[Repost] Livestreaming - A Boon For Marketers?

Ancita Satija, Account Manager at Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees weighs the pros and cons of Livestreaming, which is the next big thing and offers insights on brands that have mastered this art on social media.

Livestreaming is more than just a passing fad and is definitely being adapted by smart social media and marketing teams. The two biggest reasons why livestreaming is a boon to marketers is: 'Volume' and 'Speed.' It allows brands to share large volume of content in real-time and engages the audience live.

The emergence of one highly popular livestreaming app (Meerkat) in 2015 spurred the rise of new and increasingly popular livestreaming platforms, like Periscope (owned by Twitter), Live (owned by Facebook) and Snapchat. Though Blab made the cut amongst the popular livestreaming tools, it was shut down as of August 12, 2016.

Who will win the battle of livestreaming?

While the battle over livestreaming is heating up, it's difficult to say who wins this battle! In my opinion, platforms will come and go, what will win is the kind of information brands/individuals provide via livestreaming which is useful and engaging enough for the target audience group.

Be where your audience is. It's really not about the platform but more to do with where your audience is listening. #SocialPowWow - @MalharBarai

Livestreaming as a concept has picked up overtime, however, only a few brands have mastered it. I believe it will take a while before we see livestreaming by brands as an important element of their digital marketing strategy.

Content worth livestreaming

According to Global Web Index 2016, here's the list of content that interests and engages people the most:

Brands are using video livestreaming for conducting Q&A's/live interviews/stream events/ product launches/ behind the scenes footage etc.

Livestreaming allows brands to drop the corporate veil, connect like a human and allows users to participate in brand storytelling while enriching customer experience.

One of my all time favorite example is that of Dunkin’ Donuts Facebook live video.

The company provided fans with a behind-the-scenes look into their kitchen for Valentine’s Day, featuring their culinary team preparing a cake made from heart-shaped donuts, and introduced a special February Dunkin’ Hearts Love contest, offering engaged couples a chance to win $10,000 for sharing their story of how their sweetheart proposed!

This was Dunkin' Donuts first Facebook live session and within 13 minutes, they had 21,000 viewers, which proves the stickiness of live video and wanting to know what’s next.

As video quality and mobile technology continues to improve, we will continue to see a rise in video livestreaming and I do believe that in the coming year, livestreaming will be a core part of every digital marketing strategy!

This article was originally published by Ancita Satija on LinkedIn Pulse.