Welcome to episode 398 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.
Just two more episodes until the big 400. If you’ve not yet come over to the Facebook page, there’s a link in the show notes for this episode. Go to the event page on Facebook and RSVP because here’s the deal guys we’re going to be live. We’re going to give things away. And in the next couple of days I will be giving you the opportunity to set a reminder so we actually have Bettie Bot who is our messenger bot over on Facebook. She also handles my e-mail responding when I’m out of the office. She’s who e-mails you and says “Stacey’s not here”, Bettie Bot will be giving you a reminder when we get to go live so you can you can double that up but you RSVP, you’ll be the first to know when you can sign up for that reminder which I am building out to be honest with you, just transparency guys.
So here’s the deal. We’re going to be giving away prizes on a live show. I might also give away a prize on the replay. But the best stuff including a free 30-day access pass to the Business Amplifier Mastermind is going to be happening only to folks who shop love. So be sure to join me live. And we will we’ll get you hooked up. All right. It’s that simple. So let’s get in to it today. Today I want to talk about Facebook Live.
I know I’m talking a lot about Facebook Live right now because it’s top of mind. I want to give you guys a resource. I wanted to kind of talk about my experience Facebook Live thus far. As you know we talked about this a few episodes ago. I started running a bit of a live test increasing my frequency going live with more consistently. We’ve done a challenge where I did a live every day for five days. I’ve done a lot of things and we talked about the multi episode per week challenge.
Here’s the deal if you want to know sort of the best practices you want to really really go pro with this and learn a lot about this. I really suggest following the guys. Well the guy and the gal over at Live Streaming Pros, Luria. And David are just fantastic. I genuinely I love what they’re presenting content-wise. I’m a member of their program. They’ve got a program called Start and Grow Your Show program. I’m actually working on that right now we’re implementing a lot of that stuff for the launch of Hit the Mic TV live. I’m a big believer and I will never tell you I know everything. I’m always learning. It’s what makes me such an asset for this community is I am always learning because the stuff is always changing and they are my go-to experts for all things live streaming all things Facebook Live, YouTube live, all of it. So there are who I recommend paying attention to in my experience. I’m just going to share that.
So my favorite ways to go live are what Luria and David called level 3 streaming, and so the four levels as they describe them and check they have over on their website. Again I’ll link to the stuff in the show notes, is a quiz so you can kind of see where you’re at now. But level 1 is essentially like going live on your phone. Level 2 is using like desktop software like Facebook. You can go live free your desktop on Facebook or something like a BeLive TV or Zoom in using those that’s level 2. Level 3 is using a dedicated desktop software like ECamm Live which is what I use for Mac or OBS is a PC and Mac option they recommend Vmix I believe for PCs. I think Wirecast another option. Like I said I use Ecamm Live. I’m a huge fan of it. In fact, we have a brand new Ecamm Live training inside of Hit the Mic Backstage that we just did like a week ago, maybe two weeks ago. I don’t know. It was done this month so you can check that out. It’s fantastic. Then level 4 is you have a dedicated PC that you go live from. And yes PC as a Windows machine, not a Mac which I’ll be honest. My little Mac heart was like, NO! But here’s the thing and I in the in the program David actually breaks down a lot of the reasons why. Also if you’re in the program by chance say high in the community and let me know or just tell me.
But also he talks about the way Macs are built and the operating system is just doesn’t it doesn’t. It’s not built for it whereas PC and especially at a cost-effective price you can do a lot more for this and I’m ok with it and I’m working towards this. We will be level four by fall of this year. We’re doing some big things with Hit the Mic TV guys get out even once it launches. It’s not even launching at its best. It’s going to be fantastic when it launches but by this time next year it will be epic. I’m so so so stoked. My little California girl is coming out today.
I’m really excited as you can probably hear by my like giddiness. But anyway so they talk about a PC. And I was like nerd language colorful snarly faces. No I’m not going to a PC. And I was like alright because here’s the deal with level 4. It’s a dedicated machine meaning the only thing you are using that machine for is live video. The thing I love about Live Streaming Pros is they talk a lot about you may never use Level 4 level 1 maybe the only thing you ever do. And that’s fine. And so don’t get too attached. As I’m walking through this and what I do and thinking you need to replicate that don’t get attached to what Luria is doing over at Live Streaming Pros and get super attached that and think OK well this has got to be the goal. It’s really as we talk about this with social all the time it’s what’s going to work for you.
It’s how it fits into your business. For me I do so much video between live streaming but also the Backstage membership site, free trainings, guest trainings for other communities, all of it. It makes sense for me to invest that next level and I’ll be honest with you guys again, transparency is the watchword around here live streaming is a big part of my marketing strategy in the second half of this year. We’ve used it fairly effectively the first half of this year though the first quarter and some of this year. But we’re going all in after May after next month’s start.
So this is this is this is where we’re putting a lot of our eggs right now. And so I want to make sure I’m doing it in a way that’s going to be of the best value and quality I can possibly do at every step for you. So my favorite way to go live is Ecamm, a third party software because I have a lot of flexibility and branding opportunity. One of the things I will say is I have a really powerful machine that allows me to do these kinds of things without too much lag especially when we start to add guests in. If that’s not the case for you it may be more frustrating than it’s worth to attempt it. And that’s where something like BeLive is going to be a fantastic option for you if you want to do interviews. If you don’t have a very powerful machine and you’re trying to do an interview with Ecamm, which pulls through Skype you’re going to you’re going to find it’s a little more difficult.
