What is livestreaming?

In marketing, livestreaming, also known as live commerce or livestream shopping, is a retail trend where products are demonstrated, promoted, and sold in real-time via live video streams. It merges elements of traditional shopping with online shopping, allowing viewers to interact with hosts or influencers, ask questions about products, and make purchases directly within the livestream.

Typically, live shopping involves a host or influencer showcasing products, explaining their features, answering viewers' questions, and providing recommendations. Viewers can participate in the livestream by commenting, asking questions, and expressing interest in purchasing the showcased products. In many cases, viewers can also make purchases directly within the livestream, often through integrated e-commerce platforms. 

Why is livestreaming popular?

Live shopping has gained popularity due to its ability to create an interactive and engaging shopping experience, similar to shopping in a physical store or interacting with a salesperson. It also leverages the power of social media and influencer marketing to reach and engage with a wide audience. As a result, many brands and retailers are increasingly incorporating live shopping into their digital marketing and sales strategies. 

Why is livestreaming important in marketing?

Livestreaming has become an important strategy in marketing because it builds authenticity and provides assurance. Viewers can see the product in action, its features, quality, and performance, which can alleviate concerns about purchasing something online.  

It also often allows viewers to virtually 'meet’ in real-time and interact with an influencer, which can be appealing. Moreover, the influencer presenting and using the product in front of viewers' eyes can also increase brand trustworthiness.

Additionally, livestreaming can build a sense of urgency and exclusivity, as viewers know that the product will be available for a limited time or in limited quantities.

For marketers, when live shopping takes place on the Meta platform, TikTok, or YouTube, valuable data can be stored and be used to refine marketing strategies. People who interact with FB or IG pages can later retargeted later, and if they haven’t made a purchase during live shopping, they are likely to purchase in the near future.

Using as an example of a beauty brand we work with at MediaGroup, we as marketers can observe the measurable impact of live shopping on the ROI of the conversion campaigns. We can see a notably higher number of purchases on the day of live shopping compared to other days. Specifically, approximately 4.5 times more purchases are made on a livestream day than on a 'standard' day, and ROAS is anywhere from 2 to 6 times higher than the month’s average. This shows that even when not all participants make purchases during the event, or even if some do not participate, they still complete a purchase later when targeted by related ads.

Let’s also have a look at the popular shoe brand Aldo, which is a clear example of a live shopping success story. Aldo partnered with TikToker Nate Wyatt and celebrity stylist Mimi Cuttrell to bring 17,000 eyes to its pilot live shopping stream over 5 days. In a world where brands struggle to compete for mere seconds of a consumer’s day, Aldo achieved an average viewing time of over 12 minutes.  

For those who are interested in learning more about the impact of live shopping, more success stories can be found here.

Can B2B brands leverage livestreaming in their marketing strategy?

Although livestreaming is more popular and easier to implement for B2C companies, of course, B2B brands can also use it as a part of their marketing strategy.  For example, livestreaming product demonstrations or tutorials can give potential business buyers a more interactive and engaging experience than only seeing a product online.  

Another example is consultative selling, when experienced sales representatives provide insights, answer questions, and offer personalized solutions and recommendations to potential clients based on their specific needs and challenges.  

B2B brands can also organize training through livestreaming, including troubleshooting common issues, providing tips and best practices, or presenting success stories. It depends on the business type, but B2B companies can definitely consider including livestreaming in their marketing strategy.

What livestreaming best practices do we recommend?

Before, during, and after livestreaming, there are best practices you can follow.  

Before livestreaming, promote your event on your social media pages to inform people about it. Post details such as the time and date, any participating influencers, and other details on your timeline. It can be more appealing to go live with more than one host to create an interactive environment. During the livestream, engage your viewers and remind them that they can not only listen but are welcome to comment and ask questions. Afterwards, follow up with viewers who messaged or commented. Continuing to engage can potentially turn them into customers.  

As an agency, we recommend incorporating live shopping into your marketing strategy whenever possible. We also strongly advise increasing your daily campaign budgets on the day of live shopping and shortly following it to boost the brand visibility even more and encourage audiences to make purchases while the stream is still fresh in their minds.

Create your livestreaming strategy with MediaGroup

Livestreaming can help your business reach a larger audience over time and achieve more conversions when done well. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, we have an experienced team of paid advertising specialists who can help you create a strong marketing strategy on your preferred platforms. If you have any questions about livestreaming or want to learn more about our services, you can contact us.