Category Archives: Audience Engagement

6 Online Events Ideas for Sports Publishers

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Online events ideas for sports publishers are fast becoming one of the best ways to keep website audiences engaged. Use these online event ideas for inspiration – pick one or two that fit your team’s capabilities.

Six Online Events Ideas for Sports Publishers

1) Pre Game Online Events

Major sports publishers have long published stories and coverage before major games and competitions. For example, pre-game coverage for the Super Bowl is a staple of football coverage. To grow audience engagement, plan to offer pre-game online events. 

Here are two ways to plan your pre-game online events:

Interview A Player

Reach out to well-known players and interview them live during the online events. If a live interview is unworkable, you can pre-record an interview.

Bring The Data

The sports world is filled with data – spend some time with resources like Sports Reference or FiveThirtyEight. Once you have the data, create infographics to make that data exciting with fans. For example, you could highlight the players with the best scoring record and check if they are close to setting a record.

2) Organize A Sports Betting Strategy Event

In the United States, legal sports betting is booming since a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowed states to legalize sports betting. With millions of dollars changing hands, sports fans are eager for insights to improve their odds.

Building an online event around sports betting can be simple – organize a panel discussion with a question and answer session. For example, you might invite a few sports betting experts like Larry Gibbs, an expert on the sports betting field, or Alex Kane, CEO of a sports trading app.

Tip: consider charging a fee or limiting access to paying subscribers only to make this online event more exclusive.

3) Take Sports Fans Behind The Scenes With Coaches and Trainers

Many people are attracted to professional sports because it is exciting to watch elite athletes perform. Imagine if you could pull back the curtain on how famous athletes achieve success. That’s the essence of this ‘behind the scenes’ online events concept. 

A sports publisher lets fans into their favorite athletes’ locker rooms and gyms with this event. You could run the concept of this online event multiple times for each sport. For example, you might have a session on how athletes like Olympic runner Colleen Quigley and Michael Jordan used meditation to improve their performance. 

Tip: Use Arena CDP to gather data on your attendees as they participate in these events. If you find that your audience is much more engaged in basketball content or specific players, you can use that insight to create better events in the future.

4) Explore The Business of Sports

The sports industry produces billions of dollars in revenue each year. Some parts of your audience may be curious to learn more about the intricacies of the business. This online event idea might explore new trends like NCAA athletes earning money, contract negotiations, and the rise of sports-themed startups.

Queen’s University in Canada recently organized a virtual event dedicated to the business of sports in February 2022. The Queen’s event illustrates how bringing together a varied group of panelists – lawyers, executives, and entrepreneurs – can create an exciting event.

5) Run A Sports Equipment Gear And Apparel Online Event

The right equipment can make a significant difference in your sports performance. That’s why elite cyclists and golfers often spend thousands of dollars to get the best equipment. Sports fans also want to know about the latest and greatest in equipment.

This online event idea for sports publishers also offers great monetization opportunities. For example, you can reach out to manufacturers and retailers to request free products to review. Also, you might sell sponsorship spots in the section. 

To make a virtual gear event compelling, plan to demonstrate a variety of gear at different price points. For example, you might have a virtual event dedicated to golf clubs before the golf season. The event could feature entry-level golf clubs, intermediate equipment, and pro-level equipment.

Tip: Make sure you use Arena Live Chat to gather questions from your audience about the equipment you’re demonstrating.

6) Live Blog A Major Game

Dedicated sports fans can’t get enough when a championship game is on! Think about the world series in baseball –  the event attracted over 11 million viewers in 2021. That intense level of interest creates an opportunity for sports publishers to create online events.

Running a live blog during a major sporting event is easier when you prepare in advance. Use these ideas to prepare a few blog posts in advance. With advanced preparation, online events ideas for sports like live blogging become less stressful. Fox Spots Australia is doing a great job using Live Blog and Live Chat during its online coverage, averaging over 500 monthly live events.

Report on Player Injuries and Absences.

When a team misses a key player due to an injury, penalty, or other reason, it can dramatically impact the outcome. Casual sports fans may not track such details closely, so your live blog can remind them of these details as the game gets started. 

Introducing New Players.

Has the team recently recruited or traded players? If so, your audience wants to know more about the new player. Prepare notes about the new player’s key statistics and background.

Prepare Content About Recent Controversies.

Controversial decisions sometimes play a significant role in sports. In early 2022, the Cincinnati Bengals won their first playoff victory in decades thanks to a whistle error. If your online events involve the Bengals or their opponents – the Las Vegas Raiders – it would be wise to have commentary prepared about this mistake and its implications.

Running your live blog smoothly helps to use the right tool. Arena Live Blog is a light blogging platform that can be installed in minutes. Arena also makes it easy to discover and feature social media content – like tweets by players – during your online event.

How To Run Online Events Without Facebook and YouTube

Sports publishers tell us they’re worried about relying too much on Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms to execute their online events ideas for sports. 

When you rely on these platforms, your audience can easily get distracted by notifications and disengage. The solution is simple – end your dependence on those platforms and create your own online events platform. Get started today by using Arena’s free live events ebook.

Arena Live Chat at SXSW 2022 Online Conference

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SXSW 2022 is just around the corner, and we’re very proud to announce that Arena Live Chat will be part of the online event. 

How did that happen?, you might ask.

This year, the SXSW Conference will be in a hybrid format for ten days (11 – 20 March 2022). 

In the online edition, Arena Live Chat will be there making it easier for thousands of attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors to connect with each other, as well as to engage the audience in real-time.

As you know, South By Southwest (SXSW) connects companies from promising startups to established industries, leaders, authors, and creatives across industries all over the world from their home in Austin, Texas.

Therefore, Live Chat will be an important part of SXSW by enabling participants to:

  • Exchange ideas and comments during keynote presentations
  • Submit questions to panelists using the Q&A native Live Chat feature
  • Express emotions with GIFs and Emojis
  • Participate in Polls that are part of the program

Arena is an Online Exhibitor at SXSW 2022.

How Arena Enhances Virtual Events

Arena’s software is trusted by thousands of companies to improve their virtual events. Consider adding one of Arena’s tools to enhance your own virtual event. 

