To successfully promote a live stream, factors such as the region and language of your target audience should be taken into consideration. However, don’t let these factors become excuses for not reaching your desired audience. Live streaming can be an effective way to connect with your audience.
Individual users, business owners, and companies use live streaming as a powerful marketing tool to achieve their goals. With that said, it is essential to establish a broad audience reach to get your content or brand discovered. How can you accomplish this? Let’s find out in this quick guide.
Why live stream?
The live-streaming industry is, without a doubt flourishing. Let’s refresh ourselves with some stats regarding this industry, shall we?
“The live streaming industry is expected to be valued at $184.3 billion by 2027” – Grand View Research.
“Live content earns 27% more minutes of watch time per viewing, nearly 6 more minutes, at 24.41 minutes on average, for live video versus video on demand which is slightly fewer than 18 minutes” – Conviva.
“2019 Coachella was the live music event with the highest live viewership at 82.9 million live views” – Variety.
“Live video is expected to grow 15-fold by 2022 and reach a 17% share of all internet traffic” – Cisco.
“The online live streaming industry has grown 99% between April 2019 and April 2020” – Daily eSports.
Live streaming is indeed an excellent strategy for everyone, from gamers to entrepreneurs. To take full advantage of it, you should heavily promote your live stream session to help you get in front of viewers and grab their attention.
Best Practises to Promote your live stream To Reach New Viewers
With all these in mind, where do we start? Let’s go through the 3 stages of live streaming and see how you can boost your reach before, during, and after the stream.
Best Strategies to Promote Your Live Stream: Before the Live Stream
As we may know by now, live streaming requires a hefty amount of preparation before turning the camera on and going live. Here are our few suggested tips to help you prepare and gather a significant number of viewers before the actual live-stream event.
Timing is crucial.
As the saying goes, time is gold. Nothing feels more awkward than going live and hearing crickets while your potential viewers are either busy with work or taking a snooze. Hence, you should first plan your live stream by analyzing your target audience. Review your previous live streams or analytics data provided by your live stream platform to figure out the right time for your next live stream session.
Announce your live stream in advance.
After deciding on your broadcasting time, make an announcement to inform people about it. Moreover, The best way to do this is to schedule an event, send a few messages and emails, or even share your channel or profile link several days or weeks in advance. By doing so, your potential audience will be notified in advance and be ready for your upcoming live-stream session.
Ding, ding! Create an effortless auto reminder of your live streams like a pro 
Do a live stream final countdown.
To create a sense of urgency for your live stream, you may want to consider using a countdown. Moreover, You may do this on the social media platform where you share your stream. Consider sending a few reminder messages or emails for your upcoming live broadcast, preferably a week, 3 days before, and a day before. You can also include a 5–10 minute countdown before the actual live stream. You can do this by using the Snaz countdown timer. We’ve linked the software, so you can download it here. To link it to your obs requires a few simple steps.
Click on add new source and select Text (GDI+)
Select the check box read from the file. Click on browse and select Snaz file from your list of program files.
An example of Snaz countdown file location saved in your pc
Launch the Snaz app. It will display some information about the current time and date format. Under the countdown to a specific time, enter the date and time you wish to finish the countdown. Alternatively, you can watch a video explaining these steps here.
Once thriving, your countdown timer will be displayed as shown below
You may experiment with a number of countdown posts and messages. Just keep in mind to not overuse them. No one likes spam!
Include teasers.
Moviemakers use teasers or trailers with the most exciting and amusing part of the film to intrigue their viewers. So why not do the same? Come up with a short video, gif, or poster to capture your target audience’s attention. This will also generate hype. Figure out content that could generate more shares and engagements for your event, and don’t forget to include your profile or channel links together with the posts. As a suggestion, you can even include “clickbait.” However, remember to use them wisely!
Use #tags.
