Your Online Guide to Livestreaming for SMEs

The livestreaming industry is progressing rapidly. However, some businesses are still confused as to whether this is worth their time and effort. Read on to have a better understanding of all things livestream.

Live video grew by 93%, with an average viewing time of 26.4 minutes per session¹. Live videos hold users’ attention 10-20x longer than pre-recorded or on-demand content², and the video streaming market is expected to grow to $223.98 billion by 2028³. Thus, engaging with livestreams is definitely set to grow your audience, plus boost interactions.

Lazada & Shopee:

LazLive from Lazada and Shopee Live from Shopee, both of which are major B2C e-commerce platforms, offer great live streaming platforms. They provide a perfect opportunity to foster direct contact between sellers and customers, increase real-time customer engagement and make it easier to acquire customers. It's a great chance to promote your shop and products directly to shoppers too. Sellers and brands saw a 75% surge in sales after participating in live streaming sessions⁴, indicating how useful having a livestream for your business is.

Instagram & TikTok

In terms of Social media platforms, Instagram offers IGLive and TikTok has TikTok Live, both of which are great for engagement, sharing updates and growing your brand. There are push notifications enabled in these platforms, so any follower with this feature turned on gets alerted when a live stream begins, which Increases awareness and develops the potential for reach.

However, as there are two sides to a coin, there are challenges of conducting livestreams as well. The biggest challenge would be cost, especially if you’re from an SME. Attendees expect good quality of the stream. Quality of the audio and image is very important in order to hold a great event and provide a spectacular audience experience. To resolve this, the most effective solution is to invest in reliable production equipment. This ensures broadcast-quality content perfect for your livestream.

This is a better option than engaging professional services, as that would be costlier. Furthermore, you would need to engage with the professionals for every event you host. Thus, investing in your own production equipment would be more cost effective as it’s a one time useful investment. However, having good knowledge/expertise to operate and set the equipment up is also something you should be prepared for if you do not want any help.

Here is a summary of what you can expect with these different options:

Livestreaming with professional services:

• High quality streams
• Convenience - Shooting and recording all managed by professionals 
• Streamlined Broadcasting experience
• Time saving in terms of planning how to fill
• Costlier option

Hiring an influencer:

• Greater reach due to popularity - More people might watch and participate
• Builds credibility
• Helpful if you are unable to keep customers engaged by yourself
• Costly - Depending on the background of influence

Livestreaming on your own:

• Greater control on delivery of livestream 
• Easier management
• More time spent planning how to film
• Cost savings

If you are a small business, consider these benefits and challenges before deciding the best method for your livestream

Live Streaming tips:

1. Know your audience
   Question yourself who your existing customers are, what kind of content they engage with most and brainstorm. Before taking any further step, planning these are important.
   
2. Content planning
   Once you figure out your audience, begin planning content for your livestream.
   
   
3. Plan for engagement
   

   Prepare a flow or timing guideline to refer to beforehand to avoid awkward situations. It can be hard to improvise on the fly so having prepared questions helps.

4. Choose your preferred platform
   As explained above, identify the platform which is most beneficial for your business. For SME’s, carrying out livestreams on your own, on either of the platforms mentioned above are great options.
   

5. Promote livestream in advance
   Engage in pre-event lead generation by strategically using automated emails to share highly customized content. Create anticipation with a pre-event landing page, which provides details of the live stream in advance so you can promote your event early and often. Utilize blog or emails by using keywords in your title and descriptions, CTA’s, and use social media (Lucky draws/giveaways help build hype and promote your livestream). 
   

6. Follow-up emails
   Following up with attendees is crucial. Reach out to customers you feel are great prospects and continue the conversation. Thank everyone for joining, provide a summary of what was covered, and include a link for people to watch the replay.
   
   Thus, there are several things to consider, prepare, and test before you start livestreaming. Learning how to stream does not always have to be tough. With this simplified guide and a learning attitude, you’ll be a professional in no time and bring your small business to greater heights.

   
   

Access a few of Trustana’s previous Live Streams here:

⏩ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lEcBUhVtIw&t=599s 
⏩ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFJ7kg-a27E

References:
1. Streaming Media
 https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/News/Online-Video-News/On-Demand-Viewing-Growing-Much-Faster-Than-Live-Says-Conviva-133418.aspx
2. Forrester
https://www.forrester.com/report/Prepare-To-Support-Video-Livestreaming-For-Customer-Experiences/RES135382 
3. GrandViewResearch:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/video-streaming-market
4. The Low Don- Momentum Works
https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/how-did-shopee-overtake-lazada-as-the-leading-ecommerce-firm-in-sea/ 
5. OBC Business Banking
 https://www.ocbc.com/business-banking/articles/why-live-commerce-is-changing-online-shopping. 

Other references:
https://blog.splitdragon.com/lazlive/ 
https://telescope.tv/blog/marketing/instagram-strategy-4-benefits-of-instagram-live/ 
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/live-streaming/#practice2 
https://www.sjhemleymarketing.com/blog/lead-generation-strategies-for-your-next-virtual-event/ 
https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/how-to-ensure-a-full-live-streaming-experience 
https://gadnwid.com/how-to-go-live-on-tiktok-benefits-of-tiktok-live/ 
https://downstage.media/blogindex/wltw19jul2019 
https://www.vividsnaps.com/e-commerce-live-streams-singapore/ 
https://restream.io/blog/streaming-setup-what-do-you-need-to-stream-live-video/ 
https://www.dacast.com/blog/66-must-know-live-streaming-statistics/