5100 words on how to have "live broadcast power"

In the video age, live streaming is one of the most effective ways to build personal brand value. Even WeChat, the national social product, is testing the live broadcast function in its video account. Many business owners and individuals are gradually paying more attention to video accounts. How should they do it specifically and how can they build their personal brand through live streaming?

In the era of the rise of personal IP, if you want to build a personal brand, you must have the ability to live broadcast. Currently, many companies have set up live broadcast departments, live broadcast venues in shopping malls, and there are professional live broadcast bases. Some people predict that in the future universities may offer live broadcasting majors to professionally train live broadcasting talents.

In August 2020, Video Account began internal testing of the "live broadcast" function. Due to the launch of the live broadcast function, some MCN agencies have gradually switched from the Douyin and Kuaishou platforms to Video Account. Compared with other platforms, the live broadcast content on Video Account has added a number of knowledge-based anchors. The live broadcast content on platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou is still mainly show and e-commerce sales. Many video account creators are making short videos for the first time and have no experience in live streaming.

1. The difference between live broadcast and short video

1. Duration

Short videos are short in duration, generally playing for 1-3 minutes. The time cost required by users is low, and the video can be watched in a short time by utilizing fragmented time, so the completion rate will be high. The live broadcast time is generally about 1 hour, which requires a whole block of time and users cannot freely choose the viewing time. Unless they are interested in the live broadcast, it is difficult for users to watch it all. Therefore, the completion rate of live broadcast is lower than that of short videos.

2. Real-time

The core capability of live streaming is real-time. When users enter the live streaming room, they can see real-time images and interact with the host. The content of short videos is generally recorded, scripted, edited, etc. in advance, and then uploaded after processing. So if you want to achieve the effect of real-time interaction with users, choose live broadcast.

3. Interactivity

Short videos can only be interacted through comments in the video, which will have a lag. However, during live broadcasts, users can chat with the host, send gifts to their favorite hosts, and have a "face-to-face" conversation with the host through the microphone function.

For example, if you want to do a live broadcast about answering questions from students, you can choose several representative students to ask questions, and the host will answer the questions in the live broadcast room. The host's answering can be seen by more people, which is a one-time use of time compounding. The students' experience will be more realistic and the effect will be better.

The strong interactivity of live streaming can also better restore the consumption scene. The anchor can enhance the user's sense of participation by introducing the products in the live broadcast room and interacting with users in real time. You can also understand users’ real needs through interactive feedback during live broadcasts.

4. Content

The content of short videos can be expressed in a variety of forms, such as VLOG, oral broadcast, voice and text, and the host does not have to appear in person. Live streaming requires real people to appear in specific scenarios, so it is best to plan ahead before the live streaming. The live streaming process and how to interact with users need to be designed in advance. The rhythm of the entire live broadcast must be effectively controlled to achieve the expected effect of the live broadcast.

5. Conversion Effect

In terms of conversion, high-quality short videos can help users understand your products or services, thereby directing them to official accounts or WeChat, and thus accumulating a certain number of fans. Live streaming can be used to convert transactions into sales. In the live streaming room, the host can not only attract users with high-quality content, but also create a shopping scene and mobilize users' enthusiasm to create a purchasing atmosphere, thereby achieving transaction conversion.

Through the analysis of the above five differences, short videos and live broadcasts each have their own advantages. Short videos and live broadcasts help each other and complement each other. Short videos are concise and have a high completion rate; live broadcasts have strong real-time interactivity and are easier to promote user conversion consumption.

The "short video + live broadcast" model can give full play to the strengths of both, and it is also a must-have option for many creators. With the help of this combination of punches and rich content presentation forms, different effect conversions can be achieved.

2. Utilize the effects of live broadcast

1. Double your user growth

If live streaming is used well, it can bring about a certain amount of user growth. During the warm-up phase, through promotion of live broadcast, if people are interested in live broadcast, they need to pay attention to it. During the live broadcast, there should also be a plan to guide users to pay attention. If the live broadcast is planned adequately, it can bring double the user growth. Therefore, if the video account is still in the initial stage of accumulating users, live streaming can be used to increase users.

