Learn how to make your own mobile media video on your iPhone here.
The amount of content available to us at any given moment can be baffling. It can be difficult to identify the proper spot to tune into content you actually want to pay attention to.
Many brands are turning to Facebook and Instagram to produce live streams that contain important news, announcements, or even tutorials and knowledge-sharing.
A few brands that have developed a consistent relationship with their audience by producing regular live streams:
- Benefit Cosmetics. Benefit has identified Facebook as a great place to connect with their audience, and they utilize live streams to give potential customers a platform to ask beauty experts questions. For example, they have “Brow Hour” with their “global brow expert.” Users had all their burning eyebrow questions answered on the spot.
- Adorama. With an audience of primarily videographers and photographers, it makes sense that Adorama has chosen Instagram as the platform for their live streams. They’ve established a weekly Instagram Live session that happens every Tuesday, where one professional teaches the audience an important lesson about photography or videography. Viewers can comment and ask questions as the live stream progresses, so they feel personally engaged with the content being shared.
Having trouble finding a live stream to tune into?
Brands will often announce a time for their next live stream on various social channels. Establishing a regular schedule helps viewers know when to tune in, just like watching their favorite weekly TV show.
Or, you might get a notification from Facebook or Instagram that a brand you follow is going live. It seems that most tune-ins are spontaneous; people will watch if they have a moment and they notice someone is going live.
When you get a notification, go to that brand’s Instagram or Facebook profile. On Facebook, the video should just be playing at the top of the brand page. On Instagram, you will see a small badge around the story circles at the top of the screen that says “live.” Tap to enter the live stream. The person streaming will know that you are tuning in.
With either platform, once you are watching the live stream, you can comment or ask questions, the same way you’d engage with a non-live post. Some brands will try to answer every question, while some are mainly there to share a message and won’t go too in depth into questions and comments from users.
Missed a live stream? It will likely be available for another 24 hours after the stream ended. Or, check YouTube or IGTV, where brands often upload their previously live videos as regular content. Benefit has managed to preserve their live videos as regular content on Facebook, available indefinitely.
You can see some of Adorama’s past live streams on their IGTV channel, which you’ll only be able to see in the mobile Instagram app.
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Note: Any products or services listed are not recommendations or endorsements, and are for informational purposes only.