10 Interesting Ways To Build Your Brand With Livestreaming

forbes– Unless you’ve been living under a rock, there probably isn’t much of a need to convince you of the popularity of livestreaming. Livestreaming — and its potential for building your brand — is huge, as I’ve seen through my work in the digital marketing space. There’s just no way to overstate the value of livestreaming content at this point in the game.

Here’s how you can make livestreaming work for your brand.

1. Have a real conversation.

There’s something that most of your market will never get the chance to have, and that’s a real conversation with you. When you’re trying to appeal to an audience that numbers in the thousands, or more, it’s nearly impossible to get personal with each person. Livestreaming can change this.

Try hosting a regularly scheduled conversation event. It can be free-form, but it’s also a good idea to have a topic or two in mind in case you need to steer the direction of the conversation. Having a chosen topic also makes it easier to promote the event beforehand.

2. Let audiences get a closer look.

Transparency is huge to consumers. This is one of the reasons that livestreaming is so beneficial to many brands. It promotes a sense of transparency and trust that you just can’t get with other types of media.

The parts of your workday that you find mundane might be exactly what your audience wants to see.

3. Introduce yourself.

Livestreaming can provide an opportunity for you to show the faces behind the magic of your brand. Consumers are naturally more attracted to businesses to which they can attach a face.

This is also a great chance to introduce your team or highlight one team member at each event. Have you recently added some exciting new talent? Put them in front of the camera, and let them introduce themselves.

4. Build anticipation with a sneak peek.

What’s the best way to build excitement about a new service or product launch? Make it so your audience wants it before it’s even available.

Try hosting a livestreaming event that unveils your new offering, making sure to highlight all the ways that it’s awesome. Want to promote a bit more excitement and anticipation? Offer an incentive for each person who shows up and comments.

5. Promote an event.

It’s no secret that livestreaming is a great way to grow your audience for events. But, how you optimize livestreaming to accomplish this can start long before the day of the actual event.

Try promoting your events through livestreaming. Host videos of an upcoming event or one that’s like it, and offer tickets to viewers. This type of promotion works especially well when you’re hosting an event on more than just one day.

6. Highlight breaking news.

You know those “breaking news” interruptions that occur on television and radio? They work because people know they need to stop and take notice. It’s an instinct to stop what you’re doing and pay attention when these types of breaking news events happen.

Need a little inspiration? Well, you can use actual news events if they’re relevant to your business. For example, an accounting firm could livestream a breaking news event as new tax laws are put into place and detail how they might affect their audience.

7. Solve customer concerns and problems.

Have you noticed a common theme in what your customers are saying to, or about, you? Reputation management is crucial to your success in every aspect of your business from word of mouth to the efficiency of your SEO. Livestreaming is a great way to take control of your reputation in front of a potentially large audience.

Ideas include addressing what’s perceived as a weak point in your product or service and a possible solution. This is a great chance to get immediate feedback to your consumers.

8. Show them how it’s done.

Product or service demonstrations are a great way to bring attention to your business with livestreaming. Look at YouTube for inspiration. It’s filled with how-to videos and fresh, new ideas.

Here are a few ideas for tutorial livestream events.

• An accounting firm that goes line by line through one of the more complicated tax forms.

• A realtor who breaks down the steps of a home inspection.

• A local boutique that shows how to wear a wrap several different ways.

• A local cocktail lounge that shows how to make a classic or unknown cocktail at home.

• A self-defense instructor who demonstrates a few basic techniques.

9. Show your influence.

Influencer marketing is still big, no matter if you’re a giant corporation or a small first-time business. In fact, small businesses can make a huge impact by teaming up with local influencers for livestreaming events.

For example, a small health food/supplement store might partner with a well-known yoga instructor in the community for a livestreaming yoga event for back pain, while a coffee shop and a locally famous chef can partner for a quick dessert and coffee pairing livestream event.

Using livestreaming to show your influential connections adds validity and trust to your brand.

10. Raise awareness.

Finally, livestreaming is a great way to show your audience that you care about the community that you serve. Is there a cause that’s important to your local community, your industry or you personally? Use livestreaming to raise awareness for your cause.

The number of ways that you can use livestreaming is limitless. These 10 ideas are enough to get you started, but they should in no way be the limit.