Live streaming isn’t new, but the coronavirus pandemic has pushed many businesses into using live streaming as part of their marketing strategy. In fact, just between March to August, live streaming events had increased by 300%.
That being said, what are some new ways to use live streaming in 2021 that stands you apart from the crowd?
1. Internal Training
Since employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than to read documents or emails, live video format would make a powerful alternative to the ordinary internal training considering that it raises engagement rate to another level.
The added advantage is that trainers can broadcast live lessons to employees located anywhere. A good live video platform will have low-latency video and live chat so that the employees can interact with the trainer in real-time.
Trainers can hold a live quiz session to summarise the class, and accurately gauge employees’ level of understanding. Trainings are more enjoyable as it sparks competition and motivates the employees to pay more attention.
Case Study: Samsung
In 2019, Samsung Vietnam worked with BeLive Technology to streamline their process of training retail sales representatives on the features of the latest phone in the Galaxy S series.
Instead of sending a trainer to every store across the country, they held private live streams for trainees to tune in together and take part in an engaging live trivia session.The trainees also clarified their doubts through the live chat feature and had their enquiries answered directly by the host.
This was estimated to have saved USD 250,000 in logistics and manpower costs for Samsung, and narrowed down to two 20-minute live streaming sessions.
2. Product Launches
Tech companies have always live streamed their product launches on top of having in-person audiences. But in an era of social distancing, packing hundreds of attendees into extravagant venues was never going to be possible.
As with all live streams, there is always the fear of something going wrong in a live product launch. The tech world has an illustrious history of onstage mishaps — whether it’s an LG robot that continuously fails to respond to commands, the Tesla Cybertruck’s supposedly bulletproof glass that smashed twice after being hit by a ball bearing, Apple’s facial recognition security failing to recognize faces.
To curb the possibility of anything going wrong, prerecording a presentation is a common strategy by the more experienced brands. Apple’s live product launch in 2020 gave way to prerecorded presentations with computer-generated graphs and sweeping transitions that wow-ed audiences across the world wide web.
Case Study: Google
The risk of failure in a live demonstration proves much more impressive when it goes right, like Google’s demonstration of its Glass eyewear at its I/O developer conference back in 2012. The demo presented a group live stream their skydive down to San Francisco’s Moscone Center using Google Glass. It was an excessive, over-the-top display, but it left little doubt that the device was capable of what Google showed.
3. Live Commerce
The trend of selling products over live stream has long started in China, where the live stream shopping market was worth USD$66 billion in 2019. The rest of the world started to catch up when the the pandemic landed, and it is definitely a brilliant and new way to use live streaming in 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic has also spurred on other brands to get more involved with live streaming in 2021, which has also meant a shift away from Instagram Live (where there are no native shopping capabilities). Instead, brands are partnering with third party services such as BeLive Technology, which offer live shopping capabilities that can be integrated into brand websites (and therefore enable viewers to shop what they are seeing).
Case Study: iShopChangi by Changi Airport Group (Singapore)
When international borders closed during the pandemic, retail shops in airports were in trouble. The Changi Airport Group quickly made use of their existing ecommerce platform, iShopChangi, to sell off the goods from the airport’s duty free shops.
They adapted to the situation during the pandemic and launched a live shopping series for locals in Singapore to make their purchases at duty-free cost. To garner more viewers, they also released exclusive coupons during the live stream.
4. Direct Communication
One of the easiest ways to use live streaming in 2021 is by recording candid or unscripted moments to capture the hearts of your audience, even if it means showing your slip-ups. This way, they can see your brand in a more human light, and your business strengthens its authenticity and likeability.
Candid content is not restricted to just backstage footage or short clips of what goes on in the office. Here are three types of videos your business could try out: team-building, progress and entertaining content.
– Team-building Content
Live stream your company-wide dinner event, outing, or get-together. Prospective customers or clients love to see a close-knit company. When you create a culture of friendship, it leads to synergy in everything you do.
Think about your buyer persona and who you want to attract, and angle your content towards that direction. The most important thing? Be genuine.
– Progress Content
Share with your customers the little milestones your company achieved by live streaming the celebration.
Highlighting accomplishments demonstrates that the company is growing well. Validate your company’s progress, and prospective customers will be willing to build rapport with you.
– Entertaining Content
Create an emotional connection with your customers by making them laugh or keeping them intrigued.
According to BuzzSumo, people share funny content more often than other types of content, and it ranks in the top three kinds of posts that forges emotional connection with others.
To wrap up
With everyone rushing to get onboard with live streaming in 2021, it becomes more crucial for companies to stand out from the rest.
Internally, corporate live streaming can drastically boost employee engagement and strengthen company culture. Live streaming can attract new clients/customers and improve relationships with existing ones, benefitting your external outreach.
If you are looking to build a live streaming platform for your business, BeLive Technology has the perfect features and end-to-end solutions.