Live chat is a tool that lets attendees respond to polls, ask questions, and interact with your brand and other attendees during virtual events. By adding Arena Live Chat, brands can seamlessly integrate live chat capabilities in their virtual events. This feature lets online attendees provide feedback and share ideas virtually instead of needing to be physically present at the event.

Live blogs let virtual event organizers share quick updates like images, text, video, live scores, maps, and more as an event unfolds. Live blogs can provide important event updates, share ideas, present interviews, and keep attendees informed about speakers. Organizers can use Arena Live Blog to quickly improve their virtual event experience. 

Arena Customer Data Platform (CDP) can be integrated with Arena Live Chat and Live Blog to help understand customer behavior and interests. Companies are finding it harder to understand their customers because of the heightened restrictions from cookies and data privacy. Arena’s CDP can solve this problem by building customer profiles and collecting data from different touchpoints. 

SXSW 2022 and Arena

SXSW 2022 will gather some of the most important tech players and contemporary trendsetters on the planet from March 11-20 in Austin, Texas, and also via live streaming. Arena will be doubly there: with Arena Live Chat to connect and engage the audience in real-time, and as an Online Exhibitor.

Vimeo vs Uscreen: Facts To Consider

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Choosing between several video streaming platforms isn’t always that clear, specially when you are not familiarized with the existing options out there. This decision can profoundly influence user experience, engagement, and potential revenue streams. This article dives deep into two popular contenders in the video streaming arena: Vimeo OTT and Uscreen, exploring key aspects that can guide businesses in making an informed selection.

Let’s dissect Vimeo OTT and Uscreen on six key fronts:

1) Branding Consistency

  • Vimeo OTT: Offers an integrated experience. It provides not only the streaming service but also the tools to design mobile and smart TV apps aligned with your brand aesthetics.
  • Uscreen: While it allows you to produce branded apps, the onus falls on your team to manage the entire app development lifecycle.

2) Monetization Strategy

  • Vimeo OTT: Provides a flexible revenue model, catering to advertising, direct sales, subscriptions, and registrations. Additionally, it gives total control over subscriber data, aiding in decision-making.
  • Uscreen: Offers a range of monetization strategies such as royalties and in-app purchases. However, its advertising support remains ambiguous.

3) Playback Versatility

  • Vimeo OTT: Boasts extensive compatibility, supporting iOS, Android, intelligent TV platforms, and even the Xbox ecosystem.
  • Uscreen: Offers compatibility with platforms like Chromecast and Apple Airplay, yet its reach isn’t as expansive as Vimeo.

4) Industry Tenure

  • Vimeo OTT: With a legacy since 2004, Vimeo has been a trusted companion for streamers across various genres.
  • Uscreen: Launched in 2015, Uscreen, while competent, doesn’t share the same historical depth.

5) User Testimonials

  • Vimeo OTT: G2 ratings highlight its user-friendliness and support quality, although some users desire better pricing options.
  • Uscreen: Users laud its ease of use and exemplary customer service but do yearn for improved analytics and customization.

6) Integration Capabilities

  • Vimeo OTT: Exhibits a vast integration landscape, spanning Google Drive to Zoom, facilitating streamlined operations.
  • Uscreen: Prioritizes analytics and e-commerce with integrations like Google Tag Manager and Mailchimp, but appears limited in video distribution.

‍See our post, which highlights ten different Vimeo OTT examples for more details.

Amplifying Vimeo with Arena’s Touch

Our verdict tilts towards Vimeo OTT for contemporary video streaming requirements. Yet, regardless of platform selection, to genuinely enhance audience engagement, embedding interactivity is crucial.

Arena’s capabilities seamlessly marry with Vimeo OTT, infusing live chat and live blogs, enriching the passive video experience. With the introduction of Arena Personas, you can also deep dive into your audience’s behaviors and preferences, ensuring your streaming content is not just viewed but experienced.

For those steering their company’s digital footprint, understanding these nuances and integrating tools like Arena’s live blogs can be the game-changer in achieving your marketing objectives. Dive deeper, make informed choices, and watch your virtual engagement landscape transform.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMMuAV0I9Y

What if you’re not sure what’s working in your video streaming? There’s no need to guess anymore. Use Arena Personas to understand what interactions and content drive your audience to engage, convert and buy.

Amazing Virtual Events Trends for 2022

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The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic paired with the rise of innovative technology spurred a shift from in-person events to virtual ones. Organizers have experienced the vast number of benefits from allowing events to be accessed by attendees online, and this trend is expected to continue in 2022. This guide covers what virtual and hybrid events are, their expected trends in 2022, and helpful software tools that can enhance these events. 

What are Virtual Events?

Virtual events are those in which attendees meet and experience events online rather than meeting in-person at a physical location. Virtual events can be large conferences with thousands of attendees or small sessions with just a few people. While virtual events have been around for years, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic skyrocketed the need for them. 

Virtual event types include courses, happy hours, conferences, networking events, concerts, festivals, webinars, and more. Virtual events can also be meshed with an in-person event to form a hybrid event. Hybrid events combine aspects of both types, letting attendees choose to show up in-person or join digitally. 

Virtual and Hybrid Events in the Future

While the future of the pandemic remains uncertain, it is clear that virtual events aren’t going anywhere. According to a LinkedIn survey of 1,800 professionals, organizers of in-person events are predicted to continue delivering “digital twin events”. This means that one or more components of their in-person events will be available to online attendees. 

It also found that 42% of in-person event organizers will continue searching for virtual event services to improve sustainability. In-person events often involve the use of consumables like plastic, and they require people to use transportation to get to and from events. By letting people attend online, companies can create more sustainable events. 

Hybrid Events

Before we dive into trends, it’s important to understand how hybrid events work. Hybrid events give companies the option to host in-person events while also letting people attend online.

Hybrid Event Benefits

The main benefit of hybrid events is flexibility. By setting up a hybrid event, companies ensure their event is hedged against risks. For example, if there are last-minute restrictions to public health guidelines, event organizers can easily pivot to an all-virtual event. This is also helpful if there are issues with the event venue. 

