AMY PORTERFIELD: Hey there, Amy Porterfield here. Welcome to another episode of The Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast. I am so very thrilled that you’ve tuned in. Today we’re talking all things Facebook Live. I am excited about this!
If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I do not love video. Really specifically, I do not love live video because it makes me nervous. There are so many opportunities to mess up and the technology getting wonky and not working out. It just makes me on edge the whole time. That is until now.
You will be very surprised to hear that I actually love Facebook Live. I do. Let’s back up a little bit and then I’ll tell you why I love it.
For those of you who are not familiar with Facebook Live just yet, on your Facebook page and in Facebook groups, most people now have the ability to jump on their mobile phone and instead of posting an image or text you will actually see a little icon that looks like a wireless icon. You can click it and broadcast live from your smartphone or iPad into your Facebook page or into a Facebook group.
People are actually seeing you there live. I know some Android people still do not have access. I was with somebody at an even just recently and she loves using Periscope. She wants to use Facebook Live so very bad but she’s on an Android and we tried everything but she really does not have access yet.
I’ve seen other people with Androids that have access so it’s a little bit weird. You definitely want to update all of your settings and update the app on your smartphone and then give it a try. But really specifically, what I want to say is that Facebook Live is definitely a game changer.
I can’t believe I’m saying that and I can’t believe I’m saying I actually love it because of all of my trepidation with live video. But I do. Here are a few reasons why: I am definitely a marketer and I like to be strategic with how I run my business. When I realized doing a Facebook Live broadcast on my Facebook page was going to get me that much organic reach over a typical post, right away I was sold.
Right away, I said, “Okay, Amy, put all of your fears away with video. Stop being so critical of yourself and look at these numbers.” I saw that a post might get a few thousand people in terms of organic reach but a video, depending on the time of day (I’ve been playing with that recently), the live video would actually get 100,000 people in organic reach.
The replay then plays on, on your Facebook page. That would get maybe 50,000 more people in terms of organic reach. That doesn’t mean that many people are watching it. But I’m getting out into the newsfeed far more often and with a bigger reach than I ever have with anything I’ve ever done on my Facebook page.
Just recently I’ve started to put a bigger focus on coming back to my Facebook page, focusing on the engagement, and focusing on the reach. It is something I’ve kind of moved away from as we’ve been launching our last product and working on our last product. So I’ve been paying attention to that.
When I saw the organic reach with Facebook Live video I decided I had to do it. I have to do it consistently. I have a guest on the show today because I had a unique situation where I was at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego a little while back. The focus of that event, if you were there you would know this for sure, but the focus of that even was all about Facebook Live.
I sat in on some sessions all about Facebook Live and kind of learned the lay of the land. It’s not complicated at all, I promise you. We’ll link to a really good article of how to get started with Facebook Live in the show notes. But I was also in the hallway chatting and networking with people. I ran into Kim Garst.
I’ve known of Kim Garst, Boom Social, for a long time now. I know she does amazing things online. However, I had never met her in person. I stopped to say, “Hello” and we started to chat. I said, “I think I’m going to start doing Facebook Live.
She said, “Oh girl, you’ve got to be doing Facebook Live.” Then she started to tell me of all of the success she’s had with live streaming on Periscope and now on Facebook. She was the one who first introduced this whole idea of the organic reach skyrocketing when you use live video on your page.
She also shared some of the revenue boosts that she has been seeing since doing live streaming video. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue boosts from her live streaming experience. That really peaked my interest so I started to research it more and more and then I said, “Okay, no more researching, no more thinking about it, no more getting nervous, just do it.”
The minute I came back from Social Media Marketing World I posted on my Facebook page and said I was going live on “this” date. Let me give you a little hint. I went live in my own Facebook group first with a small group that I knew would be very patient with me and very kind if I messed up.
If you are part of my private Facebook group for my B-School bonus members then you were a part of this, so thank you! I went into that group and told them I had never done Facebook Live before and that I was a little nervous to do it.
I asked them if I could experiment with them. I told them I was going to jump on at noon “tomorrow” and asked if they would jump on with me and let me know if they could hear me okay and let me know about the experience. I wanted to see what the comments looked like.
I was fully transparent with a really small group I have and they were amazing. I got to get the lay of the land before I went live on my Facebook page, which has over 200,000 fans so I knew I would have a really big reach right out of the gate.
I did this and I loved it right away. I love that the comments aren’t flying by you like they are on Periscope. I think Facebook Live is easier to use, much easier to use, than Periscope. And, my audience is on Facebook so it makes perfect sense for me to focus more on Facebook than Periscope.
