Livestreaming has become a social staple over the past several months. From events to webinars, a growing number of organizations are opting to add value to their marketing mixes by opening a newer, more intimate and exciting perspective for viewers.
Eighty percent of brand audiences would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts.
Live streaming can indeed be an incredibly powerful tool to help magnify both your content and your brand. When you take the time to craft a fantastic remote experience and keep your viewers engaged, the benefits are twofold: it creates a quality user experience, and it boosts your video’s reach.
Below are a few tips to maximize engagement with your viewers while live streaming.
Create a compelling livestream title
When it comes to creating compelling titles for your livestream, grabbing the interest of your target audience is key. A few ways you can do this? Tell your viewers exactly what problem you’ll be solving for them, whether it’s helping them save time, increase their salaries, or avoid costly mistakes:
- “3 ways to double your income in less than a year”
- “Cut your meal prep time in half”
- “5 biggest mistakes new RV owners make”
This sets clear expectations for your viewers, and remember—most of the time, less is more when it comes to headlines and titles. Do your research to see which types of titles get the highest engagement from viewers on social media
Plan your livestream agenda ahead of time
By and large, live streaming isn’t something you want to do in fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants mode. Instead, think of it more in terms of how you prepared to deliver a speech or presentation in high school—plan an outline of what you’ll cover, and plan exactly what you want to say in the introduction and closing portions of your video.
- Include teasers of what’s coming to keep people interested and watching
- “In a minute, I’ll tell you the five biggest mistakes new RV owners make.”
- Plan where in your video you will pause and ask your viewers to engage by leaving a comment, etc.
Planning not only helps the broadcast go more smoothly—it allows you to provide a more relaxed delivery of your content as well.
Introduce yourself and your content
People watching a live stream—especially from a brand—want to know the person guiding them through the video knows what he or she is talking about. Make sure to open your video by telling viewers who you are, what you do, and why they should trust you to present this content: “Hi, I’m John Smith, owner of Smith RV dealership and founder of Smith RV YouTube channel that provides tips and trips for RV travel.”
Once you’ve introduced yourself, introduce what you’re going to talk about as well: “Today, I’m going to be talking about the five biggest mistakes new RV owners make.”
By introducing yourself as an authority and laying out your topic, viewers know what to expect. You’re giving them a reason to hang around and watch and engage with your live stream longer—even if they’re watching the rebroadcast.
Encourage users to engage with buttons
One of the quickest ways to increase the reach of your live stream is to get users to engage with it. Most social media platforms provide different methods of engagement you can capitalize on to ensure your video reaches a bigger audience. For example, you’ve probably noticed Facebook provides users with six unique buttons they can click on to engage with a comment, video, or livestream.
Like we talked about before, plan out where in your broadcast you want your users to engage. Once you make those decisions, here are a couple lines you can use to get people to engage with reaction buttons:
- “Click the ‘wow’ button if you can hear me loud and clear!”
- “’Like’ if you agree.”
- “Send some hearts if you like these tips.”
Don’t be shy about asking for engagement during the course of your broadcast. A good rule of thumb is if you’re broadcasting a 20-minute video, call viewers to engage five to seven times.
Encourage users to comment
Comments are another way to ramp up your viewer engagement and increase the number of eyeballs that see your video. You can throttle your viewer engagement by calling your viewers out and asking them to leave a comment during your video. Again, no need to be shy about asking for comments during your live stream. Here are a few simple, effective ways you can ask people to leave comments:
- “Let me know where you’re watching from!”
- “How do you like to shorten your meal prep time?”
- “What are your favorite money-saving tricks?”
- “Where’s your favorite RV camping destination?”
- “Which one do you prefer?”
- “Can you relate to that?”
- “Tag someone in the comments who should see this video.”
If it makes sense, open up a Q&A with viewers via the comments section. This works well for webinars and similar video content.
Close your livestream with a call to action
At the end of every livestream, think about the reason you’re doing a live stream in the first place—is your goal to generate leads? Awareness? Engagement? Round out your broadcast with this goal in mind, closing with a call to action that reflects what you want your viewers to do next:
Goal: Increase awareness:
- “Join me next week at the same day and same time.”
- “Share this video with someone you think should see it.”
- “Let me know what topics you want me to cover in future broadcasts in the comment section.”
Goal: Generate leads:
- “Download this our free guide by clicking the link below.”
- “If you want to learn more, join our newsletter/mailing list to get our meal prep guides for free.”
Ending with a call to action gives your viewers a way to continue engaging with your brand, even after your live stream has ended.
Have you ever done a livestream broadcast? What tips and tricks did you pick up? Let us know in the comments section below!
