your audience .
Other formats that work well for live streams are exclusive , behind-the-scenes access to events and Q & A sessions between hosts and guests . Live streaming also works well to bring the magic of an industry event or keynote back to the viewer at home , such as Marketing Nation Summit . Bottom line is , if you make your audience feel special , they ’ ll reward you with their attention .
Once you have a story ready to go , start planning your live stream . To get started , a mobile phone camera or a laptop webcam is perfect . You may want to invest in a tripod to stabilize your footage .
2 . Content Promotion
Creating content is just one piece of the puzzle . The challenge then becomes making sure it gets found by your target audience . That ’ s the only road to livestreaming success . Many social platforms now have free options for broadcasting your live stream to the world . That ’ s great , but you should focus on broadcasting to all the channels where your audience consumes content . This might require using more than one tripod so you can broadcast to separate platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live at the same time .
An easy way to make sure you cover all avenues is to consider both organic and paid distribution :
Organic Promotion :
Getting viewers to tune in organically is all about your promotion . Leverage the existing audience channels in your arsenal . This could include social media , email , and your website .
Sharing live content like pre-event promotion , notifications , and even a registration page similar to that of a webinar . Before the live stream , promote it across all your channels . Post on your social channels , send an email a day before the live stream , and post a ‘ Going live in 15 minutes !’ update on Twitter . Once the event is live , keep spreading the word . Post a “ Live Now ” reminder on the social channels where you ’ re live .
Share a notification in relevant public Slack channels . These audiences are “ low-hanging fruit .” They ’ re interested in similar topics , so make sure you capture their attention .
Paid Promotion :
At some point , you ’ ll reach the end of your potential organic viewership pool . Now , it ’ s time to expand your audience further by boosting visibility with paid promotion through a live video platform like AmpLive . Going live is a gamble , so why not guarantee livestreaming success ?
Think of paid promotion for live video is like other paid media , but make sure your vendor has a real-time delivery network . Ensure they can target a specific audience in realtime when your broadcast is live by notifying or serving content to people who have already shown an interest in the topic . Also , be sure they can provide you with valuable metrics and insights on your viewers . This ensures livestreaming success so you can follow up and continue the conversation with your viewers after the event is over .
3 . Engagement
Engagement is a key way to ensure the livestreaming success of your broadcast . Make sure your live video platform has features that encourage audience participation . Get viewers to chime in , ask questions , share their opinions , and weigh in on best practices during the live broadcast . Periscope ’ s chat function is great for viewers to ask questions in real-time .
Don ’ t ignore incentives for audience participation with prizes and free trials . Roblox , a user-generated online gaming platform , gave away prizes on their live stream every day for a week to celebrate reaching 150,000 Twitch followers . Of course , you don ’ t need to give your audience incentives to succeed . Just remember that engagement is a two-way street , and you need audience participation to complete the circle .
4 . Data Collection
Data is essential for helping you drive livestreaming success by figuring out what
36 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www . broadcastbeat . com