You will hear from our guest, Kim, that she actually uses both and thinks we all should be using both or at least most of us should if we’re going to use live streaming. I’m just not there at this point yet because it’s a big hurdle for me to even get on Facebook Live regularly. I know myself and my personality.
I’m just going to stick with one at this point and I want to do it at least once a week if not more. That’s my goal right now. I might add to that as I get going.
I wanted to share all of this with you because I really do believe many of you listening right now should be doing Facebook Live. It’s a way to connect with your audience that is off-the-charts more personal than any post you would ever put on social media.
The fact that it’s live means you get to invite people into your world. You get to be transparent with them if that’s something you want to be. You get to tell them stories, take them behind the scenes, and share with them tips, strategies, and value bombs that you would normally not do in just a static post. I think that is what people are looking for.
I follow Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk) a lot and he talks about the power of video. Every time he was talking about video I would just almost want to hide under my desk. I would feel like, “I know Gary. But I’m just not there yet, I’m not ready.”
I finally just had to take the leap and do it even though I was nervous to do it. I guess that’s my message to all of you before we bring Kim on. Even if you’re nervous to do live streaming video, even if you feel like it’s not really your thing, even if you feel like you’re going to mess up, let’s just experiment and do it anyway just to see what you think about it.
As I mentioned, I love it and I’m the last person that I thought would be saying, “I love live streaming video on Facebook.” That’s not really normal for me. I just want to encourage you in the next seven days to do your first Facebook Live video. We’re going to talk to Kim about the ins and outs and pros and cons and all that good stuff around live streaming video.
Specifically, I’ve drilled down on some questions for Kim around Facebook Live video: What to post above the video before you go live, should you tell people you’re going live a day before, what do you change your post to once it goes into the replay? It is all that kind of stuff we specifically want to know before we jump on live.
We are definitely going to attack all of that in this interview. Then, Kim is specifically going to talk a lot about the value of live video and why it’s so important. I think you will find a lot of value in this interview. I can’t wait to jump in but I first wanted to give you a little insight about what Facebook Live has looked like for me over the last month.
About a month from now I am going to come out with a podcast episode that reviews my recent launch. As you guys probably know, I launched my brand new course, Courses That Convert, and at the time I’m recording this it’s actually not even open; but, we may open it up again a little bit later.
I did this entire launch, the biggest launch I’ve ever done to date, and we used Facebook Live a lot during the launch. When I do my launch in review about a month from now in a specific episode all about the launch, I’m going to share with you how we used Facebook Live in the launch and how we turned our Facebook Live videos into ads and how we generated $8,000 with one ad that cost us $160. That’s a little teaser for you.
I’ll be sharing how we used Facebook Live and turned them into ads and what that looked like and how we did it an all that good stuff in an upcoming episode. I’m not ready to reveal all of that just yet because I’ve got to pull all of my information together before I do a launch in review episode.
Okay, I teased you enough. I just wanted to set the stage so you’ll be looking forward to that episode coming soon.
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Let’s go ahead and jump in.
Amy: Hey there Kim! Thank you so much for being with me here today. I truly appreciate it.
Kim Garst: I am super excited to be here, Amy. Thank you so much for inviting me.
Amy: As I said in the intro, you and I had this great really quick chat at Social Media Marketing World and I really truly believe you changed things dramatically for me in terms of my willingness and confidence in using live streaming video.
First of all, I’ve just got to give you a big “Thank You” for that because it’s only been a few short weeks but I’ve seen a huge difference in so many different areas.
Kim: You don’t know how excited I am to hear that. I’m constantly telling anyone who will listen to me how powerful live video is. So I’m so excited that I could inspire you and hopefully get you to a place where you can leverage it. I’ve already seen that you are a natural when it comes to actually connecting with people; not just through your voice, but through that visual component of having the live video piece in play.
I don’t know if other people will totally get this when I say it, but you have such an amazing voice. It’s so soothing and I just feel like every time I hear it I’m going to learn something amazing. I don’t know what it is about your voice.
Then you tie in the visual components that go with it, which are beautiful, and you are just going to do amazing things on live video.
Amy: Coming from you, that means so much. So thank you very, very much for saying that. It gives me a little extra boost of confidence. As you know, I’m not completely comfortable in doing live video.
I’m doing it because I think it’s the right thing to do for my business and I love the way I’m able to connect. But, I’m never really comfortable with that. But we will get back to it, for sure. I know you have some tips and trips to help those that are feeling a little bit nervous to do it.
First, for those that do not yet know you, there will be a few on here but I think most people listening know your content well. But, for those who don’t, tell us a little bit about you and your business.
Kim: Everybody feels like they have to have some sort of a title.
Amy: Right.
