2 May 2023The second coming of real time social media… Rob Hurst

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Why should I care about ‘live’ social media?Yesterday Facebook launched ‘Live’ video for all mobile users – allowing anybody and everybody to

broadcast live video right from their smart phone. This was a big enough deal for Facebook to change the interface of their main app, putting the ‘Live’ button front and centre in the main navigation.

It’s not so much that we as marketers can now talk to our audiences ‘live’ (or close-to-live), as it is that by doing so the content is usually unfiltered, honest, authentic and rich media-driven. This is social

media in it’s most raw and, perhaps, most effective form.

© Omobono Ltd 2016

So what do we mean by ‘live’?

a

We’re really talking about new behaviours, rather than the mechanics of how ‘live’ something is and

there are a number of ways in which these behaviours can be used.

However, we can broadly break this down into truly ‘live’ broadcasting and activities intended to add value to live events (including before and after

broadcasts):

• Broadcasting an event/activity live• Adding value to live broadcasts/events

a

The next few slides showcase examples of live and close-to-live tools, apps and techniques and some real-world examples of brands using them

effectively.

Then I’ll offer a few examples of simple ways you and your brand could jump on this trend and capitalise on the huge opportunity that ‘live’

social represents.

© Omobono Ltd 2016

‘Official broadcasts’

a

In the world of the 24 hour news cycle, decreasing attention spans and audiences who covet the ‘right

now’ - not the nightly news, brands, businesses, sports teams, celebrities and many others have

taken to providing their own ‘news’ direct from the horse’s (or CEO’s) mouth.

Where in years gone by a business, celebrity or politician would call a press conference to be broadcast in full, or as highlights, by the news channels. Advances in technology mean fans,

customers and the general public can now tune in live - without needing to wait for a filtered-down

version to make the news at 10.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Who’s doing it well?

a

Business - Many brands are starting to host live events – Accenture, as an example, hosts a 24 hour live conference each year - Sustainability 24.

Sports - From press conferences to online team-specific news shows, sports teams are increasingly experimenting with live broadcasting to bring fans closer to the games they love.

Tech industry – Apple have broadcast their launches for years allowing them to share news with fans before the news media has applied a filter and selected what they deem to be the key announcements. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung and many others now use the same approach for their major events.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Live & mobile streaming

a

The recent resurgence in live mobile streaming stems from a number of things, namely:

• Wider availability of mobile data plans (to send and receive video on the move)

• More powerful device capabilities• Better on-device cameras

This, coupled with the growing trend of near-live rich media being posted through channels such as Snapchat, Vine and Instagram adding an additional layer to events, has led to a host of new apps and

tools popping up to cater for these new broadcasting behaviours.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Who’s doing it well?

a

• The White House have famously broadcast Google Hangouts with voters conversing with and interviewing the president.

• UK news anchor Alex Thomson is just one of numerous journalists using Vine, Instagram and Twitter video to provide mini ‘reports’ throughout his travels shown as they’re recorded outside of scheduled broadcasts.

• Snapchat use the ‘our story’ function to allow users to post to a shared stream of videos and images from major music and culture events as they happen – often providing a unique augmented view of events from the audience and presenters combined…

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Live Blogging

a

A variety of brands, influencers and reporters use live blogs/chats as a way of adding context and

insights to events as they happen.

Media live-blogging from court rooms, inquests, press conferences and product/service

announcements is now commonplace, but the same tactics are increasingly being used by

marketers to great effect.

a

Another growing trend is for brand marketers to use the often significant public attention around events to create reactive –

usually humorous - content of their own; frequently stealing attention and share of

voice from the main event.

The Super Bowl saw many brands using a creative team locked in a ‘war room’ to post

such reactive content live.

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Who’s doing it well?

a

• KPMG - Using a globally-followed news event to grab attention, KPMG live tweeted insights from their leadership team commenting in real time on the recent UK budget.

• American Express - AmEx UK’s ‘Insiders’ cover a variety of events on social media as a way to promote their ‘Invites’ program, which gives card-members exclusive access to major owned, sponsored and third-party events.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Who’s doing it well?

a

• Announcements – Tech companies regularly cover tech announcements live to augment the viewers’ experience of the news, but nowadays even brands are joining in – as seen with the Apple Watch announcement.

• Brand vs. brand – Recent super bowls saw a variety of brands using social media to comment on other brands’ commercials and what happened in the game itself.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

‘Behind the scenes’

a

From short red-carpet interviews shared only on Snapchat and Vine to the numerous start-ups,

reporters and other influencers posting live content from SXSW Interactive, social media is the perfect

tool to augment a brand’s presence at a major event in a variety of new and exciting ways.