Another benefit of hybrid events is the added reach organizers can have. Every venue has capacity limits, and travel expenses can cause people to decide against attending. For example, people in the U.S. face significant barriers to attending an event in London. A hybrid event allows organizers to fill up a venue while also broadcasting to millions of others around the world. 

Virtual and hybrid events also give organizers better access to event data. By hosting an event virtually, organizers have more detailed information on how their content is being consumed. Organizers of in-person events don’t get the same access to this information. 

Virtual Event Trends for 2022

A study by Event Manager Blog indicates that 71% of event organizers will continue implementing digital strategies even when in-person events are completely back to normal. 

The following are some predicted trends for virtual events in 2022. 

  • More flexible participation options
  • Increased socializing and virtual networking aspects
  • More on-demand content
  • Shorter events
  • Greater focus on personalized content and small groups
  • Higher frequency of micro-events and virtual events
  • Increased access to sponsorship opportunities

Virtual Event Monetization

Physical events give organizers the opportunity to charge for tickets, food, drinks, merchandise, and more. Only 9% of virtual events were paid events in 2021, and virtual event ticket prices averaged only 20% of the price of in-person event tickets. Therefore, organizers will need to find better ways to monetize virtual events going forward. 

Virtual Event Sponsors

Virtual event sponsor expectations are changing going into 2022. Sponsors are encouraging an increased investment in digital event aspects and less investment in physical event aspects. They also expect a better understanding of ROI statistics from both virtual and physical attendees, which increases the importance of having helpful analytics tools. 

Emphasis on Attendee Safety

Because the Covid-19 pandemic is still a large concern, events are expected to continue high safety regulations going into 2022. Mask mandates, specialized cleaning crews, air-filtration systems, socially-distanced events, pre-screening requirements, and proof of vaccination of negative tests will continue to influence events. Safety concerns will also continue the trend towards offering virtual event options to online attendees. 

Virtual Event Software

There will also be a greater need for virtual event software that can do the following. 

  • Uncover rich data sets
  • Use gamification, matchmaking, and scheduling to improve events
  • Create pre-event, event, and post-event communities
  • Encourage audience interaction and participation
  • Create a unique virtual experience for users
  • Build a seamless user experience

How Arena can Enhance your Virtual Event

For help increasing your audience engagement, setting up user profiles, and enhancing your virtual or hybrid event experience, consider using one of Arena’s helpful software tools. Arena is trusted by thousands of customers like Swoogo and Cloud Conventions to help them run their hybrid and virtual events.

Arena Live Chat

Arena Live Chat is a tool that can be seamlessly integrated with your virtual or hybrid event. With this live chat tool, you can let attendees interact with each other, ask questions, and respond to polls during your event. With this tool, online attendees can share ideas and give feedback as if they were attending the event in-person. 

Arena Live Blog

Organizers can also enhance their virtual or hybrid event using Arena Live Blog. A live blog tool lets you share quick updates as your event unfolds. This tool lets you share maps, live scores, videos, text, images, and more. This ensures your online attendees are kept informed about speakers, interviews, ideas shared, and other details relevant to your event. 

Arena Customer Data Platform

Due to increased restrictions on cookies and data privacy, companies must find new creative ways to understand their customers. A customer data platform (CDP) fills this need by collecting data from different touch points and creating unique customer profiles. Event organizers can pair Arena CDP with its live chat and live blog tools to understand customer journeys and preferences. 

Additional Resources

For more information on how to create an unforgettable virtual event experience, check out our free eBook. 

If you want a comprehensive guide covering what to say during an event, we also have an eBook with live event scripts. 

For those who want to learn how to get the best results using live ecommerce, check out our guide. 

Conclusion

Public health concerns, innovative technology, and the recent success of virtual events have created a shift away from in-person-only events. Virtual and hybrid events offer increased flexibility, better access to data, and greater attendee reach. These events are expected to continue into 2022, and several new trends are expected to come to fruition. 

To improve the experience of your virtual or hybrid event, consider adding one of Arena’s software tools. Tools like Arena Live Chat, Live Blog, and CDP encourage attendee interaction, keep attendees engaged, and secure insightful attendee analytics. For more information on improving your live events, download our free eBook by clicking the link below. 

Virtual Events: Stats and Trends You Need To Succeed

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Virtual events have continued to increase in popularity in 2021. To put the year’s virtual events in context, this year in review will reveal the virtual event stats, key trends and opportunities you need to succeed next year.

4 Facts You Need To Know About Virtual Events

Recent industry research commissioned by LinkedIn reveals essential insights about the evolving nature of business events.

1. Majority of Event Organizers Have Launched Virtual Events. 

Across Germany, UAE, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, most event organizers arranged a virtual event, webinar, or online talk in 2020.

2. Fully Virtual Events Grow In Popularity. 

50% of events organized in the UK and Ireland have focused entirely on virtual events.

3. Critical Drivers For Virtual Events. 

Health concerns related to the pandemic are not the only driver for virtual events. In addition, one-third to one-half of event organizers think that virtual events are more cost-effective than traditional events. Further, saving travel time and environmental concerns are other key motivations for virtual events.

4. Virtual Event Content Quality. 

A significant number (44% in the UK and 38% in Germany) of event professionals agree that content development is a key priority. As expectations for event quality increase, there’s no need to start your virtual event planning from scratch. Download a copy of Arena’s Live Events Ebook to make your next virtual event more engaging.

Virtual Event Best Practices: 3 Ways To Maximize Engagement

In the past, organizing a virtual event or webinar was something of a novelty. That novelty has long since worn off. To keep your audience engaged in your content, aligning with the following best practices is vital.

1. Adjust Session Length. 

Asking attendees to sit through hour-long lecture-style events may not be effective any longer. Instead, consider adjusting your approach to emphasize shorter presentations. For inspiration, see the TED website, which features a significant number of presentations less than 20 minutes long.

2. Encourage Participant Interaction. 

Use live chat capabilities to allow attendees to ask questions. If there is no easy way to interact, you run the risk of attendees becoming disengaged. To get started in live chat, check out our post What Is Live Chat?

