In this really weird (finding another word for unprecedented) situation where everything is limbo – how do we as an experiential agency, marketer and creative help our partners reach their target audience.
In the past couple of weeks we have seen the early adopter of Live Stream from online fundraising, DJs jamming it out in their bedrooms and the good old stand up comedy – without a live studio audience.
And that got me thinking – what makes a good online experience.
Personalising the experience. It is cardinal sin to address your viewers as EVERYBODY. Good morning EVERYBODY. Who is everybody? Is there someone else beside me watching my screen? Online experience is a media that is consumed like radio. You are on your personal device listening, watching. Personalise the experience for your viewers, rope them into your content and make them feel as though this is made just for them.
Attention is the new economy. While typing this article I had actually put some crackers in the airfryer. That’s how distracted everyone is when working from home or trying to that is. Keep your streams short and sweet. Chop it up into bits if you can’t and most importantly give mental breaks in between for your audience. Slamming them with content after content is a torture – and we don’t even know it.
Translating the experience. This is perhaps one of the hardest yet but most rewarding. Deep dive into what makes a good event, and see how you can capture the essence into an online event. Replace networking with a virtual chat room. Replace performances with a virtual game.
Call to action. Before you do anything potentially crazy, what exactly do you want out of this livestream? Are you doing it because there’s no other options? A good livestream is like murder – you need to address your Motive, Means and Opportunity. What is your brand objective (motive), do you have a RSVP list or fanbase to reach out to (means) and do you a reasonable call to action (opportunity)
Hire someone. Its tempting to know that you can actually just whip out your webcam and start a livestream. But without content curation, graphics, animation – your production value would rank really low and that’s one of the triggers for people to switch off. Get a professional (or at least someone who know what’s up) to help you with some aspects of your development, live stream, web stuff and whatever that doesn’t involve content.
While we evolve, consumers are evolving too, is this the new norm? Time will tell. And its time for me to take out my crackers from the air fryer.
Stay Sane. Talk to us today to find out how you can get started on your own virtual events. Contact us here!
Written by Adam Piperdy, Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Unearthed Productions