In their marketing efforts, small businesses usually include videos as a great promotional move. But why should they consider going live more often, rather than uploading promotional videos? Here are top 5 reasons small business owners need to include live videos in their social marketing strategy.

1. Your audience feels more connected

The in-the-now feeling gets your users’ attention and they click on that “Watch Now” button. Don’t ignore the fact that nowadays many people have FOMO – fear of missing out. This means they will sacrifice their time and will procrastinate lots of other important tasks of the day just to feel connected at that very moment.

2. You get more reach and exposure

The chance that your live video will reach to more people is higher than with an uploaded video. This is because they get a notification on the social media channel. This grabs their attention and they become willing to click on it.

Besides, your pre-event social media posts will keep your audience interested in your live video content. They will mark your live video event in their calendar.

3. You can create live video giveaways and/or auctions

Especially if you are a small business owner with a vision of growing and expanding, you should have giveaways and discounts.

One of the best ways to reach more people and keep them engaged is having your contest-giveaway or auction during a live video. The viewers will make comments, their friends will see this in their feed and will join the live video. At least they will get to know your brand and will become your follower.

4. You will create a unique brand reputation

Your company culture and everyday life is interesting for your audience. If you go live from a company event, your followers will see who is behind the brand they are using (or considering to use).

Not only a company event but also the events you take part in, are a great chance to show your audience how active you are and how important it is for you to bring value.

5. You get instant feedback

People are more likely to comment on live videos rather than on blog posts, for example. This is because they feel you are talking to them and as everyone wants to be heard, viewers make comments.

Their thoughts are great way to see what your audience is talking about your brand. This can be a good feedback-gathering format for you as they are willing to share their opinion on the topic.

Remember that responding to comments is essential – at least a “Thank you for your thoughts” is a way to show your audience is heard.

Now that you know the essential reasons businesses should concentrate on live videos, let’s see how you can effectively go live.

3 Important Tricks for Effective Live Video Streaming

No doubt your live video content should be interesting and engaging for your audience. But when it comes to choosing a platform, how do you know which social media platform is right to stream to?

Here comes the trick – you can stream to multiple different channels making sure you are not missing out a platform your audience is in. Multistreaming is the best solution when you want to reach more audience.

When you stream to multiple platforms, you can check the analytics on your multistreaming service. This will give you an understanding of the average duration your audience was engaged with your live video. Moreover, you will see the most used emojis and words, to name a few.

But one question still remains unanswered – how do you make sure your video is polished and you will avoid any kind of failure? Here is when the second trick – go live with pre-recorded video. Yes, you heard it right. You can go live with a pre-recorded, polished video.This will help you have a high-quality live video, with no risk of failure.

Last but not least, ask for help! If you are not a specialist in video marketing, trust the pre-production, on-location shooting, and post-production to specialists. Here are several examples of high-quality videos produced by Uno Deuce Multimedia.

Producing a unique video and scheduling it as live video content will increase the chances of keeping your audience engaged. Sometimes it’s not only the script that seems boring but also the quality of the live video.

Final Thoughts

It is not easy for small businesses to keep their audience engaged. This is why you need to find ways of doubling your marketing efforts and bringing value to your brand followers.

One of the best ways of customer engagement and client retention is producing live video content. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it to professionals, you need to make sure the content is interesting for your target audience.

 

 

Sirapi Sahakyan 

Sirarpi Sahakyan is a content marketer who is passionate about helping businesses in all aspects of online marketing. She was featured in BBC for assisting one of the journalists and is a Quora influencer. She is a former employee in one of the top 10 best content marketing agencies according to Crunchbase. Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirarpi-sahakyan-2596842a/