Things to Consider When Selecting a Live Streaming Platform
A live streaming platform can bind a well-crafted communication toolkit together, lending essential threads to a promotional quiver. It’s crucial that you take your time picking a live streaming technology that fits your needs; each offering in the market comes with a unique combination of facets and it is important that you align your objectives to the features offered by your framework. Selecting a superior technology can be a complex, long-drawn process if you don’t have the right resources at your fingertips. This guide gives you a much-needed insight into the world of live streaming technologies. Here, we highlight factors you should consider while making your decision.
Factor 1. The Right Fit:
A live video streaming platform can vastly augment your communication strategy, lending innovation and value to your engagement approach. Live streaming is a versatile tool that can fit just about any business or scenario. The advent of turnkey frameworks like StreamNow has only catalyzed the adoption of live streaming as a mainstream communication technique. Here’s how live streaming is included across segments.
Corporate Organisations
For a corporate organization, a live streaming software can serve a variety of needs, whether for training, virtual meetings, shareholder gatherings, product launches or even press releases. Live streams are especially relevant if a company’s geographical presence is fragmented, in which case a broadcast can be accessed equally from across regions.
Government Organisations
Increasingly, government organizations and public departments are embracing live streaming in a bid to promote clear, transparent communication with stakeholders.
Educational Institutions
Universities, schools, and other educational institutions leverage live streaming platforms to facilitate live tours, exclusive talks, special lectures and other elements of interest.
Entertainers
Entertainers often shoulder tremendous costs in order to deliver a grand performance. There’s the venue, the lights, the seats, the stalls; oh, the list never ends. A live stream, on the other hand, requires zero capital. It doesn’t even require a stage. Entertainers and performers can use live broadcasts to showcase new shows or performances. This is a great way to offer fans a sneak peek of what is to come.
Webinars
Webinars are useful tools for communicating important information with stakeholders.
Sports Events
Whether it’s a neighborhood sports event or a professional sports league, a live stream can connect fans to live matches without having to navigate logistics.
Places of Worship
Virtual worship is a wonderful thing, especially when you can’t be present for a service or sermon. Places of worship around the world have become faithful proponents of live streams.
Every segment has a unique need when it comes to live streaming; while places of worship may want to address a specific geographic diaspora, a business organization may want a rock-solid enterprise stream that supports users from all over the globe. Technologies like StreamNow can be customised to fit perfectly into a user’s portfolio.
Factor 2. The Content Delivery Network:
A content delivery network, or CDN, is an international network of servers that work together to supply video data evenly across the world. What this means is, if you’re watching a stream broadcast from Shanghai, sitting in New York, your device will source the stream from your nearest server. Conversely, your friend sitting in London will source the same stream locally. A CDN can augment speeds, reduce lags and maximise load sharing. CDNs are categorized under two umbrellas: Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 CDNs, as the name suggests, are superior in both performance and quality, because they are able to span the corners of the internet routing maze through peering. As a result, their reach is vaster.
Factor 3. Convenience:
Live streaming is a complicated, deeply technical process composed of multiple pre-programmed layers. Thus, it is imperative that you find a live streaming platform with a user-friendly interface, a handy administration panel, and brilliant customisation features. After all, the last thing you want to be doing in setting up your live streaming software is staring at a screen full of complicated coding. A well-designed live streaming platform will preserve its technology in its bottom-most layers, topping it with a seamless interface for marketers and entrepreneurs. If you’re wary about how well you’ll be able to adapt to a new technology, there’s no harm in opting for a free trial period. Established live streaming platforms come with a 30-day trial window.
Factor 4. Fluidity and Integration:
If you have a product that is available across devices, it is important that you stitch your live stream into each of these platforms. Enter, the Application Programming Interface, or API. An API is a protocol that binds a service with several auxiliary technology pieces. A broadcaster API essentially means that you can build your live stream into a mobile, desktop, tablet or workflow.
Factor 5. Customer Service
Live streaming could become the backbone of your communication strategy and it is important that you are 100% in control of it at all times. In light of this, a service provider that offers customer service around the clock is gold, because you are insured against any untimely timeouts and downtimes. Not only this, the compatibility of technologies in your stack may prove to be a problem if you’re not careful and it is always a good idea to have support set up on speed dial. Also, pay close attention to the forms of customer service that a live streaming provider offers. Often, email interactions can be long-wound and slow, whereas a live stream could warrant intervention within seconds.
Make sure to put time and thought into selecting a live stream for your business. Pinlearn is a great solution that can be fluidly tailored to the needs of your organization. With the right framework, you’ll never have to compromise.