Kim: What is it that I do and what is my specialty? What do I really care about? There are two things, honestly, as it relates to letting people know who I am and what I am compassionate about. I really care about helping people monetize social media, creating more sales, getting that true ROI, which is elusive for a lot of business owners.
I’m really passionate about teaching strategies that actually create monetization of a business. I’m also really, really passionate about shortening people’s learning curves. That is such a huge component. When I started my business 20+ years ago I didn’t know anything.
I am totally self taught. But the differences between my businesses in the early days and now is that there is so much stuff. There are so many components of having an online business and being successful. Then you layer that whole social piece on top of it and it can be really either nerve wracking and pulling your hair out, or it is just too much that you can’t do it.
I like to kind of skinny it up and try to help people shorten the learning curve to actually get a true result.
Amy: That is so refreshing because I think most of our students are looking for the fastest way to get from A to B while truly understanding it and getting the support they need to get there. I think you definitely offer that.
If you haven’t all checked out Kim’s content just in general, even if you just jump on her Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/kimgarstboomsocial.
Kim: We basically branded both my personal brand and the business because I had already had a personal brand when we launched Boom Social. We were trying to pull in both of those components.
Amy: You are constantly doing live video and you have the most amazing engagement on your Facebook page. Every time I talk about engagement I’m always telling people to checkout your Facebook page. I recently saw that you updated a freebie all about how to get more free organic engagement on your Facebook. That’s a hot topic, for sure.
Kim: It’s such a hot topic. You know, it’s been a hot topic. About two years ago when Facebook started curtailing Facebook reach I wrote a blog post. I was 17 ways to jumpstart your reach or, at the time, likes, comments, and shares.
In that time Facebook has continued to curtail, even more, the reach that we get on our Facebook fan pages, as you know. I recently updated it based on a lot of testing. I am constantly testing to see what you can do to, (you hate to say game the system because that’s not what I am really trying to do, I’m really more about trying to level the playing field for the business owner.
Facebook is saying they want us to pay to play. I am all about telling business owners and entrepreneurs they can still get free reach and the ways they can do it. That’s the strategy and thought process behind the guide that I have, 27 Ways to Get More Facebook Reach.
A lot of that revolves around video. There are several tips that are structured around different types of video and how you can leverage them to get more free reach.
Amy: That is a perfect segue into what we want to talk about today, specifically Facebook Live. But, before we get there, I want to just talk about live streaming video in general. You have been on Periscope for about a year now, right?
Kim: Yes. I got started shortly after Periscope launched. I was actually at Social Media Marketing World last year when the app launched and kind of put Meerkat on the backburner. I literally did my first Periscope with Donna Mortiz at Social Media Marketing World last year.
It took me about a month, or a little more, because I’m very similar to you in that I don’t really care to get in front of the camera. I hate my photo taken. All of those things, that fear factor kind of thing, but for me it was about the perfectionist side of it. Knowing my own history, my team will tell you video is my elephant. I was a major problem for me.
They hated video days because they knew it was going to be a long day. A year ago if you had told me I would be sitting down in front of the camera, even the phone camera, everyday and sharing content I would have laughed. I would have said there was just no way I’m going to do that.
It was a bit of a hurdle, but honestly, when I saw the connection it was what got me. I saw the numbers and from a business standpoint I was like, WOW!
You know what we go through to get people on a webinar. And when you can sit down with your phone and hit the “start broadcast” button and have more people than you can get on a live webinar at a moment’s notice with no prep, no slides, no this or that, the maraud of things we do to broadcast or put on a webinar.
I was like, “Oh my goodness! How is this possible?” That was my first hook, seeing the business application of getting in front of an audience at a moment’s notice. Then the thing that really, really hooked me was the people that I could connect and engage in real time, answer questions in real time, almost build relationships in real time, simply because you see a lot of the same people over and over and you start to connect with them on other social platforms.
You start to engage with them on other social platforms and that know, like, and trust factor is just super accelerated. It is just incredible. I haven’t found another medium in the social space to connect with people quicker and more intimately than live video.
Amy: That leads me to the other thing that keeps coming up with my students when they ask me about live streaming. How professional do you need to be? How good does it need to look? I have noticed that it really runs the gamut. If I were to set up something to broadcast live when I’m recording a podcast episode you probably get to see behind the scenes that it doesn’t always look that pretty. But I’m thinking people kind of like that.
Kim: People love that. To go back to my perfectionism, when I first started I thought everything had to be super awesome, the sound had to be good, the lighting had to be awesome, and all of these things we think of when we think of presenting ourselves professionally in a video format.
I found that nothing every goes the way you think it will in a live stream.
Amy: Amen.
