Social Media
3 Ways To Integrate Video Into Your Marketing Strategy – Entrepreneur.com
Not convinced that Live Streaming is hot for your business right now?
Read this article from Entrepreneur.com and then decide whether to stay ahead of the competition or get left behind:
What is Live Video Streaming?
Live video streaming might just be the next ‘big thing’ when it comes to internet marketing. In fact, it might just be the next big thing when it comes to mobile technology and the web in general. This is an upcoming platform that presents a ton of amazing opportunities that every serious marketer should be all over as soon as possible. This is the definition of getting ahead of the competition – and if you can start making waves here before everyone else gets involved it could potentially set you up for huge success in the future.
So What is Live Video Streaming?
First things first; what is video streaming? And how is this anything new?
In truth, video streaming of one kind or another has been around for a long time now. Of course we stream videos when we watch Netflix and video conferencing tools like Skype and Google Hangouts also allow certain types of streaming.
But what’s got everyone so excited right now is the advent of three new apps that are just brimming with potential. These are Periscope, Meerkat and Blab.
While these apps have their differences, they essentially all perform the same basic function and offer the same appeal. Using one of these apps, anyone can now start recording footage from their phone for people to tune into anywhere around the world and watch live.
When you load up any of the apps, you’ll immediately grasp the concept. You’ll be presented with a huge number of different streams to watch from users all around the world and when you select one you’ll be shown a live feed from their camera. This unlocks a world of completely unique content, from vloggers talking about things that matter to them and offering information and tips, to people walking down the road on their way to buy coffee. Meerkat describe it as the ‘closest thing to teleportation’ and it certainly does feel very much as though you’re able to see the world through the eyes of strangers.
On top of watching the feeds though, you’re also able to comment on them, ask questions, like your favorites, follow the top content creators and in the case of Blab even to join in with discussions and be featured in the videos yourself.
Getting Started With Live Video Streaming
If you’re a complete newcomer to the world of live video streaming and you’ve never streamed a video before, then you may be nervous going in front of a camera. This is a natural fear as you’re going to be exposing your true self live on the feed and the whole process is different to any other form of marketing. Where do you start? Hopefully this article will get you set up and hopefully give you the confidence to begin making lots more videos.
Setting It Up
The first thing you need to do is to set up your account on one of the 3 major streaming platforms; Periscope, Meerkat or Blab. The simplest way to do this is to install the app. Periscope, Meerkat and Blab each have apps on iPhone and Periscope and Meerkat also have Android equivalents. If you’re looking to use Blab and you don’t have an iOS device, then you will need to access it on your PC/Mac and point your browser to https://blab.im/
After you have created your account, the set-up process is similar for each of these platforms; decide whether you want to sign in using your Twitter account or a phone number and then enter a username and password if you chose the latter.
Now you can choose whether you want to start following your existing Twitter contacts, or, in Meerkat’s case, your Facebook contacts.
Roll Camera!
So how do you begin streaming?
To start streaming is quite straightforward; the app will have a button that says ‘Start Streaming.’
Give some thought when creating a title for your stream and with Blab choose relevant tags that will define what category of content you’re creating. These are important features as they are what will dictate whether or not people can find your live stream and whether they decide to check out your footage.
Don’t worry if you find it a daunting prospect when first turning on your camera and letting anyone watch. If you are REALLY nervous why not start with a very small test – just point your camera at something and film. As these are relatively new platforms you’ll probably find that this alone is enough to land you a few new followers and this in turn should give you the confidence you need to set up something a little more ambitious in the future.
It really is that simple and straightforward to start live streaming and while there are many more options and things you can learn, this is more than enough to get you started! And who knows, the camera may love you, and you love it!
Facebook and email marketing
Facebook has 1 over billion users and over 600 million active daily users. And it also has the broadest age-range diversity, and all this means that you can get in front of a giant that caters to the needs to every business, every marketer, no matter what niche they are in.
Because it has such an active users base, and such diverse demographics, any serious business MUST be on Facebook.
This is why all businesses need to have a Facebook fan page. And the good news is that with the Facebook Fan page and its additional promotion tabs, you can combine Facebook and email marketing together to reach people and, most importantly, engage them!
This is great news for you in two ways: it adds value to your social media efforts and it also helps you build your email list efficiently.
There are numerous ways that a marketer or a business can increase their social presence on Facebook and engage their fans, hence creating brand awareness and building brand trust, while at the same time making sure they are building their email subscriber list.
However, out of the many methods available, only a handful are truly worth your time, effort, and the money you invest.
After all, even if you do need to spend money in order to make money (which is generally true), you know that the key is to have a great return on investment (ROI) and this means that you could effectively be getting subscribers for free! If you are spending $1 to gain a subscriber and your average ROI per subscriber is $1 you are building your list for free; in this case the key to building a list quickly is to spend more!
Next time we’ll look at how you can use Facebook promotions to engage your audience and how you can use those types of promotions to increase your email list.