Live streaming (or live video) consists of broadcasting live video content over the Internet, through social networks or your own streaming platform. With the COVID 19 crisis, it has become very trendy and popular in all kinds of businesses. Whether you are a yoga teacher, a sports (fitness) instructor, an events company, a producer of cultural or entertainment content, a brand or a corporate, we explain here why, if you haven’t already done so, you need to use live streaming for your activity
Here we will mainly talk about live video (or live streaming) but it is obvious that this content can also be recorded to be published as an on-demand content (or replay video). Here are 7 reasons why you should start using live video in your business:
1- Your audience is ready for live streaming
Since the global COVID crisis, people have learned to use live streaming for all kinds of activities: meetings at work, appointments, events, and even hobbies. For example, many lifestyle activities (yoga, fitness, dance etc…) started offering live video classes since their establishments were closed.
Likewise, some cultural activities, such as movies, concerts, or shows have been digitalized to offer a live streaming experience. Many musical artists have offered live content on Instagram to keep in touch with their fans.
And the success was immediate: the people confined to their homes had no choice but to try this new practice and they adopted it. The audience got used to live streaming and video consumption in their everyday life and realized how much they could do, simply by staying at home. The excuse used in the past: “my audience is not ready for live video” is no longer valid, so there is no excuse to go ahead!
2- You can scale your business
With live streaming, you no longer have physical limitations (e.g. limited space for your classes, events or shows). You can do your activity or performance once and can reach thousands or even millions of people simultaneously. And as a bonus: if you monetize your video content, you can offer it as video-on-demand or replay and sell it several times at no extra cost (you don’t need to redo the performance several times). The growth potential of your business is therefore exponential!
Live streaming can also allow you to reach many more people. Because there are no longer any geographical boundaries, you can reach new customers and introduce your business or your brand to far away people.
3- Offer a qualitative experience almost identical to the physical experience
Technology has come a long way in recent years to deliver a fluid, high definition (HD), live video experience that is almost as good as the physical experience. The 5G will strengthen user connections allowing users to offer videos “as if we were there”.
Whether you use video to sell a product, or offer a concert, your users’ experience will be of good quality! So you can no longer hide behind that excuse!
4- Engage and strengthen your community
By allowing your community to have the same experience at the same time and sometimes even interact during a live video, you reinforce their commitment to your brand or content. This makes it possible, in particular, to reflect a more human, and therefore more accessible, image.
Facebook has found that people who watch lives stay on average 3x longer on this type of content than other videos. This explains why Facebook Live now accounts for more than one in five videos across all the content offered by the platform.
In addition, viewers seem to be paying more attention to it overall. And we now know that the more time your customers spend on your content being captive, the more affinity with your brand increases.
5- Make life easier for your customers and viewers
When you organize a physical event (conference, sports classes, concert, etc…), it requires a certain amount of logistics from your clients:
> they have to get to the event site: take transport, sometimes a hotel etc…
> they must be available at a fixed time
By offering video content in live streaming and then a replay (video on demand) you make life easier for your users who can save money on travel, accommodation etc… and help them be more flexible with their agenda, because, if you offer your event also as a replay, they will be able to watch it where and when they want.
6- Create more revenue by monetizing your live streams
Offering live or on-demand content also helps to diversify revenues by monetizing its digital content. This way, if crises, such as the COVID crisis, were to happen again, you could continue your activity without having a significant impact on your business.
Moreover, organizing a live stream is often less expensive than a physical activity that requires premises for example. Beyond adding a revenue line to your business, you could therefore also increase your operating margin.
Finally, another way to create more revenue is to associate sponsors on your content offer. At OKAST, we offer a video sponsoring feature allowing you to integrate one or more sponsors into your streaming platform.
7- Get more data from your customers
Live streaming and on-demand video content allow you to get to know your customers better. Indeed, if you have the right tools, you should be able to know exactly what your users are doing: who are the most loyal? Who are the most engaged with your videos? Who consumes the most content? etc…
By linking this video data to your CRM for example you could find real synergies.
For example, let’s say you give online sports courses and, at the same time, offer complementary products or services (personalized coaching, merchandising etc…). What if you could find out who is the most loyal and engaged client or prospect? It would be easy for you to offer them value-added products or services. Or, depending on the courses they have chosen, offer them suitable products.
At OKAST we offer analysis reports for live and on-demand content, as well as reports to monitor your users’ activity. Thus it is possible for you to identify in a few clicks your most loyal users…
If you are interested in launching a video content platform to offer live streaming or on-demand content, contact us at hello@okast.tv (we answer within the day) or go to https://okast.tv