Livestream for Business: Best Practices

Whether you are thinking of starting a livestream for your business or are already using it to grow your brand, this article is for you.
Look at this stat: Research suggests that 80% of consumers prefer watching a livestream of a brand over reading their blog.
This is why Chinese companies have utilized this content format to generate great results. And, the effectiveness of livestreaming is clear from the fact that other countries and platforms are also jumping on the bandwagon.  
Luckily, executing a perfect livestream is neither expensive nor difficult. You just need to follow some best practices.
This article will take you through those best practices. So, stay with us till the end.
Let’s get into the details.

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Plan Your Livestreams

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Streamers often neglect this part of a livestream even though it’s one of the most important ones. To make sure your livestream goes well, you should plan its content in advance.
Going live without a planned outline can lead to a lot of pauses and mistakes. This can easily lead to a sub-par audience experience.
You don’t want your audience to get bored or lose their interest even for a few seconds. A well-thought-out outline is imperative to not only grab their attention but to also keep them hooked to your livestream.
You don’t have to write the whole script for a livestream though. Just an outline that tells you what you have to talk about.
An important thing to keep in mind while creating an outline is this: Keep your goal in mind so that you get the most out of your content.

Promote Your Streams

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Livestream best practices actually begin well before you go live. One crucial step that you need to take before your livestream is promoting it on every channel your target customer hangs out.
While producing the best content and hosting a perfect livestream is important, you need enough viewers to make it profitable.
When you get the word out about your livestream beforehand, people that are interested in your business will take the time out.
Otherwise, many of your prospects might not be available at your time; you’d be losing them.
What you can do is, create a schedule on your social media accounts and let your audience know when you want to connect with them.
Alternatively, you can ask them to register for the livestream through an email opt-in form. This way, you won’t only attract the right people to your business but can also use their contact details afterward.
A great way to get people to give their email addresses is by offering something to them first. For instance, you can give them a free eBook on a question they might looking for an answer to.
Anything that they find value in can be a good lead magnet.

Interact with the Audience

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Audience engagement is a must when you are doing livestreams. And, you can easily achieve that by starting the interaction yourself.
Without interacting with your audience, it would be quite difficult to achieve your livestream goals. A majority of People prefer watching livestream because they are participative.
When you take the interactive element away from your viewers, there is a chance you’ll lose a bunch of them.  
Live interaction can prove to be a game-changer for your brand. Not only you can build trust with your audience, but it can also help you understand your dream customer better.
An effective way to get people to talk to you on your livestreams is by encouraging them to ask anything they want.
Alternatively, you can ask questions from them and offer something of value to them. For instance, announce a 20% off on your product for the one that correctly answers the question.

Have a Goal

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Besides preparing a well-thought-out outline before going live, it’s also important to clarify your goal in advance.
Your content should be aimed at one purpose. It could be educating your audience about the new product that you are launching.
Or, it could be a session where you answer your prospects’ questions to let them make more informed decisions.

Allow Your Audience to Ask Questions

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A great way to boost audience engagement is by including a question-and-answer part in your livestreams.
Doesn’t matter what’s your goal with a livestream, make time for a Q&A part so that your audience can clear their minds.
Not only will it let you form a more personal and stronger bond with them, but it will also let you get new content ideas.
For instance, if a question arises multiple times, you can take that topic and create a separate livestream on that.
Plus, your audience’s questions can tell a lot about them.

Have a Helping Hand While Streaming

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While executing a perfect livestream where you engage your audience can be a one-person job, a helping hand can make things easier.
While livestreaming, it’s common to need something that you haven’t anticipated before, which is normal.
However, you don’t want to desert your livestream audience even just for a few seconds; you’ll be giving a good reason to them to leave your stream.
A livestream can pose any type of technical challenge; and, a host’s job is to engage the audience.
To avoid any circumstance that makes you move away from the screen, keep a team member with you throughout the livestream.

Keep Your Livestreams Entertaining

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This best practice is a no-brainer. It’s obvious that you have to keep your livestreams appealing to your audience.
Craft content that’s entertaining; you’ll be able to hook your audience till the end of your livestreams. The more they watch your live video, the better your chances of getting conversions.
The ever-dwindling attention span of human beings calls for it. You don’t want to invest so much into attracting the right audience and then have them leave just because your content lacked entertainment.
Your host has the biggest impact on your livestreams. If the host is lively and puts their personality into the livestream, you’d have nothing to worry about.
Of course, your content plays a vital role too.
If you don’t have such a person in your team or simply want to outsource this task, there is a perfectly feasible solution.
You can work with an influencer in your field and let them handle the steering. They know what they are doing. But, make sure you find the right influencer for your livestreams.
The most important thing to consider while selecting an influencer is their relevance to your industry. See if their content is related to your industry.
And, while the size of their audience isn’t the most important factor, it largely impacts the price you’ll be investing in them.

Keep Your Livestreams Accessible

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Probably the biggest impact a livestream makes is before you push the stop button. However, a lot of your prospects might not be able to mark their attendance.
To cater to that audience, what you can do is, keep your livestreams as recordings. This way, you can attract more people to your business.
In addition to that, you can use your livestream recordings to attract new prospects to your next livestream. For this, you’d have to announce when you are going live next.
Don’t take your livestream recordings for granted. You can bring a lot of new potential customers to your business if you keep engaging with the viewers.

Be Consistent

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You’ve probably heard of this one in other marketing strategies. Consistency is important if you want people to see you as a credible source.
While you don’t have to over-produce content, keeping a consistent schedule keeps you in the game.
Consistency in livestreaming can help you build trust with your audience and helps you boost your viewership.
So, make sure to have a realistic livestreaming schedule and deliver great content consistently.

Final Thoughts

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Whether you are an entrant or an established business, livestreaming can help you expand your reach and bring in new customers.
The strategies and best practices discussed in this article can help you get the most out of your business livestreams.
While it may be a little overwhelming to jump into an entirely new marketing strategy, livestreaming is easier when you follow the right path.

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