Kim: You’re light falls over, you phone flips, a ton of things actually go wrong. There would have been a time when that would have totally freaked me out because it wasn’t perfect. What I found immediately was that people actually love that. They love it when there’s that realness and rawness where, “If Kim’s not freaking out because she dropped her phone or because the light fell over on her head (which has happened, yes it did) it’s okay.”
I think we need the ability to show up and let people know things behind the scenes in a business are not perfect. We put on this persona, for the most part, we want things to be perfect. We design a great website and we are doing front-facing videos, sales videos and we put on the best face we can.
But, I think the reason live video is so impactful (again, this is my opinion and what I’ve seen through my personal experiences and watching other people) is that people are so attracted to people who are not just real but people that are relatable. In other words, they can see themselves having that issue or seeing that it happened to “her” so I can do this.
The relatability and the rawness of being okay with the imperfections of life and business is what attracted people. They love it.
Amy: I totally agree with you. One of the gals in one of my private Facebook groups did her first Facebook Live in her kitchen because she teaches people how to cook healthfully. After she did it she said, “Oh my gosh, my counters were a mess and I didn’t even know it. My purse is open and you could see everything in it. There were dishes in the sink.”
She said, “And I still did it.” I feel that most of us just need to do it and not worry about all of that stuff. You’ll get better and better.
Another gal in my group said, “I did it and I hated how my mouth looked. I did this funny thing with my mouth the minute the video turned on.”
I think we are our worst critics, for sure. But would you just agree that the more you do it the better you get? It is just like anything in life.
Kim: Absolutely. One of the side benefits for me is that my mouth always moved faster than my brain so I would get tongue tied sometimes and forget the word I was trying to say. That would drive me crazy. Plus, in the normal flow of the way you speak, you tend to insert those words like “um” and “like” and all of the little interjection words.
I would edit a video to death to try to edit out all of those words, the little imperfections in the normal course of saying things. I have found that by simply getting on Periscope roughly every day for the past year my ability to articulate has just gone sky high compared to where it was.
Similarly, you can probably relate to this as well as others that are listening who have had the opportunity to speak in front of an audience, you have that fear factor. There was never a time when I was not nervous before I had to get on stage. Now I don’t really have the problem anymore. I really attribute that to the fact that I get out there everyday and don’t get wrapped up around the imperfections anymore.
In fact, I just poke fun at myself if something happens that’s not perfect. This morning I couldn’t get my tongue straight to save my soul. There would have been a time that I would have pulled the cover over my head and give up. But it has just really helped me get to a place where I feel like my skill set has really increased. The confidence I have to speak has really increased.
Amy: I think that’s a huge plus with all of us growing our businesses. If you do more live streaming video, just as Kim is saying, things start to get easier and the things that bothered you so much kind of just go away. I definitely don’t like seeing myself on video. I’m nervous the whole time.
But I have to say I have loved that I took the leap and I’m doing my video now and there is a confidence that’s coming with it. I started a Google Doc of all of these different ideas that I can talk about so the creativity starts to flow when you realize you can do it pretty consistently. I have to say, the organic reach with these videos has kind of blown my mind.
When Kim and I first talked, when she talked about the reach and what you can do in terms of sales once you’ve been doing it for a while and have grown a following, it’s definitely going to affect your bottom line. My ears perked up like, “Wait a second!” Those are two things I’m really curious about in terms of how to optimize that inside my business.
There are so many perks. But, if you are cool with it, Kim, I would love to zero in on Facebook Live because you are definitely an expert in that area. Even just a quick conversation with you made me feel better in terms of getting started.
And, now that I’ve been doing it for about two or three weeks I have some specific questions I think my listeners will have as well when they get started. I wondered if I could just do a lightning round with you.
Kim: Let’s do it!
Amy: The first question I have is, Periscope and Facebook Live feel different to me in terms of how to get started. When you press “Broadcast” Periscope feels different than Facebook Live. I’m curious, when the video comes on with Facebook Live, one tip you gave me was to start right away with, “Hi, I’m Amy Porterfield,” and just go right into the content. Did I get that right?
Kim: Yes, absolutely. You are so right that the community and the way people engage with the content is so different on Periscope and Facebook. On Periscope when people follow you, you get a notification on your phone and you can tune into that person if you so choose. It’s the same on Facebook. If you subscribe to their live video streams you will get a notification.
But, it doesn’t pop up on your phone unless you have your notifications turned on. So the Facebook crowd is slightly different than the Periscope crowd. It’s so funny because Facebook is kind of the friends and family feel. That’s the way I have always thought of it. But Periscope, from a live video standpoint, is very much like a friends and family atmosphere. There is kind of a chatty thing going on at the front side.
