Why Your Business Needs to Use LIVE Video in 2018

Are you using live video in your business yet? In this Facebook Live video, I explain why this strategy could be the game-changer for your business in 2018 that helps you attract, engage and convert more casual followers into customers.

Here’s the transcript of the video in case you’d rather read! 🙂

Do you want to know what the top strategy for your business should be in 2018? I am Gloria Grace Rand and I’m going to tell you what it is… it’s what I’m doing right now — it’s a live video. For those of you who may or may not know me, I specialize in helping businesses to develop a profitable online presence – especially solopreneurs and service based businesses.

And today I decided to go live on the fly here because I was reading a really cool report from Buffer, it’s about the state of social media today and what’s expected for 2018, and an amazing statistic popped out at me. I’m gonna actually open my browser and go check it out because I want to make sure I get this right.

Only 31 Percent of Marketers have Broadcast Live Video

Yeah, so this report found that only 31% of marketers are using live video so far, or at least as of when this survey was done. so that is kind of crazy in that, really, I was really surprised that only a third of businesses, less than a third of businesses are using live video right now.

So it’s… this is a tremendous opportunity for you if you are in business to be able to take advantage of this because… and let me check the other, this other stat because the other stat that they showed here was something about I think 85% of marketers do actually plan to do video. Let me see, I’m just scrolling down here so I can see but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. Yes – that’s what it was, so 85% of businesses would like to create more video content this year but you know, they may or may not be doing it yet so this is truly your opportunity.

Facebook Live Provides Opportunities

And the survey also of course found that Facebook is still kind of the gorilla of where everybody is — that’s where everybody’s playing. And of course, Facebook live is the great place to be able to to do this so I encourage you to do that. And it’s really, it’s not that difficult.

I know it can be intimidating to a lot of business owners and that’s why one reason why earlier this year I ran — actually that’s right last year… we are in January 2018 aren’t we? Ah yes… so anyway last year we did, I ran a Facebook live challenge and actually it was just for… ostensibly for my group. I’ve got a Facebook group called Ignite Circle for Solopreneurs and I wanted to be able to help the members of my group to kind of get over their fear, and to be able to use this wonderful technology that we have.

And I’ll tell you.. I’m just gonna tell you a quick story about me and how it’s kind of surprising that I’m doing this because my background is in television actually. Okay, so why is that a surprise that I’m doing live video? Well here’s the thing. I worked behind the scenes. I used to work for the Nightly Business Report when it was produced out of the public television station in Miami, Channel 2. And so that was what I majored in, in school and college was to be, to work in television. But I wanted to be behind the scenes. I didn’t want to be in front of the camera.

So I worked the character generator, which was basically a machine that would allow you to have the graphics show up on the on the bottom of the screen, names and stock prices and things like that and eventually I worked my way up. I became the Stocks producer, became a writer and eventually I was the backup producer of the show. But all that time I didn’t want to be on camera. I remember one time I actually did participate in our pledge drive and I actually did go on camera, but I was really content to stay behind the scenes until I became a business owner.

Focus on One Person during Your Videos

When the recession hit, I actually lost that job and I had to reinvent myself like so many people do. And so I loved to write and I started learning how to be a copywriter and to do SEO / search engine optimization for small businesses.

And then along the way of course, I had to learn to explain what I was doing. I had to talk people and I, along the way began doing presentations and then of course YouTube was super big and so I said, ok I’m going to be brave and I’m going to go on camera. I’m going to start doing videos and I think the first one I did… I swear this is no lie. It took me about 15 tries, maybe 20, before I was satisfied enough to actually upload that video to YouTube for the world to see ostensibly.

So even somebody like me can get over that fear and now I love it. I actually really love being on camera. I love talking to people because here’s a little tip for you, is when you’re doing a live video is don’t think that you’re talking to 10 people or 20 people or 100 people are thousands of people. No. I’m really just talking to you. That’s who I’m talking to. I’m just pretending that I’m having a conversation with you and I am.

And that’s really the key to being more comfortable on camera and being able to communicate what you have to offer for your customers and clients. If you’re comfortable talking with people one on one in a room or say, over coffee at Panera or something like that, then there’s no reason why you can’t get over that fear and just pretend that the camera is your friend okay? And just go ahead and talk to them. If you need to, sometimes people will put like a face right under the camera on the desktop computer or something like that so that way you can think of that person.

Generate New Leads with Video

So this is what I strongly encourage you to do. So if you are at all thinking about ways to be able to grow your business in 2018, I really encourage you to think about incorporating video and because there is, as I said, only 31% of marketers in this survey that Buffer did last year were doing video. And now a lot of them now want to jump on the bandwagon and get to do it but this is your opportunity.

And I know a lot of the, one of my clients and people that I work with they’re in businesses where there are lots of other competitors. Whether you’re a web designer or you’re a real estate agent, there’s lots of people out there that offer the same services and products that you have, so people will buy from you and the best way for them to get to know who you are is to do a video so people can get to see what you’re like, get to see if they can really relate to you.

I think it’s a great way to be able to do this. Actually I wanted to check and see if there was anything else in this report that I wanted to share. I remember, yeah what was interesting and and just too in case you’re thinking that okay, they actually did survey B2B companies, also businesses that sell to consumers… actually work at companies and they have people from pretty much all across the board of industries.

Almost a quarter of them were from organizations that worked in marketing and PR but there were other companies like publishing, non profits, people involved in education, consumer products, software, ecommerce, medical, financial, travel, government, so all across the board.

Repurpose Live Videos to Attract More Views

So it’s my hope that you take this to heart – no matter what business you work in right now, that video, live video in particular, is a great way to connect. Again, think of the camera as your friend. And actually I’m going to.. don’t think of this as just a one time thing. You do this video and that’s it.

You can do so much more once you’ve finished recording it because Facebook lets you, bless their hearts, they give you an option to download the video from your Facebook page. You can then share it on your personal timeline with your friends if they would be interested in what you have to say. You can share it with your group, which is what I’m going to do after I get done with this. You have the ability to download the video so then you can upload the video and post it on your own website or blog. You can upload the video to YouTube. Think of why it’s an opportunity for you.

If you liked this video, I hope you will of course, becoming a – if you aren’t already – to be a fan of my page. and I encourage you to share this with your small business friends and entrepreneurs and to let them know that video is the way to go in 2018, specifically live video. To be able to take advantage of this medium and really develop the connections, prospects and be able to turn those prospects into customers in 2018 and really grow your business.

Thank you for hanging out with me this morning and i hope you have a lovely Tuesday and I look forward to chatting with you again in the future. And again, I am Gloria Grace Rand and I just encourage all of you to start doing more live videos. Take care.