What is Engaging Content?
Engaging video content is a content that prompts audiences to participate in the conversation. It’s content that is worth sharing and it stimulates curiosity for the audience. Engaging content is generally presented in a way that follows basic storytelling rules. Good storytelling allows viewers to imagine that they are the hero of the story. Viewers are able to consider how the content you are presenting will help them in their lives. In this way, broadcasters can create stories with a compelling hook, an interesting middle and cliffhanger ending that will keep viewers coming back for more and sharing the content with their social media networks.
How can you find an audience?
In order to cultivate an active chat-room, you need to find your audience. For some broadcasters who are just starting out, this can be challenging but not impossible. The easiest way to create an audience is to think about building a community. Audiences for live video content will build slowly, yet for some, they grow quickly because the content they provide goes viral. For most, audience building is a slow process. Consider building a blog that can help you build your email list. Start a Facebook Group that can cultivate conversations. Social media offers great tools for building online interest groups that align with the interests of your brand. Use the tools you have available to you, be true to your brand’s message, and create content. Don’t be afraid to live stream just because you don’t have an audience. Work smart, not hard.
What is viewer engagement?
Viewers can engage with live streams in many ways, but the most prominent way is through the chat room. Engaging video content, can stimulate an active chat-room where viewers can interact and contribute to an evolving conversation that is happening in real-time. Engaging content provokes viewers to state their comments of support, or question the material that you are presenting for further explanation. Some live streams even benefit from viewer engagement that happens after the broadcast in the form of social media posts. Be sure to check your social media and respond to social media posts the same way you would with live chat messages.
How can you advertise your live streams?
Most large social media networks such as YouTube and Facebook do not allow you to advertise your live streams on their platforms until after the broadcast. In this way, you should consider advertising your best performing content as a way to grow your audience online with likes and subscribers. Some platforms such as Amazon do allow you to advertise your live streams that feature clickable links to products that you can promote on Amazon. Most advertising tools on social media allow you to promote existing content before your live streams happen. Use these tools to grow your audience and schedule your live streams as an organic way to notify your audience of upcoming events.
How can you measure the success engagement?
Most live streaming platforms today offer detailed analytics which allow you to see data about the engagement of your viewers. Each platform is different in the data that they offer. For example, Facebook Live streams offer broadcasters data about the various engagement emojis viewers used and detailed information about viewers demographics. YouTube offers more information about chat rates and watch time. Overall, engagement is a valuable tool for measuring the success of your live streams because it means that you are invoking a reaction worth attention in a busy technology saturated environment. Consider what matters for your business and measure the metrics that really matter. If you are looking for sales, measure sales. If you are looking for new leads, measure that. Engagement may not have a direct impact on your near term goals, so consider it a real-time metric for actions that may come in the future. Look for anecdotal evidence first and look for long-term trends that affect the your most important goals.
