Creating content for live videos is only half the battle. What good is great content if there isn’t anyone to watch? Promotion is key to getting more viewers on your live streams. In this blog post, we talk about strategies to promote live streaming videos. After you read this, you’ll be able to increase your viewership even if you are on a low-budget.

Promote Live Streaming Videos

Leverage your followers, subscribers and “real estate”

• Social Media

One of the best ways to promote live streaming videos is to leverage your social media following. Even if your goal is to reach a broader audience or to get new followers. If your current followers like what you offer, chances are they will share with their friends.  Thus, you will expand your audience.

Regardless of which platform you are going live on, you need to get the word out. Let’s say you’re planning to go live on YouTube. Besides telling your YouTube subscribers about the live stream, you need to tell your Facebook followers too. And your Twitter followers. And your Instagram followers. And any other social media that is relevant to you.

At the same time, it’s a good idea to choose a couple of these social media platforms and focus most of your efforts. For example, you could choose to promote heavily on Facebook. You can create targeted ads based on your audience

• Email List

Along with social platforms, you can promote live streaming videos to your email list. If you don’t have an email list, think about starting one. It’s a great way to keep your audience engaged with you. Offer value in exchange for their email address and you can start building your list. Value can be an interesting E-book or your live Webinar.

With an email list, you have a direct channel to reach your audience. You can let them know the date and time of your live video and ask them to subscribe. But don’t overdo it. Sending too many emails will put them off and they might unsubscribe.

• “Real Estate”

Leveraging real estate is something most live streamers overlook, but what do we mean by that? Throughout your online presence, you have a lot of free space to promote your live stream. For example, your Facebook page cover, Twitter cover and YouTube cover. Those images that go on top of these pages can promote your live stream to everyone that stops by.

Another great place for some extra promotion is your email signature. What is great about this one is that it makes it easy to promote live streaming videos in a discreet way. It keeps reminding people about your streams without annoying them. Don’t send email blasts every day.

Can you think of any other “real estate” to promote your live streams? Tell us in the comment section below.

Sharing incentives

Getting your audience to share your content is one of the best ways to promote live streaming videos. It’s organic and empowers your business or personal brand. That’s why you must create incentives for your followers to share your live streaming events.

You’ve probably seen referral programs from many brands out there. Like Airbnb, that gives you a discount if you refer it to friends and they book something. The discount is a great incentive for customers to share the brand’s website. To promote live streaming videos, you can apply the same concept.

For example, launch a contest and announce an awesome prize. To enter the contest, your followers must share your live streaming event or tag friends on your post. It will encourage people to take part and you’ll expand your audience. Another idea is to offer rewards for everyone who shares your content. Give them access to some exclusive content or a unique worksheet you created.

Cross-promotion with partners

To reach a new audience, your own social media platforms and distribution channels aren’t enough. That’s where cross-promotion with partners comes in. Cross-promoting is using different channels to promote and distribute what you offer to new markets. In this case, to distribute content to your partner’s audience. But it can easily be your product or service as well.

To choose the ideal partner, think about products or services that complement yours. Let’s say you are a personal trainer and you are planning a live stream about fitness. A great partner would be in the healthy food or supplement industry. You could share each other’s product and services to reach a broader audience.

This is all about strategic partnerships. A cross-promoting partnership helps both sides expand their audiences without stretching their budgets.  It goes beyond businesses. There are cross-promotions done between companies and influencers that work really well. Another idea is to partner with non-profit organizations. You can help their cause and they help you get subscribers.

In Summary

The best way to promote live streaming videos will be the one that fits you and your business. To plan your strategy, keep your budget in mind and take advantage of these low-cost ideas. Leverage your social media followers and email subscribers. Give them the heads up and encourage them to share your content through incentives. To reach new audiences, create partnerships with complementary products and services.

What is your favorite way to promote live streaming videos?

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