I welcome everybody and call people out and ask where in the world they are. I have housekeeping things on the front side of my Periscopes. They totally work. But if I were to do that same thing on Facebook Live I don’t think it translates as well. In fact, I know it doesn’t because I tried it.
With Facebook, yes you need to get started and introduce yourself. You need to tell people why they should be there and what’s in it for them. Then just get started. Your audience will slowly continue to build out. It takes a little bit longer for people to jump onto Facebook Live, in my experience, than it does on Periscope.
You numbers escalate pretty quickly on Periscope and, again, on Facebook Live it seems to take a little bit of time. That’s one of the reasons I think Facebook is giving so much push (reach) to people who are creating Facebook Live content. They are trying to get that content out into your fans’ newsfeed.
Please listen to what I just said, because it is important that you guys know that. Facebook Live is getting ten times the reach of the regular content on Facebook right now.
Amy: That’s huge. That is definitely huge. You are saying that if I do Facebook Live videos on my Facebook page it is getting pushed out ten times more than if I post an image with a link to a blog post or an image that has a quote on it or whatever it might be.
Kim: Absolutely. Just to kind of give you some rough numbers, I did a Facebook Live this morning and there was, according to my numbers, approximately 250 people live. For the most part that number stayed pretty even throughout the course of the Facebook Live session.
But, these are my numbers as of right now, again, for the most part I am just trying to look at how many people were physically live on my session, 250 people. But the reach that I received was over 100,000.
Amy: Wow!
Kim: Over 100,000 people. Then, 2.7K in views. But views, again, is an oblique thing. But the reach is pretty amazing. That means Facebook was pushing that content out to my fan base at a really rapid clip for 100,000 people to have been “reached” in that short of a time.
Amy: Reach means that your video got pushed out into their newsfeed?
Kim: Correct.
Amy: Got ya’. With Facebook Live, one of the things I think is very valuable about it is that they do give you some viewing statistics right away and then beyond. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Kim: Yes. That is really neat. Facebook will give us some core information as it relates to live peak viewers, how many you had on at the peak of the particular live broadcast; they will give you the minutes viewed, again that’s a cumulative number; unique viewers, for example, on the same broadcast that I have been referencing there were 2,612 unique viewers right now for this video.
You have to keep in mind that it is people who may see it in their newsfeed for three seconds. That is what it is. Video views are reported and how many people actually watch it for longer than 10 seconds. That’s important.
Amy: You can get that number once your video goes live after the video is done and after you finish broadcasting. Right away you can get into that video and see all of those statistics and see them climb. That’s what I love, Kim, and that’s where you really peaked my interest when we first chatted.
You said the replay is just as valuable, if not more, than even the live broadcast.
Kim: The neat part about reach, and a lot of people don’t truly understand this, if we can get more reach across the board for our fan page then it’s not just that particular video or that particular piece of content had a bunch of reach, it’s about getting the rest of our content back into the newsfeed as well.
The more reach you have across the board the more opportunity you have for all of your content to get back into your fans’ newsfeed. That’s the big picture. The neat part about any kind of viral content, in this particular case I count Facebook Live videos as viral content simply because Facebook is giving us more reach while we are live and it’s something that continues to live on, it will continue to build your insights and your reach out. It is essentially a gift that keeps on giving.
Amy: Yes, it helps not just that video, but all the other content you’re doing. I’m already seeing a bigger reach on my Facebook page just by adding four or five videos to the mix already. I definitely seeing it living on.
When somebody gets live on Facebook and the video starts, do you suggest that we have a little bit of a canned who we are that we say at the beginning of each video? I wasn’t doing that at first because I thought these are my Facebook fans that I’m broadcasting to. However, I’m guessing that it’s probably important to say that my name is Amy Porterfield and what I do?
Kim: I absolutely think you need to do that. I share that routinely even on Periscope, “For those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Kim Garst,” because there are going to be people. Even the people who are technically your fans, they may share it. In fact, you should encourage them to share it so that you get into other people’s communities as well.
You can’t just assume that people know who you are so I do encourage people to have an intro ready, not only, “Hey, this is who I am,” but how you serve; maybe you can add a little bit of value from the standpoint of why they should even be listening to this particular AKA “expert”.
There is an expert on every corner, depending on what area of expertise you have. You want to make yourself stand out in some way. So, sharing who you are, how you serve, and building out a little bit of social proof is important, I think, so that people know they really need to pay attention to you because you told them you are a best-selling author or whatever it is.
Express a little bit of, I hate tooting my own horn, but in this case it is important to share something about yourself that lends credibility to who you are as an expert.
