Do you need to learn how to promote live streams? This is the only guide you’ll ever need!
Live streams recently became the go-to content for many brands. The real-time connection with potential customers has been crucial for businesses worldwide during these challenging times. But, now that everyone is live streaming, how can your live video stand out? The key to success is in how you promote live streams.
The content you create is still important. It must be something interesting to your target audience and bring them value. The second part of the live streaming puzzle is where many people get lost, and that is distribution. The box office movie producers would even argue that distribution is even more important than the movie’s content.
Here is the thing, if you put all your effort into creating valuable content, but you spend no time promoting it, all your previous effort will have been for nothing. If you want to make sure your hard work doesn’t go to waste, it’s vital to effectively promote live streams. That’s why we’ve put together this quick guide!
Summary – How to Promote Live Streams: A Quick Guide
When to start promoting live streams?
How to promote live streams?
- #0 Schedule your live stream
- #1 Prepare your promotional material
- #2 Create a video teaser for your live broadcast
- #3 Promote on your website and other content
- #4 Cross-Promotion & social media
- #5 Create a Landing page
- #6 Email Marketing
- #7 Encourage followers to share
How to decide which way to go when you need to promote live streams?
- What is your online organic reach?
- Do you have a possible budget to invest and expand the reach?
- Do you have the time and resources to dedicate to promoting the streams?
Final Thoughts on promoting live streams
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When to start promoting live streams?
Before we get into how you can promote live streams, a common question that pops up is when the online event should be promoted. Some people tend to start too soon, and some, not soon enough.
Though there might be differences between industries and audiences, the consensus is to start promoting a free live event two weeks or even one week before its due date. This gives you enough time to reach a lot of people and to still be remembered.
If you want to promote a paid event that people need to purchase tickets or access, it’s best to give yourself more distribution time.
How to promote live streams?
Like any other type of content, live videos can be promoted in many different ways. The promotion strategies will vary depending on your resources, current online reach, and connections. For example, for someone just starting to build their online audience, the ways to promote live streams will look different than another brand with an established following.
Throughout this quick guide to promote live streams, we’ll keep coming back to these distinctions to make sure you choose the right strategy for your brand.
#0 Schedule your live stream
Before promoting your stream, make sure you plan your content and schedule it on the platforms you’ll be going live. Scheduling can help you get more viewers when you go live because platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook, will notify your followers.
Once your content is planned, and everything is ready, then it’s time to start promoting!
#1 Prepare your promotional material
Regardless of your current online reach, you’ll need to create the resources for your live event. It will include banners, social media images, email headers, and any other material you can think of. These creatives need to “sell” the live event to the audience.
They should tell your audience why they should watch your live stream. In other words, what’s in it for them? Also, the creative must have a clear call-to-action inviting the viewers to your live video. Ensure they understand how they can participate, when and where they can watch it, and so on.
#2 Create a video teaser for your live broadcast
Before your live stream, how about you give the audience a little taste of what’s to come? With a teaser video, it will be much easier to get people engaged, especially considering that video content tends to outperform most other mediums.
Picture your video teaser like a movie trailer, in which editors put together the most exciting bits and pieces of the movie, and you can’t wait to watch it.
#3 Promote on your website and other content
When you think about promoting anything, it’s crucial to consider what you already have and use those spaces. For example, if you have a website, you can add banners to promote live streams. Just ensure that the live video content and your website’s content are targeted toward the same audience.
What else can you use to promote your stream?
- Use the space you already have online. For example, the platform you’ll be live streaming to. If the live stream is on YouTube, you can use the cover image as a promotional point to your live.
- Whenever you share any other content, if it makes sense, remember to mention your live stream.
This strategy might not be as effective if you are just starting out. But, if that’s the case, consider partnering up with other brands and using their online space as your digital billboards. As long as there are benefits to them as well, they might say yes.
#4 Cross-Promotion & social media
Cross-promotion means promoting a product or service to customers that consume a related product or service. When we are talking about content, that looks more like promoting across platforms. For example, an Instagram influencer can promote her YouTube video on an Instagram post. In the case of a live stream on Facebook, it can be announced on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Cross promoting your live stream on your social media channels is a great way to get the word out there. You can take this even further by getting related social media pages and profiles to share your upcoming live streaming details.
Here are some things to consider when cross-promoting:
- Use all your channels, get the message across
- Promote more than once
- Run small targeted ad campaigns*
- Don’t forget to use hashtags
* There’s no need to spend much. This is just to get some traction to your posts and get the word out there.
#5 Create a Landing page
If you want to maximize your ROI when it comes to live video content creation, then you might need a dedicated landing page. This page should allow interested people to sign up for your live broadcast. It will also help you build an email list with engaged subscribers.
Once they sign up for your broadcast, you can send reminders before the event to make sure you get as many people to watch it live as possible.
When you promote live streams with this strategy, it doesn’t matter how big or small your current audience is. It will be beneficial either way, and it will make your live video look professional.
#6 Email Marketing
Since we mentioned email lists, this brings us to another important topic in live streaming promotion. Most businesses have an email list of customers and potential customers subscribed to a newsletter. This list can be your live streaming secret weapon.
- Let your email list know you’ll be live streaming
- Don’t send too many emails
- Keep in touch with those who show interest
Extra tip: Use your email signature to promote live streams. Simply add the information and the creative from #1 to let your contacts know you’ll be streaming in a subtle way.
#7 Encourage followers to share
Whether you have 10 followers or thousands, encouraging people to share your live stream is the best way to get the word out. Besides asking friends and family to share, you can also create incentives for your customers and current followers.
For instance, giveaways and contests can motivate people to share your content and let others know about your live video. Imagine if 10 followers share your live stream promo, and each of them reaches 10 people. It will 10x your online reach and increase your chances of producing a successful stream.
- Offer special mentions or giveaways
- Create contests and make sharing part of the rules
- Post quizzes or any shareable content
Even at the beginning of the live stream, you can ask people to share the link to the stream. Ask them to take screenshots and share with their friends and so on. This can bring more viewers in during the live session.
How to decide which way to go when you need to promote live streams?
There are many ways to go about promoting your live videos and many factors to consider when planning your strategies. A few things to consider are:
What is your online organic reach?
If you can reach many people organically, you might not need to invest in ads and just focus on bringing awareness to your current followers.
Do you have a possible budget to invest and expand the reach?
If you don’t have much organic reach or you want to bring in new followers, you will have to create a paid promotion strategy along with your organic promotion. So, consider allocating a budget for advertising. But, if you cannot spend money, you can still develop creative giveaways, contests, and partnerships that allow you to reach a new audience.
Do you have the time and resources to dedicate to promoting the streams?
More important than a dollar investment are the resources you have available to create your promotion. Whether you have the time, the people, or both, it’s crucial to allocate them wisely.
For those with unlimited resources, you’ll be able to promote your streams, putting every strategy into action. This will allow you to determine what works best. If your resources are limited, we recommend trying some of the ideas mentioned above and analyzing the results as you move forward.
Final Thoughts on promoting live streams
With so many live streams happening simultaneously around the world, employing the right promotional strategies is more important than ever. This guide focuses on the most efficient ways to promote live streams. You can mix and match strategies according to your needs to see what works best for you.
The key takeaway here is this: promoting your content is as important as creating it.
What are some of your preferred strategies to promote live streams? Let us know in the comment section below!
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