Nowadays, everyone is able to broadcast everything to a wider online audience. We constantly have more and more tools to help us do this. There’s a number of different streaming platforms offering literally hundreds of features from which you can find a perfect fit for your needs.
Most of them have HTML5-based players, so customers are able to watch on many different devices, such as the smartphone, tablet or smart tv. But not only watching has become easy - broadcasting itself has become a piece of cake as well. Publishers can even use their smartphone to broadcast in HD. While the big players have now been afforded huge opportunities, it has opened up countless doors for the smaller artists and for lesser-known sport and niche conferences.
In the past, we were somewhat limited by having only our Cleeng API, although it worked really well for events monetization. Our biggest disadvantage back then was manual integration, which significantly upped the costs, which, in turn, discouraged the smaller publishers, most of whom were looking for an ‘out-of-the-box’ solution. We were able to meet their needs then with our Cleeng Live! solution.
At this point in time, though, we are more than 6 months after our Cleeng Live announcement. Since February 28th, we have been able to help our publishers monetize their live events and collect detailed data about sales and customers. Each and every day, we listen, learn and improve our solution.
With that background, I would like to share a few tips on how to boost your event and - without any additional costs - get more profits and an even wider audience.
Publishers used to create and announce their events a few days right before the start date, which is a really bad habit! Instead, plan it well ahead of time and give your customers more time to purchase a ticket. They need to read your announcement a few times, understand it, save it in their calendars and then organize some free time to join the event. The longer they know about it, the more friends they will notify on-time and the more sales you will get.
Think about price manipulation during the pre-booking. As an example, try something like, “Early birds pay 20% less" so customers who buy the tickets 4 weeks in advance of the event can get a 20% discount.
I can easily say that every company has a website, a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, a customer email base or something similar. Use them! Spread the word! Put a huge announcement in the middle of your website.
Write tweets, posts on Facebook and ask others to share them. Do anything you can to reach the largest number of people possible! It sounds way too obvious, doesn't it? I'm writing about it now because, surprisingly, I'm often struggling to find anything even remotely connected to a live event on the publishers' websites or on their social media pages.
Describe your event well. Write solid FAQ, share the full agenda of the event and try to stick to it (as much as humanly possible). Anticipate any questions that the customers might have, such as:
Yup, that one is important, period! I thought that, with live events, it’s all about watching it live, but NO! It’s vitally important to share the recordings. We have tons of questions like, "I missed X part of Y event, can I watch it again after it’s over?" Right now, streaming platforms make your live recordings very easy.
After the event, you can immediately generate the embed code for your recordings (and very often, it’s the same one used for the event). Some platforms even provide the customer with the ability to rewind back within the live stream, which is very important as well. Of course, you can also try to earn additional money by selling the recordings. But most importantly, your customers have to know whether they are able to watch it again.
Make sure you are actively present in social media where the discussions between your customers happen, and always hire the best support specialists that will keep your customers happy!
These are the main learnings from our past events, let me know what you think about them. If you have any questions, leave them for me in the comments below. Thanks !
