Now you might associate live streaming with gaming, but really it can be used for so much more. As we mentioned back in our 2022 trends blog, the future of live content is bright!
Thanks to the pandemic, live streaming has become essential for many people, businesses and organizations. The newest live streaming trends range from VR streaming and live shopping, to live concerts and events. So, let’s talk about why and how your business can start tapping into the power of live streaming on YouTube.
Benefits of YouTube Live Streaming
First off, lets cover some of the benefits that come from live streaming.
More content than time spent
One big benefit of streaming is being able to turn your best moments from your live into short clips for social media. So let’s say your business streams for one hour. Now you have that one hour live stream saved as as video that people can rewatch after, you could make a recap of the highlights, and you could chop together five YouTube #Shorts from some of the top moments from that live. Right there you’ve got 7 pieces of content filmed inside of an hour. Nice!
Discoverability
Did you know that one in five people discover new products and brands through social media live streams (GWI 2022 Report)? Lives are highly discoverable. In fact, YouTube has a whole section dedicated to exactly this on the left side bar, called YouTube Live. Here you can watch great live streams, such as live gaming, live music, live sports, and live news.
Attention grabbing
Live videos hold viewer attention 10-20x longer than pre-recorded, on demand content (Forrester). In other words, live videos are attention grabbing because it’s completely fresh content, it’s timely, and it’s real and authentic. In fact, it’s reported that 80% of people would rather watch a live video from a brand than read their blog (techjury). That’s huge!
Authoritative and trust building
Last but not least, live videos have a way of positioning your brand as authoritative in it’s field. You have to know your stuff to be able to go live in the first place. There’s no editing mid way through or researching your topic that you may not be sure about. You build trust because of that. Your audience can trust that you know your stuff. They can see your business for what it is, while getting to know the people or person representing your brand.
Types of Live Content Your Business Can Create
Like many other aspects of media, “live stream” is an umbrella term. There are many different types of streams your business can create. Let’s have a look at some.
Longer educational live streams
Think weekly shows, courses, masterclasses, or webinars. For example, our client Porsche Club of America has an educational show that covers a new topic in each stream. This can make for great recurring video series.
Collaborative streams
Whether with influencers, thought leaders in your field or guests promoting your product or service. For example, let’s look at Royal Caribbean’s approach where they hired influencers to show their vacations and adventures in the Caribbean in real time. This allowed people to see the world, enticing them to travel and join in on the fun.
Interviews or Q&A
Things can often seem more relevant and exciting when slapped with the LIVE logo. It generates FOMO! That can be helpful when discussing important issues or topics that absolutely need an audience.
Live events & experiences
The Rihanna and Sephora event launch used a multi-camera production team to capture the launch of Fenty Beauty. They included a live countdown, real-time graphics, as well as polls and hashtags to drive engagement and keep viewers attention throughout.
Product demos
As stated before, the word ‘live’ can make a stream feel special. This can be used well for launching new products or companies. For example, show your audience how to start using your product in real time!
Equipment and Resources You Need to Stream
Let’s talk about some things you’ll need to make your streaming experience easy and enjoyable. Both for you, and your audience.
Streaming software
We recommend checking out StreamLabs OBS.
Camera
A good quality camera is key. You can actually use most DSLR cameras and phones as webcams for higher quality video.
Lighting and audio
Good lighting and audio are hugely important to creating an enjoyable stream. Check out our blog post “Make Better Videos At Home” for more tips on this.
Having professional quality streams will set you apart! It will make your videos easier to watch and more enjoyable for viewers. You can invest a bit of time and money into bots and other features to make your streams more engaging too, but start with these basics first.
So Why Stream on YouTube
There are a handful of sites you can choose to stream through besides YouTube, such as Twitch or Facebook. Many of you are probably especially familiar with Twitch, however, YouTube has its own strenghts that you should consider.
For example YouTube Members is the equivalent of a subscription on Twitch, and the same comparison can be drawn with YouTube’s Superchats and Twitch’s Bits.
Facebook however doesn’t have these features. They also limit the video length to 90 minutes, which isn’t ideal for longer events. Facebook also lacks the 4k streaming that YouTube and Twitch both have.
So for convenience here, let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits that YouTube has over the other leading platform, Twitch.
HUGE audience to tap into
- YouTube sees two billion users each month. This is a massive audience that you can tap into.
Higher profits for the creator
- YouTube takes 30% of membership revenue while Twitch takes 50% of subscription revenue.
- These subscriptions are the same price.
Higher discoverability and easier to browse
- YouTube allows you to set a custom thumbnail before the stream, allowing you to include a call to action.
- YouTube will promote your content any time of day, but Twitch will only promote you while you’re streaming.
- YouTube’s algorithm and SEO provide more opportunity to sell. Twitch offers a small window while you are live.
- Since YouTube is owned by Google, videos will appear in Google search results as well.
Ability to upload and optimize the same as other YouTube videos
- When you finish your stream, you can upload and optimize your video just as you would with other YouTube videos.
- You can easily upload short clips from your live streams to promote your channel.
- YouTube’s algorithm is heavily focused on the value of views on your content. So more returning viewers means that YouTube will push your videos no matter the channel size.
- Twitch focuses more heavily on large audiences and pushes content based on the number of viewers, which can make it hard to grow.
Opportunity for live sales thanks to the merchandise bar feature
- Live sales allows you to link directly to products on your storefront.
- Ability to do demonstrations, tutorials, reviews and verbal CTAs directing viewers to your merch bar.
You're Ready to Start Streaming
Hopefully that begins to paint a picture of why we love streaming on YouTube so much! That said, of course you should still do a deeper dive on all the platforms available out there to understand what makes the most sense for your business.
Fortunately, live streaming is something anyone can do, and even more fortunately, it can work for any kind of business. The benefits of live streaming can be immense!
We understand it’s difficult to know just where to start, which is why Vireo Video exists. We’re here to help businesses like yours navigate the world of live streaming, YouTube and video marketing. Booking a consultation is easy and free. Let’s expand into the world of YouTube together!
Author: Mikayla Boudreau, Vireo Video blog contributor
