The internet is constantly transforming how businesses can reach their target audience, and the proliferation of streaming services is a frontier not to be missed in customer acquisition. Live stream marketing as a concept is nothing new, but marketers are only beginning to wake up to the full potential that hosting streams can hold in driving campaigns and reaching new prospects.
The available data suggests that live video marketing could be a key component for driving audience engagement. For instance, live videos gain 27% more minutes of watch time in comparison to pre-recorded ones, while reports suggest that streaming content generates a 35% increase in marketing engagement.
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What’s more, live streaming marketing offers a cost-effective edge. Rather than pouring resources into physical events, brands can host high-impact virtual launches or webinars using cloud-based platforms like OneStream Live, which eliminate travel and venue costs while expanding global reach.
How to Expand Your Reach with Live Stream Marketing
The post-pandemic landscape has helped to bring content streaming into the mainstream. Now, we don’t simply use streaming services for entertainment; we can use the technology to collaborate, socialize, learn, and build our presence online.
Today, 92% of internet users watch digital video weekly, and 37% of social users say live streams are the most engaging form of content.
To tap into this audience, live stream marketing tools like OneStream Live let brands broadcast across multiple platforms—simultaneously. From YouTube to TikTok to custom-hosted pages, it’s never been easier to go where your audience already is.
But how can you broaden your reach effectively to connect with your target audience?
For advanced users with in-house dev teams or enterprise-specific needs, it’s possible to create your own video streaming infrastructure using a mix of servers, encoders, and delivery networks. While this approach offers control, it typically requires significant technical effort, ongoing maintenance, and higher setup costs.
However, for most marketers, a live streaming solution like OneStream Live offers a more scalable and cost-efficient alternative—enabling brands to stream directly to customizable, branded web pages called Hosted Live Pages without managing complex infrastructure or relying on third-party platforms.
Top Platforms for Live Stream Marketing Success
Here’s how each major platform fits into a modern live stream marketing strategy:
- Facebook Live:
With more than 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains one of the most effective places to win new customers. When it comes to live streaming on the platform, it’s possible to use Facebook Insights to track performance and refine your approach for even more engagement.
There are even real-time polling features for enhanced feedback from viewers. - Instagram Live:
One of the world’s favorite social streaming platforms, Instagram Live is ideal if you’re seeking to build engagement with younger, mobile-first customers. With interactive polls and Q&A features, there’s plenty of engaging content for viewers, and you can even collaborate with other users and influencers to cross-promote your stream. - YouTube Live:
Another platform with a global audience of all ages is YouTube. By incorporating YouTube Live into your marketing strategy, it’s possible to collaborate with other popular users, incorporate metadata and tags to improve your SEO and discoverability, and live chat with your viewers to build a vibrant and loyal community. - Twitch:
In the recent past, many renowned public figures have used Twitch to build their personal brand. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed herself playing the video game ‘Among Us’ in the build-up to the 2020 presidential election, it amassed over 430,000 viewers, becoming one of the platform’s top streams.
Twitch specializes in video game streaming, but it’s entirely possible to broadcast events and even create regular time slots for viewers to keep up to date with when you’re likely to be online. - TikTok Live:
With around 1.6 billion active monthly users, TikTok is the internet’s breakout star of the decade. Particularly popular with young users, TikTok Live allows businesses to engage directly with a notoriously tricky demographic to reach.
Pro Tip: Use OneStream Live’s multistreaming feature to go live on all these platforms at once—no need to juggle multiple devices.
How to Create Live Stream Campaigns That Convert
If you’re looking to build a marketing campaign based on your live stream marketing content, there are a few approaches and considerations to keep in mind as a means of getting the most out of your lead generation. These include:
1. Aligning Your Messaging
Your live stream marketing campaign will be centered around your strategy’s message. Directionless streams from the outset can put off your most loyal customers before you have a chance to find your feet in shaping your campaign, so working with a functional idea is key.
Look to center your message around the jobs-to-be-done for your viewers, such as common troubleshooting tasks or anticipating solutions for their needs.
Promotional content can deliver value for your viewers, too. These have the potential to drive engagement beyond the confines of advertising and resonate with your target audience.
With this in mind, you should look to limited-time offers, exclusive deals, and promotions that can be showcased on your streams. This can help to provide an added incentive for viewers to stay tuned and build advocacy.
Pro Tip: Try segmenting streams by theme—educational, promotional, or community Q&As—and schedule them using OneStream Live’s advanced scheduling.
Read Blog for A Step-by-Step Guide to Using the Advanced Scheduling Feature
2. Personalize the Viewer Experience
The great thing about the varied streaming platforms out there is that it’s entirely possible to deliver a personalized experience to fragmented audiences who use social networks and services differently online.
Marketers are constantly seeking to reach target demographics across platforms, and live stream marketing services throughout social networks like TikTok and Facebook can support different experiences that engage the right users at the ideal time.
Streaming media has paved the way for greater levels of personalization and targeting for brand messaging and is an opportunity that shouldn’t be underestimated by marketers.
The ability to stream in collaboration with influencers and to create interactive campaigns means that you have the potential to deliver a more personalized experience for different customer demographics, and in some cases, simultaneously.
Pro Tip: With OneStream Live’s Studio, you can brand your live streams and use custom overlays, backgrounds, timers, etc., to personalize engagement in real time.
3. Use Data to Shape Smarter Campaigns
The great thing about live stream marketing is that you can generate masses of data surrounding your customer profile. Harnessing first-party data alongside second-party data through partnerships allows you to create deeper insights into stream-powered conversions, viewer engagement, demographics, and which strategies are the most impactful for your sales funnel.
These insights can help to understand how your subscribers are consuming your content, allowing you to fine-tune your approach and appeal to your most high-value audience clusters.
This strategy can work alongside greater personalization approaches within your live stream marketing strategy, with 55% of US consumers suggesting that they would be willing to provide their data in exchange for a completely custom online experience.
Why Live Stream Marketing Is a Long-Term Growth Engine
Whether you’re addressing customer pain points, announcing product drops, or just opening up conversations in your niche, live stream marketing gives brands the power to stay visible, relevant, and trusted.
With different streaming platforms capable of reaching various demographics, there’s plenty of potential when it comes to building a live stream marketing strategy. With the right planning and execution, live streaming can form a springboard for customer acquisition long into the future.
With platforms like OneStream Live offering multistreaming, pre-recorded scheduling, cloud storage, and branded landing pages—it’s not just about going live. It’s about going big, going everywhere, and doing it effortlessly!
OneStream Live is a cloud-based live streaming solution to create, schedule, and multistream professional-looking live streams across 45+ social media platforms and the web simultaneously. For content-related queries and feedback, write to us at [email protected]. You’re also welcome to Write for Us!
