Ross Brand is a former radio broadcaster and a “pioneer” in the field of internet livestreaming. Klout ranked him as the number #1 live streaming expert to follow on social media and Switcher Studio considers him an expert in live video production. Through his business Livestream Universe, he helps other brands and entrepreneurs get their own live streams off the ground while impressing how the medium is an unparalleled networking tool.
In this episode, Ross discusses how he made the transition from traditional radio broadcasting to web live streaming, gives you the low-down on how you can get a livestream setup of your own going, and makes the case for why entrepreneurs should go all-in on it.
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF LIVESTREAMING?
Brandon Birkmeyer: What is the value of live streaming to someone who is the face of their business? A lot of entrepreneurs are now the face of their business and they’re working on their personal brands. What is the value of live streaming? How does that play in this ecosystem?
Ross Brand: Depending on what size your audience is and what your business goals are, live streaming is a very effective way that you can have conversations with that audience and be interactive with them.
What I’m saying basically is if you are a huge business, you’re a major brand and you’ve got hundreds of thousands or millions of followers on your Facebook page. How can you personalize that experience and have conversations with them at scale? It’s almost impossible.
LIVESTREAMING MAKES LARGESCALE COMMUNICATION POSSIBLE
One way you can do that is you can go live on your Facebook page. You can talk about the questions that you typically get. You can onboard people with a new product. You can take questions from the chat. You can acknowledge people in the chat.
You can see and get that real-time feedback from people to see what they’re really thinking about your product because they often would be more honest in that chat than they will be in other forums. It’s a very valuable way to make your fans and your customers feel involved with you. There’s a personal face to this brand.
You’re building a relationship in which they have a vehicle to communicate with you just as you have a vehicle to personalize that communication with them. You’re really speaking to them.
It may be a million people, but you’re speaking to each one through this medium in a way that a text post or an image post or any other way that we post online, even a produced video, doesn’t do.
That’s the number one advantage, that interactivity, and that’s how it works for a big brand. It can be tremendously powerful when done right.
SMALL BUSINESSES BENEFIT AS WELL
Let’s take the example of a small business owner or a solopreneur. Think about every client that you get. Every customer that you acquire can make a difference in your revenue for that month or that quarter, and this is a way in which you can showcase your knowledge.
You put your personality out there so they get a sense of what it would be like to do business with you. What would it be like to work with you? They see how you handle questions and comments in real-time. If you have a guest on or you take calls, they see how you interact with people.
Is your personality going to be a fit for them? Do you have the right business approach or professional style that they can work with? It’s very much that they get to know who you are and then you’re top of mind when they need the service. It’s not necessarily a short-term play, but over the long term.
You’re not trying to sell more widgets than Walmart. If you’re a small business, you’re trying to get another customer and another client one by one. As you count them up, you can count up the dollars that come in. You do that by providing value-building relationships.
LIVESTREAMING PROVIDES VALUE
That value can be entertaining or providing knowledge about your industry that they can use in their own businesses. It can be answering questions or helping them get started with something. There are many different ways you can do livestreams, but it’s showing that you’re somebody who provides value.
You’re building a relationship. As people come back because they enjoy your show or because there’s information that they want to get from you, you become known for whatever it is that you do.
Then when they need that product or service, you’re the first one in mind because they feel like they have a relationship with you. They’ve come to like you and trust you. You’re the person that they will want to do business with.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF LIVESTREAMING
Brandon Birkmeyer: One of the challenges I hear a lot of the time is, “I know I need to be creating content for my business, but it’s so hard. I can’t keep up with all the social media and everything else.”
I think live streaming could be an answer for that because it’s less produced. You don’t have to have a script; you can just get out there and start talking to people and interacting with customers and answering questions. I think there’s value there that people are missing because they’re afraid.
Ross Brand: Absolutely, and I think that you have so many different ways you can repurpose a live stream, a show, broadcast, or Q&A. You can repurpose it as a podcast. Take clips and post them on social media.
You can upload part or all of your broadcast as a YouTube video. Take a screenshot and post that on Instagram or do one of those square one-minute videos. Share bits and pieces and stories. There are unlimited ways you can tweet about it. You can share links to get people to come and watch the replay.
PEOPLE WILL CONNECT WITH YOU MORE
The question I get asked probably most by new people is, well, there are two questions. One is, “What am I going to talk about?” We can get to that later if there’s time. The other question is, “What if nobody shows up?”
For the small business owner, the solopreneur, the local business, it’s not as important how many people show up as can it help you convert warm leads?
In other words, somebody tells you, Brandon, “I know of a business out there that you would be perfect for. They’re the ones you need to work with to accomplish what you’re trying to get done.”
What’s the first thing you’re going to do? You’re going to Google them. What are you going to find? You’re going to find their LinkedIn profile, their YouTube channel, their website, things that will come up usually towards the top.
LIVESTREAMING IMPRESSES POTENTIAL CLIENTS
Now, if you take part or all of that live video (depending on what’s appropriate for the platform) and you make some of those live videos available in these different places, there is a surprising power to having the replay of a live video.
That goes beyond having a produced video, an infomercial or advertisement, stock photos, some of the different ways people promote their business.
