How to Engage Your Audience with Live Streaming

Live streaming is an incredibly powerful way to connect with audiences and personalise your brand’s messaging. Using a live streaming platform to maximise your social media reach, you can live stream content to huge audiences and offer your followers a glimpse into your brand. 

Live streaming growth has been huge in recent years, with the market increasing from $30 billion in 2016 to an anticipated value of over $184 billion by 2027. This growth has made marketers sit up and pay attention. 

Why you should use live streaming platforms 

Live streaming allows you to connect with audiences in an authentic, personal way. It opens a gateway to let your audience see into who runs your brand and the personalities behind it. Consumers are craving deeper connections with brands, and need authenticity in order to trust them. 

Live streams allow viewers to interact with your brand or hosts in real-time. This means questions can be answered immediately, which can be the make or break between a purchasing decision. 

The top live streaming platforms

Live streaming is relatively simple to set up. Most social platforms have evolved into live streaming platforms, with built-in capabilities, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others. However, each live streaming platform offers access to a different audience. 

If you already have a strong presence on your chosen live streaming platform, you can already reach a huge audience through live streaming. If you don’t have the audience you want, using live streaming can help you achieve it. 

Facebook 

Facebook is one of the most popular live streaming platforms available, with a huge 2.7 billion monthly active users. Facebook Live has been available since 2016 and has made a huge impact on the platform. 

As one of the largest live streaming platforms, live videos receive 10X more comments than regular videos, and have a 3X longer watch time. The power of live streaming on Facebook is huge, with over 40% of businesses using live streaming on Facebook. 

Instagram 

Although not as big as Facebook, Instagram is the best live streaming platform to engage younger audiences. Popular with those aged between 18 and 34, Instagram Live lends itself perfectly to offer visual live streams. Although brands are limited to live streaming from a mobile device, Instagram Live allows brands to give viewers a glimpse into their personality, and to tailor their content for their audience. 

YouTube

YouTube was the original video-based social platform, and still plays a huge role for marketers with live streaming. With 2 billion monthly users, YouTube is widely considered the second biggest search engine in the world, just behind Google. 

Live streaming performs incredibly well on YouTube, with many brands racking up millions of concurrent views. A main benefit of YouTube as a live streaming platform is that videos are saved after you stream. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the go-to and biggest live streaming platform for networking. With more than 766 million users across the globe, it’s an ideal way to reach audiences, especially for users in sales or B2B. 

LinkedIn Live is available for both members and business pages and earns an impressive seven times more reactions and 24 times as many comments than standard video posts.

TikTok

TikTok is the most-downloaded social platform in the world. Live streaming on TikTok works incredibly well due to the authentic nature of the platform. Unedited content thrives on TikTok, so live streaming fits naturally into any TikTok strategy. 

TikTok also offers shoppable live streaming. Brands and influencers can host live streams and promote specific products that users can buy within the platform. 

Twitch

Twitch is a social media platform that is specifically designed for live streaming. Although predominantly used by streamers, brands can create their own channels or use streamers for collaborations. Twitch audiences are highly engaged and are open to branded content. 

FAQ’s

What are live stream platforms?

Live streaming platforms host videos and allow users to upload or broadcast content to their audiences. Both social platforms and specific-live streaming platforms allow brands to broadcast live content to assist with lead generation, building brand awareness, and advertising. 

What is the best platform for live streaming?

The best platform for live streaming depends on the audience you want to target. Each platform offers its own unique demographics, so brands need to take time to consider where their audience is most active and willing to engage. 

How does live streaming work?

Live streaming is when the streamed video is sent over the Internet in real time, without first being recorded and stored. Each platform has its own requirements to set up live streams. 

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