The Art of Going Live
Driving traffic to your website with an optimal social media strategy is something we have written about for both paid and organic efforts. However, we haven’t yet discussed how you can use Instagram features to encourage audience engagement while going LIVE. With the novel coronavirus wreaking havoc across business models across the globe, brands are going LIVE on social media as a way to boost visibility and connections with their owned audience, and publishers should as well.
Instagram is already an underutilized platform by publishers despite its booming growth as a channel. In a 2019 CRMA survey, results indicated increasing traffic to publisher’s websites from Instagram and Instagram stories, with Instagram being the social media platform with the highest average increase in followers YOY. For years, other brands like industry news have been pushing publisher Instagram strategies like influencer marketing and humanizing your editorial staff a la Bon Appetit’s. Despite these efforts most city and regional publishers have still been slow to adopt the platform.
What to Expect When Going LIVE
Going LIVE on Instagram is scary, there are no edits, no producers or directors staging the shot, just a raw feed directly to your audience. Yet this authenticity, especially now, when users are heavily relying on city and regional publishers, the voice of their communities, humanizing your staff in this manner is a great move. Going LIVE on Instagram is a way for your brand to connect with your followers in an organic, genuine way.
The first few times you go LIVE, chances are you will have very few people tuning in. Every person that takes the time out of their day to spend with your content should be treated as a VIP, these are your potential future evangelists. Treat them with respect and attention, acknowledge their comments in the chat, answer their questions, call them out by name, thank them for tuning in, and don’t forget to remind them when you will go LIVE again. In other words, make these users feel seen.
On top of creating an authentic connection, going LIVE on Instagram can boost your visibility and engagement by pushing your brand in the IG stories feed to the front of your follower’s pages. When users tune into an account’s LIVE, Instagram uses that engagement for future feed and story placement, aka pushing you higher up in those user’s feeds because your content has proven relevant to that user.
Added bonus, Instagram has also made it easy to save your IG LIVE videos to your IGTV section of your newsfeed. Your on-the-spot content has an opportunity to increase engagement and reach, even after the 24 hours it lives in the story ring.
TFD Pro Tips: Create Content to Drive Revenue
Don’t just go LIVE to go LIVE. Tie everything back to your business goals (ie, pushing users to your site, driving consumer revenue, etc). For IG LIVE, you want to ensure that your audience stays tuned in to your broadcast. IG LIVE forces publishers to think outside the box, brainstorm all the possible ways you could capitalize on this direct engagement with your audience.
Get inspired by Philly Mag and Hour Detroit magazine who are increasing advertiser revenue by broadcasting mixology lessons live on their Instagram with local bartenders at “happy hour.” Their email audiences get notified of the upcoming schedule of drinks and ingredients that are needed. Revenue is generated by having a brand of liquor sponsor the broadcast. Consider a staff brainstorm with representatives from each side of the business: ad sales, audience development, editorial, web development, etc. Toss around ideas of things you’d like to produce and figure out how to tie that back to revenue.
D Magazine has been going LIVE on their Instagram weekly to give an update on the state of affairs in Dallas during the coronavirus pandemic. They have created a dependable co-stream with two of their editors talking about updates around the city. Take a look at one of their past videos that they saved to IGTV.
Publishers can take it a step further and make it a fundraiser for service industry workers that can’t go into work right now. Use the donation sticker to collect the funds. Instagram has announced that all donations using the sticker will be given directly to the charity in question, no fees will be removed. For a nonprofit to be eligible to receive donations through the donation sticker they must: sign up for Charitable Giving Tools (if they haven’t already), link their Instagram and Facebook Accounts and switch their Instagram to a Business Account. Learn more here.
Philly Magazine has turned their entire events Instagram page into LIVE events with advertiser partners, hosting everything from beer tastings (with a discount code for a six-pack) to floral arrangement demonstrations.
Jessica Yellin, a pioneer, has created her entire business model off providing video content on Instagram in feeds, stories and LIVES. She is interviewing experts in all things coronavirus and national pandemic news, taking questions from readers and providing content based on user recommendations. Her feed is the perfect example of creating content based on her audience’s own submissions. To take this a step further, publishers can create a landing page that allows users to submit questions for upcoming interviews, classes, or events that are being hosted on your IG LIVE, in exchange for an email. Make sure to allow that user to opt in to a newsletter relevant to the content in your IG LIVE: if it’s news sign them up for your Daily NL, if it’s food related your Food NL, etc.
Prepare your Audience
Tell your audience that you’re going to go LIVE, and what they can expect from it. Do a multi-panel instagram story teasing the upcoming event. Include a countdown sticker that users can save to their own account and get a push notification that your LIVE is about to start. Send an email to your audience of your upcoming IG LIVE schedule, tease what you’re going to cover during your broadcast.
Post a swipe up link to a landing page where users can submit questions on the topic or for the person you’re interviewing in a co-stream. You can use this as an email collection tool, to sign people up for a relevant newsletter.
Show Up Prepared
Create a burner Instagram account so you can test everything beforehand. Ask your coworkers to follow to watch you tune your settings and get acquainted with the interface. Just because the feed is unedited, doesn’t mean it can’t be put together well.
Check your Instagram LIVE settings by opening your Instagram Stories camera and swipe to ‘LIVE’ mode. Tap the wheel icon in the top left and select who you’d like to be able to view your stories (and Instagram LIVE), who can reply, where it automatically saves to, and also how it can be shared.
Play around with the features available in Instagram LIVE: sharing questions with viewers, inviting someone to co-host, pinning comments to the top, sharing images or videos, using donation stickers, etc. Practice answering questions that come in, find the rhythm in the practice round(s), so you feel ready when it’s time to officially go LIVE.
Lastly, I cannot stress this enough, test your lighting before you’re going to go LIVE. If you need to set up some lamps or a key light, figure that out beforehand. Have your coworkers critique the set up, ensuring you have the best light on your face at all times. Make sure that your phone is charged, you have access to a charger and your phone can remain upright during the duration of the broadcast.
Going LIVE on Instagram is a completely free way for publishers to connect directly with their followers (and make money while doing it!). Using the channel to connect directly with your owned audience and engaging in real time with their feedback and questions, provides a way to humanize your editorial staff in a time when users are craving a dose of authenticity from brands. Want to chat more on going LIVE on Instagram? Email me at natalie@twentyfirstdigital.com.
