How Live Streaming on Social Media Can Grow Your Business

How Live Streaming on Social Media Can Grow Your Business As a small business owner you may be wondering why is live streaming important and how do I use it to grow my business? Find out here.

With so many social media platforms competing for your attention, it’s hard to focus on just one. As the world of marketing is an ever-evolving one, marketers are always on their toes when it comes to adopting new ways to reach customers. 

But one thing they have all recently incorporated, all thanks to the hype and impact, is live streaming. Every popular social media channel has now integrated live streaming to its platforms, and most brands are now changing their marketing strategies according to that as well. 

Live streaming provides users with eye-catching content that can not only improve your position in the news feed algorithms but also add authenticity to your products and services as well. Live streaming is on its full hype, and missing the boat right now would mean missing on immense traffic and social media buzz. 

Why Is Live Streaming Crucial To Grow Your Business?

What started as a trial strategy by brands has been made the norm by popular consumer demand because it adds a human touch to posts that images can’t provide. Almost every business in every industry is using live streaming to increase user engagements. 

Live streams are being used by B2C and B2B businesses alike to reach their target audience. Small companies, perhaps, are reaping the most rewards. Carpet Cleaning Windsor, a professional cleaning business in the UK, reported a 35% increase in user engagement and post-interaction once they started live streaming on Facebook. 

Research shows a 47% increase in business live streaming in 2018 as compared to the previous year. So, if you are a marketer, it’s time to take note! 

Let’s see why live streaming is so popular: 

1. Attracts a Bigger Audience

Through live streaming, you can instantly attract a bigger audience. With more exposure, you can create more business leads and gain more followers eventually. Since you can also share your Facebook pages on different pages and profiles, it’s a good booster as well. According to research, Facebook live captures 10 times more comments than normal posts, courtesy of the real-time connection. 

2. Encourages Engagement

We know by now that people love to share their thoughts. Unlike other modes, live streaming encourages people to do so. You can engage and interact with your audience and get instant feedback. Hype up your events, ask people questions and make sure the whole session is interactive enough to make people stick to it. 

3. Lets you Connect with Viewers Directly

During live streaming, brands can directly communicate with your potential customer and answer all their queries instantly. To the consumer, this feels like having a conversation that not only increases trust, it generates positive brand impressions. 

4. Authenticity

Live streaming offers the most realistic experience to the audience, unlike heavily edited videos. The raw form of it and the genuine interaction between the service provider and customer makes the whole experience more authentic. 

It creates a strong connection between the brand and the customers, which no other tactic can achieve. It is extremely crucial to build a strong relationship with your customers, as that’s what leads to customer building and long term benefits to the business. 

To build a genuine connection, live streaming is perfect as it shows the real and often vulnerable side of your brand, team, and process. 

How can you Use Live Streaming to grow your Business?

Now that you know how crucial live streaming is to grow your business don’t fall behind the curve and read how you can use it.

1. Interact With Customers

Look at live streaming as another mode of providing content to your audience, only this time, it’s in real-time and more casual. The more interactive the session, the more you will benefit from it. Interactive sessions help build healthy and long term relationships with your audience, so make sure you answer all their questions and acknowledge their presence. 

2. Host Giveaways

Who doesn’t love free stuff, right? Offering giveaways is always a good idea to promote your blog, and announcing it live will create the right excitement among your audience. Announcing a giveaway live will cause a huge spike in your live viewership and will give you the engagement you need. 

3. Announce News Related To Products

Whether there is an update on a product or you are launching a new product, live streaming is a great source to create some buzz around it. It presents you with an opportunity to target your audience in real-time. Show viewers what they want to see and inform them about the latest trends in your business. Remember, the key is to make it interactive. 

4. Exclusive Content

Don’t want to go live alone? No problem, get an influencer on board who knows about your brand and can represent it. Not only does this allow you to engage your audience more through a candid conversation, but it also uses the network of the influencer, ultimately leading to more viewers on your live session.

5. Capture Leads

While live streaming is great for engaging your audience, it does more than that. It creates opportunities for you and helps you capture leads. There are several ways to do that, such as including a Call-to-Action button before or after the video, showing clips of information to the audience, or redirecting them to a landing page once your live stream is over. If incorporated correctly, these best practices can effectively capture the leads. 

6. Instant Q&A 

Once you are done with the agenda of the live session (unless it is Q&A in the first place), it’s always a good idea to take some of the most frequently ask questions about your product and service and answer them live. This is a great way to get some honest feedback on your products and get instant insights into your work so far. 

Conclusion 

Live videos are now revolutionizing the marketing industry. Whether you are new to marketing or looking to up your game, live streaming is worth a try. Now that we have stated all the reasons and ways for you, it’s time to get started. Don’t forget to let us know if you have used live streaming for your business ever and how your experience was. Good luck! 

by Chris London of Pixel Productions Inc. The Everything Design Company