Category Archives: Live Blog

The Absolute Best Live Streaming Tips

Posted on by

Live streams are used by companies and content creators to engage audiences, monetize content, inform customers, and much more. When creating a livestream event, it’s important to understand best practices to achieve the greatest results possible. This guide uncovers the meaning of live streaming and shares five insightful tips to use during your next event. 

What is Live Streaming?

While basic streaming can be pre-recorded, live streaming is the act of creating and sharing a live video on the internet in real-time. 

People livestream webinars, news broadcasts, social media videos, sporting events, video game content, and more. Companies use live streaming to increase brand awareness, retain and engage viewers, build a wider audience, and monetize their websites. 

How to Enhance Your Live Streams

Use the following tips to improve the effectiveness of your next livestream. 

Pick the Right Platform

The two main types of livestream platforms are social media platforms and platforms that specialize in live streaming. 

When deciding which to use, consider where your audience spends their time. If most of your audience interacts with you primarily through one social media platform, you can use it to host your live streams. 

For example, travel bloggers may prefer Instagram, video gamers may prefer Twitch, and software professionals may prefer YouTube. YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and Twitch are examples of social media platforms you can broadcast on. 

If your audience uses multiple social media platforms or has less of a social media presence, it’s better to use a platform that specializes in live streams. Examples of these include Restream, Dacast, and Brightcove. 

These platforms let you stream on websites and multiple social media platforms simultaneously. They also provide monetization tools, analytic reports, tech support, and more. 

Market Your Livestream

Before you host your livestream, it’s important to build awareness for it. You can do this by creating excitement on your social media pages, sending informational emails to your list, and having viewers pre-register for your livestream. 

Within your marketing material, make sure to include specific details on how to join the event, what time the event will begin and end, and what to expect during the livestream. 

To create anticipation, you can include exclusive sneak peek videos, hint at potential discounts, and ask users to submit questions and ideas for the event. It’s also helpful to include reminder emails, push notifications, or texts leading up to the livestream. 

Optimize Lighting and Audio

To create an exceptional livestream presentation, make sure your lighting and audio is optimized. 

Lighting

First, ensure all presenters are wearing solid colors and simple fabrics. Colors that are too bright or shiny, and patterns that are too complex are less optimal for your camera. 

You should also be careful if filming outdoors. The sun can often be too bright and make it difficult for your presenter to be seen. When in doubt, film inside a well-lit room. 

Finally, avoid backlighting your presenter. If the dominant light source is coming from behind your presenter, it can display a silhouette of him or her. Instead, have your primary light source in front of the presenter to ensure the best lighting. 

Audio

First, beware of adding music that you aren’t permitted to use. There are laws that require you to receive permission from the artist before playing their music for a public performance. When in doubt, leave out licensed music. 

Second, always keep in mind when a mic is on. If someone accidentally says something irrelevant or inappropriate with a live mic, it can come off as unprofessional. Make sure everyone who is not presenting remains quiet throughout the streaming event.

Finally, use a lapel mic if you’ll be streaming on the go. A lapel mic easily attaches to your shirt, reducing the need to hold one up to your mouth. Lapel mics can also reduce background noise from cars and planes. 

Do a Test Run before Going Live

It is critical to do a test run and practice before launching your livestream. Start by defining a clear goal for your livestream. Do you want to grow your audience, build a stronger relationship with your customers, or sell a product or service?

Once you have a clear goal for your stream, create an outline of key topics you aim to cover. Next, ensure everyone on your team is informed about the event and its timeline. Ensure your Wi-Fi is strong enough to support your stream, and you can run a speed test to measure your bandwidth. 

Finally, test all equipment including microphones, cameras, and computers to ensure everything runs smoothly. You can also conduct recorded practice runs to make sure you’re ready for the live event. 

Incorporate Engagement and Monetization Tools

Once you start your livestream, use tools that let your audience engage in real-time and that let you monetize your stream. The best ways to do this are through a live chat or a live blog. 

Live Chat

A tool like Arena Live Chat lets livestream viewers interact with you and other viewers in real time. This can take the form of instant messaging, community polls, and Q&A segments. By increasing engagement through live chat, you ensure your audience is actively participating during your event and less likely to lose interest. 

Live chat tools also let you monetize your livestream event. This can be used to collect tips for a helpful presentation, donate gifts relevant to your stream, or raise funds for a charity event. Arena Live Chat integrates with PayPal and will offer integration with Stripe in the near future to collect donations, gifts, and tips during events. 