2. Increase sales

Live streaming is the most commonly used method for short video platforms. Whether it is a physical product or an online course, live streaming can be used to increase sales. Live streaming can become an important tool for countless small and medium-sized enterprises and individual business operators to directly face users. For example, selling cosmetics, agricultural products, and fruits are all very suitable for live streaming. Through live streaming, they can directly reach users and eliminate the middlemen who make a profit from the price difference, which is beneficial to both the user and merchant ends.

During this year's epidemic, many physical stores closed, and many store owners had to switch to online in order to make a living and started the road of being an anchor. What many shop owners did not expect was that while closing a door for themselves, they also opened a new world. Not only did they not suffer losses due to the closure, but their sales even increased. So in this era, all industries are being reshuffled. If you still use the old ideas to do business, you may face closure sooner or later. In the face of the changes of the times, no matter which industry you are in, you need to have an open mind, try to change, and bring new marketing opportunities.

3. Branded operation

Many companies regard live streaming as an important way to spread their brand. Because live streaming is the closest to physical stores, you can do all kinds of product displays, product introductions, product comparisons, etc. in the live streaming room. Live streaming is a new model of brand marketing, and many companies’ marketing departments are equipped with professional live streaming teams. The services you previously provided to customers were splash screen ads and graphic and text ad spaces, but now it’s a live broadcast.

Like many automotive media companies, the company will set up a professional live broadcast team to provide marketing support specifically for automobile manufacturers. Manufacturers’ new car launches and auto shows will be promoted through live streaming platforms. The live streaming process does not require a certain number of cars to be sold, but only needs to achieve the effect of brand promotion.

3. Specific operations of "Video Account" live broadcast

1. Preparation before live broadcast

1) Create a live broadcast room

The anchor can set a live broadcast preview or start the live broadcast directly. When creating a live broadcast room, you can modify the live broadcast cover, add a live broadcast description, set the live broadcast category, beauty filter, add products, etc., as shown in the figure.

If you create a live broadcast preview, it will be displayed on the personal homepage of the video account. When netizens come across our videos, the live broadcast preview will also be displayed below each video, as shown in the figure.

2) Live broadcast promotion

In order to attract more people to watch the live broadcast, you can promote it through Moments, WeChat public accounts, communities, video accounts, etc. The video account is an important live broadcast preview window, through which the content of the live broadcast can be better conveyed. In addition, it is also necessary to plan corresponding operational activities, such as giving exquisite gifts to creators with the most likes on comments, to motivate everyone to forward their posts.

Users who have made reservations for live broadcasts will receive live broadcast reminders before the broadcast begins. When promoting a live broadcast, you can make a live broadcast poster to explain the time and theme of the live broadcast. You can also prepare some gifts for users. The more fans you pamper, the more people will be attracted to make appointments.

In addition, you can also write an article about the live broadcast preview and select "Video Account" in the official account, as shown in the figure.

Select the live broadcast preview and the live broadcast preview will be displayed in the article. Netizens can make an appointment at any time when reading the article. If the official account has many fans, it can also drive traffic to the video account.

3) Listing products

If you want to sell goods during the live broadcast, you need to put the products on the WeChat Mini Store in advance, as shown in the picture. Currently, the link associated with the live broadcast is the product link from the WeChat Mini Store. It is predicted that it will support association with mini programs in the future.

4) Scene layout

In order to ensure better live broadcast effects and better visual experience for netizens, scene layout cannot be ignored. The style can be determined according to the theme of the live broadcast. The props, WeChat QR codes, product promotion materials, etc. used for the live broadcast should also be prepared in advance. The theme of the live broadcast can be displayed in a prominent place in the live broadcast room.

5) Invite guests in advance

In order to avoid the monotony of live streaming alone, you can invite guests to show up and coordinate the time with the guests in advance. Try to invite guests with certain endorsements. With more professional guests on the scene, netizens will have a sense of gain, and the atmosphere of the whole live broadcast will not be too bad. If products are sold during live broadcasts, it will also eliminate users’ distrust of the products, thereby increasing transaction conversion rates.

