming include internet penetration, developments in mobile technology, and the expanding influence of social media.

If you are thinking “why live streaming?”, let us tell you some reasons to think “why not live stream?”

1. A live stream can help build trust towards your brand

Customers usually relate trustworthiness with quality and great service. This is why being relatable is crucial for a content creator. 

It is challenging for brands because they need to show their “human” side which means that the personality of a brand needs to be in tune with its customers. Corporates generally use streaming to a good effect as a brand-building exercise. 

Live streaming corporate events, town halls, and even global team meet-ups are being widely accepted for its convenience and cost-effectiveness.

Exhibit informal moments, complicated processes or behind-the-scenes of product launches with live streaming to increase your brand’s transparency ultimately contributing to the consumer base.

2. Live video streaming creates real-time engagement for your business

The real-time interaction takes your brand closer to the audience and acts as a great communication channel. By sharing live videos on social media platforms, it is easier to get people to find and share live videos. 

Whether it is a business or a brand, increased exposure significantly improves engagement. The genuine interaction that live streaming allows, creates a deeper relationship with viewers. 

As compared to on-demand video, live content is easier to produce. Besides, videos on-demand can’t create the same feeling as live streaming because it is low on relatability.

Live Q&A, chats, and audience polls are great tools to have on a live streaming platform. By creating a platform, you can customize such tools to optimize your reach and drive engagement for your live streams.

3. Expand your reach as a brand and individual

With streaming platforms being optimized for smaller screens, smartphones and tablets are widely used for streaming live and on-demand videos. Combining social media channels with a dedicated live video solution opens up a slew of opportunities for your content. 

Seamlessly stream a portion of your live streaming event to Facebook, Youtube or LinkedIn, before directing them back to your own live streaming content properties. With strategically placed forms, turn your live event into a revenue generation tool for your business. 

Repurposing live videos into other forms of content, like a published video transcript, an infographic, or a trailer video on Youtube are efficient marketing strategies to widen the reach of your business.

A live streaming platform with social media integration, metadata management, customized analytic reports, and video email marketing can put your business head and shoulders above the competition.

4. Live streaming helps you understand what your audience likes

Live streaming can be used as a very focussed marketing strategy. This means that only the relevant people engage with your streams. 

Automatically, the content is delivered to the target audience who are more likely to convert into customers. Broadcasting live video is cost-effective in that it brings in leads at a fraction of the cost you would otherwise incur for other marketing strategies.

Live streaming platforms built for businesses can customize their content based on analytic reports. A platform that can create tailor-made analytic reports for individual metrics helps a business to keep track of the trends in user behavior and content preferences.

5. Live streams can up your revenue

Using live-stream platforms is a great way to drive tons of revenue to your business. Video streaming platforms offer a pay per view option which effectively means that your visitor buys a ticket to view the content in the video player. 

Additional monetization options, such as subscription-based models are also in vogue. SaaS platforms charge a commission on top of their service fees. The benefits of a live stream can be reaped even after the stream is over by repurposing recorded copies for various objectives like marketing and brand awareness. By building your own live streaming platform, monetization models can be customized for your content requirements. 

With a secure paywall integration, you can customize your pay-per-view plan to include freemium content. Monetization strategies could also be subscription-based, transaction-based or even ad-supported.

The Bottom Line

Live streaming is going to be a $70.5 billion industry by 2021. Twitch.tv, one of the biggest live streaming sites in the world right, has nearly 10 million active users daily.

Apart from being a value-for-money option, live streaming takes very little time to produce, unlike a video-on-demand or a blog. For the same reasons, online video streaming business is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.3% and enjoy a viewership of up to 60%. 

To take advantage of the incredible, active user groups that are constantly watching live content, creating a live streaming platform would be your logical next step.

Don’t miss the boat!

Author Bio:

Allwyn Macdivine is an entrepreneur,  Broadcaster, Creative Technologist and tech writer.