The sheer accessibility of live video and streaming features means that brands of any size can use it to effectively elevate their marketing strategies and get real results. Live video is now a widely used form of media, popular with brands for its authentic nature and the ability to generate large audiences without needing huge budgets for promotion.
When live streaming and influencer marketing combine in the right way, businesses can benefit from contemporary and powerful campaigns that generate impressive results. Not only can you benefit from the increased reach and visibility that comes with working with established individuals, but you can also put a face to your brand and establish meaningful connections with potential customers.
With all main social platforms now offering live video features, you can implement multi-channel streaming campaigns with your favourite influencers to create unstoppable results and generate a huge amount of valuable engagement with your target audiences.
Zidivo has put together a handy guide highlighting how live streaming can be beneficial when used as a key tool in your influencer marketing strategies.
The results achieved through influencer marketing campaigns are renowned for being hard to measure accurately. By nature, influencer marketing doesn’t produce quantifiable results and has more of a long term effect on a brand’s visibility and reputation. Bring live streaming into the mix though, and you can easily see the size of the audiences you are generating and can analyse whether your audience is going on to make a purchase or visit your website from your video content.
There are a variety of different situations that can be ideal for generating revenue and brand awareness through a live stream, such as brand events, product releases or demos, behind the scenes views and, of course, influencer interviews or takeovers.
Another way that live streaming can help to maximise your ROI is through advertising. The promotion running up to your influencer live streams is key to their success. You want to make sure that your audience knows exactly when, where and how to tune in, whether you are offering the stream on your website or on social channels. You can even use your advertising to analyse how many people are clicking through to your stream and use the data to educate your future campaigns in terms of how you promote the stream and who you feature in your videos.
Admittedly, live streaming was once a type of media used by large corporations and businesses that required expensive equipment and a professional setup to get right. Now though, all you really need is a smartphone and a decent internet connection to go live to a large audience. Where influencer marketing is a strategy that does require a significant budget to work with established and well-trusted professionals, live streaming as a marketing tool can be easily and cheaply incorporated into campaigns.
Due to the simplicity of going live and the minimal equipment required, you can make live streams a regular occurrence and offer your audience weekly or monthly influencer takeovers. This establishes a consistent point of contact with your audience and allows you to become a reliable and entertaining source of information, going further than just the sales of your products.
By nature, live streams get significantly more reach than pre-recorded content. They appear at the top of social feeds and your influencers’ audiences may even get notified when you go live allowing brands to get ahead of competitors that aren’t yet utilising live video when working with influencers.
Working with a diverse range of influencers also allows a way into new markets that would otherwise have been difficult to break into. Think different regions, demographics and even whole new industries where influencers may be able to open the gate for you to enter. It’s far easier and more effective to benefit from influencers’ existing reputations and connections than to attempt to break into a new market with no face to your brand.
Influencer marketing is known to be hugely successful for brands, but only if they get it right. It’s essential to do plenty of competitor research to pinpoint which brands are working with which influencers and identify opportunities. Fail to work with influencers that are reliable and genuinely passionate about your brand and this will come across in your live streams. Find a set of influencers who love your brand and what they stand for though, and you are on to a winner.
You can even factor collaboration into your live streaming strategies, featuring multiple influencers in your videos or working with other like-minded brands to create powerful campaigns. All in all, consider the reach of an influencer but also their reputation and the quality of their audience to make sure collaborating is going to support your cause and not end up impeding your brand’s message.
When it comes to spending time online, we are all guilty of following certain individuals, whether they are celebrities or not, and being influenced by something they’ve talked about, worn or demonstrated. It’s part of human nature to listen to the opinions of those we respect and let it sway our own actions, which is why influencer marketing has become such a big player in the marketing world.
Live streaming gives audiences the opportunity to engage with their favourite influencers online and form authentic connections. The thrill of potentially receiving a response from an influencer during a live stream will mean that more people are willing to get involved and have their say. Putting faces to your brand name is invaluable and as audiences form connections with influencers via your streams, they will also instil trust in you as a brand too.
Consumers are far more likely to consider making a purchase from a brand that offers unedited content on a regular basis with well-known influencers than a brand that offers no insight into the people behind the brand.
It’s important to make sure that you find influencers not just based on their social followings or audience, but for the types of audiences that attract and engage with. Working with more niche influencers that fit with your brand’s overall message and that already use similar products is far better and more effective in the long run, particularly when it comes to live streams as there is no editing to hide behind.
If you’re ready to start incorporating live streaming into your influencer campaigns or other marketing strategies, Zidivo has a range of professional live streaming features to allow you to completely customise your players, maintain all the rights to your content and analyse the success of each video.
Get in touch with the friendly team via live chat or start a free 30-day trial of the platform today!
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