Live Blog

Live blogs are a way to share quick updates as a livestream event unfolds. A tool like Arena Live Blog lets companies and content creators send out quick, informative updates that keep users engaged during a livestream. A live blog can improve engagement during virtual business conferences, online news broadcasts, live sports streams, and more. 

Live blogs can also monetize livestream events by collecting ad revenue. Arena Live Blog can be paired with DFP, Google AdSense, and other ad platforms to monetize your livestream. Integrating ad platforms is an easy process that lets users seamlessly add additional income streams to their event. 

Conclusion

We shared these tips to help you develop the best livestream event possible. By selecting the right platform, marketing your event, optimizing lighting and audio, conducting test runs, and adding engagement and monetization tools, you’ll be able to create a superior livestream experience. 

If you want to learn more about enhancing your livestream events, download our free eBook by clicking the link below. 

Download the Enhance your Live Stream eBook for free

How to use a CDP to work around iOS 14 changes

Posted on by

Apple’s iOS 14 has completely altered the way companies market to customers. Paid media advertising has become trickier, and this is forcing brands to get creative with their marketing efforts. This guide was created to explain how the iOS 14 updates have impacted paid media, how brands are adapting, and how an effective CDP can benefit your brand. 

How iOS 14 Affects Paid Media

iOS 14 has enforced much stricter rules regarding data privacy. Before iOS 14, apps could track mobile behavior by default. After the iOS 14.5 update in April of 2021, users must opt in to allow apps to track their mobile behavior. This has had an enormous impact on paid media advertising. 

Because users can choose to opt out, the data pool for targeted advertising has shrunk. According to a study by Flurry, the worldwide daily opt-in rate for iOS 14.5 users never exceeded 15%, while the U.S. rate was even lower at 6%. This has made it increasingly difficult to target potential customers through paid media. 

This shift has forced companies to rely more on organic strategies that create brand awareness and acquire customers by working with content creators and brand partnerships. Other strategies include working with influencers, in-house digital content platforms, customer data platforms (CDPs), and newsletters. 

Additionally, the iOS 15 update is expected to change email marketing by adding “hide my email” and mail privacy protection features. This will force marketers to find more creative ways to track customers and build buyer personas. Times are changing, and successful marketers must be proactive in developing new strategies for targeting customers. 

How CDPs can Help

A great way to adapt to these changes is by using a CDP. CDPs help companies obsessively focus on their customers and gain insights from their engagement. CDPs allow marketers to understand customers by managing their data. This is helpful for improving ROI, budgeting for campaigns, keeping users engaged, and more. 

CDPs work by tracking and monitoring data from multiple sources to consolidate information on a single hub. A CDP can continually analyze, manage, integrate, and collect customer data once set up. This lets marketers create effective strategies by using this current data. 

The following are types of data that a CDP can use to help you discover more about your customers. 

  • Personal data shows you how to identify your customers
  • Attitudinal data shows you how your customers perceive your brand
  • Behavioral data shows you how customers expect to be impacted by experiences
  • Interactional data shows you how to interact with your customers

CDPs can generate this data from customer feedback, online metrics, support occurrences, engagement measures, analytics reports, and more. 

What to Look for in an CDP

An effective CDP should be able to perform the following five tasks. 

  • Gather data from any source
  • Develop unified personas
  • Provide full details of ingested data
  • Share data with any system
  • Frequently store data without end

For a CDP that can perform these tasks and more, consider using Arena CDP.

Arena CDP

Arena CDP is a unified platform that lets you deliver real-time personal experiences for customers and activate individual marketing with centralized data. 

Arena Personas

Arena Personas creates individual profiles for each customer and brings data enrichment to their profiles. It does this by running complex algorithms with the content of pages visited and raw tracking events data to create an interest profile of every customer. 

For example, one user visiting an article on your website that has a Canadian politics live blog starts voting for political stances, responding to polls, and interacting with content. Arena Personas determines this user is probably interested in politics and Canadian politics specifically. 

Arena Personas actively monitors what users are engaging with to create a comprehensive profile. On each profile, you can see the user’s qualification, score, email, last piece of content viewed, connections, browser and device used, and engagement timeline. 

It gives you the ability to view their current job, education, and social affinities. It even provides an in-depth chart of interest categories and subcategories. 

Once the platform has collected some data on your users, you can create targeted marketing campaigns for each group. For example, you can create a campaign for “users interested in North American politics”. You can start by selecting a category like “politics” then including subcategories like “Canada”, “United States”, and “Mexico”. 

