Now that you know how to develop an optimized YouTube Live campaign – The next thing you must learn is to cost-effectively use relevant social networks to promote your live video stream airings.
Remember, you should try to hit the following objectives for your YouTube Live campaign and social media promotions:
? Captivate your target audience at the social networks where they hang out;
? Entice them to check out your live stream schedules and be notified of your airings in real time by subscribing to your YouTube channel or your mailing list;
? Engage them with your content;
? Compel them to participate in active live chat discussions during your live stream; and
? Give them more than enough reason to opt-in to your latest deals and share your content to their peers!
How exactly can you do that, Here are some detailed steps to help you out:
12-Step Guide on How to Promote Your YouTube Live Streams in Relevant Social Networks
STEP 1. Use the details in your competitor analytics data, prospect partner shortlist and ideal customer profile to identify the social networks where your target audience hangs out. You’ll be able to pinpoint the social networks that are driving targeted traffic to the Web properties of your competitors and prospect partners. You’ll also be able to confirm if your target audience is part of the traffic that they’re getting from those social networks.
STEP 2. Check out the things that your competitors and prospect partners are doing in those social networks. Learn the exact ways that they’re doing to funnel targeted traffic from those social networks to their own Web properties. Also study the content that they’re publishing and the ads that they’re using in those social networks.
STEP 3. Identify the things that they’re doing right. Take note of the things that they’re doing wrong. You’ll use these to improve your content placement and advertising campaigns in those social networks for your YouTube Live streams.
STEP 4. Prepare a landing page in your website for your promotional campaigns in those social networks. Integrate retargeting and remarketing code into this page. This will allow you to use ads in those social networks a few hours before you go live, in order to remind users who have already visited your landing page about your video streams.
STEP 5. Don’t forget to use tracking tools in your landing page and in your email broadcasts, series and follow-ups. This will allow you to gather as much data as possible from your paid and organic promotional campaigns.
STEP 6. Place the right content in your landing page. Keep in mind your objectives – Captivate; Entice; Engage; and Compel. You might also want to place a video teaser in your landing page. This will allow you to entice your target audience to subscribe to your YouTube channel so they can be notified a few hours or so of your live stream airings.
STEP 7. Place an irresistible giveaway in your landing page as an opt-in offer. You’ll want to compel your target audience to subscribe to your mailing list. This way, you can notify them about your video streams a day or so before you go live.
STEP 8. Participate in relevant discussions at the social networks where your target audience spends time in. For example, if your ideal viewers are hanging out in certain Facebook groups, Web forums or LinkedIn groups, then join them there and pitch your insightful comments in their conversations. Your objective is to establish yourself as a friendly expert resource of relevant info and advice in those active social communities. This can make them more receptive to your invitations in those social groups to your opt-in offer or to your YouTube Live airings.
STEP 9. Contact your prospect partners in your shortlist. These are businesses, bloggers, social page operators, media personnel and other key influencers. Negotiate mutually beneficial deals with them for possible content placement and advertising opportunities in their Web properties and mailing lists. This is for you to promote your opt-in offer and YouTube Live stream airings to their regular viewers.
STEP 10. Consider creating a press release about your upcoming video stream in YouTube a few days before you go live. Distribute this PR to relevant news agencies and publication outlets where your target audience most likely hangs out.
STEP 11. Create stunning ads that can grab the attention of your target viewers while they’re spending time in those relevant social networks and in the Web properties of your partners. Tweak your targeting settings to ensure that your ads will be shown to your ideal customers and prospects. You already have an ideal viewer profile, so use those details to do this right.
STEP 12. Once you start your advertising campaigns in those social networks, remember to monitor the results of your campaign. Track down which ads are getting reasonable CTRs (click thrus). Take note of how your landing page is converting viewers into opt-in takers and subscribers of your YouTube channel.
That’s it. What you must do at this point is to tweak your ads, targeting settings and landing page content. Your objective is to find the best combination that produces the best ad clicks and conversions at the most reasonable cost.
If you’re getting very low ad clicks, then your ads might not be captivating and enticing enough for your ideal customers and prospects. Otherwise, you might be advertising in the wrong social networks, which could also mean that there’s something wrong with your competitor analytics data, prospect partner profile or the data that you have about your target audience.
If you’re getting low opt-in and YouTube channel subscriber conversions despite a good number of ad clicks, then there might be something wrong with your landing page content. There could also be something wrong with your opt-in offer. Otherwise, you could be attracting the wrong viewers!
As you can see, business and marketing are creative and iterative processes. The best way for you to ensure a successful promotional campaign for your YouTube Live streams is to gather as much data about relevant factors that can significantly affect the outcome of your advertising efforts. These include your ideal customer profile, direct competitor analytics data, prospect partner shortlists and advertising test results. Best of luck!
