Brands and organizations who want to interact with their customers online are putting in a lot of effort on well-known platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
With government to enterprise (G2E) and government to consumer (G2C) communications, even the government joined in on the act. These kinds of links have been critical throughout the pandemic and will continue to be so as we emerge from it.
Live streaming videos with interactive chat have become the norm for building and strengthening relationships. They’re utilized in tandem to promote organic contact.
To be honest, there are a lot of social media activities that can be readily generated on video. Anyone with a nice camera on their PC or phone may start streaming right away. You can turn an Instagram Story into a full-fledged Instagram TV (IGTV) or stream on YouTube and Facebook, reaching both live and non-live audiences, with a little talent, resources, and work.
It’s Not Just Video, It’s Also Audio
There has never been so much social media activity as there is now. During the pandemic, people stayed at home and were unable to go out. This necessitated the development of more intimate, warm, and genuine relationships. As a result, people had – and made – more time to stay engaged.
Together, these factors aided the emergence of one of the year’s major trends, social audio, which is gaining traction alongside video.
We’re not discussing podcasting, which is both a digital marketing technique and a brand-new marketing medium in and of itself. We’re talking about invite-only apps like Clubhouse, which, like Instagram in its early days, is exclusively available on Apple’s iOS.
Mark Zuckerberg, Shane Parrish, Wiz Khalifa, and MC Hammer(! ), Elon Musk, and Oprah are among those who have signed up. Topics, like the size of the audience, vary greatly.
For the time being, you must join the waiting list to receive an invite while the company’s creators work on releasing it on Android and other platforms. You can also ask your iPhone-owning friends to share one of their three valuable invites.
There’s also Twitter Spaces, which is similar to Clubhouse. If anyone you’re following is online, Twitter Spaces conversations will appear along your line of “fleets” (ephemeral tweets) – right near your Twitter timeline.
There are speakers and listeners, and you can volunteer to talk or reply socially using emoticons, just as you can on other platforms.
Only a few invited and verified Twitter users have been allowed to have conversations on the platform, despite the fact that it has been operational since December 2020. Twitter was in talks to buy Clubhouse for $4 billion, according to Bloomberg, but the deal fell through.
Lessons Learned from the Marketing Potential of Live Audio
The marketing potential of social audio is just waiting to be uncovered. Is it possible that Clubhouse meetings will become the new B2B or B2C virtual tabletop meetings that people book when they go to a trade show? Underneath a multi-day, multi-speaker convention, the host of breakout sessions?
The way communication is directed is one of the major contrasts between podcasting and social audio/live audio. Podcasting is similar to listening to the radio. It’s available on demand, but it’s effectively a type of one-way communication.
On the other hand, social audio allows interested audiences to participate in real-time dialogues with a variety of personalities. Through voice intonation, information delivery style (formal/informal), and the energy established between speakers and listeners/responders, social audio can add context to a topic as a kind of content.
Future conversations hosted by thought leaders, as well as a variety of lectures arranged by mass or micro influencers who will speak about products or issues relevant to brand audiences, are easy to envision.
It will also be able to use social audio for premium access events, in addition to more traditional types of sponsorship such as radio advertising or sponsored messages at the beginning, middle, or end of the conversation.
You can connect listening events to messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, just like a lot of podcasts on Spotify or Apple, where your message can be amplified even further. Getting Started on a New Social Media Platform
It takes some research and experimenting to figure out which of the growing social platforms is right for you, but it could pay off in the long run if you’re prepared to explore some of these benefits.
Recognizing the platform’s popularity. Is there a connection between the platform and significant segments of your target markets? Would they be interested in your content activities and discussions on this platform?
Creating stuff that is appropriate. Is your brand responsive to text, graphics, or sound? If that’s the case, are you willing to invest in frequent material that promotes your business on that platform?
Early bird gets the worm. Go for it if you have the time to set up shop, develop content, and grow an audience ahead of the competition.
Fit with the intended audience. The target audience should certainly be your most crucial criterion. Will your audience be there if you make your presence known on a certain platform, or will you be able to lure them there?
In-house marketing teams and digital marketing companies should set aside time each month to research new platforms, create content, participate in community development activities, and evaluate the outcomes after a few months.
Then there’s Houseparty, which has been around for five years but is only now getting traction, much like Clubhouse. It’s similar to Zoom, but for pals (except Gen X and Gen Y still prefer using Zoom for social gatherings).
Houseparty is being positioned as Gen Z’s answer to Twitch, which has a monopoly on live video game broadcasting; nevertheless, both are now about sharing music, video (as seen on TikTok), and “in the moment” streams that last as long as you choose to stay online. The platform’s main limitation is that it’s actually exclusively for friends, as only eight individuals can talk in a session.