3. Invite Multiple Speakers. 

Offering diverse perspectives gives you more opportunities to connect with your audience. Use the live events script ebook to organize your content. Once your content is developed, invite multiple people from your company to give a presentation. If you have the budget, invite an outside speaker or influencer to deliver a short talk.

From Presentations To Live Shopping

Traditionally, virtual events like webinars and virtual conferences emphasized sharing content and networking. Those types of events are still important and worth organizing. That said, traditional virtual events do not directly drive revenue in most cases. If your company needs to grow revenue faster, you need a different approach: live ecommerce. In a live ecommerce event, you have the opportunity to present products to your audience and drive immediate sales. Livestream e-commerce sales in the US are projected to grow to $17 billion in 2022, up from $6 billion in 2020, according to Statista.

To plan your next live ecommerce event, use Arena’s Live Ecommerce ebook as your starting point.

The Most Successful Virtual Events of 2021 And What You Can Learn From Them

It is easier to plan your next virtual event with your team when you have examples to discuss. Use this list of events

Collins Aerospace: Keep Events Focused With Moderation

Remember when virtual meetings were disrupted by “Zoom bombing”? In its most extreme form, some of these disruptive participants posted harmful and alarming content. This kind of disruption is a risk that needs to manage in virtual events. Thoughtful event moderation can go a long way to prevent disruptions and keep attendees focused.

The; Collins Aerospace’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering virtual event was aimed at young girls to encourage them to consider careers in aerospace and engineering. In February 2021, the company invited students from five local schools to meet engineers and Joan Higginbotham, a former NASA astronaut. By using moderation, special guests, and a small invite list, the company created an engaging experience.

Virtual Event Lessons

There are a few lessons to adapt from the Collins Aerospace experience.

  • Consider Small Events. Events with a few dozen participants can be successful. Large scale events with hundreds or thousands of attendees tend to get all the attention but smaller events
  • Family-Friendly Event Design. The company’s decision to focus on teenage girls meant moderation was important. Arena Live Chat offers built-in moderation features so you can create a family-friendly experience.

YouTube Launches Multi-Day Virtual Shopping Event.

Short duration events of 1-2 hours are popular, but they are not the only approach. In November 2021, the video streaming platform ran the event YouTube Holiday Stream and Shop. The event drew participation from multiple YouTube personalities like Gordon Ramsay, Patrick Starrr, Jackie Aina, and MrBeast.

Virtual Event Lessons

There are two key lessons to draw from YouTube’s live ecommerce virtual events.

Delivering surprises to attendees is the crucial learning from YouTube’s 2021 entrance into live shopping. In a recent survey, 75% of shoppers agreed that the video platform “enhances the traditional shopping journey by delivering unexpected inspiration.” This is a crucial lesson as you plan your virtual event. For example, how can you offer exclusive product news, limited editions, or access to exciting presenters? Take inspiration from YouTube’s live shopping development to engage customers.

Consider organizing events over several days and connecting those events back to a seasonal trend. In the case of YouTube’s virtual events, the event was tied to the holiday shopping season.

Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue

Held in March 2021, this virtual event was sponsored by Siemens Energy, ING Bank, and other companies. The event’s approach to attendee engagement included the event moderator highlighting comments from attendees.

Virtual Event Lessons

The Berlin event offers a key lesson for you as you plan your event. Event moderators encouraged attendees to post questions for speakers on Twitter. Seeking input from attendees is a great idea. However, there is a downside to relying on social media sites. Event attendees might get distracted by conversations unrelated to the event and disengage. A better approach is to use Arena Live Chat to keep attendees on your website while they ask questions.

Keeping attendees on your website also means you can form direct relationships with customers. Traditional Google cookies are disappearing due to privacy changes. Keeping virtual event attendees on your website makes it far easier to use a customer data platform to understand audience behavior.

Hybrid Events

In addition to entirely virtual events, many organizations and organizers are developing hybrid events. In this type of event, an attendee has the option to participate virtually or in person. For example, Social Media Marketing World is offering four kinds of tickets for its next event. The higher-priced tickets include in-person access to the event. At the same time, Social Media Marketing World also offers “streaming” and “on-demand” tickets to accommodate virtual-only attendees.

Without careful planning, keeping everyone engaged in a hybrid event can fail. Virtual event attendees may feel left out of the conversation happening in the conference center. Using Arena Live Blog to share live updates from your event as it unfolds makes it easier for virtual attendees to feel involved.

How To Get Started With Virtual Events

Virtual events and hybrid events are here to stay. Your only question is to decide when you will take advantage of this way to engage with customers. Adding Arena Live Chat and Live Blog to your website is fast to make your virtual events more engaging.

How to Leverage Live Sports Streaming on my Website

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Letting your audience watch live sports is one of the best ways to engage them on your website. It not only gives fans a way to follow their favorite sports, players, and teams, it gives them a fully interactive experience. There are several ways you can create an engaging live streaming event, and we will cover some of them in this guide.

How to Add an Engaging Sports Livestream to your Website

To leverage live sports streaming on your website, you first need to know how to embed a live sports stream onto your webpage. Then, you can add tools to create more audience engagement.

Set up and Promote a Sports Live Stream

Step one in adding a live sport stream to your site is to choose a sporting event to broadcast. Ask yourself, “Which upcoming event is most important to my audience?”

If your audience is an international crowd, it may be a waste of time to broadcast an NFL football game. If your crowd likes soccer, choose an important soccer match that would peak the interest of your audience.

Once you have an event in mind, select a live stream platform. Some of the best platforms we recommend include Brightcove, Dacast, Restream, and Vimeo. For more information on the best live streaming platforms, check out this list here.

Depending on the platform you choose, follow its specific instructions on how to embed the live stream on your webpage.

Finally, you need to promote your event. Since viewers often have many ways to watch an event, it’s typically best to create a free live sports streaming event. By offering people a free way to watch live sports, you’ll give them more incentive to choose your stream over someone else’s.

