You cannot rest on your laurels when it comes to digital marketing. Staying on top of the latest techniques and trends in the online marketing stratosphere is the key to sustainable success.

Among the latest trends to gain popularity is live video marketing. According to Social Media Examiner, video will make up around 80% of online content consumption over the next couple of years. Businesses that are yet to embrace live video are already at a disadvantage.

In fact, you may be surprised to learn that you can bolster the click-through rate of your emails by adding video by two to three times.

However, it’s never too late to start. The fact that a number of brands are using live video for marketing doesn’t mean that there is no hope. Sure, they may enjoy first mover advantage. But, there is no guarantee that they can make the most of this marketing medium.

Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several other reasons why you cannot ignore the power of live video anymore. Here’s a look at a few more compelling benefits:

Engage Your Audience

Simply sharing content on social media is not enough. You have to engage your target audience. Otherwise, your chances of converting prospects into paying customers remain low.

As is evident from the numbers above, video engages people better than any other type of content you share online. And there’s good reason for this. Videos carry visual appeal, and are more memorable. Your audience is likely to retain the message you convey via video more effectively than text.

Not to mention, you can create a feeling of excitement and anticipation by going live. Your followers will look forward to hearing from you, and it creates a personal experience where they feel they can interact directly with you rather than a faceless entity. Plus, you can see as followers comment and engage with you in real time, helping you to engage with them live seamlessly.

Target a Wider Audience

You need to define a demographic that is most likely to interact with your brand. However, you cannot restrict the audience that views your online activity to what you think the audience is. When you go online on social media, you can reach an audience wider than you anticipate and even wider than just what you expect thanks to sharing and engagement algorithms.

For instance, you are far less likely to get people interested in a Q&A event that is pre-scheduled and formatted. An event like that will have an expected number of attendees based on RSVPs and be limited to whoever signs up. If you missed the sign up, oh well!

However, the chances of followers randomly tuning into a live video broadcast are far greater. You open up your audience and can increase attendance rates drastically by going LIVE versus pre-scheduled.

Humanize Your Brand

Regardless of the scale and scope of your brand, your customers are seeking a personalized approach. People love brands that offer personalized interaction, and live video is the most viable option in this regard.

You can humanize your brand by putting yourself out there as the face of your brand. You can even have employees or customers interact with the audience you manage to attract for your broadcast.

Leverage the power of this medium to interact directly with customers, both existing and prospective. One way to interact with them virtually is by answering their questions from the comment fields or sharing updates about new products that you plan to launch.

In short, you can communicate your messages directly to your target audience via live video and showcase that there are real humans behind the company, not bots.

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As you can see, there is no denying the power of live video. However, before you go ahead with it, you need to create an effective strategy. Here are some tips you can follow:

Pick a Suitable Platform

There is no dearth of options when it comes to live video platforms. The most popular, and for good reason, platform is Facebook Live. Despite the constantly increasing competition, Facebook is ‘the’ social network.

You can target a global audience with your live video content via Facebook Live. There are few, if any, barriers to entry. Plus, the platform offers you a number of valuable features. For example, you can co-broadcast and even record your broadcast.

However, you won’t be able to share external links when broadcasting over Facebook Live. Other handy platforms you can consider are YouTube Live and Instagram Stories. These platforms have a broad reach, while you can also target certain demographics.

YouTube Live will require a significant investment as compared to the videos you broadcast over Facebook or any other platform. Moreover, the platform is more SEO-friendly, enabling you to generate more traffic via your content.

Keep in mind that some platforms are suitable for a particular target audience. For instance, Twitch is the platform of choice for businesses in the online gaming and sports domain. Picking the right domain can go a long way towards ensuring your success.

Stay Spontaneous

You might face the temptation to take a professional approach to live video marketing. For instance, you can have an intern give you prompts to read off during the broadcast. If you have the budget, you can even purchase a teleprompter.

Sticking to a script though can take away the spontaneity and liveliness, which is an inherent part of live video. That said, you need to maintain your focus while you are addressing the audience.

Jotting down a few pointers can help you stay on topic. You can even do a little rehearsal to minimize the risk of drifting off-topic. At the same time, you can overcome camera shyness or stage fright.

Create Awareness

If you broadcast live video over Facebook and no one watches it, did you actually broadcast it? There is no doubt that creating awareness about your broadcast is essential.

You need to take a two-pronged approach to marketing your broadcasts. Firstly, you have to inform your target audience that you will be going live. This part is simple. You can set up an event on Facebook Live, or update stories on Facebook and Instagram.

The second, and more important, aspect is engaging your audience. You have to build anticipation, generate interest and dialogue before, during, and after going live. You can do this by sharing sneak previews in the form of video snippets or images.

Also, promote your event across different social networks and platforms. This way, you can pull in the widest possible audience, ensuring the maximum number of people watch your broadcast.

Follow these tips and you can create an effective strategy to harness the power of live video to market your brand. Video is here to stay and take smart businesses to the next level. Use it!