Content Streaming And Your Business Connectivity

People are watching more video content than ever, a shift that is directly linked to the 2020 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns that saw more than a billion consumers confined to their homes.

As a result we now have far more streaming platforms than ever before, including services like Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, all of which have given us options for entertainment, levity, and escape.

It wasn’t just the mere fact that we were all stuck at home, though, that saw the rise in streamed media. The physical distancing requirements likely also played a role, and it certainly didn’t take the business world long to adopt content streaming as a means to ensure the health and safety of their employees.

More recently, though, businesses have undergone an adjustment in how they reach, engage with, and serve customers – and streaming companies have risen to the occasion, supporting these new strategies.

Clearly streaming is no longer the purview of teenagers living their best lives on YouTube and TikTok. In this post, we’ll look at how streaming can be used to drive business growth, how live streaming of business events can be used as part of digital transformation, and most importantly, why a properly implemented business connectivity service is important for this.

What Is Streaming And Live Streaming?

Streaming is technology used to deliver content to computers and mobile devices over the Internet – without having to download it. For the most part, streaming is used for audio, video, and games and apps.

From a more technical perspective, streaming is a means of sending and receiving packets of data in a continuous flow over a network, allowing content playback to begin while the remaining data is still in transit.

Live streaming works similarly to streaming, in that you never receive an actual file. You only get the parts needed to deliver your live viewing experience. Initially, live streaming was used for special events, like sporting events or political debates.

The Benefits Of Live Streaming In Business

Streaming is one of the newest additions to your marketing tool belt and yet, because it’s still largely understood to be the remit of entertainment for entertainment’s sake, it’s underutilised. For many, streaming can bring a lot of value to a business’ bottom line by giving a powerful boost to their reach.

Here is our take on the benefits of using live streaming in your business:

Build trust and reciprocity through interaction.
Stay top of mind with real-time that creates a sense of being in the same room.
Keep customers engaged and invested in what’s going on in your company.
Instil a sense of excitement and urgency.
Create strong content.
Recycle content from live stream videos throughout your social media feed.
Live content is easier to produce than polished, pre-filmed content.

How Businesses Can Use Live Streaming

Here are three ways we believe that streaming can be used in the business environment.

BOOST ENGAGEMENT, DRIVE AWARENESS, INCREASE SALES

Streaming can take a brand’s inbound marketing to a new level, thanks to the low cost. There’s power in delivering exclusive content to followers and customers and if streaming is anything, it’s a very social experience. Because of the direct and engaging style of streaming, you can create stronger connections, demonstrate your products, allow followers to engage directly with your company, and give you a means to address them in a personal way.

GLOBAL REACH

There are constantly exciting events happening around the world – events that many of your followers want to see and aren’t always in a position to attend. Not only can you live stream events for your followers, like marketing conferences and trade shows that you attend, but you can also host your own virtual events. Live streaming gives your followers what they want to see, make your business more credible, and help form connections.

HEALTHCARE

On a more serious note, live streaming technology has the power and reach to facilitate patient support, education, training of interns, conferences with colleagues, interviews, presentations, and so much more.

LOGISTICS

What some might not have considered is that companies can also use live streaming services to manage the delivery process. Consider this: installing a webcam into a truck’s luggage space would enable you to stream video for the shipping agents, customers, or other stakeholders.