Better Storytelling through Live Video

Imagine this scenario for a second.

You’re hysterically laughing at a funny memory you’ve just remembered and you send a casual Whatsapp message to your friend. They ‘lol’, you ‘haha’ and that’s the end of that.

But now think about the difference when you chat to your friend on Facetime or Skype. Yes, you can goof around and tell jokes over text, but the best part of landing that killer line is to see the look on your buddy’s face and their reaction as you belly-laugh about old times.

Why’s this relevant? Well, Visual communication gives you that extra understanding of the person you’re talking to and a more human connection.

Face-to-face

You can pick up all kinds of social cues and nuances from visual communication and enhance your conversation. Whether that’s more laughter or being able to pick up when someone’s feeling down and needs a pep-talk.

And I think the same thing applies to live video content over written content. Yes, blog posts etc are fantastic storytelling tools, but your brand can use live video content to become another rich narrative building device.

Connect with your Audience

Storytelling tools are a great way to resonate with your audiences. Some of the best marketing prompts a customer to stop think and feel something about your brand.

An ad is much more memorable if you’re laughing, crying…or both (for the right reasons!).

And when we’re in a share-happy digital space – people will often share based on emotion.

Live video helps you to put a face to your brand. This is especially helpful if you’re digitally based and don’t have physical stores. Physical stores allow you to perform your brand identity – for example, the way you train your employees and encourage them to use certain messaging. Digital stores don’t have that tangible ‘face factor’.

Promoting your brand’s identity and personality through live video, allows you to give your audiences a hook. Maybe they like your quirky sense of humour or they find your videos really clear and instructional – you can start to shape your identity and build loyalty.

Audiences usually respond well to off-the-cuff content too. Instead of polished, heavily edited videos – sometimes people just want to see a bit of honesty and realness.

Brand Narrative

Your live videos don’t have to take on the same format every time. You can sit in front of your audience and do a straight-forward Q&A, but using some creative zeal in your live videos can help to build your brand’s narrative.

Using video content to open up your brand to audiences in an authentic and honest way can make a difference. Instead of directing customers towards your website’s ‘About’ section – you can use live video to give some sense of your brand’s humble beginnings, history and experience. Behind-the-scenes live videos showing where you work, how your products are made, the people and colleagues that help make your brand unique can all act as visual, dynamic representations of your brand ethos.

The chance to embrace your brand’s fun, creative side means that you can start to draw customers towards you because they relate to something. Whether that’s a specific trait, a feature or an experience you’re depicting through live video.

It could be something wacky like letting your audience meet your beloved canine companion – hey, a customer has the same dog as you and they feel more favourable to your brand because of that. Sounds kind of funny, but sometimes it’s these weird subconscious connections about small things that can make a difference.

Live video basically invites you to take the initiative to produce unscripted, unedited real-time events.

Repurposing Potential

Live videos give you loads of potential content ideas. You can interact with your audience in real-time, strike up in-jokes and see what messages they take away from your videos. You can then generate content related to the results of your live video sessions.

It could be anything from a new idea for a blog post to a shareable meme that pokes fun out of something that went wrong in your live video. Creating more points for connection with your audience is the goal and repurposing content is a great way to strengthen bonds with customers and provide even more value.

Final Words

Live video helps you to build a transparent brand narrative that rolls with the punches. You can move away from a highly controlled, polished content strategy and brand identity and have a bit of fun with a more creative format.

The platform naturally encourages you to be more spontaneous and you can go more left-field with your content ideation too. Interact with your audiences and learn what they like – show off your brand personality and make emotive, memorable content.

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