1. Introduction to Live Stream Events
Additionally, just as KOLs can use live stream events to enhance their fan base and potential profit opportunities, brands also choose live streaming Singapore as an important dissemination and promotional event. Over the past year, Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee have invited live stream service KOLs to broadcast for the brand’s event webcast or create exclusive webcasts on platforms, revealing a trend for brands to use associated strategies to implement activities. Furthermore, according to the statistical report of Statista in May 2020, the highest expenditure rate in live stream was observed in China with 206.82 billion CNY, and the second highest expenditure rate was 31 billion USD in the United States. Hence, due to this observation, exploring valuable omnichannel strategies is especially useful for live streaming in Asia, such as strategies for South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and the United States.
Today, brands are meeting customers where they are. For many people, social media is part of their daily routine. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures, online shopping has become more than just a hobby; it is a necessity. An increase in customer demand for product information, demonstrations, or a question-and-answer session with brand owners before they make a purchase has led to the rise of live stream events, an emergent marketing strategy in response to a rapidly changing environment. Given the increasing intensity of live stream events, unlike previously when live stream events were independently arranged by store owners or celebrities, merchants now collaborate with key opinion leader (KOL) marketers to enhance people’s understanding of live streaming, targeting these KOLs as intermediaries to disseminate, promote, and sell products.
1.1. Definition and Importance
People may be interested in watching the “live” from the host on the food preparation process, in contrast to watching the recorded video that may give a “cold-storage” perception. Once the live stream event is successfully promoted and aware by the target audience, the number of “live” audience will be increased, and social media benefits can be perceived. In addition, stage “fans building,” which is a “must-do” event before the existence of the fan festival, can be completed at an early stage by the host. With these numbers of fans, the host has their own fans who are willing to watch their live stream by “staying up” overnight for 48 hours. As fans are supporting the hosts, the fans can also help the hosts in boosting the visibility of their live stream on virtual fairs.
This section provides a few definitions of live stream, live stream event, promotion, and various factors of a live stream event. This section also explains the importance of promoting live stream event in Singapore. A live stream is a video feed of an event transmitted at the same time as the event happens. A live stream event refers to the video coverage of an activity, talk-show, and seminar done through the Internet and broadcasted at the same time as the event occurs. The promotion of a live stream event refers to the strategies of marketing activities for informing the live stream event to the target audience by using different communication channels or techniques. Recently, live stream events are not only served as live and real-time communication events for business, educational, and company training purposes, but also its application extends to different areas, such as game live streaming, talk shows, news reporting, personal life broadcasting, and so on.
2. Understanding the Singapore Market for Live Stream Events
In Singapore, businesses can use live streaming to advertise, entertain, and share almost all facets of their business with people who are interested in their products and services. Live stream viewers, however, have the option to leave a live video for another one, not watch any live video at all, or demand the channel to deliver new and better content to entertain and engage them. Therefore, businesses that are transparent, engaged in Singapore’s social cultures, and possess dedicated business relationships with their clients can quickly capitalize on some of these opportunities and avoid losing their clients to their competitors. According to Singapore’s National Population and Talent Division’s 2018 report, there are two main groups of people who are more likely to tune into live content: individuals and families. Regardless of the group, both choose to spend time watching live videos from individuals to gain relaxation and a form of inspiration.
Singapore, home to a diverse range of talents, is no stranger to live streaming by individuals or businesses either from or based in this little red dot. Many are using this medium to showcase their content and products, engage with and entertain their audiences, and secure a source of income. Given the rise of live stream events in this current climate, what strategies should businesses follow in order to promote their live stream events and gain a competitive advantage?
2.1. Statistics and Trends
In Singapore, according to the Singapore Statistics Annual Survey on Infocomm Media and earlier Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) studies, due to advances in telecommunications infrastructure technology, it has become easier to share information online and adopt infocomm media for better learning and entertainment. It is estimated that about 4.67 million people in the Singapore population, the internet penetration rate is 87.2% and the average monthly internet usage duration is as high as 24.57 hours.
Online live streaming is becoming increasingly popular. Various news and industry data show that the development of the live streaming industry is showing a trend of rapid development in the world and is increasing year by year. The “Live streaming era” has even begun in 2020, when the new type of pneumonia epidemic has affected people’s lives and changes. In terms of live e-sports competitions, live performance concerts, and live entertainment and game live broadcasts, there are usually tens of thousands of live broadcast viewers and even more than 100,000 viewers.
3. Key Components of a Successful Live Stream Event
If you’re considering live streaming an event, the following is a guide for how to do it right. Regardless of the event, these three components are common elements to organizing a successful live stream event. The good news is that they are all under control depending on each other. The bad news is that they’re not necessarily easy. Each component on its own requires alignment with event goals, concept, audience, brand expression, and vision. If the goal of your live stream does not cover these components, execution of the live stream will likely not support the event’s success. The best approach is to lock in these elements first then focus on technical production and promotion. In this article, we break down what’s required for each of these three components.
As executive director of the Midwest Independent Film Festival for five years, I was always looking for ways to innovate in the area of event production and audience experience. While live streaming can’t replace the physical experience of an event or festival, I do think it can be a part of the future, especially for people who do not live in the area. With everything going on at the moment, reaching out beyond our physical locations to include our regional neighbors and friends around the world is a spectacular idea.
