Social media trends are fleeting. They usually appear out of nowhere and disappear into oblivion before you have a strategy in place. Don’t wait for fame, take control of your user acquisition channels. Instead of relying on going viral in the next trend, which is extremely dependent on how the algo Gods favor you, it’s time to take charge and build a sustainable live commerce plan that brings about a loyal community, increases content engagement, and provides a space to introduce products and discounts. We take you through an extensive 6-step live commerce plan to help you figure out where to start.
A 6-Step Live Commerce Plan For Your Brand
1. Set your priorities straight
What is it that you want from a live commerce plan? Do you care for building a loyal community? Do you want a platform that can boost your brand presence? Is it something to show that you are a tech-forward company?
Whatever the objective, the foundation will be laid down accordingly. For instance, in case you are looking to boost sales, BeLive recommends its simulcast functionalities, which allow you to simultaneously cast your livestream feed on your website and your social media channels. This enables you to bring the audience you have into your fold!
On the other hand, if you are in the market to showcase some tech-savvy features using your livestream, fret not, as BeLive is equipped with capabilities to tailor the streams to your style. Well, companies that adopted livestreaming have grown their GMVs significantly. Recently, for Samsung, we reinvented the training process by introducing live and interactive virtual training for its new employees. Our white label offerings help push the boundaries for you.
2. Pick the right platforms. And, scale!
Picking the right platform is also crucial to setting up a successful live commerce plan. Depending on what products or services you have to offer, you can set up streams on TikTok (young users), Facebook (senior users), Instagram (travel/beauty buyers), or even on eCommerce platforms like Lazada, Shopee, Bukalapak, and more. The idea is to reach your customer as efficiently as possible.
Obviously, BeLive allows you to host the best streams on your own website, without having to rely on functionality sourced from third-party services. You can choose to plug-and-play our SaaS offering, or be more ambitious and opt for our end-to-end services wherein we customise anything and everything under the sun. Just make it’s live streaming and commerce we are talking about!
And, of course, with our simulcast functionalities, you can make sure the best content goes live on both your website and your social media platforms. This way, you can let your customer know about your in-house streams and lure them in using the right discounts and exclusive sales. In fact, this allows you to get full control over first-party data and not be lost in a social media race anymore!
3. It’s time for the content
Content is king. Especially when you are in front of your customer through live streams. The idea is to make it as engaging and informative as possible, without tiring the viewers. So, it is imperative to set up an extensive content strategy once you have identified the right objectives and channels for your livestreams.
Create a plan that involves Q&A sessions, product launches, price drops, informative 1-on-1s, live demos, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes among other formats. Make sure you have a calendar in place and are mixing it up to offer viewers something new every day or week.
Also Read: How to Create a Professional Live Video Streaming Production
Not just formats, you should also decide on elements that will keep your viewers hooked during all your streams. BeLive offers the capabilities to add polls, contests, and quizzes to the mix. So, when you feel your fans are losing interest in the stream, hook them on using polls that get them prizes at the end of the stream. Custom fit any element you want. We can make it possible.
4. Presentation is key
Okay, so you have your objectives, channels, and formats in place. All set, right? Not yet! A live stream is highly personal, and usually goes on for a long period of time. To keep your viewers engaged, you need the right kind of presentation. Not too pushy as to shoo away prospective customers yet not too subtle as to bore them completely. You need a charismatic host (or, two) who keep adding elements of surprise and excitement throughout the livestream as they showcase the products and services that you wish to sell.
Furthermore, the host needs to have a deep understanding of these offerings in order to offer holistic overview of the brand and its products. In fact, BeLive offers capabilities that help the host swiftly manage viewer interaction on the go. The tools allow them to judge what the viewer response is, and toggle products showcased or offers displayed with the touch of a button.
5. Let the world know about your live commerce plan!
Now that you have all the basics in place, it is time to promote your events. There are a multitude number of channels you can use to let the world know. There are your email newsletter subscribers, your website visitors, social media fans, and the people you can reach through Search and Social advertising channels.
Yes, the most effective way is to use your social media accounts to create hype among your existing followers. So, whether it’s teasers building up to the event, sneak peeks on what products to expect, or countdowns for upcoming sales, we leave it up to you to spread the word.
Of course, BeLive makes it just a tad bit easier to help promote your events through our in-built promotional tools that put everything just a click of a button away. The best part is you don’t really need to be tech-savvy to go live and engage your shoppers truly!
6. Analyse and improve
Post-event analysis is key to upgrading your live commerce plan experience. BeLive provides you with extensive data points such as viewer engagement, sales conversions, time spent on stream, and much more. Warm up by hosting a couple of livestreams, promoting it to your fanbase, and getting significant viewership.
Once that test is successful, sit back and analyze the data points that help you answer which viewers watched what elements the most and what products sold the most. Once you have those in the bag, it is time to implement them into strategies to help your viewers be as hooked to your content as possible. Well, the better the hook is, the loyal the community will be.
That is a 6-step plan for setting up and scaling your live commerce plan. It ticks off all the boxes of picking the right goals, platforms, content, and hosts. It also includes course correction using the multiple first-party data points that are enabled by hosting live streams on your own website or app. With BeLive, expect to get yourself an end-to-end livestreaming solution that helps you get things set up with the click of a few buttons.
The increasing interest in live commerce globally shows that brands and viewers want more engaging content that they can consume on a daily basis, with the added element of real-time updates and offers. Live commerce is empowering and you can be part of that movement too with your own live commerce plan. It’s time to go live and be live.