Arena CDP lets you send targeted emails and create Google and Facebook ads for selected user groups. Arena analyzes user behavior and matches it against a taxonomy with over 840 categories. To gain additional insights, Arena can measure a user’s affinity with certain brands for select customers. 

It uses language analysis to gauge customer preferences and feelings. The tool complies with GDPR and EU/US Privacy Shield to secure data. It also generates user scores to understand a customer’s propensity to perform specific actions and his or her intent to buy. 

Who Arena CDP is Built for

Arena CDP was created for product managers, growth marketers, and developers.

Product managers can use the CDP to enhance the product roadmap and generate data-driven insights. This lets product teams focus on execution because all customer data is consolidated in one place. It also lets them track income generated from each user and see individual purchases. 

Growth marketers can use Arena CDP to build real-time campaigns activating individual marketing. Marketers can target specific customer groups, get an all-in-one 360 view of customers, and collect data from several touchpoints. They can also see interest profiles and engagement history. 

Arena CDP lets developers use APIs to collect data from several different platforms. It gives them greater insights into how their organization gathers, handles, and maintains data. Arena CDP can pull information from CRMs, social media, mobile devices, and from the web. 

Arena CDP Integrations

An important aspect of CDPs is their ability to integrate with and collect information from third-party apps. Arena CDP easily integrates with over 100 apps to gather data for brands. 

The CDP can integrate with social media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook Messenger. Other integrations include Shopify, HelpDesk, ChatBot, WordPress, Google Analytics, and Slack. 

Conclusion

Because of Apple’s increased concern for protecting user security, companies need to find a new way to gain insights on their customers. An effective CDP can fill this need by helping companies identify customer preferences, reveal the best ways to interact with customers, create customer profiles, and more. 

A tool like Arena CDP can create personas by building individual profiles for each customer and collecting data from several touchpoints. The tool was built to help product managers, growth marketers, and developers get to know their customers more closely. The tool also integrates with several third-party integrations for collecting information. To try Arena CDP today, click the link below. 

Virtual Events: Stats and Trends You Need To Succeed

Posted on by

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.

Streaming Live Sports Best Practices for Engagement

Posted on by

Pairing a live chat or live blog with your live sport stream is one of the best ways to update and involve your audience. Before you set either one up, you need to know the basics for using them effectively. This article goes over the best practices for adding a live chat or live blog to your live sport stream. 

How to Make the Best Live Chat and Live Blog Experience Possible

If you’re not already familiar with live chat or live blog, they are tools you can use to boost connection and engagement with your fans and customers. Follow the guidelines presented below to create the best experience possible. 

1. Motivate Your Audience

The first best practice when implementing your live chat or live blog is to show your viewers that you value them. Thank viewers for joining your live stream, encourage their feedback and engagement, and answer any questions they have. 

When someone joins your live chat, send them a welcome message like “Welcome [user first name]! Thanks for joining our live stream today!” Avoid creating a one-way conversation by letting viewers comment through live chat. Allow them to ask questions and do your best to answer as many as you can. 

You can encourage your audience to engage by asking questions of your own. You can then ask them to give their best answer or prediction. For example, you could ask, “How many points will the Nuggets score this quarter?” Offer a reward to anyone who guesses correctly, increasing the chance that people will comment. 

It can incentivize people to join your event if you create a free live sports streaming event. A free live sports streaming event can set you apart from competitors who charge money to view their stream. You can then encourage them to comment in the live chat or view your live blog. 

2. Capitalize on Down Time

When people watch live sports, it’s common to experience breaks in the action. 

Football and basketball games have timeouts, injuries, and halftimes. Baseball games have inning and pitching changes. Tennis matches have side changeovers. No matter which type of live sports event you’re broadcasting, you’ll have opportunities to capitalize on down time. 

There’s a chance that viewers will log off during these breaks, but you can use a live blog to keep them interested. Post relevant content like team schedules and highlights, coach and player interviews, and rules explanations. 

You can also use live blog and live chat simultaneously during breaks. For example, you can post a team’s remaining schedule during a timeout. 

Then, you can ask your audience to predict how many more games the team will win. To encourage more engagement, you can offer a product discount to a randomly selected commenter on your question. 

3. Minimize Technical Problems

The best way to quickly send your audience to a competitor’s live stream is to host a stream filled with technical problems. These include freezes and audio glitches. You need a smooth connection to let your audience watch live sports without issues. 

