On March 2018, hip-hop icon Drake and a who’s-who of celebrity friends – NFL wide receiver Juju-Smith Schuster, rapper Travis Scott, and Twitch mainstay Ninja – set a livestreaming record with 628,000 concurrent viewers who tuned in to watch them play Fortnite: Battle Royale. The milestone was a watershed moment for the new medium, especially for brands: The ability to connect with fans via live video of others performing, playing, or even just talking to the camera had finally come of age.
As household brands like Nike and National Geographic advertise on livestreaming quiz show HQ, many entrepreneurs may mistakenly think the medium is only fitting for large multinationals. This could not be further from the truth. Livestreaming is in fact a great content marketing, branding, and advertising tool for entrepreneurs with businesses of all sizes, precisely because there is such a low barrier to entry. All you need is a camera and some creativity.
Even in places like Africa where internet speeds tend to be lower, leveraging livestreaming as a tool for your brand can pay off great dividends. There are digitally-savvy, upwardly mobile people across the continent who have been early adopters of both international and local livestreaming platforms. And you can reach them.
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To do so, here are three key tips on how you can effectively engage them via livestreaming.
1. Make your livestreaming experiential
Some may assume that most of livestreaming is vlogging about your day to the camera. While many users and shows do rely on monologue or dialogue alone, you stand a better chance of attracting an audience if you do something related to your business. Activities that are exotic to the average viewer tend to do particularly well.
One livestreamer from China, for example, opened pearls from caught freshwater mussels. Viewers were mesmerised by the simple act of discovery and bought potential pearl-bearing muscles in droves, turning the once humble businessman into a multi-millionaire. Does your business have “pearls” that would appeal to livestreaming viewers?
2. Treat your livestreaming like a television network
Another major misconception about livestreaming is that it is only appropriate for capturing spontaneous moments or events. While livestreaming does lend itself well to serendipitous video, brands who want to develop a following on the medium need to treat it like a television network. In other words, they must stick to a set schedule, so viewers know when to tune in.
The schedule not even need be particularly demanding – the importance is the regularity. Our flagship quiz show on Kumu – the livestreaming platform we founded out of the Philippines – airs only three times a week. But because we were disciplined in sticking to this time slot, even when it was difficult to do, the quiz show now enjoys some of the highest audiences on our platform.
3. Build your livestreaming tribe
Since livestreaming gives brands the opportunity to flick on a switch and instantly connect with a viewership, they can sometimes neglect to engage other content creators in the community. This would be a huge missed opportunity. While the big brands who turn to community engagement via livestreaming may command all the headlines, there are plenty of ways that any entrepreneur can connect with their peers in the space.
You can offer to guest or co-host a livestreaming show that has a similar audience. You can donate branded giveaways to their viewers. You can even sponsor native content, wherein your brand plays a key part of the conversation or action. All of these community-building efforts will create more direct visibility for your brand, as well as funnel fans to your livestreaming show or channel.
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As with any digital marketing effort, success will not occur overnight in livestreaming. You need to stay committed and work hard, but the results will be well worth the effort: Unlike with other social media channels, you will be able to connect with potential customers intimately and in real-time. As an entrepreneur, what more can you ask for?