Amy: Okay, cool. Then I’m going to start doing that for sure. Here’s a question that I keep thinking of and I know there is probably not a right or wrong answer but I wish there was…length. Talk to me about the length of these Facebook Live videos. Is there an optimal length to get more people to watch it all the way through? Is there anything about that?
Kim: To your point, there is not a right or wrong answer. But I’ll give a couple of scenarios and let people decide which one they think holds the most value for where they are and, more specifically, for the strategy they employee.
For example, I have said this several times, make sure you have a strategy for every one of your broadcasts, whatever it is; if your strategy is to drive people to your blog post, to sell something, to get people to opt in to your email list, whatever it is.
One thing I have done, and I think this would be a great strategy for you, Amy, because I know you do a lot of webinars, I actually had a session with a client a couple of months ago where I helped them to find their strategy for live video and one of the strategies that I gave was to leverage (whether it’s Facebook Live or Periscope or any of the live applications that are out there now) the community they’ve built and jump on in advance of their webinar to let people know they are getting ready to do a webinar about X and it is going to solve “this” problem and let them know you are giving away a checklist that’s going to help save tons of time. But, you have to join the webinar. Then leave a link to let people join you.
It’s amazing. It’s like their numbers are 95+% on the conversion of the numbers. Those people are following them from Facebook Live to Zoom (the platform they are using) because they want the freebie. And, when they get there they have to opt in. You are sending them to Zoom and you will have a link that says, “Hey, go grab it because we’re going to be talking about this and you will want to add your notes to this. You will want to print it out and be able to see it in front of you.”
People opt in and now you are building your list. That is kind of a two-fold strategy. Then, the other thing that I think people need to really understand is how Facebook is giving reach to Facebook Live
You are getting a bonus from a reach standpoint while you are live. Once you are no longer live, Facebook turns off that push that they have been giving you. That doesn’t’ mean you’re not still going to get the organic reach that would come normally by the additional added reach. Does that make sense?
Amy: It does.
Kim: They are giving you free reach. So, if you’re jumping on Facebook Live and you’re only on for two hot minutes, to use my first hot strategy, you get on and are just using it as a mini opportunity to drive traffic to something else. That means you’re not delivering a ton of content, you’re just sharing that you are going to be “over there” and are inviting everyone to join you.
That’s not going to get you a bunch of free reach. But if you’re like me, like this morning for example, when I did a Facebook Live and was on for roughly 25 minutes, then Facebook was pushing a ton of reach my way. There was a lot more value for me time wise because of the time I spent on Facebook Live.
Amy: Another question I had for you was about what to post before you go live. You get to type in something before you actually hit broadcast. The next question is, after you broadcast, what are some things you should do to enhance that post?
Kim: That is a really great question. The first question, as it relates to what to type in, I am a big proponent of using the space like a headline. What is going to grab people’s attention? You can treat it kind of like a blog post. Or, I think it needs to be a little bit more than just a headline.
You can actually edit this, which is beautiful because you can’t do that on Periscope. But you can on Facebook Live. If you type something in and realize you have a spelling error and need to go back, you can actually do that. Or, if you want to beef it up (and I do this routinely), I will type in my title and treat it like a headline to catch people’s eyes and interest out the gate, then I will go back and edit the section and beef it up from the standpoint of what’s in it for them.
This morning my title was “Three Top Tips on How to Get More of Your Facebook Fans Using Video,” which is exactly the topic we’re talking about today.
Amy: Perfect timing.
Kim: I haven’t gone back and edited that yet but I probably will before the day is over. I might put my three strategies that I popped in there in the text. There are different strategies behind that but I guess the short answer is to really treat it like a headline. What is going to get people’s interest?
It is similar to what we do with great blog titles. You’ve got to catch people’s interest. People have to know what’s in it for them. If you’re just being random then you are randomly going to get people checking it out. That’s kind of my strategy.
Amy: That’s so true. I haven’t even tried this yet, but what do you think about the fact that when you’re going live you actually put something like, “Join me live now: Three Ways To Use Video on Facebook” and then after it’s live go back and change it around? Do you think that saying you are live at that moment makes a difference?
Kim: I have seen a lot of people playing with their graphics. This kind of speaks to the second part of your question. I’m going to go there and then circle back a little bit. Sometimes with YouTube, or any video, they randomly choose the screen photo where you are faced in a weird position.
Amy: Oh yes, I know it all too well.
Kim: You look like a barracuda or something and have a horrible look on your face, your eyes are closed routinely, anyway, the neat part about Facebook Live is that you can actually go in and upload your own cover.
After the fact you can go in and have a cover that has the title of your broadcast on it or you can have calls to action on that title. A lot of times I’ve seen people do something that has a lower third on there where it shows the person and then the website or a specific call to action with a click to go to. But, to go back to that point, not only can you edit the video itself (the cover), you can actually edit the text.
