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Break Communication Barriers with Interactive Live Streaming

Written by VIDIZMO Team | January 26,2021

From live chat to Q&A to polls and quizzes, interactive live streaming is widely popular among organizations for enabling viewers to engage viewers in real-time and enable them to interact while keeping control with the organizer. Live video streaming platforms provide several interactive tools, each of which have their own benefits that make it easier and more effective for the organizer and the user to interact in a live stream.

In this blog, we’ll look at how interactive live video streaming helps break down the barriers between your organization and target audience through various interactivity features.

But first…

What is an interactive live stream?

Video is the most engaging form of communication and live video streaming is a great way to communicate in real-time. Compared to other tools such as video conferencing, live video streaming ensures the organizer pilots the stream and fully control the participants’ experience​. Making a live stream interactive allows the audience to get involved and contribute while letting the broadcaster keep firm control over the stream.

 

Here are some common examples of tools and features used for interacting in a live stream:

  • Live Chat: The most common and easily recognizable tool for interacting in a live stream. Viewers can write comments and see comments from other viewers during the stream.
  • Q&A: Viewers can ask questions that only the streamer or the person moderating the stream can view and answer.
  • Quizzes: The streamer can ask questions to test their viewers or learn how knowledgeable they are about a particular subject or matter.
  • Polls & Surveys: The streamer can ask viewers for opinion or feedback and get direct insights on what they think about a particular subject or matter.
  • Handouts: Viewers can see and download digital files such as videos, presentations or other digital documents shared by the streamer.
  • Social Media Integration: The streamer can share their social media feed in the stream.
  • FAQ’s: Viewers can see frequently-asked questions that have been phrased and answered ahead of time.

How do organizations use interactivity in a live video stream?

The benefit of using interactive live streaming services for a business is evident in its popularity with corporations. According to Haivision, more than half of organizations live stream at least once a week and 29% live stream daily. Below are some ways organizations use interactive live video for their activities.

Corporate Communication

Organizations use live streaming for communicating with a large number of employees, customers and other stakeholders. By keeping the live stream interactive, organizations can allow stakeholders to engage with the stream, such as enabling employees to provide information in town hall meetings or asking questions during organizational change communication and getting feedback from the local community on a new CSR initiative.

Training & Learning

Interactive live streaming is a cost-effective way for businesses and institutions to avoid the need for a physical classroom, and the costs and constraints that come with it, such as capacity, location and hosting expenses. In-video quizzes help conduct knowledge checks and measure performance. Other interactivity tools used by instructors include live Q&A and inserting handouts into a stream to share content such as presentations and workbooks for learners to submit later on.

Product Launches

According to Videommerce, 35% of marketers use live video for their marketing strategy. Live streaming for product launches allows businesses to reach the maximum number of potential customers as possible. In addition to responding to queries and concerns by customers through the live stream chat, marketers can get direct feedback from their current and potential future customers using surveys to know what exactly do they think about their product or service and what the organization can do to meet their demands better.

Tutorials & Demos

Live product tutorials and demos are a great way to increase sales conversions and make special offers by pushing viewers to act on feelings right away. With an interactive live video stream, organizers can share documents and presentations detailing a product, provide FAQs to answer common questions, and use Q&A to allow viewers to submit questions not covered by the organizer. Polls and surveys also help understand how customers respond to the product, identify similar issues and experiences, and how effective was the live tutorial.

Virtual Events

Live streaming virtual events helps an event reach a bigger audience and bypass the limitations of organizing a physical event. There are many different types of virtual events and with different use cases. Organizers can enable audience members to ask questions using the live stream chat during, for example, a public conference or government meetings with the local community. Organizers use different interactivity tools depending on the use cases.

Conclusion

Interactive live streaming has made it possible to reach and engage a large number of people from anywhere and enable them to react in real-time without changing or diverting the course of the stream. While most live streaming platforms offer some degree of interactivity, not all of them provide the necessary features for each use case.

We recommend you take our 30-day free trial to explore VIDIZMO and try out our interactive live streaming services for yourself. You can also visit our website or contact us for more information.