Have you seen this video yet?
At the time of writing this article it has over 3 million views on YouTube, and over 145 million on Facebook…keep in mind that easily less than 500 of those happened LIVE, but for the sake of this discussion let’s assume that 1000 people saw it live. That would mean that .00068% of the viewers were LIVE. So is it LIVE video that’s the winner here OR video in general?
But if you’re a marketer, by now you’ve probably heard that you MUST be using LIVE video. At least, that’s what you’d believe if you’ve attended even one social media conference this year. But here’s a question: do you REALLY need to be using live video?
I break it down in today’s video:
A few things to note.
First, the video above, ironically, was created using Facebook Live video. My first attempt, where I think the content came out better but the video quality worse, was recorded on my computer. I’ll go back through that and see if it’s worth posting. But what’s interesting is that I had 5 live viewers total, and I anticipate that over the course of the next few days, my time shifted viewers will eclipse 5 viewers. Again, it’s not necessarily about live video, but video in general.
Secondly, here is the inc.com article by Joel Comm I’m referencing: http://www.inc.com/joel-comm/a-woman-with-a-chewbacca-mask-showed-the-world-how-to-sell-with-live-video.html
The statement I took issue with (text styling added by me for emphasis):
“Every business now needs to be in the business of live video, broadcasting it themselves and encouraging their customers to broadcast it too. They need to be watching live video and they need to be reacting it to it. Live video isn’t just the talk of marketing conferences. It’s also what gets customers talking.”
Finally, I want to be clear that I’m not saying live video is worthless…I’m saying it’s a tool. Better tools only make life easier, but without the right person using the tool, it’s useless. Gary Vaynerchuk said it beautifully in this post called Why Social Media ROI is like playing the piano.
It’s important to avoid getting swept up in the hype train. Focus on the fundamentals.