How To Promote Your Live Stream

Successful live stream video events all come down to the 3 Ps: planning, producing and promoting. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to get swept up in the effort and expense of planning and producing a beautiful live video event and leave the promotion part to the last minute. But if the right audience doesn't know about your event in advance, they can't tune in, making all your effort and expense for naught.

When planning your next live stream event, keep these promotion essentials in mind:

1. Identify your target audience

The first step in your promotion strategy is to identify which current and prospective customer segments will be most interested in your live stream. Consider where each audience segment spends their online and offline time. Depending on your audience, your promotion plan could include social media advertising, blogs, email campaigns, meetup groups, industry publications, or specific venues.

2. Define your message

Consider why your audience should care about your live stream. What value or benefit does this live stream provide them? Use your analysis to create promotional messaging. From product launches to concerts, keep your main value points in mind as you consider different promotion tactics and channels.

3. Create a teaser

Movie trailers are a tried-and-true approach for engaging and exciting fans before a big release. You can do the same with a live stream teaser, giving your audience a peek at the content of your live stream without revealing too much. Your teaser should consist of images or a short video, capped at 60 seconds. For bigger events, consider releasing multiple teasers to build excitement and anticipation leading up to the big day. Your teaser should help audiences understand exactly what to expect and answer the "why should I care about this" question without giving too much information away.

4. Get creative with social outreach

Regardless of whether you're hosting the livestream on Facebook, YouTube, or your own website, social media channels are ground zero for event promotion. Depending on your audience, consider using a combination of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to tease your event. For example, you could promote your promo video via targeted Facebook ads, offer fans exclusive behind-the-scenes content via Instagram and Snapchat stories, or use event-specific hashtags to start a Twitter conversation about your upcoming live stream. When targeting international markets outside the U.S., consider leveraging local social media platforms as well. For a major event, you can start promoting up to a month in advance. For smaller events, start your promotion efforts 7 to 10 days in advance. We also recommend boosting social media posts with paid promotions to be sure the right target audience sees them.

Reminder: because social networks have such a large global audience, always remember to include the time and time zone of the live stream and try to schedule it so that the maximum number of people around the world are able to tune in.

5. Send a special email announcement

Don't overlook the benefits of email promotion! While you don't want to spam your email list with incessant daily reminders, you should send a brief announcement to the contacts who are already invested in your brand. Use list segmentation to customize your message to different audience segments. Include relevant information about the event and teaser content, along with a link to opt-in for a viewing reminder. Make sure to tailor the subject line so that this promo email stands out from your usual content.

6. Create an event landing page with a "live event" reminder

When you promote your event via social media and email, use a call-to-action to send your audience to a special event landing page where they can sign up for a viewing reminder. You can then send an email with a "view now" link right before your live stream starts. This tactic has the added benefit of capturing CRM data.

7. Use influencer star power to reach new networks

If your live stream features any notable personalities, make sure that they notify their networks about the event and amplify your promo posts. This is a powerful way to reach new viewers who may not have interacted with your company before.

Final Thoughts:

The promotion of your live video event will make or break your audience attendance. Make sure the right people know where and when your live stream is happening.