5 Reasons You're Not Ready for Live Video Broadcasting

If you’ve found yourself in a battle against the changing tides of the digital marketing landscape, trust me, you’re not alone.

Things are changing faster than many companies and their marketing departments can keep up with.

Social media platforms are rolling out new features on a weekly basis, and it’s a bit overwhelming to think that your company now needs to learn how to talk live to your followers.

But, what if I told you that you might be the exception?

In fact, if any of the scenarios below apply to you, I give you a pass to ignore the live video trend altogether.

Understanding the Hype of Live Video

When we visited Social Media Marketing World 2017, we saw firsthand the impact live video is having on the marketplace. Many of the biggest social media marketing influencers have been advocating this method for quite some time now.

It’s an interesting concept, but far from a new one. Live events have been broadcasted since 1951, allowing us to watch sports events, public addresses, and award shows in real time.

Now, in 2017, social media has brought this power to anyone with a smartphone and a wifi connection and can be consumed either live or on-demand.

Marketing departments everywhere are now getting a camera in front of their thought leaders, community managers, and staff members to give viewers a one-on-one experience.

Those who do it properly are seeing a more engaged community and therefore more successful social media reach.

Those who aren’t doing it properly (and might meet the criteria I’m going to talk about) are not doing so well, and actually, might be doing more harm than good.

The following are the 5 reasons you absolutely should not be live streaming.

Reason #1: You’re out of touch with what your community cares about

By allowing you into their newsfeed, members of your community have implied their interest in what you have to say. Additionally, users who might be seeing your updates for the first time (i.e. your live broadcast was shared to them) will only watch as long as it’s important to them.

Facebook users visit the app an average of 13.8 times a day, giving you ample time to pique their interest, but the key is in keeping their attention. In order to keep their attention you’ll need to do one of two things:

1. Teach them something they’ve been wanting to learn
2. Show them something they can’t see elsewhere

If you’re out of touch with what’s going to resonate with your audience, you won’t attract many live views, and the view duration will be short.

What you should do instead:

Show a deep understanding of what your community really cares about, and take the time to develop that content. Connecting on this level is VERY powerful stuff.

Remember, this is NOT something they have searched for, rather it’s information that has conveniently presented itself to them at the right time. If you can master this ability–to educate and entertain your viewers first or better than others–you’ll have dedicated live viewers and community.

[bctt tweet="Educate your viewers better than anyone and you'll have a dedicated live community." username="zacharybasner"]

Reason #2: You don’t care about interacting with your community

First off, live video is the least of your problems. If you don’t genuinely care about getting to know your followers and learning about them, your community will be a weak one. Live video has established a way to generate a community in ways webinars cannot. Each participant is using their personal profile (a sacred commodity) to interact with you. Those connected to you via your social media platforms are so interested in what you do, they’ve added you to their “inner circle.” Don’t be mistaken; being invited into your prospects’ newsfeed is a big deal.

What you should do instead:

Show that you care about them by calling them by name when they join your live broadcast. It must be something about our psychology that excites us when we’re publically acknowledged. If a viewer says “Hey,” acknowledge them and thank them for joining. Ask your crowd to comment where they’re tuning in from, or what kind of industry they work in. Look up conversation starters beforehand if you want to be extra prepared.

Additionally, you could invite your viewers to participate in your community by naming it. At IMPACT, we regard our community as “The IMPACT Learning Community.” Figure out what it takes to convey how important your followers are to you, and do that.

Reason #3: You don’t want to show the human side of your business

There’s a reason why you don’t see many big brands doing live content. They have a precious image to uphold, and they aren’t willing to gamble on that. By putting a real, genuine person out on the frontlines, anything could happen.

This is a huge opportunity for small, mid, and even enterprise level companies. Shouldn’t we let those big guys spend advertising dollars elsewhere, while we maximize on being a more human organization?

What you should do instead:

Put your staff members in the spotlight. Viewers want to see the people behind the brand. Be goofy, be human, be comfortable, and interact with your viewers like you interact with people you care for. Communities are built one person at a time, connecting human to human will build a user group that pays attention, trusts you with their business, and advocates your cause to others.

Reason #4: You’d prefer not to prepare for a live event

This is not improv theater. If you’d prefer not to prepare your presentation, take the time to promote it, and set it up properly, then live streaming isn’t for you.

Those companies who are really crushing live content are the ones who are like Boy Scouts: prepared.

It takes time to develop a great live broadcast because there are many moving parts. Just like any important event, there needs to be an agenda, this keeps viewers tuned in and avoids any “uh..what now?” moments. Just because you’re only a 3-second countdown away from being live on your follower's stream, doesn't mean you should be.

What you should do instead:

Take time to carefully plan your broadcast including a beginning, middle, and ending. When you promote the broadcast, highlight the three questions you’ll be answering or give an order of events.

When you start your video, give a teaser of what the viewer will learn throughout and what the major takeaways will be. Plan time for Q&A, breaks to promote an offer, and times to mention a sponsor. Whatever the case may be, you must carefully plan your broadcast to keep viewers engaged and keep yourself on track.

Reason #5: You want some solid air time to talk about yourself

Doesn’t it sound nice? Imagine all your followers just tuning in to hear about how “interesting” and “innovative” you are. Here’s the thing, you’re not Kim Kardashian. That’s not an option.

Your prospects are already used to dealing with companies very similar to yours. They’re used to being marketed to and hearing about how “awesome” everybody's team is. If you plan on making your live content "you-centric" and with little substance, you simply won't keep the attention of your viewer.

You might be the one broadcasting, but the viewers are more important than you right now.

What you should do instead:

Give your viewers something of value, teach them something, excite them, let them interact with you, give them insider information, whatever will help them. If you want to talk about yourself, don’t talk about it, show it. Show why your product or service is unique and exciting, introduce your team and let the viewer decide if they’re awesome.

Beating the reasons why you shouldn't

So, what do you think? Are you the exception that doesn't need to consider incorporating some live content into your marketing strategy?

If you’ve had trouble relating to these 5 reasons, I believe you’re ready to crush it with live video content.

Live video opens up a world of opportunities for businesses that are willing to build a valuable community for their followers. If done properly, you’ll find that you’ve developed connections that lead to customers, and equipped brand advocates with all they need to bring you business.

If you’re seriously weighing the option of doing some live video marketing, keep the following in mind:

• Make the video content irresistible (teach them something, show them something)
• Use this as an opportunity to interact and learn from your community
• Give viewers a look into the human side of your business
• Prepare and plan for the broadcast
• Don’t just talk about yourself, show it. Give the viewer some value

At IMPACT, we advise that all companies consider using Live video to supplement existing video marketing content. By assisting our clients in developing a “They Ask, You Answer” philosophy within their organization, it's easier to generate live content ideas, and in turn, generate more leads.

Do you have another reason why you should or shouldn’t be using live video in your video marketing efforts? Let us know in the comments.