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Why is live-streaming such an important strategy - especially given COVID?

In this interview on the Making it Real Podcast, Lesli Bitel, MBA, RDN, LDN - marketing and sales expert -  shares a 4-step no-fail approach (+ a bonus tip) for ROCKING your next live stream.

Lesli works with entrepreneurial wellness professionals who are great at what they do but struggle with the business side of creating joyful and prosperous practices. In her work, she shows her clients how to create their “dream business” by attracting loyal, committed clients; selling with authenticity; and scaling their businesses by creating diversified revenue streams including group coaching programs and digital courses.

Show Notes:

1:52 - Why livestreaming is more important than ever for wellpreneurs

“Especially now, given everything going on with COVID, we can't depend on some of those older ways that we had before to get in front of our audience. Now it's up to us to be creative and quite frankly, assertive, to find new ways to access our audience and to develop that all important know, like, and trust.”

3:40 - How to come up with strong topics for your livestream

You don’t have to overthink this part. You don’t have to write out a script, but you do need to prepare the topic. Decide what topic you want to cover and what outcome you want to deliver for the audience.

Lesli finds it helpful to put her content ideas into two buckets:

Topic Idea #1: What are some common questions your audience asks?

Usually these are top-of-mind challenges and struggles that your audience is experiencing in their own lives.

How: keep track of the questions you receive by making a list. Refer to this list to generate truly great content for your audience.

“A lot of times people come to me, they're brand new in their practices. They're trying to grow their business and get clients. They might come to me and say, "Well, Leslie, what are the different forms I need to have?" Or, "What goes on my website? What platform is the best?" Things like that are very commonly asked or, "How can I use Instagram?" That's a really common one too, to get more leads. Because these are the topics that my audience often views as urgent. So of course I would want to include some live streams to help answer those questions.”

Topic Idea #2:  Some topics your audience needs to know

Maybe they don’t even know that they need to know this stuff!

“Now, there's also lots of topics that I can draw from that maybe my audience doesn't even know that they would benefit from knowing. So they might not even know to ask. What would some examples of those types of questions be? Well, things like how do I create online content in a more systematic way so that I attract more visitors to my website. So that would be a great thing for me to cover. And again, this is something that maybe my audience wouldn't even know to ask that question, unless they were a little bit more advanced.”

8:05 - How long should a livestream be?

“When you're developing your content, don't feel like you have to take a super deep dive into each of these. It is definitely a little bit more topical because your livestreams, 20 minutes is absolutely fine and you really want to structure it with some key takeaways, more high level. So that's another really important point. You don't have to go and do a ton of depth on each of these topics.”

8:49 - How to decide on production quality

“What do I mean by production quality? Are you going to use your phone? Are you going to use your cell phone? Are you going to use your desktop? I guess a third option would be, are you going to use your desktop with maybe a third party software, involve something like Ecamm or StreamYard or one of those. Or the fourth option would be to have an actual recording studio, which not a lot of people do. And I don't even know that it's necessary, quite frankly.”

9:53 - How to pick your platform (choosing where you’re going to go live)

Should you livestream on the social media channels where you prefer to hang out, or do you go where your audience typically is? Is one platform better than the other?

“The first thing you want to pick is which social media platform you're going to go with. We’ve got Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Those are the four that I can think of. Look at where your audience is hanging out.

A lot of people tend to think that your business page on Facebook is the place to go. That's where I've chosen to go live myself. And there's a lot of reasons behind that. You can create an event, you can use messenger to remind people, which is a cool option as well, integrating messenger bots for reminders. People are definitely on Facebook, especially if your audience is a little bit older.

If your audience is super young, then definitely Instagram. Again, I think you just pick one and you go with it. I think what a lot of people tend to do is they don't get immediate traction, so they stop and then they go to the next thing. And that's what I would not recommend. Make sure you give it a chance, because it does take time to grow your audience regardless of what platform you choose.”

13:42 - Using the tool Streamyard to stream in multiple places at once

“One thing that's cool about StreamYard is, at least right now, it's the only technology that allows you to stream in multiple places at once. That solved it for me. I decided, "Okay, I'm going to stream simultaneously on my business page and in my private Facebook group." I think you can stream up to five places at once.”

16:00 - How to get people to show up for your livestreams

1. Schedule your livestreams on the platform of your choice so your audience gets notified in advance. If you go live on Facebook, create an actual event so your audience is reminded when you’re going live.
2. Invite people directly through facebook messenger!

“I mentioned messenger bots. That is something that we are playing with right now in my business. And it really does seem to help. So people can opt in to get reminders whenever you go live. And the software that I recommend for that, it's called ManyChat. And there's a free version that's really super useful. […] I am finding that really does make a difference. So people actually get a reminder on messenger an hour before you go live, for example, or however you set it up.”

3. Send out an email to your database, letting them know you’re going live in an hour. Tell your audience what you’re going to be talking about, what they’re going to learn, and the link so they can easily find your livestream when it’s time to tune in.

21:48 - How to rock your livestream once you go live

“With livestreams, you can have fun with the fact that it's not supposed to be perfect.” - Kiki Athanas

How to grow your audience, receive interaction, and get comments rolling in your livestreams:

1. Always have a call to action. Be clear on what the next steps are for people.
2. Make sure your background isn’t cluttered.
3. Make sure your light source is in front of you (so your face isn’t shadowy on camera.)
4. Introduce yourself up front and share why the topic is important.
5. Welcome, acknowledge, and thank people that show up.
6. Look at the camera, not at the screen
   

25:41 - Bonus Tip: Repurpose your livestream content

“Why not repurpose this content? It's a goldmine for you and it's going to save you time. First, add captions to your video. Facebook has that capability, and you can also use a paid application such as Rev.com. You can adjust the size to fit into other platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Again, it's a more advanced strategy, but eventually you want to start repurposing this content.  I highly recommend taking that content and turning it into a blog. So you're basically using that content in multiple different channels.”

If you liked this interview, hop on over to the Meal Garden Instagram to stay up-to-date on all our newest episodes from the Making It Real Podcast, and to get daily inspiration to run a successful, impactful wellness business.

Further Reading:

How this RD Built a Private Telehealth Practice (And Uses Meal Garden to Support It)

3 Immediate Actions to Create Your Virtual Nutrition Practice Now - With Lesli Bitel

Karen Pattock: Messed Up Your Launch Plan? Here’s What to Do About It

5 of the Best Online Apps for Creating Effortless Social Media Content

lesli bitel, inspiration, Getting Started

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