6) Live broadcast outline

Before the live broadcast, you can prepare a content outline, such as listing the live broadcast process in the form of a mind map. The time for the live broadcast should also be estimated, and the content to be delivered should be planned according to the time and outline. It is important to control the rhythm of the entire live broadcast and not disrupt your rhythm by answering questions from netizens. This will make the audience feel worse and affect the quality of the live broadcast.

2. High conversion rate during live broadcast

1) The image of the host and guests

Some people reported that they had a good and perfect impression of the anchor when they watched the video account, but after watching the live broadcast, the gap was quite large. Therefore, we should pay special attention to our image when we are live streaming, such as dressing formally, and ladies should also wear makeup. Don’t make too many small movements during the live broadcast, and try to be more professional. If you invite guests, you should also communicate with them in advance. These are all manifestations of your personal brand.

2) Interact with netizens

Live streaming is like chatting with friends in front of the screen. Relax and pay attention to the other person's feelings instead of talking all the time. If any netizens give you a reward, you must thank them. If multiple people give you a reward, you can thank them based on their ranking on the list. During the live broadcast, questions from netizens can be answered in a targeted manner. The important thing to note here is not to affect the rhythm of the live broadcast by answering too many questions. If you find a netizen’s message meaningful, you can use the “put on the wall” function to highlight the message in the live broadcast room. If the live broadcast room is not too lively, you can also observe whether there are more newcomers or old friends. You can use the "old bring new" method to let old friends interact more, so that newcomers will also become active.

To reward live broadcasts on video accounts, you need to purchase WeChat beans in advance. The gifts in the live broadcast room include red flowers, applause, red hearts, rockets, etc., as shown in the picture.

3) Live lucky draw

In order to attract more netizens to watch the live broadcast, a lottery session can be designed to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm. You can also encourage friends in the live broadcast room to forward the live broadcast through lottery, which can attract more netizens to enter the live broadcast room. The anchor can set the lottery rules, gift names, number of winners and conditions for winning. If a netizen wins a prize, he will receive a reminder and then contact the anchor privately to claim the prize.

4) Live Broadcast

If the anchor turns on the microphone connection function in the live broadcast room, there will be a microphone connection button on the netizen page, as shown in the figure. Netizens can actively apply for a connection, or the host can initiate an invitation. It supports only voice or video formats. According to the author's experience, if you want to design a live broadcast session, communicate with your friends in advance. If a stranger applies to connect to the microphone, we should be cautious because we don’t know the other party’s situation and it may affect our live broadcast. Choose to invite friends who have video accounts to join the microphone. If he has many fans, he can also bring us new fans.

5) Live streaming income

After the live broadcast, you can see your live broadcast income in the "Live Broadcast Income" of the video account, and you can also withdraw cash directly.

6) Timely handling of emergencies

Because the live broadcast function has been online for a short time, sometimes there will be no sound or a black screen during the live broadcast. If technical problems arise that are beyond our control, we can think of alternative plans in advance. So as to avoid any unexpected events affecting the effect of the entire live broadcast. During a live broadcast, the screen suddenly went black and I had to end the live broadcast and then restart it. At this time, if netizens enter the original live broadcast room, it will display "Live broadcast has ended". There are also friends around me who are not very familiar with live streaming. They want to test it before the official live broadcast. After entering the live broadcast room to test, they click the close button. At this time, the netizen side will also display "Live broadcast has ended".

3. Review after live broadcast

After the live broadcast is over, we need to review the entire live broadcast and record the live broadcast data in a timely manner. The data of each live broadcast can be recorded in an Excel file. It is also necessary to review the problems encountered in this live broadcast, what caused them, and how to improve them in the next live broadcast. You can also send private messages to friends to ask about their experience with live streaming and ask them to give you suggestions. Such suggestions will also be very pertinent.