You can promote your free live sports streaming event by running paid ads, posting on your social media pages, and sending invites to your email list. Allow your audience to pre-register, giving you a virtual headcount for your stream and the opportunity to send reminders to those who sign up.

In your promotions, make sure to include reasons your stream is different and better than your competitors. You can also attract viewers by offering rewards like giveaways, discounts, and coupons.

Add Engagement Tools

Once you have a way for your audience to watch live sports, it’s important to give them a way to engage with the live stream. Two ways to do this are through live blog and live chat. Check out how Fox Sports Australia successfully leverages Live Blog and Live Chat in their sports coverage.

Set up a Live Blog

A live blog lets you provide quick updates and posts during a sporting event in real time. Adding a live blog to your stream is a great way to stand out from other live sports streamers.

The difference between a live blog and a regular blog is speed. By quickly adding updates to a live blog, you’ll have your fans informed as soon as something notable happens.

One way you can use the live blog to engage your audience is to provide play-by-play commentary. For example, you are live streaming a big football game on Sunday afternoon. A touchdown is scored on the opening play, and you send out an exciting update, “Touchdown Wildcats!”

Many sports including basketball, baseball, football, and tennis include breaks in the action. These can be a result of period changes, injuries, and timeouts.  Take advantage of these breaks by sharing content that keeps your audience engaged.

These can include sharing player and coach interviews, explaining sports rules, and sharing team highlights and schedules. You can also explain business aspects like player trades, contract values, and franchise salary caps.

For more examples for using a live blog, check out our article on how to add a live blog to an olympics event. If you don’t know where to start, consider using Arena Live Blog with your next live stream event.

Add Live Chat to Your Stream

Sports fans are extremely passionate, and they love sharing ideas and opinions with others. While adding a live blog is a great way to keep your audience informed, you’ll also want to encourage them to give their feedback too. To do this, you can add live chat to your live sport stream.

First, you’ll want to prepare some questions to ask your audience during the event.

For example, you can ask your audience if they agree with the coach’s decision to sit a star player during a crucial basketball game. You can ask your audience if they agree with a referee’s decision to give a player a yellow card during a soccer match.

Fans love to give their predictions for a sporting event. At the start of a golf tournament, you can ask your audience who they believe will finish with the best score. You can ask them who they believe will win a hockey game and by how many goals.

Get creative with your questions and make sure they are thought provoking to your target audience. These will lead to increased audience engagement and insightful answers.

Next, you can have an assistant read through the comments and highlight insightful answers. You don’t need to respond to every comment but make sure to pull out interesting comments. This shows your audience that you value their opinions, and it encourages them to engage even more.

Because there are no real consequences for misbehavior, internet commenters often post offensive or inappropriate comments and use profane language. Improve your live chat by eliminating internet trolls and foul language.

By using a tool like Arena Live Chat, you’ll have the ability to control internet trolls and automatically detect and block profane language.

Finally, you can create the best live chat experience possible by thanking your audience for their input. By positively reinforcing your audience through appreciation, you’ll increase their chances of returning and engaging with future live sports streams.

You can also show appreciation by offering incentives like coupon codes and discounts to those who comment.

Conclusion

Leveraging live sports streaming on your website isn’t hard if you have the right tools and strategies. By hosting an engaging, relevant, and free live sports streaming event, you’ll be sure to attract and retain viewers for future events.

Choose an event to broadcast, select a streaming platform, and promote your live sport stream to get started. You can further enhance your event by adding a live blog and live chat. A live blog gives you a way to provide real-time updates, and a live chat gives your audience ways to share their ideas and opinions.

The best way to add a live blog and live stream is through Arena’s intuitive software. With Arena, you can add a live blog and live chat to your website in minutes. Sign up for a free trial by clicking the link below.

Sign up for Arena today

10 Steps to create a Virtual Event

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Offering virtual events is a cost-effective way to attract customers and grow your audience. However, it is not the Spring of 2020 anymore. Poorly produced virtual events are no longer good enough. Use this 10-step checklist to improve the quality of your virtual events.

Why You Need A Checklist For Virtual Events

A checklist is a standard series of steps you use every time to increase performance and reduce mistakes. As Atul Gawande points out in his book “The Checklist Manifesto”, checklists are one of the easiest ways to reduce mistakes in surgery, flights, and other situations. By working from a checklist, you can avoid making the same mistakes in your virtual events. Use this audit checklist on each event you hold, and you will start to see engagement increase on your live chat, live blog, and videos.

Pre-Event Planning

1. What Is The Goal Of Your Virtual Event?

Start by writing out a short answer to the question: “What is the goal of this virtual event?

Common goals for virtual events include:

  • Increased engagement. Increasing engagement may lead to higher conversions or advertising revenue.
  • Grow your audience. Set a specific goal, such as adding 500 or 5000 people to your email list of social media following.

2. What Does Your Audience Want?

Knowing your goal is a good starting point, but it is only half of the equation. You also need to spend a few minutes covering the needs of your audience. Discuss the following questions with your virtual events team to get ready.

  • What questions do we get from customers? Look at your support email, live chat records, and social media to see what questions people ask you.
  • What successful live events have competitors offered? You can take inspiration from the virtual events offered by other companies. For example, an eCommerce company might look at the events offered by Amazon Live to inform their approach to live events.

3. What Technology Will You Use?

There are several choices to make in selecting technology for virtual events.

  • Webcam and microphone. Buy and test the best webcam and microphone you can afford and buy a backup just in case technical problems occur.
  • Lights. Buying a ring light may be helpful if you are planning to appear in the video.
  • Live Chat. Using Arena Live Chat is an excellent choice because it automatically can block profanity and can be installed in a few minutes.
  • Live Blog. If you have a team of reporters and experts who are ready to share their insights, use Arena Live Blog.

4. Promote The Virtual Event

Make a plan to promote your virtual event several days before the event. For example, you might ask your three special guests to post that they will be joining your event on social media.

Make sure you complete one or more of the following promotion events to maximize attendance and engagement at your live event.

