13 Reasons Why E-Commerce Brands Should Go Live

Heidi Klum of the Project Runway franchise series always says, “one day you’re in, and in the next day, you’re out.” This statement may be true about fashion, but people in the e-commerce business can relate much to this.

The e-commerce realm is such a competitive jungle, that brands need to stay on top of their game. Most businesses have opted to create social media profiles for their brands, in order to bridge the gap between the business and its customers.

Over the next couple of years, social media became a solid platform in itself to take marketing efforts to a whole new level. Brands utilized their Instagram feeds as online magazines—a visual representation of an online catalogue to promote products and to help customers with their shopping experience. Facebook was used to collate video material and share various types of content such as memes and Facebook Lives. IGTV later on came into play and allowed Instagram-heavy brands to product video content integrated under the same platform, competing against Google giant’s YouTube channel. Twitter became a customer platform, where users can easily reach out to brands regarding customer service or product issues. People also used this platform to air out grievances and concerns towards brands.

One might ask, “I already have a social media team who manages our social media accounts. Why do I need to invest in
livestreaming?”

Let’s look at Facebook as a case study, and some useful statistics about its Live feature:

Source: 99firms.com

• The Facebook Live video view count climbed to 2 billion viewers last year
• 52% of those who stream live video do so through social media (EMarketer)
• 25% of users watch live videos to stay informed (Streaming Media)
• 42.7% of businesses broadcasted a live video in 2018 (Buffer)
• In 2018, the number of Facebook Lives reached 3.5 billion

The list goes on about how Facebook Live was utilized to increase traction and traffic for brands on their respective channels. The numbers prove it—audiences are turning to livestreaming content in order to do research prior to making a purchase, or to simply engage with brands they’re interested in or are advocating for. In this day and age, everything has a virtual presence. And if your e-commerce business hasn’t bought itself a seat at this table, then you better get a head-start while you can.