When people see that you were live, they’re not only getting to know your personality, how you would do business, and what you know. They’re saying, “Okay, he also delivered this live, so he must know his stuff. He’s got some courage to put it out there that way and to communicate.”
You can definitely tell the difference between watching a replay of a live show and watching a pre-recorded video. I think the power of going live lasts not just on the replays of the platform where you went live, but in re-purposing those things.
USE LIVESTREAMING FOR TESTIMONIALS
Let’s take it even a step further. You have customers and you have employees who are both happy with their experience and dealing with you. What is going to be more powerful as a testimonial? Have them write a script, look into the camera, awkwardly read it 15 times until you can stitch together something that looks good?
Or having them on camera (it could be just a casual phone call, a live stream, or it could be in a studio situation,) but asking them where you use interviewing to guide them through their journey, which becomes a far more powerful testimonial because it’s being done in real-time?
People know that even if it’s thought about ahead of time, even if there’s a little script involved, there’s still something organic and real about it.
GET THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Interviewing is a really powerful form of storytelling, which is kind of overlooked because people think of interviewing as investigative journalism or feeding softball questions. However, think about how you can move people through the arc of their customer journey or their experience as an employee going from entry-level to the C-suite, however it turned out for them.
This is the same kind of thing that you can do in a live video interview. It can be a brief interview, but it can be an exceedingly powerful testimonial, whether you’re posting the whole thing or you’re posting a clip of an answer 30 seconds, 15 seconds, a minute and a half.
There are all these different ways that you can use livestreaming that can give you a competitive advantage versus those who aren’t using it yet.
LIVESTREAMING IS A NATURAL RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
Brandon Birkmeyer: What I like about that is there are a lot of businesses that need testimonials for their business and they haven’t taken the time yet.
You’re right that it will look better because people will just see them interacting like a normal people interact, and it will be more authentic for the business because you’re not trying to be an actor. You’re trying to just answer questions like you normally do.
Ross Brand: Obviously you can shape by selecting that customer or that employee that can handle a live question, that you know is more articulate than maybe another employee or is less of a loose cannon with what they say.
Certainly you can use judgment just as we use judgment in terms of who we invite on our livestreams and podcasts.
The approach is a really strong one. I advise if you haven’t tried it, that’s enough of a reason to try livestreaming a little bit, and then think about who you can interview within your own business be it a customer or what have you.
CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
It’s also great when it comes to a new product launch or an in-store sale, anything like that to just go down and talk to a salesperson on the floor and say, “Come on in. You’re going to be XYZ.”
You’re going to talk to him or her, and they’re going to help you out and make sure that you find the right widget for your project. Maybe the team’s here and there. They’re assembling the first of 40 new things that are going to be on the market next week.
Ask, “How do you guys feel about how things are coming along?” “Oh, it’s so exciting. We had a test one in the back. It’s so cool. Let me show you how it works.”
You have these magic moments. Again, not everything has to be posted everywhere if it doesn’t work. You can always hide the replay and do it another time, but in general, you’ll be surprised that most of these you’ll want to keep up. You’ll be excited about them and they can work for you not only in the moment, but that video is interesting to anybody who learns about that product.
THE BENEFITS ARE PRESENT AND FUTURE
Even if they learn three years from now, they can see the video of when it was first being put together, whatever it is. I’m obviously talking in generalities without trying to be specific about products, so it’s a little vague, but you get where I’m going with this.
Here is one other advantage, and this isn’t just limited to livestreaming. This is an advantage for podcasting or for creating YouTube videos. I’m kind of shy when it comes to asking people, “Hey, let’s try and connect and network and build a relationship. I think you’re going somewhere and hopefully you’ll think I am, and maybe we can collaborate.”
What’s something of value you have? Most people enjoy being in a situation where they can promote themselves, where they’re the center of attention. It’s a great opportunity just to think about who you’d like to get to know better, who you’d like to build a relationship with, be it a business relationship or a networking, personal relationship and invite them on your show.
Now you have something. You’re offering something from a position of value instead of saying, “Excuse me, sir. Can I pick your mind for coffee for three minutes? I’ll buy everything in the restaurant, but just please sit down and talk?”
Instead, you can say, “Hey, how would you like to come on my show? My audience would love to hear your experience with the XYZ project. It was tremendous. We’d love to have you on, and we’ll promote it. We’ll make a podcast and have short videos afterward.”
LIVESTREAMING OFFERS VALUE
Being able to have something that you can offer is tremendous. You’re leading with providing value. I’ve had so many friendships and relationships come out of having somebody on as a guest. It’s natural. I didn’t even necessarily go into it with the idea that I’ll have them on a guest and then we’ll start doing business together. It’s more along the lines of, “I need a guest this week,” but the conversation naturally continues.
Then when you see that person at an event, or you need to reach out to them for something, you’ve already established the rapport. At the same time, you’re creating content because we’re establishing a rapport right now. We’re getting to know each other right now while we’re creating a podcast. It’s a pretty amazing thing when you think about it.
Guest Links:
Livestream Universe – http://livestreamuniverse.com/
Livestream Deals – https://livestreamdeals.com/
MORE ADVICE AND INTERVIEWS
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