  • Email Promotion. Send an email to your email list announcing the event.
  • Social Media Promotion. Choose the social media platform where your brand has the largest following and post about your event.
  • Website Promotion. If your website has a large amount of traffic, promoting the event can drive attendance. Consider posting an announcement banner at the top of your home page.

The Day Before The Event

In less than 24 hours, you will be running your live event. This is your opportunity to practice and gain confidence with your tools and content.

5. Test Your Virtual Events Technology

Taking 30 minutes to test your virtual events technology is an intelligent decision. For example, schedule a live blog or live chat session with a few colleagues. Start by asking everybody to make posts. Once that is done, experiment with advanced features like using polls and using a custom avatar.

6. Practice Your Virtual Event Content

Practicing your presentation is an easy way to become more confident. The exact details of your practice will vary depending on the format of your event.

  • Practice Speaking. Take a few minutes to practice your presentation if you are giving a talk at a virtual event. In general, a comfortable speaking speed is 100 words per minute. Keep that guideline in mind as you develop your presentation.
  • Make Notes. Some virtual events cannot be fully scripted in advance, such as journalists covering an election. In that case, you can prepare differently. Make a list of experts you plan to interview for your live blog, or have specific questions to ask your audience.

Tip: Keep asking yourself if your content encourages engagement. This means asking questions of your audience and taking the time to respond to them.

Day of Event

7. Double-check your settings

Remind everybody participating on your virtual events team to review their settings. In particular, check the following settings 30 minutes before the event.

  • Audio. Check your audio settings to make sure you are ready to speak.
  • Video. Check that your webcam is connected and ready.
  • Close all other apps. When you’re distracted, audience engagement will suffer. That’s why we suggest closing all other apps and web browsers that are not needed.

8. Start the virtual event early

Let’s say your virtual events team has scheduled the event to run from 7 pm to 9 pm. In that case, launch your live chat or live blog by 6:45 pm. This will give you time to post a few messages before the audience appears. If your audience sees a blank page or an empty chat room, your audience engagement may be slow to build.

Post Event

9. Collect feedback

Within 24 hours of running the event, collect feedback from your audience. Start by collecting numbers, like how many people attended the event or how many people posted messages in the live chat. If possible, search on social media for a few minutes to see what people posted about your events.

10. Complete your virtual event Debrief

Your final step is to have a short debriefing meeting with your virtual events team. Like any post-project effort, the focus is on improvement. To start the discussion, ask your team what went well (e.g., the audience loved asking questions to the fashion influencer in our live chat). Next, make a list of what didn’t go well (e.g., attendance was below expectations)

Get Your Free Live Event Guide

For more tips on organizing a successful live event, download a copy of our “Virtual Event Power Script” ebook.

The Power of Content Automation: Grow Your Audience

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Ever wondered if producing quality content for your audience could be easier?

Producing quality content isn’t easy. The process starts with research into your audience. The process continues with production – working with writers, designers, and other professionals. Finally, you have editing, production, and promotion. There is a solution: content automation.

What Is Content Automation?

Content automation is a set of software, tools, and methods to automate aspects of content marketing. While it is not possible to automate all of your content, a lot can be done to make it easier. For example, you can use tools to automate the following tasks:

  • Proofreading. There are some tools on the market that help improve the grammar and clarity of your content. For example, apps like Hemingway and Grammarly help writers improve their writing.
  • Search Engine Optimization. Several SEO software tools can help to improve content so that you get more search traffic.
  • Content Distribution. Use email marketing and social media scheduling apps to distribute your content on a schedule you determine.
  • Content Curation. Gathering content from many different sources, filtering it, and organizing it is a long-established type of content curation.
  • Content Management and Planning. Managers can use tools to stay organized with a team of creatives, agencies, and editors worldwide.

Most people tend to focus on content automation in terms of software. However, that is only part of the equation. You also need to change your workflow, habits and learn new skills to make content automation work for your situation. Think of content automation as a dedicated assistant that stands by to help you. These tools can only boost your engagement if you guide them effectively with a well-developed strategy and understanding what your audience wants.

Now that you know about the wide range of content automation options, let’s look at the business benefits.

How Content Automation Benefits Your Business

Every year, the Internet gets more and more crowded with content. Consider the following statistics for context.

  • Videos. In May 2013, there were 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. By May 2019, that figure climbed to 500 hours of video every minute (source: Statista). In less than a decade, YouTube has become a much more competitive environment.
  • Blog Posts. While estimates vary, there are millions of new blog posts published each day. In Q1 2021, approximately five million WordPress blog posts were published every day, according to TechJury.

When you add in the millions of text messages, emails, and social media posts, it is clear that the online world is getting more crowded every day.

In light of these trends, keeping the attention of your audience is getting more and more difficult. To stay competitive, content automation helps in a few ways. First, content automation reduces errors, omissions, and mistakes. Second, content automation increases the productivity of marketing and editorial staff to create even more content for your audience. Third, content automation frees up your time to focus on strategic efforts like creating unique content that cannot be found anywhere else.

For example, let’s say that you save 2 two hours per week by using content automation. There are several ways you can use that extra time to make your content better. You could spend an hour a week building relationships with influencers. You might spend the time digging through your website analytics further to find out what topics your audience is interested in. These efforts will all play a role in boosting the quality of your content and audience engagement for the long term.

By gradually adding more content automation tools and methods to your workflow, you can boost engagement. For example, you might start creating a workflow for content promotion (e.g., every Thursday, we send out an email newsletter and promote our new content on three social platforms). Next, you might move up to using tools to enhance live events, such as a live blog.

Content Automation In Action: Rogers Media Grows Engagement With Sports Fans

Rogers Media, one of Canada’s largest communications and media brands, has achieved impressive gains by using content automation. The company wanted to grow audience engagement for Sportsnet. Founded in 1998, Sportsnet is a major sports brand offering coverage of hockey, baseball, basketball, and other major sports events.

The company used two content automation tools to increase its engagement: Arena Live Chat and Arena Live Blog. By using these tools, Rogers Sportsnet achieved the following results during coverage of live games

  • 64% increase in user engagement
  • 28% increase in user retention
  • Grew time on-site to 27.25 minutes

Achieving these results did not require months of testing either. The company installed Arena in less than 24 hours. In a day, the company was ready to bring their fifty-person team to the total.

