[GUESTBLOG] Social Integration Directly From your Live Broadcast Software

Discover Dacast’s latest approved encoder addon: vMix Social which allows you to integrate your social media content directly into your live event production. VMix Social is included in the vMix live broadcast software, one of our RTMP compatible partner encoders.

We are pleased to introduce you to Tim Vandenberg, Chief Operating Officer at vMix, who wrote the following article on the importance of social media integration into your live event and key features of his product.

Social media has become such a huge part of many people’s lives over the last decade. Whenever you leave the house or turn on a TV you’ll be asked to Like or Follow a brand or use a hashtag. Social media engagement has swept across all media channels and has become important in connecting to fans and reaching potential viewers. It allows watchers to interact on a second screen and maintain interest and viewing minutes. Using content from viewers helps connect them to your product and makes them feel a part of the show! As social media is all about networking, it’s an effective way to spread a message very quickly and create awareness for your live event, stream, and brand.

If you are looking for a way to connect to your users then using social media is a great way to do it as it puts them in the driver’s seat and allows them to interact with hosts, producers, and even other viewers. By setting up a hashtag for an event, you can quickly maximize all of the traffic around your live event. Then it’s just a matter of looking at the user submitted content and displaying their messages and images. Social media provides a unique perspective of the people actually attending the event. It gives the production a real point of view from a concert goer, conference attendee or someone at a live sporting event or festival.  Most live sporting events will now feature live Twitter interactions with people watching live at the event or even from celebrities commenting on the action. vMix Social allows you to bring this type of broadcast-level interaction to any event that you want!

There are many occasions when people just aren’t able to attend an event. Maybe it’s a convention, a sporting event or even a high school or college graduation. Live streaming allows those people to feel like they are actually at the event and using social media makes them feel like they are really a part of it! It’s great to be able to bring in well-wishes from friends and family that aren’t able to attend the event and can only watch the live stream. Select a hashtag, give that to the viewers and then watch all of the comments and images start rolling in.

Most brands or groups have a Facebook page full of dedicated followers who are ready and willing to provide content to live event and stream producers. It’s simple with vMix Social to start adding Facebook comments directly into production. Just create a topic on your Facebook page and then you’re able to select what comments you wish to show. You’ll be able to show their name, photo, comment and image, all in your live-streamed production.

Sometimes it may be difficult to have enough content to fill up your show. Using social media allows viewers to create content. By sending in comments, images and questions you’re able to use those as talking points throughout the event or perhaps during a break in the action. Who doesn’t like seeing their comments on a live stream!? You can then choose to leave this on a rotation or just pick out individual responses as they become available.

Being able to control the information you display is also important and vMix Social works via an ordinary browser. That means that a second producer on the local network can manage all of the social media content which is a great way to break up production duties.  Censoring any inappropriate Tweets, photos or Facebook comments can easily be done also and helps prevent any unwanted content reaching your audience. Having your own branding for your live stream is also important and using social media is no exception. You can easily create your own custom titles with your brand’s assets, logo, and color scheme. Making professional production assets that would rival network television programs is easy with vMix Social.

Keeping an audience’s attention is one of the most difficult things to maintain in present-day media. By having second screen interaction through a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram campaign, you’ll be able to keep users in your content ecosystem for a longer period of time. One thing that people enjoy more than using social media is voicing their opinion on it! If you’re able to create an interesting campaign to go along with your production, you can help maintain audience engagement.

Adding social media interaction to your live video production is easy and essential for any live stream event. Allow viewers to really become a part of your event by letting them be the content creators. Social media also narrows the gap between the production event and where they’re watching the live stream from. This lets them feel like they’re a part of something and more likely to keep watching your show.  Social media interaction can provide stimulating conversations between people all over the world that can spice up your production and provide great content. Ask people on the Internet what they think about something and I’m sure they’ll be willing to tell you!

If you’re a Dacaster and want to try vMix Live Broadcast Software encoder, you can do so by selecting vMix in the encoder setup section of your Dacast live channel. There you’ll find links to access the software and a tutorial to help you use it.