Live Video Streaming Via Social Media: 5 Killer Apps You Should Know About
Social video live mobile streaming is the current and most likely future darling in the social media fray as evident by the recent crop up of new social video mobile apps and live streaming partnerships – the most recent being June 9th’s Huffington Post announcement of its partnership with Broadband TV.
All indicators are pointing to the fact that social video will quickly become an important new tool that every marketing communications professional should be aware of. Video currently accounts for over three fourths of all web traffic and that number is expected to grow. And, native video is seeing even faster growth. I am always on the lookout for the most optimal methods to promote my clients’ brands and initiatives and this week, I thought I would share with you my top five picks of mobile app offerings in this social marketing arena.
Five Social Video Mobile Apps Brands Should Know
Periscope– acquired by Twitter in March, this is the app I am most enthusiastic about. Fully integrated with Twitter, it allows you to immediately connect with your existing Twitter followers – your built-in audience – and engage them in real- time live video streams by sharing your experiences, such as an event or speaking engagement. Periscope will save your videos to the app if you choose, and they’ll be available for viewing by your followers for 24 hours. You can also opt to save your videos to your phone’s camera roll. While still in its infancy, Periscope is quickly catching on with PR and Ad agencies for brand building and engagement.
Meerkat – is also an inexpensive and easy to use mobile video app. Similar in use to Periscope, the key differences are: when you live stream on Meerkat, your viewers can also text chat with you during your broadcast in real time, plus the mobile app doesn’t automatically record your videos. But, your video will automatically save to YouTube if you use the katch hashtag in your broadcast title or comment with #katch during your stream.
Hang w/ – Launched in March 2013, this mobile app claims they were the early adapters of live streaming video. Hang w/ allows users to stream live video plus broadcast it simultaneously to friends and followers on their Facebook and Twitter networks. You can host your live stream on a web page and send followers there using Hang w/’s web widget.
Facebook – Not that long ago, the social network added native video to their plethora of consumer-friendly offerings. Using its own video player, when you upload videos to your page, the news feed publicly shows how many views you receive. For brands seeking ways to connect with their FB fans, natively posted videos are now a sure bet as they are getting better organic reach than video posts hosted by competing social networks.
YouTube – The granddaddy of video sharing, this google-owned social video network has its first serious competitor in Facebook and its video sharing platform. Yet, YouTube is still very much a major force to consider when sharing your brand’s messaging, so do not discount them as a key weapon in your overall marketing mix.
According to several speakers at last February’s Social Media Week in NYC – Facebook is giving Google’s YouTube service a serious run for itsmoney and warned us not to be surprised if some day in the not so distant future, the social media giant overtook YouTube as the video streaming social network of choice. And, in a recent Fortune article, it was reported that Facebook’s video traffic has reached 4 billion daily views, making the social network YouTube’s first real rival in online video—and an even tougher contender in the battle for digital ad dollars.
So my fellow colleagues, social live video mobile apps are definitely worth experimenting with. It costs you nothing to see if you have an audience ready to view your brand’s content, experience or event. And in the process, you might become an instant hit film maker. Have a Wonderful Wednesday! AS
Tags: #socialmedia #mobile #videostreaming #tech #marketing #PR #advertising
*Originally posted by Abbe Sparks in her blog “ABBES SPARKS” for RFPalooza.