One thing I love about my current world is that there are always live stream events you can attend. As social distancing continues to rule our worlds, many events have moved to a virtual format. I’ve bought tickets to virtual concerts and plays, but those can be hit or miss in terms of performance quality. However, I have been knocked down by the production and entertainment value of some live stream events. These events are high energy, very visual, and very well organized.
3.1. Content Creation and Quality
One crucial point, therefore, is to consider what your targeted audience and fans, with an edited event description and poster, hope to gain from this event promotion or interestingly intriguing event that will make your fans or audience motivated to attend. One admirable area of live streaming is how natural storytelling is through the candidness of true emotions and live reactions often generated by live events. Where possible, therefore, create real interesting and genuine emotions. Also, remember, watching a group of talent doing nothing spontaneous is not ‘live’. Also, remember that the vast majority of live streams to be successful do not get there overnight. It takes not only good ideas to extend relationships and social accessibility, but continuous diligent work. You must continue to provide consistent high-quality content that stays interesting and true to the communities they build. Commercial success, and perhaps even income, will eventually yield an increase from community acceptance.
The term “Content is king” is definitely the first and utmost important thing when it comes to creating a successful live stream. The main reason being that two key factors are playing the upper hand in this popularity craze – worth the people’s time and worth the people’s dollar. Interestingly, live streams that are not well prepared, well executed, or produced with sufficient worth are generally less well promoted and lack attention. Showcasing good and popular local content also has a large potential to showcase local talent to the world. In contrast, the opposite is also true when live events are messy, poorly executed, or poorly designed and produced; attention is obviously extremely low.
4. Promotional Strategies for Live Stream Events in Singapore
To get ahead, many businesses are shouting over each other to leverage live video. However, shouting does not work. The social media gauntlet sort of whet our appetite for brands that effectively resonate with our individual needs, be it emotional or informational. Some brands are either making wrong reasons (as they are shamed for being inauthentic) or no reasons at all (as they are blocked). Unlike other research on live videos which focus on companies or countries that have limited oversight of content creators, this research focuses on Singapore, which is governed by a convergence regulatory model. Within this context, individuals who seek to gain from live video need to follow such guidelines. Influencers are required to declare their sponsors if they earn or receive any form of tangible benefits from their content. Only influencers who follow such rules and regulate have the leverage to earn trust and gain revenue from live video.
The rise in live stream events in recent years has implications for content creators, such as influencers, brand marketers, and media companies. There are increasing opportunities to leverage live stream events for productivity, well-being, and food service businesses. Leveraging on the narrative transportation theory and leveraging both old and new media affordances, this research will inform best practices for content creators regardless of the event topics and marketing objectives.
4.1. Utilizing Social Media Platforms
Precise targeting through paid ads will result in capturing the desired audience effectively. The messages should be highlighted, featuring the date of the event, where it is being held and what the event will achieve for potential guests. Research from Facebook has shown that video content had 2.3 times more engagement than image posts and 3.2 times more engagement than link posts. Video content does indeed lead to more interaction on social media. Social media can be utilized to promote the behind-the-scenes ‘magic’ and the build-up. This can certainly generate a lot of excitement and curiosity making the event be something that people would not want to miss.
Video fragments of live stream content can be embedded into people’s feeds and interactions improve with countdown clocks being able to be added as well. The unique story the brand desires to tell should be showcased through these ads, using hard and soft sells. Social media platforms provide companies with precise targeting options such as geographic regions, interests, age and gender enabling them to interact with people that are relevant to the brand and message of the live stream event.
Social media is an ideal platform for publicizing live stream events and is an inexpensive way to engage with potential attendees. Social media, when harnessed effectively, provides businesses with the opportunity to tell their unique story. Companies can make full use of various features such as utilizing sponsored ad placements, location targeted ads or simply connecting with followers on a personal level.
5. Case Studies of Successful Live Stream Events in Singapore
5.1.2 People’s Association – Career Matters People’s Association’s Career Matters – Make Time for Colorful Lives! is one of a series of live programs that used Mediacorp artistes and deejays to link together various outreach efforts and partnerships aimed at engaging and helping Singaporeans, in particular PA’s key groups: Women, Seniors, Heartlanders, and Caring Wisely Volunteers, to plan or enjoy colorful and engaging times with one another. The format of the virtual fair was designed as a 4-what-show featuring fashion, health, work, and lifestyle segments with social media interaction. Promotions were also used extensively on all PA social media pages. The event took place on 27th February 2021 at 8pm and attracted good online viewership and extensive positive feedback on the engaging content the program delivered.
5.1.1 FairPrice Group Ltd – Virtually Shopping with FairPrice FairPrice Group Ltd launched a first-of-its-kind Augmented Reality (AR) virtual shopping event on 28th April 2021. The event employed Facebook’s live streaming technologies to live stream an engaging virtual shopping event. The event was posted through the Facebook page of the Minister of Finance. The AR virtual shopping event was hosted by popular MediaCorp artiste, Desmond Tan, and co-hosted by popular influencer, Terry He. In the event, virtual shopping of the featured products in the storyline was made possible using a QR code to enjoy an exclusive $8 off with a minimum spend of $80 when the customer scanned any of the products in the storyline and purchased them through the FairPrice Online app. The event was successfully run and resulted in a good participation rate as well as on-ground sales.
