Meerkat App May Transform PR, Social Media Marketing

 

Meerkat, a live-streaming application, is being billed as the Next Big Thing that will revolutionize social media marketing.

The app lets users feed videos directly from iPhones to their Twitter feeds. Its advantage is its ability to deliver real-time engagement. Brands can instantly stream videos and immediately see and respond to comments and questions.

Officially launched at the end of February, the service already boasts 300,000 active users. Meerkat asserts the number of users is growing by about 30 percent a day. While cutting edge, it’s also simple. Users go to their Twitter account and click to start or schedule a stream. Brands are rapidly adopting the app.

Possible PR Uses for Meerkat

Although commentators generally cite how marketers will use the app, public relations pros can also benefit. PR can use it to stream press conferences, interviews with company executives and other subject matter experts, and videos on any other topic.

Econsultancy listed several possible uses for the app.

Demonstrations. Brands can demonstrate products and services. Restaurants can show cooking demonstrations; real estate agents could show houses, and software firms could show how to use their apps.

Events. Business presentations, industry conferences, musical performances are just a few of the many events that can be streamed live.

Product launches. Marketers can build suspense by revealing new products in stages and giving behind-the-scenes sneak previews.

Promotions and deals. Marketers can offer consumers exclusive promotional codes accessible only through Meerkat videos. Providing offers only through Meerkat will help build audiences.

Interviews. Marketers, celebrities or other influencers can answer questions from consumers in real time.

FAQs. Organizations can post video answers to FAQs. Websites often hold FAQ pages, but many questions are better answered with demonstrations.

Storytelling. Companies can tell the story of the organization’s history, give a tour of company headquarters, introduce the public to employees, and relate “a day in the life” of the organization.

Innovative brands will experiment with more novel ways to use the app.

The Early Adopters

Early adopters who are “meerkating” include the Miami Dolphins, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Mashable, CNN, American Idol, Spotify, Red Bull, Starbucks and MasterCard.

The Miami Dolphins showed their news conference announcing the signing of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. More than 1,000 fans viewed the announcement, reported Mobile Marketer. The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon presented a rehearsal of the talk show viewed by 2,000 viewers.

Despite widespread buzz in social media circles, the app faces possible roadblocks. It’s not clear if it will eventually become the leading service. Other mobile, video-centric apps, such as Snapchat and Vine, compete in the same space.

Twitter recently purchased Periscope, a streaming app that can also be used to view previously recorded video. Twitter excluded Meerkat from its social graph, which allows users to connect to followers they have on both apps.

The app may also face copyright and privacy issues. Sports leagues will surely ban fans from streaming live games. Privacy advocates will likely be upset at the thought of being displayed on Twitter by anyone with an iPhone.

Bottom Line: Digital marketing commentators call Meerkat, a new live-streaming app, the latest and greatest social media app that will transform social media. Whether or not it becomes the dominant streaming app, its sudden rise illustrates the growing importance of mobile-centric live videos.