Oracle’s Senior Content Manager, Maggie Schneider Huston, discusses how brands can get the most from the live-streaming apps.
While watching the All-Star game a few nights ago, my husband’s phone pinged with an alert.
“What’s that?” I asked, perpetually curious (and slightly nosy).
“Periscope alert,” he responded. “Aaron Paul is live streaming.”
He clicked on it, and we watched Aaron Paul show us a bird’s nest that was hanging under the eaves in his house for five minutes.
Pretty stupid, right? It wasn’t riveting TV. It wasn’t breaking news, or a viral video, or even particularly funny.
BUT WE STOPPED WATCHING THE ALL-STAR GAME TO SEE IT.
That’s the power of live streaming video.
How to capture this power
Live streaming video apps, like Periscope or Meerkat, are incredible tools for storytelling. Marketing is about telling the story of your brand, and social media is the medium. Live streaming apps are just one way of getting your message across. If you choose to broadcast, it’s important that it fits into your overall marketing strategy clearly. You can see some of Oracle Social's first forays into live video here and here.
How Live Streaming Fits Into Your Social Strategy
Let’s say you run a cupcake shop. The goals of your social strategy would probably look like this:
1. Drive Sales
2. Build Customer Loyalty
3. Increase Brand Awareness
Therefore, you would probably use the other major social platforms like this:
1. Facebook: offer discounts to drive sales and increase brand awareness
2. Twitter: promote your blog, offer coupons, and engage in cupcake conversations to build loyalty
3. LinkedIn: post articles about how great it is to work at your company to build brand awareness
4. Pinterest: post pictures of your cupcakes, engage online orders to drive sales
5. Instagram: post glamorous cupcake photos to increase brand awareness, link to website to drive sales
Go Behind the Scenes
Periscope and Meerkat offer a unique avenue to allow brands to build customer loyalty and brand awareness by allowing customers unprecedented access to their company. For our cupcake shop, it would be a great opportunity to take the customers inside the kitchen and demonstrate how they make 500 delicious cupcakes per day. Customers value up-close and personal access to their favorite brands… like Aaron Paul.
Live streaming gives businesses an opportunity to literally put a human face and personality to their brand. This is especially important for small businesses, who may be struggling to build a customer base. If you have an engaging person showing the viewer how they make these yummy cupcakes, you’re building brand awareness, increasing customer loyalty, and driving sales.
Breaking News
Most small businesses are unlikely to have breaking news, but if you do, these tools are great for that too.
Let’s say our cupcake shop built a steady following on social media. We’ve decided to announce a new flavor, raspberry lemonade. Across our other social media channels we can promote, “BIG announcement Tuesday at 3pm. Watch us live!” Once Tuesday at 3pm rolls around and the new flavor is announced, you can offer a special promotional code for the live stream viewers.
Now let’s imagine that our cupcake shop is visited by a 2016 Presidential candidate. That would be a great opportunity to showcase our cupcakes and join a mainstream news event. You could take it a step further by promoting their flavor choice across other social channels.
Parting Thoughts
As with any new social platform, it is wise to observe before joining in the conversation. Spend time watching a diverse group of broadcasts so you can learn what looks good and sparks engagement before putting yourself out there.
Good luck, and have fun!