There’s huge value in providing all-encompassing content from an owned event, both in front of and behind the scenes – increasing traffic to owned

channels and more. Providing the ‘go-to’ place to consume everything from an event or conference

can help brands and event-organizers side-step the reliance on the filtered media coverage.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Who’s doing it well?

a

• Golden Globes - Capitalizing on the public’s insatiable desire to see what their favourite celebrities wear to awards ceremonies, the organisers of the Globes installed a red carpet ‘Vine booth’ to deliver ‘360 selfies’ of guests.

• Techcrunch ‘Disrupt’ – Techcrunch use a variety of mixed media, real-time, and in-depth reporting to maximize the impact of their events in the US and Europe and create one of the most impactful media and technology events on the market.

• NFL - The NFL’s exhaustive coverage of events (Super Bowl, Draft, Combine…) provides fans with as in-depth of an experience as they want.

a

© Omobono Ltd 2016

In addition to these live platforms, platforms without a live element such as Vine and Snapchat have functionality that allows viewers to share recorded content into a public stream of content collated from ‘trending’ events as they happen, providing a near-live experience.

Live-streaming platform comparison

Meerkat YouTube Google Hangouts Facebook Periscope

Description Live streams video from a phone via Twitter.

Live streams available from desktop to users with more than 100 subscribers.

Live video conferences with up to 10 participants, can be broadcast live on YouTube.

Allows all users of the native mobile apps for iOS and Android to broadcast live video.

Live video streaming platform owned by Twitter but operating through it’s own app.

Uses Reactively streaming content on the move.

Streaming official events in high quality.

Streaming/recording live video chats.

Internal video streaming (‘town hall’, ’all hands’…)

Reactively streaming content on the move.

Streaming content saved online?

No - Saved locally on device. Third party apps can save streams.

Yes, recordings are visible following the conclusion of broadcast.

Can be recorded/posted on YouTube.

Yes. Yes.

User limit? No No 10 participants, unlimited viewers.

No No

Live two-way communication

Yes – Audience can post comments on twitter that are pulled into the stream over the video.

Audience can comment on live streams in real time, but no video integration is possible.

Participants can speak in real time, viewers can comment on a YT stream as in the previous column.

Yes. Yes. Comments are recorded in real time and shown in-situ ‘as it happened’ during re-plays of live content.

Public? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

OK, so how can you use this?

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Owned events

Any business that runs their own medium-large events should focus on quick wins to augment events and increase reach

across more channels and platforms using...

© Omobono Ltd 2016

a

Owned events

a

Put your people to work Get your subject matter experts live-tweeting

from the audience, increasing the overall reach (with SME’s followers) of events and showcase

the breadth of your expertise in real time.

a

Quick-fire interviews 30 second smartphone interviews with speakers

as they come off stage/finish their sessions uploaded directly to Twitter. Questions could be collated from social media during the session

and put to the speakers in person.

Bring the offline online Use Periscope/Facebook to broadcast ‘rough and ready’ key sessions/Q&As online, create simple time-lapses of event set-up and share

content from behind the scenes.

a

Pre-prepared reportingUsing early access to presentations and

speakers, prepare blog posts/reports on sessions as-they-happen, publishing ASAP once sessions

end, ideally ahead of any media coverage.

© Omobono Ltd 2016

Third party and public events

At major events you attend but don’t own the content, or where your brand could benefit from a larger share of voice, there’s plenty you can do to put your brand into the conversation and

grab attention online...

© Omobono Ltd 2016

a

Third party and public events

a

Roving reportersHave a particularly personable person you can

put to work? Or even someone you can hire? Get them out on the floor creating content on the fly and extending the reach of your brand to captive

audiences around these events.

a

SME live bloggersNumerous social media-trained SME’s could

comment in real time without having to attend an event in person. Simply by following other live

blogs/streams and adding their own comments/related links to showcase expertise.

Share the loveRemember, you may have access to events others can’t afford or make time to attend, so take the initiative and be the brand that brings

the content to them.

a

Own the agendaUse ‘poll’ Twitter cards and hashtags to curate

public opinion around sessions as they happen, taking a position of ownership, without needing to

take a particular point of view or stance.

In summary…

Live events already offer a huge opportunity in b2b marketing, augmenting the traditional avenues for content with new behaviours, content types and assets and reactivity

provides a significant advantage for brands looking to get ahead.

The focus should be on adding new channels and activities that enhance and augment existing efforts. Quick wins – posts and activities that add value and insight/expertise-driven access to the brand in real-time present the biggest opportunity and reduce the

reliance on planning for each piece of content – instead allowing social media managers and subject matter experts to focus their attention on events as they happen, not just

before they happen and once they are complete.`

To discuss any of the ideas contained within

this presentation further, please contact rob@omobono.com