What to say in a Live video?

Just about anything! It is not about what you say so much as deciding why you are going to say it.

What is your purpose? Why are you going to start doing ‘Live videos?

Which sales target, marketing objective or goal are they going to help you reach?

My first tip is not to worry about what you are going to say yet – but think about why you are going to say it…what is going to MAKE you do it? Because without that ….without the belief that you need to do it and you want to do it, it will seem forever too scary.

Why create live video content?

Nerves can certainly stop you from ‘going live’ but once you have identified your purpose (and truly convinced yourself of it), let me tell you a bit more about why video (generally) is so great for business:

• According to Forbes, 90% of customers say video helps them make buying decisions. 64% of customers say that seeing a video makes them more likely to buy.
• 68% of people say they prefer to learn by watching a short video, rather than reading about a business, service or product.
• Videos can be reused across your different digital platforms, i.e. your website, in newsletters, on your other social media platforms and in presentations. Live videos on Facebook can be shared and saved and even grouped together to make playlists.
• Live video can help build trust – there’s just you explaining, interacting and being ‘real’…it is really hard to fake that!
• Video-led platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube, are the ones continuing to grow and moving from ‘social media’ to ‘visual search engines’.

From my research and experience, it seems that videos of around one to two minutes see a better retention rate than longer videos. Unless you are doing a particular course or webinar, I think five minutes is plenty long enough. Therefore, before you start consider how much you are going to try to cover. If it seems like too much, consider doing two separate lives. Or rather than ‘live’, record it as a more ‘formal’ video, for training or promotional purposes.

Most videos are watched without sound, therefore make sure your description is very clear (and detailed, if necessary) to make people want to turn the sound on.  Most social media sites, such as Facebook or YouTube will also auto-caption.

Live video content ideas

Hopefully, I have convinced you to take the plunge and start doing live videos. So, let’s talk about content. What are you going to say?

In nearly all live video, you want to achieve one of three things – awareness, engagement and/or education. Remember it is ok to make notes, have a practice and make mistakes! It is live and everyone knows it. Worst case scenario you can immediately delete it if no one was watching anyway!

Here are some suggestions for live video content:

• Product review videos – take a product, show it to the camera and talk about the benefits

• Explainer videos – take your followers behind the scenes. Show them how something works or how you work.
• Demos  – show someone how to use a product or literally how something is made. If you have beauty products, for example, show them how to be applied.
• Make an announcement – are you launching new products or holding an event? Are you about to offer a new service? Build the buzz and excitement by telling everyone in a live (and don’t forget to advertise that you are going to do so!)
• Customer videos/interview testimonials – get other people involved in your live videos. Encourage a supportive customer or client to offer an on-screen testimonial or to answer some questions about why they like and use your business.
• Q&A interviews – ask suppliers, an industry expert or even yourself (!) some questions about your business. Think about FAQs and carry out a short interview.
• Company culture – Talking about values, your mission, your visions, your background and your reason for being helps people to get to know you and trust you. People buy from people. A live video (uncut!) is the perfect place to exhbit everything that is brilliant about you and the business you run.
• Top tips – Do a Facebook Live at a regular time each week and offer really useful tips or top recommendations. You could do one every Tuesday and call it #TuesdayTip and offer lots of advice to your lovely clients – a bit like these ones that I used to do to get more confident going live, on my Facebook channel.😉

Don’t let anything hold you back

Doing live videos, whether it is on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn (coming soon if you haven’t already got it!), will be great for your digital marketing and will boost your own confiidence too.

If you would like support with recording videos or coming up with ideas then come and join The Content Club. We love supporting each other to get more confident on camera and making video content more engaging and effective.

Any questions, give me a shout and I’ll be happy to offer advice.