What is one thing that most people check more consistently than anything else throughout the day?
If your answer is social media, then we are on the same page. If you really think about it, how often do you see someone walking down the street or down the hallway with their cell phone in hand? I’m willing to bet that the answer is quite often, if not most of the time. As a marketer, this is great news for you, but how are you going to capitalize on it?
The way marketers can take advantage of the amount of time people spend on social media is by incorporating live streaming into their marketing plan. Not only does live streaming on platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to reach a wider range of customers, but it is also not going to break the bank for your company. If you have solid internet connection and a smartphone that can shoot in HD quality (which they pretty much all do at this point), you can implement live streaming.
One of the main benefits of live streaming is that it creates more personal engagement by allowing you to connect human-to-human with customers through Facebook or other streaming platforms. Say you own a restaurant, you can use live streaming to show how food is being prepared. This will allow customers to see “behind the scenes”, which will also make them feel as if they are part of the process and adding an element of exclusivity. Also, you can let your workers have a little fun with it and show off some of their unique skills. Maybe one of your employees has a hidden talent for singing or dancing. So why not show it off during your live stream? Not only will this provide entertainment for the customers watching, but it will leave an impression in their mind that this is a fun place to visit or support.
Live streaming doesn’t always have to be about showing off your company. You can simply use it as a way to show customers that your company has a personality. An example of this is when Buzzfeed live streamed a video of two employees seeing how many rubber bands they could wrap around a watermelon before it exploded. While this doesn’t advertise a product or service, it is something cool for customers to watch (I mean watching a watermelon explode is pretty entertaining!). That video ended up going viral and now has over 10 million views, talk about gaining some publicity!
