Live Streaming: A Critical Tool For Businesses?

Amazon has announced that it will hike the price of its Prime delivery and streaming service for UK customers, blaming 'increased inflation and operating costs'.

Live streaming is a simple yet effective way to enhance many things in your business – from in-house processes to sales techniques, and even marketing.

So, let’s dive into a few ways that live streaming can have a critical impact on businesses.

Communication

Communication in any business is absolutely crucial. But, what if everyone isn’t (or can’t be) in the same room? With the rise of remote working and satellite offices, it is more common now than ever before that coworkers will need to communicate effectively no matter where they are. That’s where live streaming comes in.

Live streaming has long since been used to provide virtual versions of traditionally in-person events. Take online casinos, for example. When players try their hand at blackjack online at Paddy Power Games these games are live-streamed in real time, from a real studio, with a real dealer. This provides players the opportunity to communicate in real-time with both the dealer and the other players for an authentic casino experience.

This same logic can then be applied to businesses. If some of the workforce is remote, then live streaming briefings, meetings, and even coffee breaks can be a great way to ensure effective communication and the building of relationships throughout the workforce. Similarly, if you often host conferences, live streaming these events can open up the sessions to a wider, global audience, allowing for productive upskilling and wider understanding throughout the teams.

E-Commerce

In the modern world, instant satisfaction is a driver behind many consumers’ behaviour. That said, in the world of retail, the instantaneousness of online shopping misses out on some of the physical elements of shopping, such as feeling materials, trying items on, or demonstrating the product. With this in mind, live streaming can give consumers the best of both worlds.

According to Internet Retailing, augmented reality (AR) is now one of the top ways of in-person and online shopping. Put, AR technology imposes digital elements on the real world – so, say you’re watching a live stream, you can flip your camera and see what the product would look like in your real surroundings instantly. Or, if you’re watching a product launch, you could upload a photo to virtually try on the item in real-time.

Marketing

Today, social media is undoubtedly one of the key techniques for marketers all over the world. However, traditionally, social media strategies are often schedules of carefully crafted content, and potentially even paid advertisements. Whilst this can be essential to build your branding and consistency, this doesn’t present the opportunity for consumers to interact with you in real time, and foster a relationship.

Influencer Marketing Hub hails Instagram Live as one of the least utilised, but most effective, live-streaming platforms for businesses. The platform lets you stream to followers in real-time, for free. Users can ask you questions in real-time through the live chat feature, which you can pin to the top if it’s an FAQ. In addition, it is very easy to collaborate with other brands, and streams can be saved on your page for anyone who missed it.

And there you have it – just a few ways that businesses can utilise live streaming, boosting internal communications, widening audience reach, helping to build a meaningful relationship with audiences, and encouraging conversion.