By Lynn Colepaugh
Live streaming is a great way to open up your events to the whole of Albert County and beyond while maintaining COVID restrictions. It is growing in popularity and provides great entertainment value for customers who may be staying at home and unable to engage with your business during our current situation. If you are looking to promote your business through a live event, such as a concert, business celebration or webinar, here are some practices you should implement to make your live stream a success for you and your audience.
Live streaming is a great way to open up your events to the whole of Albert County and beyond while maintaining COVID restrictions. It is growing in popularity and provides great entertainment value for customers who may be staying at home and unable to engage with your business during our current situation. If you are looking to promote your business through a live event, such as a concert, business celebration or webinar, here are some practices you should implement to make your live stream a success for you and your audience.
Before the show
Plan diligently – it may seem like it doesn’t need to be said, but you would be amazed at how often people don’t plan their content sufficiently. Have an agenda, know what points to hit, and have ideas to fill dead time if things don’t go to plan.
Do a test run – depending on your stream, this may be as simple as checking your sound setup, camera and a quick practice of the material, but it is even more crucial to institute a test run policy if you will be handing off to other people or jumping between live and pre-recorded content. Make sure it’s not just working for you – your live stream should be smooth whether someone is on a laptop, mobile phone or tablet.
Let people know – you cannot just announce a live stream and expect people to attend. Depending on the event, start promoting it on your social channels (and possibly your website) 1-2 weeks before the event. Tell people when and where and why they should attend!
On the day of the show
Start early – just like an in-person event, some people will turn up late and some will turn up early. If early potential viewers can’t get in, they may lose interest and leave so ensure your stream starts 15 minutes before, even if you just play a pre-recorded asset in the lead-up.
Be mindful of the fashionably late – in the first half-hour, be mindful that people may still be coming in. At sensible intervals, acknowledge them by saying some-thing along the lines of “If you’re just joining us, we have already covered XXX and are now moving on to XXXX.”
Engage with your audience – make sure you don’t just read your script to the camera, ignoring your audience. Have someone else involved who will read the constant stream of viewer feedback and let you know what you need to know. Don’t try to do this yourself or it will pull your focus and lead to a poor viewer experience. Someone should filter the comments down to the essentials, letting you respond to important questions, acknowledge specific comments, or change the next segment accordingly.
End with a CTA – a CTA (call to action) is an essential part of your sign-off. After all, you created your live stream for a purpose. Make sure people are clear on a single thing they should do, whether that is joining a newsletter, posting about the event on social media, or getting more information from the website.
After your live stream
Analyze – a live stream event can give you a vast amount of data. Analyze who came, look at whether they were existing customers, check who followed through on the CTA, and use this information to build better, more effective live streams in the future.
Acknowledge your audience – if your event was a one-off event, make sure to thank people for their attendance. You can do so across your social platforms, your email newsletter, or on the event page of your website.
Stay in touch – if you connected with people during the stream, or if they reach out to you, do your utmost to communicate in a timely and professional manner. Live streams help you build valuable relationships, but it is up to you to follow through.
We hope these tips will help make your live stream a success for all involved.
CCLC is a live stream producer comprised of Chris Colepaugh, renowned local music artist and technician, and Lynn Colepaugh, digital marketing powerhouse and owner of CyberPR Army. If you would like to talk to us about live stream packages, please contact us ([email protected]) or visit cclcproductions.com for details.
Plan diligently – it may seem like it doesn’t need to be said, but you would be amazed at how often people don’t plan their content sufficiently. Have an agenda, know what points to hit, and have ideas to fill dead time if things don’t go to plan.
Do a test run – depending on your stream, this may be as simple as checking your sound setup, camera and a quick practice of the material, but it is even more crucial to institute a test run policy if you will be handing off to other people or jumping between live and pre-recorded content. Make sure it’s not just working for you – your live stream should be smooth whether someone is on a laptop, mobile phone or tablet.
Let people know – you cannot just announce a live stream and expect people to attend. Depending on the event, start promoting it on your social channels (and possibly your website) 1-2 weeks before the event. Tell people when and where and why they should attend!
On the day of the show
Start early – just like an in-person event, some people will turn up late and some will turn up early. If early potential viewers can’t get in, they may lose interest and leave so ensure your stream starts 15 minutes before, even if you just play a pre-recorded asset in the lead-up.
Be mindful of the fashionably late – in the first half-hour, be mindful that people may still be coming in. At sensible intervals, acknowledge them by saying some-thing along the lines of “If you’re just joining us, we have already covered XXX and are now moving on to XXXX.”
Engage with your audience – make sure you don’t just read your script to the camera, ignoring your audience. Have someone else involved who will read the constant stream of viewer feedback and let you know what you need to know. Don’t try to do this yourself or it will pull your focus and lead to a poor viewer experience. Someone should filter the comments down to the essentials, letting you respond to important questions, acknowledge specific comments, or change the next segment accordingly.
End with a CTA – a CTA (call to action) is an essential part of your sign-off. After all, you created your live stream for a purpose. Make sure people are clear on a single thing they should do, whether that is joining a newsletter, posting about the event on social media, or getting more information from the website.
After your live stream
Analyze – a live stream event can give you a vast amount of data. Analyze who came, look at whether they were existing customers, check who followed through on the CTA, and use this information to build better, more effective live streams in the future.
Acknowledge your audience – if your event was a one-off event, make sure to thank people for their attendance. You can do so across your social platforms, your email newsletter, or on the event page of your website.
Stay in touch – if you connected with people during the stream, or if they reach out to you, do your utmost to communicate in a timely and professional manner. Live streams help you build valuable relationships, but it is up to you to follow through.
We hope these tips will help make your live stream a success for all involved.
CCLC is a live stream producer comprised of Chris Colepaugh, renowned local music artist and technician, and Lynn Colepaugh, digital marketing powerhouse and owner of CyberPR Army. If you would like to talk to us about live stream packages, please contact us ([email protected]) or visit cclcproductions.com for details.
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