And so again I highly highly highly recommend starting where you’re at if that means on your phone. That means on your phone. And here’s the deal guys. You know we talk about oh I’m just doing it with my phone as if that’s nothing but I don’t know about you. I have an iPhone X. This thing is probably a better quality camera than my Canon DSLR. It’s insane. It’s just absolutely insane the quality. I know for sure it’s a better camera than the camera that built into my desktop on my on my Mac. Absolutely. So here’s the deal. It’s not just your phone if that’s where you’re at. And that’s the best quality you can do. Fantastic. Because it’s really more about your content. And for me again I like having a third party software because it allows me to do a couple of things with my content. It allows me to share my screen really easily. It allows me to feature the comments that come in really easily and it allows me to control where on the screen you’re seeing things I can zoom in I can change between tabs very very fluidly and really make the show as engaging as possible for anyone watching it. Now I will say that probably 95 percent of the time so far I have mostly gone live with just me on camera that’s going to be changing as we launch Hit the Mic TV. We’re going to be doing interviews we’re going to do them walk through as give it to them how tos.
It’s basically going to be all the fun stuff I want to talk about on this show. But it would be much easier if you could see me. That’s all I’ll be doing on Hit the Mic TV. And so I really wanted that ability and so that’s for me why a third party desktop software vs a browser option works best and that’s why it’s my favorite. That doesn’t mean it’s the only way. And one of the things I’m really learning from Live Streaming Pros and this program I’m going through it and you’ve seen this a lot in the last couple of weeks is the power of going live on my phone. I’m still very much so seeing where that fits in for me. But you’re going to see more of that behind the scenes what’s happening kind of content more and more. So stay tuned for that. But it’s absolutely no place where I’m a little uncomfortable at the moment and so I’m working through it and that’s the other lesson I want to wrap up with which is even if this feels little uncomfortable find ways to work through it. For my Backstage members if you ever want to test something out inside of our Backstage group. You can absolutely do that if you’re working with new software and you want to go in and just be able to run a live and try and see kind of what your flow is. Do that if you’re not a Backstage member. Find a place where you can do that.
Maybe it’s starting a small group with some accountability partners where you guys can give each other feedback and you can just kind of go through the flow of your show and your topic. You know back when I first started doing webinars, I don’t know, six and a half years ago when I still had On Demand. And really when we first launched Hit the Mic Marketing which is now The Stacey Harris, that’s what some accountability partners and I did with our owners as we ran them for each other. So that we could get the flow of flipping to our slides and finding our moments and finding our pauses and feeling out we’re dealing with questions best fit getting our timing and flow together and tackling the different tools we were using really early in my webinars. I use a different kind of slides that I can’t even remember the name of now. And so I had to get a feel for what that flow was going to be like. The same thing is true with your Facebook lives.
Find a group of people who you trust who can give you feedback and do that. This is one of the cool things about the Live Streaming Pros group is they have actually have a private practice group for their students and so I can go in there and I can test things out. So find a place where you can start testing these things so that when you do go live on your page you’re a bit more comfortable. And that’s really where I want to close it out is where my favorite place to live is. And for me that’s Facebook on my page.
Now I do go live in the Hit the Mic Backstage group since I regularly because well frankly because it’s a great community and I want to serve you and that’s the reason we have two VIP lounges so I can do that somewhat sometimes. But from a marketing perspective it does no benefit for me to go live from my profile because I can’t market there. That’s not where I’m marketing. I can’t run ads to you there, I can’t build custom audiences based on engagement with those videos. There are really no long term use to me. Those views are great for the ego because there’s better numbers probably but there’s no business use for me and that’s why I’m doing this not because I super love doing video because trust me I decidedly do not super love doing video.
I just do it a lot because it’s important and I power through. But yes I want to make sure that you guys are really really making sure going live where it’s going to be the most good for your business and that’s going to be your page or if it’s on Facebook, it’s on YouTube, maybe it’s Instagram maybe it’s Periscope. I’m going to say it’s probably not Periscope certainly has its niche and its area and its got a section of people who really really love it. If that’s your audience go for it. It’s not my audience. For a while you guys super loved it but I have tried it a couple of times since and I get no traction so don’t worry about providing value there because it’s not the most value for me from a marketing perspective. So that’s it.
I’m kind of, a little rambily but this is something I’m really fired up about and I really want to encourage you guys to figure out if this is something you want to do where it fits for you and how you can best execute it at the highest level not just for you but for your audience. Cool. All right so again I cannot speak highly enough about Live Streaming Pros, Luria and David are fantastic. Go check them out. And of course make sure you’re following along as we sort of evolve this live streaming journey and launch the show, Hit the Mic TV Live on May 8th celebrating episode 400 of this podcast it’s going to be the place to be. It’s going to be some cool stuff. I’m really really excited. So join us there. I will see you soon. Oh and if you want to grab the live training you want to see going live through Facebook on the phone the desktop or using Ecamm live. The place to be is the HittheMicBackstage.com.
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