Video has been the reigning champion of marketing mediums for years now. A majority of consumers prefer video over other content formats due its highly engaging nature.

One of the more recent evolutions in video is livestreaming. The gaming community has connected via livestreaming for years, and Periscope propelled livestreaming phone applications forward with its launch almost a decade ago. But the pandemic was the latest springboard for livestreaming.

People began to seek new modes of entertainment as traditionally in-person activities moved online. Livestreaming granted people stuck at home the opportunity to connect virtually and form a strong sense of community that can only be developed through shared experiences.

The livestreaming market is growing, and businesses are leveraging it more often in a B2C context. Here are a few ways you can utilize livestreaming for your business and some best practices from our team.

4 Livestream Use Cases

Recent research on behalf of TikTok shows over 52% of global users have interest in consuming live branded content. If you believe your audience is interested in live content, here are some opportunities to consider:

1. Launching a new product or service – When launching a new product, you could always send out a press release and wait for media to pick up the story, but that isn’t always guaranteed. Take your product announcement live, and you have a good chance your audience will engage. Plus, you can address your key stakeholders’ questions in real time.
2. Hold a competition – If there is a prize involved, consumers will feel more incentivized to join your stream. There are several ways this can be done. Hold a comment-to-win contest by asking everyone to follow your business on social media and answering a question in the comment section; then choose a winner. Play a game with your followers that everyone can participate in. You can even combine a launch with a live Q&A where the best question wins the product.
3. Provide a service – Not every company can pull this off, but some can provide services as a livestreamed event. iFit and Peloton offer a wide variety of live workout sessions and challenges that can be completed in order to earn badges. If your service does not require in-person attendance, consider offering it livestreamed.
4. Live Shopping – Originating in China, livestream e-commerce, or live shopping, has yet to really take off in the U.S. Live shopping is when an influencer or celebrity showcases a number of products that are in limited quantity and available for a limited time. Most live shopping still occurs in China mainly because U.S. marketers have not put enough time and investment into it. Live shopping must have hype built around each stream and the scarcity principle needs to be heavily applied. Live shopping has great potential in the U.S., with the market expected to double from 2022-2026.

Most Successful Branded Livestreams

In livestreaming, you don’t necessarily create success just by garnering large numbers of viewers. You have to be creative. Here are a few brands that really shined in real time:

1. L’Oreal – This cosmetics giant is taking “live” to a whole new meaning. One feature on their website allows consumers to ‘try-on’ makeup live or upload a selfie to see how it would look on them. Another feature allows them to schedule a one-on-one skin consultation virtually with a medical aesthetic professional while a third feature uses AI to analyze their skin and tailor the perfect products to their needs in real-time.
2. KitKat – In an effort to boost online sales in Australia, KitKat used the Facebook Live Comment to Message feature to allow consumers to place orders for personalized chocolate bar flavors. As a result, their online sales tripled.
3. Petco – Seven dogs, seven outfits, one great livestream. Petco held a live doggy fashion show in Los Angeles with seven rescues from a local shelter. Not only did the stream reach nearly one million viewers, all seven dogs were adopted within 20 minutes.

5 Livestreaming Tips and Best Practices

Pulling off the perfect livestream is not easy. There are a lot of factors to consider. The following are some pieces of advice that come courtesy of Tunheim’s Director of Integrated Digital and Social Media, David Erickson.

1. Do a practice run with all participants to iron out the kinks. Test your technology with all involved to ensure everyone knows how to use your live-streaming platform and that they know how to use their own technology (webcam and microphone).
2. Ship high quality webcams and microphones to all “on air” talent to ensure the highest quality audio and video.
3. Identify which channel(s) your target audience is most active on and plan to livestream to those channels. Prioritize those channels on which you have the largest, most engaged followership.
4. Promote your livestream well ahead of time both organically and via paid advertising.
5. Record your livestream to provide it on-demand after the fact for those who could not attend the livestream and to serve as a marketing asset post-event.

Want to incorporate livestreaming into your marketing strategy? Contact us today, and we’ll show you the ropes.