If you sell products online, you’re missing out on a significant marketing opportunity if you don’t take advantage of live shopping on YouTube.
Especially if you run a Shopify store, you can now take advantage of the recent YouTube-Shopify integration that will automatically connect your Shopify catalog to your YouTube channel for real time inventory syncing. However, no matter what platform you use to sell online, all eligible YouTube creators can access tools under the “Shopping” tab, including live shopping features.
Put simply, live shopping is the marketing strategy of promoting and selling you brand’s products and exclusive offers in real-time during a livestream you produce on a video platform such as YouTube. It’s an interactive experience you create for your audience that allows you to monetize and sell instantaneously – and it’s one of the hottest ways you can increase your bottom-line today.
Why Leverage Live Shopping on YouTube for Online Sales & Marketing?
In 2022, live shopping is one of the most rapidly growing e-commerce and digital marketing trends. Ever since the global pandemic lockdowns began in March 2020, live shopping purchases have risen by 76% worldwide and are expected to become a $35 billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone by 2024.
Taking a cue from the popularity of television shopping programs like those from the Home Shopping Network, live shopping is modernizing the buy-as-you-watch experience for the 21st century. YouTube is positioning itself to become the undisputed leader when it comes to social media live shopping – and right now is an ideal time to get started.
Currently, 62% of businesses already use YouTube to share promotional content, and a study conducted by YouTube in conjunction with Publicis and TalkShoppe reports that 89% of respondents trust the recommendations they get from YouTube creators. What’s more, a 2021 survey of online consumers finds that 80% of respondents appreciate the convenience of purchasing products from live shopping with 70% preferring live shopping to other forms of social media marketing.
If you’ve already built an audience for your brand on YouTube, you can make the shopping experience easy and seamless by selling straight from live shopping. If you don’t yet have an audience on YouTube – what are you waiting for?
Best Practices for YouTube Live Shopping
If you want to optimize your YouTube channel for live shopping, here are some useful tips:
Make sure your store is properly set up and connected to YouTube
If you’re brand-new to live shopping, learn how to best showcase your products on YouTube.
Check your eligibility and product tags before you go live
Make sure you have everything you need prepared in advance.
Promote your livestream to your audience at least 2 days beforehand
Give your audience an opportunity to clear their calendars if necessary to join you live – 48 hours is generally recommended for advance notice.
Create a trailer or teaser video for your live shopping event
Produce a 15-60 second video announcement. In addition to the channel trailer featured prominently on your channel home page, you might also want to create some YouTube Shorts to pique the curiosity of your audience.
Connect your other social media accounts to your YouTube channel
Be sure to reach the widest possible audience online by utilizing all your social channels – ideally, you’ll even find other accounts on various platform to help you share the notice of your upcoming event.
Add an associated website to your YouTube channel
This will help improve how you show up in Search results and also verify your channel as the official representation of your brand.
Customize your YouTube channel art
Make sure to include notices and reminders so that your audience will be sure to tune in live on the appropriate day and time.
Leverage community posts to extend your reach
You can use polls, ask questions, and encourage interactivity before the event to generate interest and gather insights on what to include during your livestream event.
You can also find more helpful guidance on YouTube live shopping from the Google Merchant Center.
Now, let us know: what will you be selling live on YouTube?