By: Cole Campbell | Account Manager | Grand Apps Facebook shook things up in the tech community with the purchase of Livestream. In hopes of reclaiming their crown as the conduit for the world’s interactivity, Facebook is looking to use Livestream to connect users to happenings all over the world in real-time. Much like how Snapchat city stories allows users to show glimpses of their daily lives to other users all over the world, Livestream can now connect users to events and happenings from all over the world.
So what does this mean for businesses? Well, since Livestream’s inception, celebrities such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Blake Lively have already used it as a tool to engage their fans. This type of engagement strengthens their brands and makes them appear more approachable to their followers. With this in mind, your business could utilize Livestream as a way to connect to your customers in real-time in Q & A sessions, charity events, big sales, or even just during day-to-day operations. Videos generate more reach than other medium of social media, so being able to generate easily accessible content without investing in expensive equipment to produce high-quality videos sounds like a win-win.
Is there a catch? Well, no, so long as you only use the free version through Facebook, which directs you to the Livestream website. But you can have live embedding if you pay premium service…which costs $200 dollars a month. There is an enterprise price that can be negotiated, but the average cost is unclear at this time. For large companies with enormous marketing budgets, this may be peanuts. But for smaller businesses, that may be considered an unnecessary expense, especially when you consider that there is a completely free alternative in Periscope.
Periscope, the Twitter-owned live streaming service that has been active since March, and already has been a success amongst celebrities amongst Twitters, and is only just now becoming utilized amongst businesses. Many tech experts expected Periscope to be buried by Facebook’s newest purchase, and considering sheer bulk number of Facebook users, that may be a safe bet. However, Periscope’s is already user-friendly and established as a service. Twitter’s audience is younger who have grown in a culture that is shifting towards supporting local businesses. Engaging audiences on Twitter through sPeriscope may be the next big thing that connects businesses to their immediate communities.
So while Facebook may be making big waves, don’t sleep on Periscope. Its’ early and easy accessibility may be the key to live engagement.
www.grandapps.com
cole@grandapps.com