By increasing engagement, Sportsnet has already increased ad revenue, app downloads, and subscriptions. As the company continues to use Arena, they are likely to keep growing.

Tip: Not sure how to create an engaging real-time event with live chat and live blog tools? Start by brainstorming engagement ideas ahead of the game. Make a list of experts and fans you will call on for additional insight. For additional tips on creating a successful livestreamed sports event, read our post How to Create The Best Live Sports Streaming Events.

How To Plan Your Next Live Event

There is an art and science to creating successful events. That’s why there are more than 100,000 event planners in the US alone. However, relatively few event professionals have mastered the nuances of creating engaging digital events. A successful digital event requires a careful selection of technology, content planning, and an interested audience. Fortunately, you’re not on your own.

To help you plan your next event, download Arena’s ebook Virtual Events Power Scripts . You’ll learn the fundamentals of preparing your event and researching your audience’s interests. You will also learn tips and techniques to make sure you come across loud and clear.

How To Make Powerful Live Shopping eCommerce

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How to Make Powerful Live Ecommerce has become the first obsession among today’s top online retailers.

If live sales is a trend that will remain in the future, it is too early to say.

However, this is definitely the hot spot today when it comes to online sales.

It’s not hard to guess why.

Combining the convenience of traditional ecommerce with the dynamics of video streaming, Live Ecommerce has brought all the casual characteristics of stores and physical markets to the homes of consumers.

And the result could not be anything other than a resounding success.

In China, for example, where the format was first launched, the main presenter-sellers have already been elevated to the status of superstars.

In other places, large brands such as Amazon, for example, draw on the influence of celebrities such as Carla Stevenné, Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, among others, in their live sales. Shoply relied on an integration with Arena’s API to create a brand new revenue stream from Live Shopping: Shoply.tv.

After all, anything goes to win over the consumer.

But anyone who thinks that the phenomenon is restricted to the major players in internet retail is mistaken.

7 Steps To Make Powerful Live Ecommerce

With the popularization of video streaming, added to the dissemination of audience engagement tools, it is now perfectly possible for any ecommerce to promote a Live Ecommerce.

With this in mind, Arena prepared an infographic with the seven fundamental steps to be taken so that you know how to make a Live Ecommerce. And for your experience in the format to be synonymous with efficiency.

That is, boosting sales.

Check out this awesome infographic Arena has assembled to set you up fpr success.

Conclusion

Live sales literally brought new life to the ecommerce universe.

But as it happens in any new format, it is necessary to study and understand its nuances and peculiarities so as not to waste time or unnecessary efforts.

With the tips above, you can get into the mindset to structure your live streaming sales.

Good planning is at the base of every project that is intended to be successful.

And when it comes to how to make Live Ecommerce sales, remember: engaging the audience is paramount.

How publishers increase revenue with Live Chat news

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The news business model needs to evolve to take advantage of the digital opportunity. This shift is vital for two business reasons: market share and revenue predictability. That’s why more publishers are using live chat news to stay connected with their audience.

The Top 4 Revenue Challenges Facing The News Business

Increased competition from non-traditional news sources and social media is just one of the news business’s problems. Many publishers are struggling to earn online revenue.

  • Minimal Digital Advertising Revenue. Local TV stations in the US only earned about 7% of their total advertising revenue from digital in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.
  • Election Year Dependence. Many local TV stations tend to earn significantly more revenue in election years than non-election years. That means broadcasters struggle to maintain staffing levels and quality as they ride the revenue rollercoaster.
  • Slowing Retransmission Fee Growth. Over the past decade, local TV stations earned billions from retransmission fees (i.e., fees paid by cable and satellite companies to carry local channels). While this revenue source may continue to grow this decade, it is likely to grow at a much slower pace.
  • The Rise of Streaming Services. Two streaming services – Netflix and Disney+ – have developed significant audiences in the US and other countries. Every hour customers spend on a streaming service means less attention and revenue for other publishers.

Other news publishers in print, radio, and other media are facing challenges with declining revenue. For example, newspaper circulation in the US has been falling steadily since 1990. Fortunately, some newspapers like the New York Times and Wall St Journal have recovered some ground with digital offerings.

Why Offering Live Chat Boosts Revenue For Publishers  

Publishing quality news content online is no longer enough to attract audiences and earn revenue. That’s not the only challenge. There is an increasing challenge with misinformation and fake news more than ever before. For example, 11% of Americans strongly believe that 9/11 was an “inside job” in 2019. By thoughtfully engaging audiences, publishers can achieve two important goals at the same time.

Offering live chat news gives your audience additional reasons to stay on your website and keep coming back. By increasing audience engagement, you can boost your advertising revenue. Best of all, this added revenue requires minimal investments in technology and employee effort.

In addition to growing revenue, publishers can use live chat news events to engage their audiences in thoughtful conversations. A well-considered live chat news event can be done correctly and inspire your audience to think more deeply and become more engaged citizens.

Traditionally, publishers have focused their effort on creating and presenting the news. To engage today’s digital audience, we need to invite the public into the conversation. You can use a live chat news approach to keep audiences engaged.

Getting Started With A Chat News Live Stream

Adding a live chat to news coverage is simple. Follow these guides to install the Arena live chat platform on your website.

Once you have Arena Live Chat installed, you can test your new live chat news internally. For example, you could simulate coverage of an election for 15 minutes with colleagues. During the test, invite some people to participate as journalists while others play the role of the public. Experiencing both sides of a live chat platform is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the features.

Three Tips To Make The Most of Live Chat News

Launching a live chat platform on your news website only takes a few minutes. Keeping your audience engaged takes more practice. To run successful live chat sessions, keep the following tips in mind.

