Livestream shopping is all the rage in China at the moment, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue last year and still growing. With this phenomenon catching on with consumers globally, companies in every country are trying to figure out the best way to jump on the livestream shopping bandwagon.
As businesses around the rest of the world dive into a space that promises to be quite lucrative, creating a successful online shopping event with an influencer is one way to stand out from the competition. Here, 11 members of Forbes Agency Council share original ideas and helpful tips that brands can use to make a splash as they enter the booming world of livestream shopping.
Forbes Agency Council members share ways to successfully livestream a shopping event with an influencer.
Photos courtesy of the individual members
1. Center Promotions Around A Theme
Stick to smaller collections, with each shopping promotion centered around a theme—such as “summer must-haves”—to pique interest and avoid overwhelming shoppers. Consider elements that are important to buyers that can be easily demonstrated on camera, such as the versatility of a product. With organization, direction and clear goals, the influencer will be ready to have a successful event. – Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
2. Leverage Influencer Product Reviews
To set up a livestream shopping event with an influencer that will sell out your products, you need to leverage the best of both worlds. Influencer product reviews are generally lengthy, informative and discuss the blogger’s personal experience with the product, both pros and cons alike. On the other hand, livestream shopping allows for synchronous, interactive communication. – Dejan Popovic, PopArt Studio
3. Collaborate With Groups Of Influencers
Fashion and apparel brands could combine a group of influencers for a fashion show, where each influencer showcases outfits they curate. Watchers can then follow any of the influencers to an exclusive shopping event, where the influencer would act as a personal shopper, showcasing custom capsules, collections or new launches, and offer exclusive discounts so that the brand can track effectiveness. – Justin Buckley, ATTN Agency
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4. Create A Story With Substance And Layers
Approach a livestream shopping event like a story that has substance and layers. Create obstacles, tension, emotionality and even greater themes where you can. Trust your influencer with the creative components, such as comedy, dialogue, visual aesthetic and so forth, to ensure it feels natural. Even as the space becomes saturated, your content will be distinguishable if you engage your audience with substantive material. – Tomas Andren, UPRISE Management
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5. Adopt A ‘Shoppertainment’ Angle
Adopt a “shoppertainment” angle that includes your influencer livestreaming exclusively about your product with a live Q&A. This is different from sponsoring a video where you might get a tiny shout-out. Instead, the livestream event actually features the use of your product. Not only can you livestream it, but you can also repurpose this content into supplemental ad content—like QVC for a new generation. – Bernard May, National Positions
6. Use A Theme To Tell A Story
Use a theme to tell a story through your livestream. For example, an influencer host can make the theme “Trip to the City” and market the event as what they wear or do on a city trip, making it more interesting than just a shopping livestream. This strategy will attract a larger audience of people specifically interested in what you are selling while also engaging them. – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR
7. Gamify It By Rewarding The Most Engaged Viewer
Livestream commerce is great, but it can’t just be an infomercial. I’d recommend gamifying it by rewarding the most engaged viewer with one of your products. That way, it isn’t just the influencer telling their fans that the product is great; instead, they are creating an urge for the viewers to get their hands on the same cool product so that they can be more like the influencer they idolize. – Tellef Lundevall, Accelerated Digital Media
8. Make It Interesting And Entertaining To Watch
At the end of the day, the livestream must be interesting to watch. If it lacks entertainment, it devolves into nothing more than an infomercial, and that will turn away most viewers—even with a great influencer hosting. You need to make sure the influencer is a good fit for your brand and that their audience demographic is the right audience for the products and services you offer. – Lisa Montenegro, Digital Marketing Experts – DMX Marketing
9. Understand The Influencer’s Audience
Understand the audience of the influencer that you’re working with. Every influencer has a different audience, a different relationship with them and, ultimately, a different brand. So don’t treat a partnership as simply an influencer selling your product; work collaboratively to bring something new and unique to that audience that represents both of your brands. – Chris Martin, FlexMR
10. Go Live When Your Target Audience Is Online
To create a successful online shopping event, ask your influencer at which time of day they normally get the most engagement and interactions with their followers, and be sure to go live during this time. This not only expands your event’s reach but also keeps your conversion rates high, as you get to engage many people at once. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Agency, Inc
11. Add Value With Influencer Product Tips
A great way to differentiate and create a successful livestream shopping event is to actually add value and entertainment to it. Maybe the influencer can give tips on how they would use certain products, or what they would pair these products with. That way, it goes beyond the traditional salesy experience and actually becomes fun and entertaining, which in turn, should lead to more sales. – Rafael Romis, Weberous Web Design
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