To create a stream that’s as clean as possible, ensure you have a strong connection and are set up on a good streaming platform. Some of the best platforms we recommend are Restream, Dacast, and Brightcove.

Another way to reduce technical errors is by using live chat to help your viewers troubleshoot common problems. For example, you can provide tips on the best browser to use, recommend users to move closer to their routers, or offer other advice for unfreezing video and audio. 

4. Plan Ahead

When running a live blog, you’re under pressure to post relevant content quickly. This can be stressful so make sure you create a plan before the live sports event. Come up with at least four to five pieces of content you can post in certain slots. These can include statistics, highlights, interviews, and more. 

If you don’t want to create entire pieces of content beforehand, you should have a rough outline or set of notes for what to post. 

Not all content should be pre-made because that would eliminate the purpose of a live blog. However, planning some of your content out will allow you to quickly post when you’re struggling to think of ideas. 

It also helps to invite at least one teammate to join you. This allows you to collaborate on ideas and divide the workload. You could have one team member post content while the other team member edits. You could also alternate which team member is in charge of posting so no one gets burned out. 
Fox Sports Australia, for instance, leveraged automated features like social stream, auto score update and auto play-by-play to free up its editors to perform other tasks during online transmissions. This allowed the sports media company to offer over 500 monthly sports event in it website without losing efficiency.

5. Eliminate Inappropriate Messages

The internet is full of “trolls”, or people who post inappropriate, irrelevant, or offensive comments online. If you set up a live chat, you’ll be sure to encounter these types of posters. They might be insulting other users, sporadically posting comments, or using profane language. 

You need to monitor these messages, so your live chat doesn’t become unattractive to your audience. If someone joins your live chat that’s full of unhelpful or harmful messages, they’ll likely leave the chat. To prevent this, consider using a software like Arena Live Chat. 

With Arena Live Chat, you can monitor, identify, and remove internet trolls. The software also lets you automatically block profane language. This is especially important if you expect children to attend your live stream. By cleaning up your live chat, you’ll ensure everyone is comfortable and the discussion stays on topic. 

Conclusion

Once you have a live sports event in mind and a platform to let your audience watch live sports, add a live blog or live chat. A live chat is a way for the audience to share their opinions and interact with you, and a live blog lets you quickly post updates in real-time. 

When using these tools, keep in mind the five best practices covered in this guide. 

First, always make sure to value and encourage your audience. Take advantage of breaks in the action by sharing informative content. Always ensure your live stream is running smoothly. Plan some of your live blog content ahead of time. Finally, never tolerate live chat misbehavior. If you want more great tips you should check out our Best Live Streaming Tips article.

To quickly set up a live chat and live blog, download Arena’s software today. The tools can be set up in minutes, and the software has been trusted by thousands of customers including Fox Sports, Microsoft, and Sony Music. Click the link below to try Arena for free. 

Sign up for Arena today!

The 7 Best WordPress Plugins For Live Events

Posted on by

Live events have emerged as a cornerstone of meaningful engagement. With the foundational strength of WordPress, selecting the ideal plugins is instrumental in shaping superior live experiences. Dive deep into this curated guide to curate exceptional live events.

Integral Considerations for Plugin Integration

  • Developer Engagement: Right functioning of a plugin heavily relies on persistent developer involvement. Neglected plugins may conflict with evolving WordPress versions, jeopardizing site security and operability.
  • Evaluating Costs: Although an upfront investment, premium plugins generally offer advanced features and unwavering support, distinguishing them from their free counterparts.
  • Optimizing for Performance: Striking a balance is pivotal. Prudent management of active plugins ensures a website remains responsive and user-centric.

Championing Live Events with Leading Plugins

1. Arena WordPress Plugin

  • Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: 11 months ago
  • WordPress Compatibility: 3.6.1 or higher
  • Notable Features: With functionalities such as Live Chat and Live Blog, this plugin seamlessly meshes with popular social platforms.
  • Description: The Arena WordPress platform elegantly bridges live interaction with social media synergy. Integrating the Arena Live Blog is straightforward and poised to elevate your content landscape. Follow this clever 7-step guide to install Arena Live Blog in your WordPress website. Take a sneak-peak at what you can do buy adding social content in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgRBLN5cGU

2. Embed Plus for YouTube

  • Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: 2 months ago
  • WordPress Compatibility: 4.1 or higher
  • Notable Features: An avenue to directly embed YouTube live streams, while maintaining GDPR adherence.
  • Description: Ideal for funneling your YouTube audience onto your website, this plugin goes beyond mere streaming, offering diverse playlist curation avenues.

