Live video is as effective a medium as it is daunting.
Yes, live video offers greater authenticity, generates urgency, and garners higher engagement – 10x more interactions and comments than non-live video – but how exactly should you use live video across your digital channels?
In other words, what content should you livestream?
Because live is a medium unto itself, it’s best to craft content that dovetails with the medium’s inherent advantages: its immediacy, its intimacy, and the sense of community and shared experience it fosters in viewers.
To that end, we present here an ever-growing content guide to the many ways you can leverage live for brand & product marketing.
1. LIVE EVENTS & DISPATCHES
Expand the audience for your physical event by broadcasting it live to your online audience.
2. PRODUCT REVEALS
Generate buzz around a new product or service by unveiling it on a livestream.
3. PRODUCT SHOWCASES & DEMONSTRATIONS
Spotlight a product in action and use live to answer real-time questions from your audience.
4. TUTORIALS & CUSTOMER SUCCESS
Hold virtual office hours to empower existing customers with tips, troubleshooting, and best practices.
5. Q&A’S & TOWN HALLS
Open a channel to company leadership and reps with Q&A, Ask Me Anything, and feedback sessions.
6. INTERVIEWS
Conduct one-on-ones with company leaders, industry figures, brand partners, celebrities, and influencers.
7. PARTNER & GUEST CONTENT
Highlight brand partnerships and endorsements with co-broadcasts.
8. ROUNDTABLES & PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Host conversations about company products or services, industry news, and culture.
9. THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & EXPERT COMMENTARY
Share insights & analysis around industry developments.
10. VIRTUAL KEYNOTES
Present long-form speeches or communications directly to an online audience.
11. COMPANY UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Report the latest news or provide regular briefings about your company.
12. BEHIND THE SCENES
Grant viewers access and show off your brand personality with behind the scenes featurettes like:
> Office tours
> Playful employee interviews
> Brainstorming sessions
> Product testing & experiments
13. VLOGS, CONFESSIONALS & FIRESIDE CHATS
Humanize your brand with honest, personal live diaries from company leaders.
14. BRANDED SHOWS
Create a recurring talk show, bulletin, or product showcase.
15. LIVE PERFORMANCES
Attract viewership and build interest with an exclusive performance.
16. COMPETITIONS & GAMES
Entertain and involve your audience with a game centering on your product or service.
17. DIRECT RESPONSE CONTESTS & PROMOS
Tie a live broadcast to a unique promotion to drive performance as well as awareness.
18. NICHE CONTENT
Narrowcast a live video to a private audience or subgroup.
19. TEASERS
Promote an upcoming livestream and build anticipation with a live teaser.
With online live video, the medium is emphatically the message. By itself – irrespective of content – live signals authenticity, transparency, urgency.
This is a way of saying, you need to exploit live video.
The above list of content types is a starting point, and we encourage you to essay these as well as brainstorm your own content.
Check back regularly, as we will update this encyclopedia with new and impactful use cases.