When I did my first live broadcast on the video platform, many friends came to give me rewards, but I did not thank them in time after the rewards. I learned about this problem after consulting a friend. I also made a more serious mistake. When I was live streaming, I was connected to three people via microphone, one of whom was a stranger. He expressed some personal opinions after the connection, which had some impact on the atmosphere of the live streaming room. This problem also needs to be avoided. If you don’t know a stranger, you should not casually accept a request for a live broadcast. These were discovered during the review process, so it is very important to review after the live broadcast. The author’s review after the live broadcast is shown in the figure.

4. Live streaming function

On December 9, many video account bloggers received private messages from the video account saying "Notification of the launch of the live streaming function of the video account ". Many creators did not know why this function was launched and how to use it specifically.

1. Several scenarios for using "streaming"

1. Large-scale recording sites: If you only use a mobile phone as the host terminal, it is very limited. For example, in large-scale scenes such as large press conferences, lectures, and performances, the mobile phone will not work. Use professional equipment such as cameras to record, and achieve it through streaming, which can be synchronized to the live broadcast platform for playback.
2. Scenarios with poor network signals: For example, in mountainous areas, at sea, in closed places and other scenarios where network signals are poor, the signal from a mobile phone cannot meet the needs. After recording with a camera, GOpro and other devices, the video can be synchronized to the playback end through streaming. This will make the network more stable and will be able to meet the demands of live streaming even in poor network conditions.
3. Diversification of live broadcast screens: During the live broadcast, you want to play multiple video screens, which we often call the picture-in-picture effect. Or you may want to add subtitles to the picture. For example, in the application scenario of e-commerce live broadcast, when the host is introducing a product, he also wants the product introduction to be displayed in the live broadcast. In addition to the diversity of images, audio and video can also be processed to add more interesting elements.
4. High requirements for image quality: Many anchors who have high requirements for image quality are not satisfied with ordinary mobile phone shooting equipment. They use more professional shooting equipment to shoot, which is also achieved through streaming.
5. Avoid risks during live streaming: When live streaming for a long time, the phone will get hot or the power will be insufficient, causing the live streaming to freeze or pause. If you use professional equipment to record, you will not have such problems through streaming.
6. Multi-platform distribution: If you want to play the live video on multiple live platforms, you also need to use the push streaming method to achieve this.

In short, the push streaming method is a tool that allows us to upgrade from live streaming on a mobile phone to more professional live streaming. If you are not satisfied with live streaming on a mobile phone or have higher requirements for live streaming, you need to know how to operate the push streaming.

2. Introduction to streaming tools

There are many streaming tools on the market, but the most commonly used one is OBS, which is free and open source and does not take up much computer space. Many companies' live broadcast teams also use this software, which supports Windows and Apple systems.

3. How to operate the video account live streaming

Log in to the PC video account assistant and select the "Live Management" function in the left menu

Create a live broadcast: The default live broadcast type is "Live Streaming". Set the live broadcast cover and description and click "Create".

Each live broadcast room generates a unique streaming address and streaming key. Do not click "Start Live Broadcast" at this time. First do the following specific steps as follows:

Copy the "streaming address" and "streaming key": Be sure to copy them completely. If they are incomplete or wrong, the video will not play properly.

Open OBS software:

Click on the Settings button.

Select the "Streaming" option, server-select "Custom", and paste the live broadcast code in the "Video Account Assistant" in the "Server" and "Streaming Key" respectively.

Add live content to the scene. Add one item to each scene, such as scene 1: image

Adding a capture device will automatically synchronize the computer device. Select the computer device:

Window Collection: Add Computer Desktop

Media source: Select local media

Click "Start Streaming" and the video can be played.

Note: At this time, netizens have not seen the picture in the video account. They need to return to the "Video Account Assistant" and click "Start Live Broadcast" before the picture in OBS will be played.

During the live broadcast, you can see the live broadcast data and status.

After the live broadcast ends, first close the streaming in OBS, and then click the "End Live Broadcast Button" on the video account.

Author: Persimmon Sister

Source: Sister Persimmon Talks About Products