3. WPStream

  • Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: September 2021
  • WordPress Compatibility: 5.6 or higher
  • Notable Features: Versatile video platform support and encrypted content delivery.
  • Description: Tailored for businesses inclined towards a pay-per-view model, WPStream stands out as a potent tool in the world of live-streaming.

4. Easy Video Player

  • Rating: 4.1 stars out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: 3 months ago
  • WordPress Compatibility: 5.5 or higher
  • Notable Features: Direct embedding capabilities for an array of video formats, complemented by autoplay features.
  • Description: Beyond its prowess in live stream facilitation, it offers an archival route for videos, fostering a rich repository for audience revisit and instructional sharing.

Supporting WordPress Plugins

The WordPress plugins above provide the basic components for a successful live event. However, your business website may need more functions to be healthy. Check out these WordPress plugins to keep your website functioning smoothly.

5. Jetpack

  • Rating: 3.9 stars out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: 4 weeks ago
  • WordPress Compatibility: 5.7 or higher
  • Notable Features: Holistic backup solutions with daily and real-time modalities.
  • Description: Conceived by Automaticc, spearheaded by WordPress stalwart Matt Mullenweg, Jetpack is synonymous with robust data backup and fortified security.

6. Yoast SEO

  • Rating: 4.8 stars out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: September 2021
  • WordPress Compatibility: 5.6 or higher
  • Notable Features: Comprehensive SEO toolkit with diverse language accompaniments.
  • Description: Yoast SEO’s footprint in the WordPress cosmos speaks volumes of its effectiveness. For those banking on SEO-driven traffic, it emerges as a nonpareil choice.

7. W3 Total Cache

  • Rating: 4.4 stars out of 5 stars
  • Last Update: 4 weeks ago
  • WordPress Compatibility: 5.6 or higher
  • Notable Features: Enhancements to optimize website responsiveness across a myriad of devices.
  • Description: In the age where loading speed is tantamount to user retention, this plugin is crucial. Its intricate setup necessitates technical prowess, underscoring the importance of professional oversight.

Embracing the Future of Live Events on WordPress

Harnessing the vigor of live events is an art and science combined. Though WordPress might not be inherently tailored for live broadcasts, plugins, especially Arena, infuse it with this dynamism. Embark on this transformative journey with a 14-day free trial of Arena. Once enmeshed with your site, a vista of unparalleled live events beckons.

For aspirants in the live events spectrum, this comprehensive 10-step checklist ro a successful event serves as the gold standard to ensure great results. The symphony of apt tools and visionary strategies crafts marketing masterpieces.

How to Leverage Live Sports Streaming on my Website

Posted on by

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

What is an OTT Platform

Posted on by

Over the top content (OTT)  is a booming entertainment market worth billions of dollars. Consumers are shifting their attention to OTT video more every year, a trend that has accelerated due to the pandemic. To seize the opportunity presented by the OTT video industry, take a few minutes to understand the market, significant players, technologies, and significant services.

What is an OTT Platform?

Starting with a definition of OTT is the best place to start. The OTT meaning is an abbreviation for “over the top” video. The term “over the top” is contrasted to traditional TV services provided by antenna, cable, or satellite. OTT video is provided through existing Internet services. When you think of popular video streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, all of these services can be consider OTT video services.

For a consumer to access an OTT platform, they need to have an Internet connection which is usually separate from the OTT video service. For example, a consumer might have a cable Internet subscription and subscribe to different OTT video services depending on their entertainment services.

The OTT Streaming Industry: A Growing Market

The OTT content industry has been grown significantly over the past decade. However, the industry has indeed exploded in popularity due to the global pandemic. Consumers lost access to other kinds of entertainment, so signing up for streaming services presented an option. This boom in OTT video is clear from the market’s growth. In 2019, the global OTT video market was worth $121 billion, according to Allied Market Research. However, the industry grew to $171 billion in 2020. The market may be worth more than $1 trillion by 2027 if current growth trends continue.

There are several significant trends in the OTT market that make it different from traditional broadcast television.  

