Venturing into a business is an ever-growing challenge. There are constantly evolving factors to take into consideration like consumer behavior, preference, and media exposure. In this age of social media dominance, businesses have an unspoken requirement to grow and adapt with the technology.
More and more companies are getting into Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to reach out to more customers. But considering the fact that YouTube has become the second most-used search engine today, it’s only rational for businesses to invest more into video content production to reach their goals more efficiently.
YouTube has all sorts of video content from businesses, but one emerging video format that proves to engage a wide audience is live video. When implemented correctly, a YouTube Live video can be highly engaging to potential customers.
As with any other social media network, one has to set up a profile first in order to execute a successful YouTube Live video. This ensures that your customers will see you on this platform as a credible and knowledgeable content creator.
Make sure you establish a solid brand identity by publishing your company logo and other relevant brand representation, so viewers know that they’re looking at legitimate content from a verified brand.
You should also know the right keywords customers are using when searching for brand-related content and incorporate these in your content titles or descriptions.
Once you’ve set up your profile and done your preliminary research, you can proceed to rolling out YouTube Live video campaigns.
Here are 7 ways that YouTube Live videos can help you achieve your business goals:
Host interviews
Consumers are naturally engrossed with anything people-focused, as this kind of content is highly relatable. Hosting interviews shows your business’ more human side, which helps to make your customers more comfortable with your brand.
Feature a prominent personality discussing one of your services or reviewing one of your products in a language and tone that your audience can easily connect with.
Plus, “people” is in the 7 Ps of marketing, so it’s a good way of seeing how YouTube Live interviews can work well as part of your marketing strategy.
Broadcast live events
Broadcasting live events is one way of developing your business’ storytelling capacity. Consumers are naturally enticed by a good storyline and content structure. Inviting them to be part of your company’s event, at least virtually, makes them feel more connected to your brand.
Use the platform to act as your viewers’ ears and eyes by moving around and showing them what they’re actually interested in
Examples of relevant company events you could showcase are press meet-ups, product or service launches, and on-the-ground campaign executions.
Feature product/service demos
Featuring product or service demonstrations via YouTube Live is as straightforward as it sounds. It puts the spotlight on what you’re selling, thus increasing the likelihood that more customers will be enticed to try it.
This also gives you the opportunity to get creative in presenting your product or service, which can create buzz or even viral outcomes if cleverly executed.
good example of a compelling product demonstration on video would be this quick Volvo ad featuring Jean Claude Van Damme:
While not a YouTube Live video, this is a good illustration of the thin line between a straight-up product advertisement and a viral YouTube video today. What this tells us is that the bounds of product/service presentation on YouTube are endless — with right level of ingenuity from your team.
Incorporating this strategy into a YouTube Live video will not only let you enjoy views and subscriptions but will also make your customers more engaged while enjoying the content in the moment.
Launch question-and-answer (Q&A) videos
Hosting live YouTube Q&A videos is another great way to engage your viewers as this allows them to express their questions and comments about a particular topic of discussion directly to you. This makes the audience feel more involved since you’re acknowledging their thoughts and opinions on live video.
A great example of this would be videos from food channels like Swedish Food TV that normally livestream recipes as their audience follows along and occasionally throws in questions and clarifications in the comments section.
Another way of executing this would be livestreaming a couple of your team members during a panel session where they answer questions from customers curious to know what your day-to-day life in the workplace is like.
The key is to acknowledge the askers by their name or username in order to make the Q&A session feel personal, and for the audience to feel like they’re in the same virtual space as you and that they’re not mere spectators of a show.
Provide live customer service
A lot of businesses can also leverage a YouTube Live customer service video in order to gain the confidence and trust of their customers. This form of livestream allows companies to reach out directly to customers and help them by broadcasting instructional topics that could walk the audience through solutions to frequently called out concerns.
This further builds up your brand integrity as viewers get to feel like you’re listening to their concerns and that there are actual humans behind the brand working to solve their problems.
When it comes to customer service, it’s crucial for customers to feel that they’re dealing with human representatives as it makes them more comfortable to communicate.
Doing a YouTube Live stream not only strengthens the human connection but also shows the customers that you’re trying to attend to their concerns in real time.
Livestream important company announcements or updates
Aside from broadcasting live events, you can also livestream important company announcements like updates on major campaigns or projects. Transparency is an essential aspect of brand credibility. Customers are more inclined to support organizations that are open about their products, services, and projects as it makes their client base more invested in their goals or advocacies.
One good example of this is when GE livestreamed construction updates for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
This form of visibility made GE customers and fans feel more involved in such an important feat, which is always a good thing when it comes to brand marketing.
End with an event follow-up
Livestreaming event follow-ups is also a great way to make sure that you’re streamlining your campaign’s customer journey from beginning to end. After a successful brand event, for example, you can maximize the remaining buzz by broadcasting follow-up reports or documentation of what went on.
Wrapping up your campaigns this way does not only keep your audience engaged until the end of the customer journey, but also puts a rather creative punctuation or completion to it.
In this age of hyped-up social media influence, the fear of missing out (more popularly called “FOMO”) is very real among audiences. People are hungry for updates and new events, and are always wanting to be in the know of what’s going on — especially when it comes to personalities and organizations they follow.
As a business, you have many ways to maximize this predisposition and, considering the incredible reach YouTube has today, livestream videos indeed offer remarkable leverage.
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