If part of your strategy was to drive people to an opt-in page because you were giving something away and using the live broadcast to share some of the tips in the freemium. You can actually go back and incorporate the link into the actual description. All people would have to do is click on the link if they are watching it after the fact.
There are a lot of core strategies you can incorporate with the editing functionality that Facebook gives us. We don’t necessarily that on Periscope.
Amy: They give you about ten options of which frame they took from you talking so one of the first things I always do is go in and try to find the one where I don’t look like a total crazy person talking in the video. I haven’t even started to upload images. I like that idea of having the title. But definitely, go in there right away and change your image if you look kind of crazy; and they tend to find the “best” ones to do that.
Kim: I don’t know how they always do that.
Amy: I know, it kills me every time.
Kim: There is also the opportunity to add a call-to-action button.
Amy: That was my next question! You an add a call-to-action button on the post, you don’t have to boost it or anything?
Kim: Yes. The default is no button but you can have just a call-to-action button, you can have a “book now”, “Download”, “Learn More”, “Shop Now”, “Sign Up”, and “Watch More”.
Those are pretty decent calls to action that you can actually overlay onto the video by simply going in and editing what you want to put on there. This requires a little bit more of a skill set, but you can actually upload video captions as well.
You can upload what they call SRTs. I haven’t played with this feature yet, but I’ve seen some people do so. It’s on my list but I just thought I would mention it. It is more of an advanced feature.
Amy: You can possibly do those captions, which is kind of cool. I meant to ask you, before I even asked this question…backing up a bit. Now you’re doing a daily show. But for me, let’s say if I want to do it twice a week and I don’t yet want to say the day and time I’m doing it. I do see the value in that, I like that people expect that I jump on my podcast once a week and they know it’s going to go live on Thursdays. I see the value there.
But if I’m not there yet, do you think I should be warning people I’m going to be live? And, if so, how much of a warning do I give them?
Kim: If you have a regular show there is that consistency, obviously, and people know when to expect you on live. But I personally think you should, not only could you, but you should leverage your other social platforms to let people know. And even your list.
I think this is big. For example, if you are going to be on Periscope or Facebook and, specifically since we’re talking Facebook Live, let’s say you are going to do what you feel is a really great training and you want as many people as you possibly can to be there. You can let people know in advance, even a day or two before, similarly to what you would do with a webinar.
I don’t think you need to do two weeks but maybe a day or two in advance you can start to seed the message that you’re going to be on Facebook Live at a certain time. Then let your list know you are going to be on Facebook Live.
Let me share a really cool strategy with you. This is something someone did on Periscope but there is no reason it wouldn’t work exactly the same way on Facebook Live. I know someone who has a coaching program. She is a life coach, specifically. She didn’t have a major social media presence but she had a list of about 10,000 people.
She wanted to test the whole live streaming opportunity when it hit big. So about July or August of last year was when she decided to implement this strategy. Her strategy was to commit to 30 days of getting on Periscope and giving a nugget, something that was beneficial to her ideal client or customer avatar.
She wanted to know how to get people on it because she was just starting on Periscope. She didn’t have a bunch of followers so she asked how she would get people to watch her scopes. She decided to leverage her list.
She would email her list every day and let them know she would be on Periscope at x time, the same time every day. The strategy was to let them know she was going to be there and what she was going to be talking about. She then asked them to come join her.
She had a coaching program that she shared at the end of every one of her broadcasts. She would say, “If you guys are interested and this is value-based to you, check out my coaching program.” It wasn’t super salesy. She literally just asked them to check it out.
She sold 71 $15,000 packages.
Amy: What? $15,000 packages?
Kim: $15,000 was her coaching program. She sold 71 of them.
Amy: If that’s not enough to at least peak someone’s interest to at least experiment with this live thing then I don’t know what is.
Kim: I’m telling you. I have my own monetization, it has literally added multiple six figures to my business. One in particularly, I’ll share the story real quick. I did a product launch on Periscope in July of last year. I literally got on, shared the problem and sympathized with the problem because I had the problem, and said I had the outline and built the training to solve the problem. I told them where to go buy it and I had a 53% conversion.
I had 247 people on that scope and crated five figures in sales in 12 minutes.
Amy: This is such a perfect place to wrap up because I really do believe this whole thing of being live where people see you and it’s not the most perfect setting all the time but they get the real you and you’re showing up consistently, I’m pretty sure consistency is the name of the game.
We had Zach Spuckler on a while ago. He does it every single day. You’re here to say that you’ve been doing it every single day on Periscope and now you’re doing it daily (Monday through Friday) on Facebook Live. I do think the consistency is a big piece of the puzzle.