  • Original Programming. A decade ago, few OTT video platforms invested heavily in creating original content. That has changed significantly in recent years. According to Deadline, Netflix plans to spend $17 billion to create original content in 2021. Meanwhile, Amazon spent an estimated $465 million to create a Lord of The Rings TV show. Competing for customers without significant original content is going to be difficult. Some OTT video platforms apply geographic restrictions (“geo-blocking”). Some consumers circumvent these restrictions by using virtual private network (VPN) services.
  • Increased Competition For Older Content. Peacock, the NBC OTT video platform, has stood out by taking a different approach. In 2021, the OTT video company gained “The Office,” a comedy series that aired 2005-2013. Likewise, most of the Star Trek franchise will depart Netflix in September 2021 for other platforms.
  • Consumer Control. Unlike traditional television, an OTT video platform makes it easier for consumers to pick and choose the shows and movies they are interested in. In many cases, consumers access OTT video on their schedule. The exceptions are live events such as sports and live events.
  • Binge Behavior. The majority of adults between 18 and 64 frequently binge-watch (i.e., watching multiple episodes or movies in one sitting), according to an April 2020 survey. This habit is partly driven by the practice of releasing an entire season of content at once.
  • Increasing OTT Video Platform Competition. There are now multiple OTT video platforms with more than 100 million users. Netflix has 209 million global customers, and Disney+ has 116 million subscribers as of July 2021. Amazon Prime and Tencent Video both have more than 100 million subscribers. In addition, newer streaming services like Apple+ and HBO Max are adding millions of subscribers.

The migration of millions of consumers to OTT video has not gone unnoticed by advertisers. Keep reading to find out more about the latest advertising options.

OTT Advertising: A Fragmented Landscape

OTT advertising is currently evolving as the OTT market evolves. Some OTT video platforms are ad-supported while other platforms downplay advertising to customers. Let’s look at some of the different options available for OTT video platforms. For simplicity, we will focus on AVOD (Advertising-Based Video On Demand) and SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand).

Advertising-Based Video On Demand (AVOD)

This category of OTT video platform has the potential for a broad reach. These platforms typically charge customers either a low fee or no fee. Low-fee plans tend to include advertising, while no-fee plans rely on advertising to a greater degree.

  • YouTube. With an estimated 1 billion unique visitors, YouTube is one of the largest video platforms in the world. It is important to note that YouTube offers both user-generated content and traditional content like older videos. In 2019, YouTube generated close to $5 billion in revenue for Alphabet (the parent company of Google). The average cost per click on YouTube in 2021 fell between $0.10 and $0.20. However, your advertising costs will be higher if you are focused on higher-cost audiences. YouTube video includes both free ad-supported content and subscription plans such as YouTube Premium. However, it is still possible to advertise on YouTube Premium by directly working with YouTube channels to integrate advertising messages into advertising. However, arranging direct deals for sponsorships with YouTube video creators can take more effort than using the YouTube platform. The advantage is that ads created by YouTube creators may be seen as more entertaining and less likely to be skipped. Generally speaking, sponsored videos are highest when you work with an influencer with a large number of subscribers. Costs start from $500 to $1000 per video sponsorship at the low end to more than $5000 at the high end (source).
  • Hulu. The OTT video platform offers several plans. The lowest-cost plans are $5.99 per month, including ads, while the no-adds option is priced at over $11.99. For advertisers, the platform offers 7 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds ads. According to the DesignLoud Agency, Hulu advertising costs have recently declined to $20 per million impressions.
  • Roku. You might be familiar due to its popular video streaming devices. However, the company now generates a significant portion of its $1 billion revenue from the Roku Channel. The Roku channel reached about 61 million in late 2020, according to The Verge. Compared to other OTT video platforms, Roku offers a broader variety of advertising choices, such as ads on the Roku channel and the Roku channel store. In addition, Roku CPM rates were $38 in 2019 before the pandemic fueled a boom in OTT video use.

SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand)

Advertising on SVOD is quite different than the platforms above. The specific advertising opportunities vary by platform.

  • Netflix. The OTT video platform does not run advertising in the traditional TV sense. That said, the company has made brand arrangements with multiple companies. The New York Times reports that Subway, a restaurant chain, offered a “Green Eggs and Ham Sub” promotion alongside a Netflix show of the same name. The specific details and cost of Netflix’s brand partnerships are unclear. For the foreseeable future, advertising on Netflix is likely to be limited to the most prominent brands.
  • Amazon OTT. Amazon offers non-skippable advertising opportunities through its ad-supported Fire App. The advertising target offered by Amazon has some similarities to Google Ads. Advertisers can choose to advertise to lifestyle segments like “Home Owners” or “Recent Movers.” In addition, advertisers may increase higher conversions by buying access to in-market segments to customers interested in certain types of products like bedding.
  • Disney+. Today, advertising on Disney+ is limited, but that may change in the future. In a 2021 Credit Suisse conference, a Disney executive implied that the company might consider a low-cost ad-supported plan in the future. In addition, the video platform has started to add “product placement” warnings to some of its content, such as Marvel videos. For example, there is an Audi car shown in some of the Avengers movies. In other Marvel movies, characters are shown playing the video game Fortnite according to CBR. These examples suggest brands may be limited to traditional product placement on the Disney+ platform for the foreseeable future.

