Sample Run of Show: Creating Content for a One-Hour Live Selling Stream

You’re about to press the button to begin your live selling stream when you think to yourself, “Wait, how should I start my show? What products should I feature? When should I mention the promo offer?”

Before you find yourself in this situation, you should consider planning out the content of your live selling stream. This doesn’t mean writing a script and reading it word for word, but it does mean putting some thought into the different segments of your livestream.

In this blog post, I’m going to break down how to create content for an hour-long live selling stream.

👋 Greet your audience (5 minutes)

Take some time to say hello to your viewers as they join your stream. A sincere greeting will make your audience feel welcome, and it will provide some extra time for viewers to arrive before you start featuring your products. It’s always a nice touch to greet viewers by name, so make sure you’re paying attention to the comments section as people join your stream.

You can also use the opening portion of your live selling stream to introduce yourself, provide some background on your business, and even feel free to tease and hype up some of the products you’ll be showcasing.

👗💄 Feature your products (30 minutes)

Featuring and demonstrating how your products work should take up the bulk of your show. After all, your products are why your viewers tuned in, and they’re the main reason why you’re hosting a livestream in the first place.

It’s important to determine which products you’ll be featuring. There isn’t an exact minimum or maximum number of products you should aim to feature, just make sure that you leave enough time to showcase and describe each product to fit within your desired time allotment. After every product, remind viewers how they can make a purchase — whether through your video platform, the comments section, or your website. 

Live demonstrations can help viewers better visualize how your products look or work. For example, if you’re showcasing a new dress from your boutique, it would be ideal to actually wear the dress — rather than just show how it looks hanging from a rack or on a mannequin. 

Having another person (or two) can also be helpful when showcasing and setting up products. Sticking with the boutique example from above, let’s say you’ve just modeled a dress and now want to feature a pair of jeans. Instead of making viewers stare at a blank screen while you change, you can have another person ready to model the pair of jeans while you change into your next article of clothing. Rotating in and out of your stream with another person helps keep viewers engaged and also gives you someone in-person to conversate with. If you don’t have a co-host, be sure to prepare an on-screen graphic or prerecorded video to display when you step off-screen.

🙋 Engage with your viewers (10 minutes)

While you’re featuring your products, you can also use this time to engage with your viewers. Keep an eye on the comments section of your livestreams and make sure to answer any product-related or general questions from viewers. Your audience will appreciate your taking the time to answer their questions, and your answers can potentially help increase sales.

For example, let’s say you’re selling beauty and cosmetic products and you’re showing a new lipstick when someone comments, “Do you have that lipstick in a darker shade of red?” Answering that question in real time not only makes the viewer feel appreciated, but it could potentially lead to a sale as well.

Another great way to engage with your viewers is to create polls. Ask your viewers to vote for their favorite product from today’s stream, ask what types of products they want to see on your next live selling stream, and so on. Polls not only encourage your viewers to engage with your streams, but they can provide valuable insight on the types of products your viewers want to see more (or less) of.

⏳ Create urgency and mention special offers (10 minutes)

Another opportunity you have while featuring your products is to create a sense of urgency by sharing promotional offers with your viewers. You’re likely familiar with the acronym FOMO (fear of missing out). People don’t like to miss out on opportunities, especially when there’s a limited sale or special offer.

You can easily create urgency by mentioning any special offers that are only valid during your livestream, announcing when product supply is running low, and letting viewers know that your livestream will be ending soon. More often than not, people who are interested in your products will take advantage of limited offers — and creating a sense of urgency can help with that.

There will inevitably be a lot of overlap between the time devoted to featuring products, time devoted to engagement, and time devoted to building urgency and special offers — and that's a good thing. Rather than thinking of these as three different segments, it may be easier to think of them as rotating portions of a larger segment. Aim to spend 60% of the middle portion of your show discussing products, 20% talking with viewers, and 20% highlighting limited deals or special offers. This would give you the total breakdown of 30 minutes on products, 10 minutes on engagement, and 10 minutes on urgency.

🙏 Thank your audience for joining you (5 minutes)

When you’re ready to wrap up your live selling stream, thank your audience for joining you. It’s a nice gesture that can go a long way and even help build brand loyalty over time. You can also use this time to promote your website, Facebook Shops, new products, and your next upcoming live selling stream. To ensure visitors know how to purchase your products, remind them again on where they can find your products and how they can make a purchase.

Start planning your live selling content

Keep in mind that the content I outlined above is just a sample run of show. Your live selling stream can be shorter or longer than one hour, you can spend more or less time on the segments I mentioned, and you can even remove or add any segments if you wish. 

The main takeaway here is to put thought into how to run your live selling stream, and it all starts with planning your content.

If you’re looking for a way to do more with your live selling content and create the ultimate live shopping experience for your customers, try Switcher Studio free for 14 days.