Social Media Video — What’s Hot in 2017?

Live video — You’re Live in 3, 2, 1! But what does it mean?

You’ve all seen it by now. Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Twitter Live (originally Periscope), YouTube Live… So what’s the biggie?

Live means LIVE. It’s there. You’re in the moment, you’re on air, whatever happens on camera, people see it. It’s totally transparent. Anything that you do, say, comes across the internet tubes and your audience sees it… And that’s the beauty.

What a fabulous set of tools! And I’ll let you into another little secret… they’re ALL free!

Let’s start with Facebook Live…

Facebook Live has been around since April 2016 so it’s hardly new. The early adopters, the celebrities, the giveaways, the PR companies have all had their early bites of the cherry but what can it mean for you?

“Live is like having a TV camera in your pocket. Anyone with a phone now has the power to broadcast to anyone in the world. When you interact live, you feel connected in a more personal way. This is a big shift in how we communicate, and it’s going to create new opportunities for people to come together.” — Mark Zuckerburg at launch in April 2016.

Zucks going Live!

Whether you’re an individual or a small to medium enterprise, Facebook Live can really help your marketing. Going live with some news, a product launch, organising a chat with your fans and followers can really help drum up some excitement. Critics have suggested that “it’s not polished”, “it’s not controllable enough” but in my eyes, that’s the beauty. In no uncertain terms, as soon as you press that ‘Live’ button you’re there. Whether you’re on your personal Facebook or your Company Page, your friends and followers will get notified that you’re online and you’re streaming. How great a tool, if used wisely? You can generate excitement, you can create mystery, you can giveaway teasers to make sure people are there with you when you press the button.

The best thing about Facebook live is that once you’ve pressed ‘Stop’ on the Live Broadcast, your stream is then available for all those who had the audacity to miss it! It’s there already, you don’t have to encode a video, upload it, re-tag and keyword it. It’s there for everyone to re-watch and catch-up on until you take it down. It’s free, shareable, and you can do it now…

…and now Instagram Live…

You might already know that Facebook now own Instagram ($1 Billion no less!) Was it worth it? You betcha. They’ve since implemented the Live feature as well; albeit slightly different.

• You can still live stream from A Business and A Personal profile.
• You can broadcast up to 1 hour’s worth of content vs 1.5 hours
• But there are NO replays.

What does this mean? It means that they’ve got 1 opportunity to see you deliver your content. You’ve got the option that people won’t be able to relive your mess-up. They can’t recap on your vital information unless you record it and feed it out after. It gives you an opportunity to give something to your core followers; your A-Team and that can mean a lot to them.

These live viewers are only going to see this broadcast once and you can give them your golden nuggets.

…onto Twitter Live (Formerly Periscope)…

I followed Periscope with great interest and affection in its early days and was the first one to bring it into conversation with friends and colleagues. Now that Twitter have implemented it into their platform, it seems like a last ditch effort to join the rest of the gang. It doesn’t really seem to have a place other than for news outlets or those near an unravelling situation.

They’ve implemented the ‘notify when live’ feature for your people of interest.

If you see anyone using the Live Feature on Twitter, please be sure to let me know…

…and Old Faithful: YouTube Live…

YouTube Live, when it launched, it changed the game for the video production industry. It stole attention and business from UStream, Livestream.com, other major players and early front runners in the live video industry. It is by far the most professional platform of choice for people running streams. With it’s ‘fine-tune-ability’ and it’s robust nature, it has become the go-to live video hosting platform for anyone who’s in the game.

• It is free
• Completely customisable
• It is brandable
• It offers an ‘iPlayer’ version after you’ve finished
• Has minimal set-up for a beginner or a new channel
• It can be used with a single webcam or you can integrate a full production studio into it
• You can generate revenue

There are many more praises I can sing for this platform as we’ve used it a lot in the past for corporate streams to live webinars and discussions with roundtables.

…And Finally — The Roundup…

All of the above have their merits, their opportunities and their downsides. If I was new to this and reading this article with having never tried any, I would experiment with all of them and see how you get on. But the real question after all of it is “Where are YOUR audience? — Where are YOUR friends? — Where are YOUR followers? Where do YOU have leverage? — Where are the people that YOU want to influence, help and laugh with?”

When you answer those questions, you’ve got your platform. Go there, try it, and keep going.

Thanks for reading. I welcome any feedback, thoughts opinions and most of all I appreciate you being here and reading this. If you know anyone else who might find this information useful, please pass it on with the share links.

Thank you so much,

Chris Smith

Please say hello on Twitter!

Originally published at Oxford Media Factory.