Finding OTT advertising opportunities takes significant effort because the market is fragmented. The upside of OTT video advertising is the potential for greater targeting. There is a greater opportunity to target advertising by location, consumer behavior, and other factors than broadcast television. For advertisers serious about building up their capabilities, seeking support from agencies may offer a solution.

OTT Technology and Tools

As OTT video increasingly competes against traditional television and video, consumer expectations for quality are increasing. As you plan your video content, it is helpful to understand the diversity of devices viewers are using.

  • Computers. Laptops and desktop computers remain a popular choice for OTT video streaming. Computer users may be more likely to multitask while consuming OTT video (i.e., play a video in one browser and answer an email in another browser). On the other hand, it is easier to engage computer users in a live chat platform.
  • Mobile Devices. As of Q1 2021, mobile devices accounted for 54% of global website traffic, according to Statista. The most popular mobile devices include Android smartphones (over 3 billion active Android devices), Apple smartphones, and tablets. The main disadvantage to mobile devices is the small screen size. Mobile device screens are typically 5 to 7 inches in size. As a result, videos created for larger screens may not always appear correctly. That said, mobile devices have high usage numbers. Data from eMarketer reports that the average American adult spends more than four hours per day using their mobile device in 2020.
  • Connected TVs and Smart TVs. Newer TVs come preloaded with Internet capabilities and the ability to download specific apps. The TCL 6-Series 65 inch TV, considered the best TV in 2021 according to Wirecutter, comes with a Roku interface. Like many newer TVs, the TV can display 4K video. As 4K video becomes more common, OTT video creators and platforms will need to add support for higher quality video.
  • Specialized Hardware. There are multiple popular OTT video devices on the market, including Roku devices, Apple TV, and others. These devices are significant because they tend to have proprietary tendencies. For example, the Apple TV has multiple Apple apps by default. Likewise, the Roku device emphasizes the Roku channel.

Ways To Make OTT Video More Engaging

Some OTT video platforms like YouTube encourage audience interaction in comments, microtransactions, and other actions. These interactive elements are significant because they help to hold the audience’s attention. To stand out in an OTT video world, content creators, broadcasters, and companies will need to emphasize interaction.

With an OTT plugin and similar technologies, adding interactive elements to a live stream video is easy. Providing a live blog may be a better fit in other contexts like sports events and live news events.

Planning and designing a video event with interactive elements takes planning. To get started, check out some of our previous posts:

Virtual events checklist: 10 steps to a stress-free virtual event

Organizing a virtual event for your audience is a powerful way to compete in a sea of OTT video platforms. This checklist will walk you through the process of planning the event. Whether you need support for event promotion, choosing virtual event technology, or practicing your delivery, the checklist has you covered.

Use content automation to grow your audience

Creating original programming is vital in OTT video. However, every company has limits in how much it can produce. Find out how content automation techniques and technologies can play a role in creating engaging online experiences. The best part? By involving your audience in content, you can set yourself from other platforms.

Find Your Niche In OTT Video

The OTT video world is set to expand significantly over the next decade. This is your moment to create memorable digital experiences for your audience. You don’t have to work from scratch either. You can invite your audience to share their questions, thoughts, and feelings by adding a live chat platform to your videos. To get started, click here to start your free trial of Arena.

How to Keep the User on Your Website

Posted on by

Nobody wants a website with high bounce rates and low average time on page. Most people who view your site won’t be back again, so it’s important to convert these viewers into customers by increasing their engagement.

This guide will show you why it’s important to keep users on your site, and it will give you helpful tactics to increase your site’s engagement.

Why Keeping People on Your Site is Important

While generating more traffic to your site is great, it doesn’t matter if no one’s hanging around. The longer you can hold people’s attention span, the more likely they are to convert. That’s why keeping users on your site is one of the best things you can do as a marketer.