A huge number of live-streaming events use hashtags, “#tags”, as they help create buzz around the event. They also make it a lot easier for your audience to find all the posts related to your event. The #tags you use should represent your event and brand. Remember to keep them simple and short, so they’re memorable and can easily be associated with your brand. For example, you can find more than 26,000 posts under #VirtualFashionShow.
Promote your live stream on multiple platforms.
Broadcasting on one platform doesn’t mean you can only promote your stream on that platform. Grab every opportunity possible! There are a lot of ways to promote your content — share your links on Facebook pages, tweet about your event, post Instagram stories, or send emails and a few messages. These would help you find your niche audience.
Consider using paid promotions.
You need a budget to utilize paid traffic. Despite the costs, paid promotions have been proven to generate a great return on investment. Whenever possible, consider adding this to your stream promotion plan. You may place ads on Facebook and/or Google to cover a wider audience. You can also publish your teaser video and create custom posts on Youtube or even advertise your live stream on Instagram posts and stories.
Best Strategies to Promote Your Live Stream: During the live stream
Keep on promoting.
You heard that right. In some platforms like Facebook, you can benefit from paid promotions not only before but also during the live stream itself. Facebook allows you to create an ad for a broadcast, choose its objective, and set the audiences on your page. On the other hand, Youtube allows you to create highlight clips of a live stream and notify your subscribers regarding the live event. Using additional promotion strategies to reach and engage with viewers who may have missed your previous announcements may have a far greater value than the costs.
Interact with your viewers.
Real-time communication is what differentiates live streaming from other types of online interaction. You should use it to its maximum capabilities. Listen to your audience and make them feel heard. Read comments and chats. Ask your viewers about their thoughts and opinions, or create polls if necessary. Remember that such interactions and conversations are great for building connections and loyalty among your viewers.
Reward your viewers.
You can create more buzz by having giveaways or doing quizzes to reward your viewers. By doing so, your live stream becomes even more valuable and engaging. It doesn’t have to be something big or expensive. Items such as discount coupons or even simple trinkets can go a long way. Rewards can also be more social. Sharing exclusive information and tips can be rewarding and engaging for the audience and you.
Tips & Tricks to Promote Your Live Stram: After the live stream
Let’s not forget this: even after the live stream has ended, you can still get more audience and engagement. When using the ViuLive platform, each and every one of your live streams will be saved as a video on demand (VOD). This means that people can still come by and watch videos of your past live streams. Here are some essential things you can do after you finish your live-stream session.
Analyze results.
Most streaming platforms provide data analytics regarding your live stream stats, such as its reach, engagement, number of viewers, etc. You can easily access the information to determine the most exciting part of your live stream and optimize it for future broadcasts.
Share the VOD.
Share the video of your previous live streams on every social media you have access to. With each platform’s diversity, you can take advantage of potential exposure to millions of active users worldwide. Your friends and other people can also share your videos quickly, which would help you expand your audience tremendously.
Repurpose the live stream.
You can download and edit, or in some cases, clip the best and most exciting part of your current or past live stream to keep people engaged. Use these clips and compile them into a video. These videos would, in turn, direct people to your channel or profile and would help you to stay engaged with your audience. Highlight videos help capture your viewers’ attention and let them know what they can expect from watching your live stream.
Conclusion
Live streaming is, without a doubt, changing the future of video entertainment. With the ability to provide instant recognition and real-time interaction, live streaming has proven to be a powerful and efficient marketing tool. The ability to promote your live stream at each stage of the event makes it uniquely different compared to other traditional media.
For a quick recap, here are some tips that you must consider when doing a live stream:
Before the live stream
- Timing is crucial.
- Announce your live stream in advance.
- Do a live stream final countdown,
- Include teasers,
- Use #tags.
- Promote your live stream on multiple platforms.
- Consider using paid promotions.
During the live stream
- Keep on promoting.
- Interact with your viewers.
- Reward your viewers.
After the live stream
- Analyze results.
- Share the VOD.
- Repurpose the live stream.
Do you have any other suggestions on how to promote your live streams? Let us know in the comments below!