Lessons Learned From My First Facebook Live Stream

Over the last couple years, I’ve been talking about live streaming cooking tutorials and haven’t made it a reality until Facebook Live made it super easy. It was easy to hit the “LIVE” button and go for it. My plan was to use YouTube Live for the live stream instead of using Periscope because I wanted to embed the video on my blog, along with any notes or recipes.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH YOUTUBE
After updating the YouTube app, it turns out my phone didn’t want to live stream from the app. I read that you could live stream using the YouTube Game App, including showing live game play from your mobile device, it turns out you could only live stream if you were showing a game or another app. Next, I downloaded another app whose main function was to live stream to YouTube but it took forever to initialize a connection. Then I remembered a commercial for Facebook Live which is what I ended up using.

PRO TIPS

Do a test run.
- During your first live stream, set the audience to a handful of friends who will be online to give you feedback as you do your demo. They can help you frame your shot, tell you if you need to speak up, slow down or tell you how many times you say ‘um’.
- Don’t do what I did, which was to turn on FB Live to the public without a limited test run. The good news of doing that is if you are a procrastinator, you can get your first video posted before you have a chance to chicken out.
If you are live streaming from your phone, Facebook Live should have the phone vertical, if you tilt it sideways, it will tilt your videos horizontally, like in the video below.

Make sure your audience can see what you are doing during your test run. If you are using the front-facing camera, what you see is what your audience sees, double check this before you get started or make adjustments as you go. In my second video, I thought my audience could see the kitchen island where I was preparing spaghetti squash, they couldn’t and I didn’t learn about it until I watched the playback and read the comments.
Read the comments as they appear so you can make adjustments and answer questions during your video. Get in the habit of responding to your viewers during your test run because this is how you engage with your audience. It makes it more fun for them and for you! The more fun you and your audience are having, the more likely they will return for future live streams.
If you are moving your camera rig when you are not filming, mark where to set up the tripod and lighting with painters tape to make sure you have the same angle each time you shoot, this will save you tons of time.
Make the videos between 2 – 4 minutes long. Until you have a ton of content, it’s easier to break your videos into segments under 4 minutes long. This gives you a chance to get all the items and talking points ready between segments.
Make sure you have enough lighting so you don’t cast shadows on your face and your audience can see what you are doing. My kitchen doesn’t have enough lighting so I’m ordering lights, tripods, and softboxes for my future videos.
If you are planning to grow your audience or embed the videos to your blog, export it from Facebook and upload it to YouTube. I’ll create a tutorial on how to do this in a separate post.

Day 2 count: 649 words

Building an Email List from ZERO Subscribers

When you are building a business, whether you are a new health coach or small business owner, you need have to have a way to connect with your clients. You’ve read that you need to create an email list, no one tells you how to get started from scratch. They tell you how to promote your email newsletter via social media or how to build your existing email list. What if you don’t have anyone on your email list, how do you find people?

When I started an email newsletter for my food and fitness blog. I had ZERO subscribers and I didn’t know how to get started.

WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU SOLVING?
Before you get subscribers or even start writing your newsletter, you need to plan what you will be sharing. As someone who loves food and struggles with weight, my biggest challenge is balancing eating well with fitness goals. After talking to friends and family, I realized I wasn’t the only one who struggled. Then I asked, what has prevented you from reaching your fitness goals? Their answers influenced the articles I write for my blog and share in the newsletter, both address the roadblocks, along with recipes I’ve tested and enjoyed.

Identifying the problem you are solving, helps you find out who you will be serving. What do I mean by serving? These are potential clients who could use your help. They are the people who will appreciate getting the answers or solutions you are sharing.

HOW TO GET YOUR FIRST 25 SUBSCRIBERS
The first 25 subscribers are your friends, colleagues, and family. The first 100 subscribers will be high touch, you will get in touch personally and start a conversation. They will help you shape the content you share. I went through my contacts in the phone and I sent a text to everyone who might be interested. Here’s a template of what I sent to them, you will need to customize what you will be sharing, then your call to action is “do you want it?” or “do you want to be part of it?”

YOU: “Hey __, I’m starting a newsletter where I’ll be sharing tips on how to balance being a foodie with fitness goals. Do you want it?”

FRIEND: “Sounds cool, send it to me.”

YOU: “What’s the best email address for you?”

After they said yes, I added their name and email address to a Google Sheet that I later uploaded to Mailchimp. You can simplify this by writing their name and email address into a notebook, then later type the contact information into the email marketing tool of your choice. You don’t want to use Gmail because you could be flagged for SPAM and have your account locked as your email list grows larger.

I stopped sending text message after the first 25 people said “yes” to test the initial newsletters with a smaller group to make sure I ironed out the technical issues. I also wanted to be able to text or email my friends to get feedback on what they liked and didn’t like. Each week, I would add another 25 subscribers in the same way.

Next up, importing the Google Doc email list into Mailchimp.

Writing is like Walking Around Naked

On Tuesday night, I went to a storytellers workshop at the Gangplank collaborative space in Chandler, Arizona. I decided to come to this workshop to learn how to become a better writer. The first topic was about writing as social objects and to be perfectly honest I nearly walked out because I had no idea what they were talking about. Most of my writing recounts events in my life, how I felt about it, or what I learned whether it resulted in success or failure. Thankfully, Tyler Hurst who was facilitating, explained the idea of social object when he posed questions to the various people around the table. I sort of felt like the kid who didn’t do the homework, hoping the teacher wouldn’t call on me for my opinion. Needless to say I survived and I grew a little from the experience, since I learned there is structure to good story telling.

The next question was, “Is writing selfish or non-selfish”. Hmmmm, good question, it has to be a selfish, I’m holding you hostage, ummm I mean, captive until you get bored with my ramblings and turn your attention elsewhere.

I am not a trained writer, it wasn’t a life long dream for me to publish my diary for all the world to see. I never wanted to write a book or a screenplay because that takes real writing talent. I share my innermost thoughts through writing because I feel like I can be myself without worry of judgement or getting hurt from behind the shield of my computer screen. When you’re having heart to heart in person you immediately feel the impact of being judged or criticized, your insecurities climb to the surface and prevent you from truly expressing yourself. You have that voice in your head that says, “What if I say something stupid? What if they don’t like me?” In writing, you can edit what you’re saying so that everything comes out brilliant (wishful). Unless you write a comment on my blog, I have no idea what you think of me. I write in a bubble so I can get my thoughts out before any self-doubt has a chance to interfere with expression. Do I prefer that? Not sure…I believe face to face conversations create a deeper bond with people if you can get past superficial questions. The problem is that we don’t have the luxury to sit around for hours to gain each other’s trust enough to bare our innermost secrets.

How do you best communicate your thoughts and feelings? Comment with your answers.