If you took Marketing 101 in school, you’d remember the four types of media: owned, paid, shared, and earned. Of course, shared and earned media are the most important, but what if those shared channels go offline? Unlike your website, blog, or online shop, you can’t control if and when social media goes offline.
You don’t own the content you’ve generated when you livestream directly from Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat. Sure, you can download the videos afterward. But boy they make it a challenge! Hapity enables you to stream directly from your own website while sharing across social media, so you keep ownership of everything you create. Hapity will even generate your own backups on your smartphone for you.
No downloading and uploading of large video files. When you stop broadcasting your livestream, your video will be listed on the Hapity app’s history. It will also be automatically published as a blog post on your WordPress website. Cool, right?
Why is live-streaming at all important? Social media connects people, and video adds faces and voices to your connections!
- Video helps coaches better train their clients.
- Livestreaming is a perfect add-on for your personal training business.
- Nonprofits connect better with their donors when it’s face-to-face.
- You can build a community with a livestream regardless of your profession.
Regardless of your business, livestreaming adds value. Who doesn’t love watching videos?
How Do Livestreams Work?
You might be new to livestreaming. We get it. You see it every day — the real-time transmission of video. This can be done from one person to another or over a network using a streaming server.
Live streaming poses special challenges compared to normal video streaming. Streaming a normal video (like on Netflix or YouTube) doesn’t rely upon how long the upload takes. Livestreaming requires a constant and reliable connection between all the components (camera, streaming server, and your device). With livestreaming, this is being done in real-time.
And don’t forget — both the streamer and the audience may be on the road.
Why is live-streaming better than a pre-recorded video? Live video trumps pre-recorded video! Why? It’s the real you! No filters, no second take, no editing. People get to see and hear the real you, and that trust makes your live-stream video much more valuable.
“For the consumer, live streaming feels more like a conversation than a prepackaged ad. This helps them develop a stronger connection with the brand, especially if you use your live content to answer questions or respond to comments. Forming a natural, authentic connection with your customers will drive conversions and address concerns that might otherwise keep them from buying.”Entrepreneur
What is Needed For Livestreaming Your Content?
A smartphone. A website. This is a fun idea your viewers will love. That’s it!
Gone are the days when you needed an expensive film company. Today you just need your smartphone and a WordPress website. You can just tap on your phone, click the video icon, enter a title for your broadcast, click start, and you’re now broadcasting live!
Livestream broadcasts are then automatically posted to your connected website. All you need is a great idea, some cool people, and you are streaming!
First, you need an idea:
- Q&A session
- Live event with a special guest
- Telling a story
- Building something live
- Doing a house tour
- Newsjacking
If you stream from your own phone and website, you don’t have to rely upon Instagram’s Reels or TikTok. You can stream from your phone and publish directly to your WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla websites.
Got the App? Hapity works on iOS and Android smartphones.
What Social Media Platforms Can You Go Live On?
We know you have a social media account! Which is your favorite? You’d expect us to say YouTube — and you probably wouldn’t be far off. Of course, you can livestream your videos on YouTube as well. There are 2.6 billion people watching videos there, so it’s a huge audience.
Some of the more popular social media platforms for live-streaming include:
- Using streaming software on Facebook Live
- Live streaming on Instagram
- How to start a live stream on Twitter
- Live-stream your videos on YouTube
- Game and stream on twitch
- Live streaming is a snap on Snapchat
If you are just now thinking about live-streaming on social media, take it in baby steps. See what works for you and where your comfort zone begins — and ends. Don’t overextend yourself by making too many promises. Everyone starts off thinking they will stream every day!
“Fun Fact: Twitch is currently the largest live streaming platform worldwide, with over 9.3 billion hours of live social video streams consumed in 2019 and a market share of 73%.” StreamElements
A good rule of thumb is to create one long, livestream — perhaps 15 minutes to a maximum of 30 minutes. Do this once a week instead of daily. Make sure you aren’t alone, too. Bring a friend or colleague on board to help you with the comments and questions. That’s right! People will have questions and want their comments answered — someone needs to do this.
This is an important question to ask. Social Media is all about getting social! Now, where is your audience — on what channel?
- Where is my target audience?
- When are they there, and for how long?
- What sort of topics would they like to see and hear?
- In what format (length and style) would they like to have them?
Remember – baby steps. If your videos are good, people will come to you! Once you have some experience, you can spread out to multiple platforms.
Hapity Loves Video Marketing
Because we love bloggers, we love video marketing. We help bloggers quickly publish video broadcasts from their smartphones to their websites. Broadcast live using your phone to your WordPress website.
A smartphone, a connection, and Hapity.
And You.