On their never-ending quest to draw eyeballs to products, marketers increasingly turn to live streaming. The name of the game is more business and sales.

Stephanie Liu, a digital marketing strategist and an author of “Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing,” is most notably known for her Facebook Live show called Lights, Camera, Live®, where she helps businesses succeed with live video.

Liu, along with marketing and branding strategist and millennial expert Chelsea Krost, discussed going big with live-streaming videos during Krost’s #MillennialTalk Twitter chat. They compared top tips and tools for conducting a quality looking and sounding live-stream show and ways to start making money.

Live streaming is the perfect opportunity for brands to take consumers behind the scenes, which piques their interest in the people who make a company come alive.

“Start with the 10×10 framework,” Liu said. “Write down the Top 10 frequently asked questions about your business, product or service. Then jot down the Top 10 should-ask questions — what customers should be asking but they don’t know because you’re the expert.

“When you’ve done the exercise, you’ll have 20 ideas that you can turn into a show,” she said. “Repurpose every broadcast to extend the lifespan of your content — such as a blog recap, Facebook post, Twitter thread, Instagram Story, one-minute video, audiogram, podcast, Quora, YouTube playlist and GIFs.”

She recommended doing live streams of product demonstrations, interviews, promoting live shopping and tutorials.

“It’s time to get creative,” Liu said. “Organize all of those live streams into a single playlist. Viewers can binge watch to learn more about you.

“Once viewers realize that you’re answering frequently asked questions, they’re more likely to ask more questions,” she said. “You can learn more about your audience and even turn your answer into a new episode.”

Raising Awareness

Krost reinforced how live streaming incorporates marketing.

“It’s the most cost-effective, direct-to-consumer way to engage, educate and empower your community,” she said. “You’ll increase brand and product awareness and sales.”

More industries are embracing live streaming. That includes educational and science content. They take the best advantage of captive, inquisitive audiences.

“With social distancing putting physical events on hold, brands have increasingly turned to live streaming to connect with and create new opportunities for their audiences,” Krost said. “I can’t think of an industry that wouldn’t benefit from live streaming.

“It’s all about grabbing and keeping the attention of your target audience or consumer,” she said. “A Forrester survey found that live videos hold users’ attention 10 to 20 times longer than pre-recorded, on-demand content.”

Another factor is if a target audience includes millennials or Generation Z.

“Millennials are the largest group of consumers of live content,” Krost said. “Sixty-three percent of people ages 18 to 34 are watching live-streaming content regularly.

“Thank goodness for live streaming,” she said. “I have been able to attend so many weddings, baby announcements, anniversary and birthday celebrations throughout the pandemic.”

Traditional businesses are coming along to the video world.

“Brick-and-mortar stars have started to embrace live shopping,” Liu said. “IAB, which specializes in digital ad marketing, says that ‘shoppable media — such as live streams, social commerce, virtual consultations and shoppable ad formats — will be the fastest-growing advertising categories in the near future.’

“In fact, live stream-generated sales are expected to double to $120 billion worldwide this year,” she said. “Take a look at what’s happening with Amazon Live and Facebook Live Shopping. Have you heard of Facebook Portal? The camera will automatically pan and follow you when you’re live streaming or in a Zoom meeting.”

In the rest of their conversation, Liu and Krost discuss how live streaming can result in highly qualified leads, the equipment that works best and the bright future as more brands turn to video to spread the word. Krost shares how her favorite live streaming platform, Restream has allowed her to broadcast her video interviews on multiple social media channels and create great pieces of micro-content.

Here is a look at the RESTREAM dashboard and some of the key features it provides to make your Livestream dynamic! 

-Customize the color of your name bar

-Insert logo

-Insert branded overlay

-Insert video files

-Share your screen with viewers

-Invite multiple guests on your live stream at one time

-DM chat with viewers during Livestream across multiple channels

-GO LIVE ON UP TO 30 CHANNELS AT ONCE***