Social Media B2B

We have discussed video for B2B before, but it has all been about recorded videos. These are the videos you see on YouTube, Vimeo and other online video sharing sites. However, it has taken us far too long to talk about the opportunity of live streaming video for B2B companies.

What Is Live Streaming?
Simply put, live streaming is the practice of sharing video live across the Internet, enabling viewers to have real-time interaction with the people they are watching. One critical component of live streaming is integrating a chat room or Twitter alongside the video to help facilitate conversation.

How Does Live Streaming Apply To B2B?
Previously we wrote about how important blogs were to the overall B2B social media marketing mix. Live streaming enables businesses to take the engagement started by their blog to a new level. Look at companies (both B2B and B2C) and pick out the organizations you think are doing social media well. Most likely, you have a personal connection, not only to the organization, but to one or more people in the organization.

Live streaming helps to make these connections and solidify them. Look at the folks from Blue Sky Factory. Their live streaming video show Blue Sky Factory TV is engaging, while putting you closer to the experts they have on-hand. Another company with a long-running live show on the web is Hubspot. Regardless of what sector of B2B your business is in, you can benefit by giving your customers a more substantial connection to your work. People really do connect with other people and live, conversational video is a great way to do it. Not to mention that streaming video helps you create valuable recorded content that can support search engine optimization and provide “news” for you to talk about across all of your social properties.

Get Started, Basics Of Live Streaming
Where many organizations get tripped up with live streaming is the simple nuts and bolts of getting started. I am going to quickly go through a list of everything you need to get started (hint: it is not has much as you think).

Account:
First you need an online account with ustream.com or livestream.com. These are the most popular services, but there are many others.

Camera:
Next you need a web camera. Most laptops have an integrated camera that should work fine. If you are using a desktop, you can get an inexpensive Logitech camera.

Mic:
Built-in mics are okay, but you will get better quality with an external mic. A headset or table top mic work fine. Some web cams include integrated mics. Test the equipment you have before spending additional money. If what you have works, you can always upgrade later.

Wired High-Speed Connection:
Live streaming requires bandwidth, so make sure you are on a high speed internet connection. Plugging into a network connection, rather than working over wireless, will improve the quality.

10 Best Practices For B2B Live Streaming

• Keep your account name consistent with your company name, twitter name or blog name
• Embed the show into your company website or blog to drive traffic back to your site
• Establish and maintain a consistent day and time of your live stream broadcast. Think about where in the world your customers are before setting the time of day.
• Shoot in a well-lighted location, against a neutral background
• Keep content interesting and compelling. For example, share industry best practices, unique stories, company personality
• Prepare an outline of your show. The level of detail can match your comfort level with speaking to a camera.
• Pick engaging hosts. This may not be not be your CEO.
• Have two on-camera hosts. This allows one of them to interact with chat and Twitter to add live content to the show
• Promote your live show on Twitter, your blog, Facebook and all other social outlets
• Think of your live stream as a show, and it will develop a personality and a brand

So that’s a basic guide to help you get started live streaming. If you are already creating a regular live show, we would like to hear about it below. If this post inspires you to create a live show, come back and leave a comment after a few episodes to let us know how it’s going.

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