Nontraditional interviews: How to prepare for Live Streaming Interviews
From Facebook Live to Youtube Live, streaming video is the way of the future. As more American turn to social media channels to get their news, media outlets are shifting their focus to providing livestream content. While preparing for a livestream interview can be similar to a live TV appearance, there are still some unique steps you should take ahead of your livestream event to ensure you make the most of your nontraditional interview.
- Promote before your interview – Once you book a livestream interview, start promoting! Ideally, you have your own social media channels already in place so start pushing out content that lets your followers know what day and time to tune in and share the media outlets page. Not only will this help increase the number of people that will tune-in live, but it will also make the media outlet happy seeing that you’re also promoting their content.
- Prepare Similar to a TV interview – As you can imagine, preparing for a Facebook Live or Youtube Live interview is similar to preparing for a live TV interview. While these non-traditional interviews may be more laid-back, you should come well-prepared and looking professional. View the outlet’s previous live interviews to get an idea for the flow and tone of the interview and prepare your talking points accordingly. You can also take note of attire and whether or not to dress in full business or business casual attire.
- Engage with followers– If you have someone on your team who can act on your behalf, encourage them to respond to comments and engage with viewers during your live interview from your company page. Additionally, after the live recording, you can go back into the comments and engage with followers as well. This is a great time to include a post-show thank you to those who tuned in and include information on how to contact you directly. Not only is this a perfect way to encourage engagement, it will also help boost views for those who weren’t able to attend during the live recording.
- Optimize the recording– Once the interview is complete, don’t just let it die there. Share the live recorded post across all of your social media platforms. Depending on the outlet, you may also be able to obtain a copy of the recording. If you’re able to do so, you can leverage this recording just as you would any TV interview you might do – you can post it on your website, share it with your database or add it to your media placement reel.
- Be prepared when news breaks – One of the most common uses for livestream video is breaking news. TV outlets especially want to be the first to cover it and livestreaming has provided a way to do this even before their broadcast hits the airwaves. For this reason, if you’re able to pitch yourself as a resource when breaking news hits, you may increase your odds at securing a media placement. The beauty of livestreaming is you can do the interview anytime, anywhere. The reporter may come to your office or invite you in-studio. When you reach out when financial news breaks, let the reporter know your availability for that day and that you’d be open to a livestream interview, should that be something they are interested in.
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