But wow, when people see you show up over and over again there has got to be a direct correlation with your sales. There’s no doubt about it.
Kim: Absolutely. Like I said before, I think the know, like, and trust factor is built at a super accelerated rate and in some cases people know within five minutes or less whether they like you. They get to know you and are willing to spend money with you.
It’s just really incredible how quickly that process happens compared to our traditional social media route. We have to get on social media and I usually tell my clients they have six to nine months before they can really start to see a return. We have to get out there, we have to show up every day and build that rapport. But with this live video element it just takes that time and shaves it down to minutes, in some cases.
Amy: I definitely agree. This is definitely something that you’ve got to at least explore. I was watching the video you did this morning and you were saying, “If you’re not using live video yet we’ve got to find a way for you to take that leap and start using it.”
This is something that’s not going away. I feel it is only getting better. I’m the first to say I don’t jump on the bandwagon right away. I am not an early adopter. I wish I was but it’s just not a part of my personality. I sat back enough to watch this and realize, wait a second, this is something I cannot ignore and I have to let go of my insecurities and fear of being live on video and hating the way I look when I show up live sometimes.
That’s just part of the game for some of us. We have to get beyond that if we genuinely want to connect with our audience in an entirely new and different way that just hasn’t been done before until now.
Kim: I totally agree and that’s one of the reason I am so passionate about it. I am seeing so many people do amazing things. Lots of times people will say, “Well, you’re Kim” or “You’re Amy” so you already have an audience.
I have seen people start from scratch and do amazing things with live video. That’s what’s exciting for me. I know how long it’s taken me to build my platform. Amy, you know how long it takes to grow your business. And, to see someone shorten that and take the opportunity that live video presents to them and monetize at a rate that’s unheard of is exciting to me.
That’s why we do what we do. When we can see a business owner embrace a resource like this and create amazing results with it I’m just amazed at that. I’ve seen what it’s
done for my business but I’ve seen what it’s doing for other people’s businesses and that’s why I ask you to please, please explore it. Get over that.
I was there. I know how it is so I’m always telling people, similar to how I shared with you at Social Media Marketing World.
Amy: Just do it. Just get out there, push yourself beyond those limitations you feel you have. They are not truly there. You can do this. If Kim and I can do this, really truly, we believe you all can do it as well.
Kim, I cannot thank you enough for coming on the show. I’ve wanted you on for a while now and then I thought this was the perfect topic because you’re killing it with live streaming video. Thank you so much.
Tell my audience where they can learn more about you, where they can see you live, give any links you can give them so they can check you out.
Kim: On Periscope it’s www.Periscope.tv/kimgarst, my blog is www.kimgarst.com/ blog, you can check me out on Facebook. I am going to be on Facebook Live every day. You can check me out on my fan page which is www.facebook.com/ kimgarstboomsocial.
Amy: I will link to all of that on my show notes and I’m going to link to your really awesome freebie all about Facebook engagement. I know that’s not really what this show was about but it’s so freaking good that I’ve just got to get it on my show notes. So, we’ll link to that as well so that people can opt in and get the goodness there.
Again, thanks a bunch for being here.
Kim: I am so excited. Thank you for having me.
Amy: There you have it. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to all things Facebook Live with Kim Garst. Remember the challenge I gave you at the very beginning. If you haven’t used Facebook Live yet, I want you to mark your calendar and do it in the next seven days.
In the next seven days you will either jump inside one of your Facebook groups or go right for your Facebook page, click the little wireless-looking broadcast icon inside your post (it’s really easy to find), click on it and it will count down 3, 2, 1 and you, my friend, are live. Just do it. Even if you’re scared, do it anyway.
I can’t wait to hear about all of your Facebook Live experiences. So, please do keep me updated.
One more thing before we wrap up. Don’t forget to take me up on the special FreshBooks offer. If you are a freelancer, coach, or consultant, FreshBooks is ridiculously easy cloud accounting software that will help you feel a whole lot less stress when dealing with invoicing, running down late payments, and expense tracking.
To experience the full power of FreshBooks totally free for 30 days go to www.FreshBooks.com/amy and then enter Amy in the “How Did You Hear About Us” section. I can’t wait for you to check it out.
I want to give you a little teaser for next week’s episode. Next week is all about looking at the legal stuff inside your business. Do you have a privacy policy, a disclaimer policy? Are you protected when you take money online? I know, it’s not the most sexy stuff to talk about. It’s actually a little scary for most of us. But I have a special guest, a lawyer in fact, to come on the show and talk to us about how to protect your online business.
That will be next week’s episode, #112. I’ll see you there.
