Do you use live video to sell products or services?
Wondering how to grow an audience that will show up for your launch?
In this article, you’ll discover seven live video tactics that will create a warm and engaged audience for your next launch.
How to Use Live Video in a Product Launch: 7 Ways by Luria Petrucci on Social Media Examiner.
How Live Video Helps You Build Your Audience
For these live video promotion tactics to work, you need to create the right kind of live videos. Both Facebook and YouTube will reward you with bigger reach if you bring your audience back to the platform over and over again.
How do you do that? By creating a live video show and broadcasting “life streams.”
Create a Live Video Show
The concept of a live video show is similar to hosting a weekly podcast, blog post, or YouTube video. You broadcast a weekly show live on the same day and time every week or possibly every day. During the show, you provide value to your audience and share your expertise to help gain credibility and create the know, like, and trust factor.
If you do a good job, viewers will keep tuning in, and over time, watching your show will become part of their routine.
Facebook, with its algorithm changes, demands you focus on engagement and community. In reality, the fact that Facebook is now forcing the matter doesn’t mean this is anything new. A show has been the secret to building an audience online for many years.
Broadcast Life Streams
While you typically broadcast a live show from a computer or TV-quality video studio, “life streams” are random, raw streams from your phone. During these live broadcasts, you hang out with viewers as you would friends.
The goal is to develop a deeper relationship with viewers. When you let people into your life in this way, they’ll start to feel like they know you. And with those relationships, you can grow your community and spread your message, helping increase your conversion rates.
Keeping these two types of live video in mind, here are seven tactics that can help you create a warm and engaged audience.
#1: Attract Viewers From Secondary Platforms
The “cheap seats” tactic is a fantastic way to kick off a new page or channel, or one with little engagement. The goal is to get people from one social channel to tune into your weekly live show on another channel.
Here’s how it works. First, set up a behind-the-scenes view of your show and go live (with your phone) from Instagram, Periscope, or your Facebook profile (wherever you get the most traction).
Then start your regular live video show on your Facebook page or YouTube. Throughout the broadcast, encourage viewers watching on the secondary platforms (the cheap seats) to come on over to the page with your live show so you can see their comments!
Chris Ducker (Youpreneur) used this promotion tactic for his book launch party. First, he went live on Instagram, explaining to his audience what was going on, and then he started the main stream on his Facebook page.
When he had a break during the main stream, he popped over to Instagram and told viewers to join him on the Facebook page because that’s where the fun was happening.
#2: Show an Inside Look at Your Business
Everyone loves a good behind-the-scenes video. You can create deep know, like, and trust by hanging out, pulling back the curtain, and giving viewers an inside look at what you do.
You might be thinking, “My work is boring. No one wants to see me type on the computer.” But the truth is you’re way more interesting than you think you are!
Here are some ideas for behind-the-scenes content:
- Show how you set up the equipment for an upcoming live show.
- Host an office tour (or a spare-bedroom-turned-office tour).
- Preview a new product you’re working on.
- Share the tools you use.
Or you can do something like Michael Hyatt did. He went live for a behind-the-scenes tour of… his desk! Yep, that’s right, his desk. And guess what? It’s one of his most-viewed streams.
#3: Preview Your Product
The “sneak peek” promotion is about making viewers feel special. Give your audience a preview of an upcoming lead magnet, product, event, or podcast episode by saying something like, “We have something really cool coming up… it’s not ready yet, but you know what? I’m going to give you a sneak peek right now!”
For example, go live while recording a video for a free workshop that you’re planning to use as an opt-in.
#4: Spotlight a Customer Success Story
Produced testimonials are great, but you can also use life streams to get natural and engaging customer testimonials. This is an effective way to casually make the case for your product.
Barry Friedman shared this Facebook Live during a promotion period for a product launch. He met up with his student to eat dessert and hang out, and turned on a life stream for the conversation.
They goofed off, told stories, and talked about how Barry’s course helped his guest. Barry was able to warm up the audience to the idea of his product, while making it feel like an informal hangout instead of a pitch.
#5: Promote Your Broadcast via Your Instagram Story
Use Instagram or Facebook stories to promote your live show or a live broadcast for a product promotion. Make viewers feel like they need to show up.
Mary Hyatt uses this tactic incredibly well. She creates an entire Instagram story promotion around her weekly Facebook live show. She includes the show URL in the description on Instagram and builds anticipation throughout the day for the upcoming topic.
And she doesn’t stop at the live show. When the broadcast is over, Mary continues the promotion with a call to action to watch the replay. This strategy is laid out in detail here.
#6: Deliver Show Notifications via a Live Video Bot
You can use a Facebook Messenger bot to encourage viewers to subscribe to your show so they get notifications when you go live. When bots are used in and for your live videos, I call them live video bots.
This tactic lets you take control so Facebook doesn’t determine who sees your posts. Your viewers tell you (not Facebook) they want to know when you go live. Then you (not Facebook) alert them and direct them to your live show when it’s time via your live video bot.
You can let your viewers subscribe two ways:
- During your live show, encourage viewers to subscribe to get more of your content. Ask people to type a keyword in the comments to get notifications. For the video below, viewers were asked to type “LSPChallenge” to sign up.
- Create a short URL for your live video bot and encourage your email list or social followers to click the link to sign up for show notifications.
#7: Invite Email Subscribers to Tune In
Don’t forget about your email list! If you’re not tying all of your content together on multiple platforms (email included), you’re not reaping the full benefits of live video. So the day before your live show, send an email to your list to invite people to show up.
When composing the email, be sure to mention the benefits of your live broadcast to viewers. Don’t just tell them what you’re doing; tell them what they’ll get out of it. Otherwise, there’s no urgency for viewers to see it live. They’ll just tell themselves, “I’ll watch the replay.”
Conclusion
All of your marketing efforts, including live video, should lead back to your website and business. If you build your business on someone else’s foundation, you’ll always be at the mercy of their rules. But you can use social media platforms to gain additional traction.
When you’re doing live video, focus your efforts on achieving two goals:
- Promotion of the live videos themselves
- Promotion of your products and services in the live videos
And just like anything else you do, it takes time, effort, and consistency to see results. Stick with it, be consistent, and trust the process.
What do you think? Have you used one of these live video promotion tactics? If so, please link to it in the comments below. I’d love to see your creativity in action!