“The hardest thing for marketers is to turn over the brand experience to the community and let them define it.”
– Eric Erwin, Executive VP of Marketing and Product Development at Wilton
When brands are willingly able to be vulnerable and open themselves up to the public, their authenticity shines through. Best reflection of this? Live video streaming. Perhaps a sense of transparency is one of the factors that attracts so many people to it. Let’s face it, we are nosy. We like to discover what people are doing, their rituals, their quirks. We don’t want to miss out on anything.
Just How Popular?
Here’s some interesting statistics for you. Live video streaming has become so popular by 2016 that it has become a 30 billion dollar industry.
- 10x more comments are made during live feeds.
- 3x more time is spent watching them.
- 82% of people surveyed prefer live videos to social posts.
But Why?
Live streaming is as up to date as it gets. It’s happening real time and you feel like you are in the moment experiencing it. With the ability to actively participate and engage through commenting, you feel like a valued part of the community. The temporary aspect of live streaming also intensifies the need to watch. You just feel part of a more personal and interactive experience.
Landmarks
Some hugely successful examples of how brands successfully integrated live streaming into their content is Tastemade’s Tiny Kitchen Series, where people cook miniature versions of food in a doll-like set kitchen. It has garnered over 3.8 million views to date on Facebook. And of course, there’s Buzzfeed’s crazy experiment to find out how many rubber bands it takes to explode a watermelon. While we think 45 minutes of anticipation takes a lot of patience, the numbers speak for themselves. The video has over 11 million views thus far.
A Live Future
The boundaries of live video streaming are seamless with no end in sight. By 2021, it is projected to be a 70.5 billion dollar industry. Social media live streaming videos will only increase from here and give fans an exclusive reason to follow and engage with a brand. What are some other creative ways you’ve seen live streaming be used?