Keeping people engaged allows them to learn more about your brand, builds a relationship with your readers, and ultimately leads to conversions.

Simply keeping them on your site is not enough, however. You want to include call-to-actions, so viewers don’t simply consume your content and disappear forever.

How to Keep Viewers on Your Site

If your user engagement isn’t where you want it to be, keep reading. With the help of this guide, you’ll learn some effective strategies to keep users on your site and convert them into customers.

Use Real-Time Marketing

If you’re unfamiliar with real-time marketing, it is marketing that isn’t strategically planned out before implementation. Instead, it reacts to things like feedback, current events, and trends to quickly determine the best way to target customers at the right time.

In fact, 52% of marketers say they use real-time engagement on at least one platform. Real-time engagement is more relevant to customers than traditional campaigns are.

One of the best real-time marketing examples took place during the 2013 Super Bowl. During the game, a power outage caused all the lights to go out in the stadium. Oreo decided to take advantage of this.

It’s marketing team sent a Tweet with the caption, “Power out? No problem.”, and a picture of its famous cookie with the text, “YOU CAN STILL DUNK IN THE DARK”. Even though it wasn’t a commercial, it was known as one of the most buzz-worthy ads of the event.

So how do you use real-time marketing to keep users on your site? You can do this by including real-time content like live blogs and engaging users with live chat.

Live blogs are used to engage readers by posting quick updates on an event that’s happening in real-time.

Like the Oreo example, you can use a live blog to enhance user engagement during a live sporting event. Posting real-time content during a big game or annual player draft is a sure-fire way to keep readers on your site.

Live blogs can also be used during virtual events, in-person conferences, and breaking news events.

Don’t just post content on your live blog, encourage your viewers to join the discussion through live chat. Live chat is a way for people to ask questions, answer polls, and give their opinions on your live blog or event.

Globo TV is a great example on how to leverage Live Blog and Live Chat to boots retention and engagement for its reality shows.

Live chat doesn’t have to be used during a live event, however. Simply adding a one-on-one live chat to your website can instantly improve your site’s engagement.

You can use live chat to survey your audience, invite them to chatrooms, and use call-to-actions to convert them into customers in real-time.

Make Your Website Scannable

Making the content on your website scannable is one of the easiest yet most important ways to keep readers on your site. Content that’s scannable means that it’s easy for people to read.

There’s nothing worse than attempting to read a long block of text that covers half the page. The first way to make your website scannable is to break up long paragraphs into varying sizes.

As a general guideline, it’s best to keep paragraphs to three or four sentences max. This is a simple concept that makes your content seem less intimidating to busy readers.

Another way to make content more scannable is to ensure your font size and line spacing is easy on the eyes. Also, make sure your text and background have contrasting colors. For example, you can’t go wrong with black text matched with a white background.

Subheadings can be used to categorize content and grab reader’s attention. Images can be used to provide readers with breaks, and they make content more visually appealing. If you want to go the extra mile, include bulleted lists and bold important phrases.

Add a Call-to-Action

Bounce rate measures when readers view one page on your site then leave without viewing other pages of your site. A high bounce rate is bad, but you can decrease it by encouraging readers to navigate to another page on your website.

This is done through a call-to-action (CTA). An effective CTA is targeted, clear, and purposeful.

Marketers can mess up CTAs by including several of them throughout a post. This distracts readers and can cause them to not click on any of them. It’s best to include only one or two CTAs, giving the reader a clear action for what to do next.

CTAs should also stand out. Make them clear, bold them, and tell readers to click on them.  

Before you create a CTA, decide what its purpose is first. You can use one to encourage readers to download a free guide, sign up for your email newsletter, or take them directly to a product sales page.

By correctly adding CTAs to your website, you can lower bounce rates, keep readers on your website longer, and increase conversions.

Conclusion

For those having trouble capturing the attention span of their readers, use the strategies covered in this guide to improve engagement. Keeping users on your site creates a more impactful brand impression and improves your conversion rates.

Real-time engagement tactics like live blogs and live chats offer more relevant content and allows readers to interact with your brand. Creating content that’s easy to read prevents reader fatigue. Finally, make sure you include targeted, clear, and purposeful CTAs in your content.

These aren’t the only ways to keep people on your site. Live events can be used to improve both engagement and traffic to your brand’s website or social media platform.

To learn more about engagement and how to create a live event, check out our eBook by clicking the link below.

Download the eBook Guide: How to Create a Live Event

10 Steps to create a Virtual Event

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.