2017 will be a breakout year for live streaming. For those of you who don’t know, live streaming is “to transmit or receive live video and audio coverage of an event over the Internet.” It is no secret social networks are the leaders when it comes to the live stream space; YouTube has more than 1 billion users on a regular basis and the number has increased by 40% since 2014. Facebook launched Facebook Live back in April and this tool put broadcast capabilities into everyone’s hands on one of the world’s largest social networks. As live streaming becomes more and more popular, TV networks will begin to join the trend and social platforms will no longer be the only players.
So what does this mean for marketers?
Marketers and brands will have a lot of opportunity to reach their audience in a different way. With so many live streaming tools emerging, there are a lot of new ways of consuming and distributing content.
Real-time broadcasting from live streaming is changing the landscape as you no longer need to turn on the news to get lives updates on what is happening in the world. We all saw this during coverage of the 2016 presidential election, when people broadcasted when they were going out to vote. As a marketer, consider leveraging live-streaming to give live updates on your company, trends and products.
Live streaming opens a new realm of interactivity through video marketing by opening up ways for brands to be transparent and offer educational opportunities. Transparency is a big issue with customers and live streaming allows them to see what is going on behind the scenes, for free. Use live streaming to unveil a new product or educate your customers on something they see value in and they will keep coming back for more.
Conclusion
Live streaming is forward thinking, simple and cost-effective. As the year progresses, marketers will have an array of live streaming options to consider. 2017 is the time to give livestreaming a try for your brand so grab your camera and start your first live stream! Let us know how it goes.