As with any technology, the new tranche of mobile live streaming apps such as Periscope and Meerkat bring with them new avenues to explore and new ways to entertain and draw customers’ attention. Brands want to be riding the wave when the platform ‘breaks’, and attracts an exponentially growing audience. At this early stage, some marketing campaigns will explode, gain media attention, and will add to the app’s success. Even if the technology itself fizzles into irrelevance, the ingenuity of the marketing campaigns stay with us.
Yet as the most perfunctory response to the question, ‘we can do this now, but how?’, the use of live streaming apps to tweet conferences, host celebrity appearances are among the most obvious and unimaginative examples. Brands instead need to find the potential to tap into live streaming and create a unique visual experience.
For a brand to have any type of clout on a new platform, it must first go through three stages of development: think, test and fail. The whole business (wherever possible) should sit down to discuss the technology, not just the marketing team. Periscope is far from being a tried and tested technology, so any idea could set the brand alight. Maybe Amanda from HR can pull the sword from the stone.
Testing is critical at this early stage as there isn’t necessarily a commercial opportunity with every new piece of kit. Marketers should also be mindful of the changing use of new tech – the introduction of corporate regulations could mean the most effective marketing strategy could be swiftly made to shut up shop.
Since Joe Public’s attention was drawn to live video streaming apps (at first with the rough and ready Meerkat and then with the more polished Periscope) there has been considerable improvement to the ‘value add’ of the functionality for marketers. By incorporating Twitter, for instance, Periscope enables viewers to submit live tweets across the audience. It’s for the digital marketer to adapt to these changing functions.
Most importantly, marketers must be prepared to fail, since the only way to be creative with anything new is to go wrong a few times. Don’t throw lots of money at it, so mistakes aren’t too costly, but be prepared to lose something: fail but fail small. The payoff, if it works, will overwhelm the investment. Periscope gives instant metrics too, so you don’t need to prove to the brand that the program went viral; they probably already know.
But perhaps the most interesting use presented by live streaming apps lies in user engagement. While, for now, the app directs user traffic one way, were the viewers given the opportunity to participate with the live stream and engage with the brand, cement engagement with the brand and create a regular following. While live tweeting alongside the stream goes someway to achieve this, it should also be remembered that the platform itself relies on companies investing in new ideas in order to drive growth. After the ambitious stunts have come and gone, the life of Periscope will hinge on this engagement.
By Patrick Tame, CEO of Beringer Tame.
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