There are a number of ways to grow your business with live events and online video. Not only can live broadcasts reach thousands, if not millions, of people, but live broadcasts will also save you tens of thousands of dollars over in-person events. This is something we are commonly seeing in the online marketing conference space, where you no longer have to attend the live conference event and can instead purchase a live streaming video or recordings of all sessions during and after the event.
Some of the biggest reasons why people are still sitting on the sidelines and not using live video for their business, is that they simply don’t know how or they think it costs too much money. Inc reports that live events can cost millions of dollars, but when you start utilizing the power of the internet and tools like Google Hangouts, GoToWebinar or BlueJeans, your costs quickly become a mere fraction of that — while also giving you more control in the process.
In this article, we are going to explore some of the most effective ways for you to start using video (both live and web-based) to improve engagement, conversions and media coverage.
Share live events with video broadcasts.
You can reach way more people by sharing your live events with a broader online audience, allowing you to connect with more people across your company or industry. With live broadcasts, you need different techniques to engage your online audience, so rather than staying in one location during your broadcast, you can walk around to show viewers the event. It also helps to show different materials, such as Powerpoint or whiteboard presentations, during your video broadcast. This will help to keep viewers engaged, rather than just presenting them with some “talking heads” that may get boring.
TedX Events are sought after and loved by millions of people, entrepreneurs and businesses around the world. Unlike many other events, TedX Events are actually held quite often and throughout the world. To get the most out of these events and to allow for as many people to participate as possible, many events are live-steamed, while others are recorded and placed online for later viewing.
Host interviews to increase engagement.
Rather than focusing entirely on promoting your product or brand, be sure to incorporate a personal touch into your live broadcast by hosting short live interviews with employees or clients to increase engagement. Such interviews not only show the personal side of your company, but also offer diverse ideas and opinions from your own staff and clientele. When setup properly, staff or participants can easily enter into the broadcast and go live to reach viewers.
CES is the largest electronics and technology trade show in the world. Since it can only host so many people, they have been getting better with their live streaming of interviews and keynotes, year after year.
Show how you created your product or service.
Customers rarely get a glimpse into how companies create their products or services. As IT Pro Portal notes, video can help to spread the word about your business and how it works. Not only does such a demonstration or explanation further engage your audience and keep their attention during your live broadcast, but it also helps you grow your business by drawing the focus to your product. If your company sells services rather than products, you can show your online audience where your employees deliver these services to add another personal touch to your product and broadcast.
Have you ever wanted to know how a blender works or how it’s made? Of course not, but when Blendtec created their crazy videos on how their blender can pretty much “blend” anything… it exploded the brand like crazy and got them a ton of free media coverage. Check out their YouTube page and see how they have over 800,000 subscribers! Yes… that’s for a blender!
Provide educational whiteboard videos to your audience.
As online marketers and content creators, we probably pay more attention to online advertising and brand more than your regular internet user. One such method that we commonly see is the use of whiteboard animation videos to help with the “pre-sell” or “introduction” process when acquiring new customers.
You can see an example of this in the explainer video below from Blogging.org, where they explain to their audience why someone would want to start a blog and how easy the process is.
We also see whiteboard videos commonly being used in online training and tutorials as well. For example, take a look at the video below from OneTwoTrade.com, as it’s quite entertaining, visually pleasing and gets the point across as well.
How can whiteboard videos be helping your online business and branding?
Give a behind-the-scenes look at what happens day to day at your company.
Use your live broadcast as an opportunity to show your current and potential customers what your employees do when they’re not promoting the product. For example, take the live broadcast beyond the anchor desk at a TV station. Instead, show them the coffee machine and where the writers work day to day. Showing how a company produces its content or product is another great way to keep your online audience engaged and focused on your product.
In the world of online marketing, nothing is more exciting than being able to get behind the scenes and see the people and places we work with on a daily basis. A great example of how this can be done is from Nick Unsworth of LifeonFire.com and how he went to Gary Vaynerchuk’s Vaynermedia office headquarters and did a full interview and behind the scenes video. Great media coverage for both of them and killer value for fans of either of these individuals.
Host a Q&A session with your online audience.
Allow your digital audience to ask you questions about your company or industry, whether through social media or during the live broadcast. Q&A sessions increase audience engagement and provide great value to viewers. You can select a specific topic for the Q&A, rather than answering random questions, to keep the live broadcast focused around one issue, keep your audience engaged and ensure that you’re only answering the most interesting and pertinent questions.
Need an idea for creating better online content? Hit the tradeshows and conferences with your video camera and start interviewing experts within your niche. It will bring a whole new level of content to your site, while also providing great value in the process.
A perfect example of this can be seen on SearchEngineJournal.com when I was interviewed by John Rampton. As previously mentioned, be sure to use social media to interact with your audience and ask them who they would like to see interviewed and what questions should be asked.
Interact with your audience in a meaningful way.
There are many different ways to create content and engage with your audience online — however, not all of them offer the same value. YouTube for example is a one-way conversation while Google Hangouts and Webinars allow you to speak to your audience, but their participation is limited. Advanced solutions like BlueJeans is also making it possible for multi-person live video streaming and offering better management for larger live events.
No matter what method or solution you decide to go with, know that you need to make it easy for your audience to find, view and participate in your video — whether it’s live streaming or not. The only thing worse than not having a video experience, is annoying your audience the first time around and not getting them to come back when you have it all figured out.