<p>Live streaming in recent times has been the talk of the town as far as social media is concerned. The rise and subsequent fall of Meerkat and the eventual launch of Periscope by Twitter, have all been well documented in the archives of twitterati in 140 characters or less.<br><br>Thus, it is a good time to step back and see what this means for the companies who are always on the lookout for new and unique ways to interact with their customer base. Marketing and Advertising are the two verticals which will be affected the most by this tilt in the social media paradigms. While advertising is going to be directly dependent on the demand that platforms like Instalively/Meerkat/Periscope create in the market, marketing is going to be more of a ‘first come first serve’ and a real treat for the early adopters. Allow me to explain how…<br><br><strong>Live streaming is the best demo tool for a product</strong><br>A demo involving any product is based on the assumption that the intended customer develops a certain level of trust and understanding towards it so that he/she is comfortable in shelling out cash knowing what he/she will be getting for his/her money. While we have seen product demos live where a physically present audience gets a chance to see the product in action, ultimately such presentations cater to a very small user base.<br><br>Now with the advent of portable live streaming on relatively slower net speed doing a live demo becomes as easy as whipping out your camera phone, setting it up and starting your product demo for the whole world to see. Reaching out in real time was never this easy before!<br><br><strong>Create a customer friendly brand image</strong><br>Brand image goes a long way into deciding how a customer is going “see” the brand. Certain engaging brands like Adidas and Amex have made it a habit to be timely and witty in their responses to keep their audience hooked and it translates to good PR leading to a better brand image.<br><br>However, there is only so much of interaction that can be done within the limits of 140 characters or via text in general. To keep yourself connected to the audience you need to be one step ahead of the curve, always projecting yourself as the cool kid on the block with all the new shiny toys. Enter Live streaming. It is immediately understandable how a well done live broadcast from a company can directly influence the brand perception in the eyes of the user. Any fun activity going on inside the office can be broadcasted for the world to see which helps in creating a personal connect with the brand.<br><br><strong>Doing Giveaways and other competitions live</strong><br>For the uninitiated, a giveaway is basically a company giving out some cash or goodies to a random follower on the social media channel of their choice. Giveaways are a very potent way of forming real time connection with your client base while also advertising your products at the same time. Mostly the giveaways work on either first come first serve basis or by picking up a random follower from the people who have completed the desired call-to-action to participate.<br><br>A live stream is an ideal way to make such competitions more transparent and engaging. Basic functionalities such as text sharing and multi platform streams would be ideal in such scenarios.<br><br><em>The author, Prakhar Khanduja, is co-founder of InstaLively</em></p>