  • Experiment with different times. Different segments of your audience will be available to participate at different times. For example, you might be able to connect with a business news audience during the morning of a major IPO (initial public offering) in the stock market. In that situation, inviting investing experts to add to the conversation can make your chat news live stream more interesting. If attendance and engagement numbers are low, try the other tips in this section to improve the quality of the session.
  • Enforce your standards. When you open your virtual doors for a chat news live stream, troublemakers might appear. For example, some people might start cursing in the live chat. To quickly handle those problems, use Arena’s Live Chat, which includes profanity moderation.
  • Prepare questions in advance. Even live events like elections and sports games have slow moments. In these moments, your chat news live stream might go quiet. If the chat stays quiet for too long, your audience might leave. Preparing 5-6 questions in advance of running the live chat session will solve this problem.

Is Live Chat News Right For You?

Live chat news is a proven way to make news coverage more engaging. However, it will not help every organization. Three situations make it more challenging to make live chat news work.

  • You lack an online audience. For live chat news to work, you need a reasonably large online audience. If your company focuses exclusively on non-digital formats like print, radio, and TV, live chat news might not suit you.
  • Technical Skills. Installing live chat news is relatively fast and straightforward. Many customers can install it in just five minutes. That said, it does take some time to learn all of the features. If your staff cannot learn additional digital skills, live chat news may not be a good fit.

Offering a live chat news stream is an excellent strategy for publishers with active websites and a desire to build your digital advertising revenue.

Start Your First Live Chat Event For Free

You can start a live chat event in less than an hour by signing up for the Arena Live Chat free trial. In a few weeks, you’ll have plenty of time to run a few live chat news events and discover if Arena is right for you.

Does your online media brand need a larger audience? A large and growing audience is the foundation of every successful online media brand. Yet, many brands neglect the power of a live chat platform to grow their reach. That’s a mistake because your audience doesn’t want to consume information passively.

Where Will The Conversation Happen?

Whether you cover a major political event like an event, a breaking business story, or a sports game, your audience is talking about that event. People are going to share their thoughts on social media, text, email, and beyond. As an online media brand, you can approach conversations in two ways.

The traditional or “broadcast only” approach to the audience is the most common choice. With this line of thinking, your audiences have no way to interact with each other on your website. That means conversations almost always happen somewhere else, like Twitter or Facebook. That means people are spending less time on your platform.

The inclusive approach to conversation is the better way because it builds your reach with a live chat platform. Imagine covering a significant event like the annual CES event – a must-attend event for the electronics industry. By giving your audience a live chat experience, they are more likely to stay on your website. There is also a good chance they will invite their friends and family to join the conversation.

Live Chat Strategies To Increase Your Reach

Use these strategies to make the most of your live chat sessions. Pick and choose among the different strategies for the best results until you find the right approach for a chat news live stream that appeals to your audience.

Reach Building Strategy 1: Become a community hub

Think about the community hubs in your city. For example, parents and families regularly gather in parks for their children’s sports games. Everybody knows when and where the game will happen, week after week. Church services have a similar community dynamic – everybody attending a service knows when to show up on Sunday morning.

To apply the community hub strategy to your brand’s live chat news , use the following steps.

  • Pick a consistent day and time. If people always know when to attend your live chat session, they can add it to their calendar and look forward to it.
  • Focus on one segment of your audience. When you first get started, don’t try to appeal to everybody in your audience. For example, you might run a sports-focused live chat on Mondays and a stock market-focused live chat on Wednesdays.

Offering a small, focused live chat experience makes it easier for your audience to feel connected with others who share their interests.

Reach Building Strategy 2: Invite influencers as guests

Collaboration with others is one of the best ways to grow your audience. Specifically, consider inviting relevant influencers to your live chat. Encourage each influencer to promote the event to their audience. Over time, you will have the opportunity to grow your reach.

To make the most of the influencer-themed chat news live stream event, keep the following tips in mind.

  • Brand Relevance. Inviting a fashion influencer to a business-themed news website probably would not make sense. Avoid the temptation to invite any influencer you come across with a large audience. Instead, use tools like Klear or Upfluence to identify relevant influencers. In particular, look for similarities in audience demographics. If your online media site audience is mainly women over the age of 30, seek out an influencer relevant to that audience.
  • Influencer Audience Size. Only a tiny fraction of an influencer’s audience will join your live chat session. As a rule of time, use the 1% rule. Assume that 1% of the influencer’s followers will join your event. That means 1,000 live chat participants if the influencer has an audience of 100,000.
  • Make The Influencer Feel Special Before, During, and After The Event. Making the influencer feel special doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, you could assign them an assistant during the live chat session and dedicated tech support. After the event, give them a report on how the event went covering how many people attended the event. You might also want to send a gift to the influencer to thank them for their participation.

If the influencer asks to be paid for participating in the live chat, consider the request. Before agreeing, ask them about previous collaborations they have participated in.

Reach Building Strategy 3: Offer a family-friendly environment

The Internet is not always a friendly place for families and children. As a publisher, this sorry state of affairs is an opportunity for thoughtful publishers. Your website can become a destination for parents concerned about appropriate Internet use by offering well-moderated live chat news sessions.

A significant number of families are already applying restrictions of some kind on how their children use social media, mobile devices, and other services. A March 2020 survey of 3640 people found that 72% of US parents use parental controls on screen time. The same survey found that 49% of parents look at call records and texts on their child’s smartphone. Publishers who create moderated live chat sessions can build their reach by appealing to these audiences.

With Arena Live Chat, you have operations to keep live chat sessions family-friendly. Profanity moderation is built in. In addition, it is easy for moderators to remove participants who do not follow guidelines quietly.

Reach Building Strategy 4: Exclusive chat experiences for subscribers

In some cases, your goal may not be maximizing pageviews or raw audience numbers. For instance, you might focus on promoting exclusive programs for subscribers. For example, the; New York Times offers offline access to content for paying subscribers, among other benefits.

Consider setting up exclusive live chat news experiences for your paying subscribers. For example, you might offer pre-game interviews with VIP athletes right before a major game. To make the live chat experience more enticing, consider limiting attendance to a small group of 50-100 so each participant can be heard.

Start Expanding Your Online Media Reach Today

Getting started with Arena Live Chat is easy. You can install it on your website in less than 10 minutes. You can get started for free and start building your reach with a free trial. That’s enough time to hold a few events and grow your audience.

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