Transcript 0:00 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Honey and Hustle. Today is actually the second time I am speaking with you guys. The first time was earlier today when I went live on Substack with Corey and Michelle. 0:15 We talked about creator industry events that we're attending this year, how we determine what an ROI is for that. They tried to roast my video podcast, saying it wasn't a real podcast, but we're not gonna go there. 0:29 And ultimately, we took a couple questions from the audience before we packed it up. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. If you did tune into that Substack live, I'm so sorry for the audio quality. 0:40 It is rare that I actually do video live streaming. I hosted a live stream series for a nonprofit that I was a contractor with for two years, and that was a fun time. 0:54 But other than that, for my personal business, I've never hosted a live stream. 0:59 I've been a part of a few other live streams as a guest on a show or on a webinar, but I've personally never done a live stream, and I can't put my finger on why. 1:09 I don't think that live streaming is what comes to mind when people say that video is the future of social media or video is the future of marketing. 1:18 I think it's a lot more rare than investing time, energy, effort, talent, money into short-form video. 1:28 So I wanted to take a minute to talk about my experience with live streaming and video and maybe give you some perspective on why live streaming is something you could try, not just as a long-term content strategy, but for specific campaigns or for specific purposes. 1:43 Live streaming has its own unique appeal. I believe that live stream is a form of long-form content creation. It has the benefit of not having a script. You don't really have to worry. 1:57 Whatever happens on live just happens on live. 2:00 [chuckles] I will admit that this is something that became way more popular during the pandemic, and I was the most resistant to doing anything to increase the quality on my end of live streams and even virtual calls during the pandemic. 2:15 I took forever to get this podcast mic that you're hearing me speaking to. It took forever for me to invest into a light that would clamp onto my desk. 2:25 I wouldn't even have headphones in half the time to monitor the audio and to hear people more clearly. I was just definitely one of those people that just turned on their computer and was like, "Listen, I'm here. Okay?" 2:37 [chuckles] I didn't try. It took me a minute to curate the background of my videos. 2:41 I think I did well in my first apartment that I was living in in the pandemic, but in the second apartment, I was just like, "Listen, I'm gonna put some stuff on the wall. 2:50 It's not gonna be necessarily curated for the background, but it's gonna be in the background." 2:55 I just am notorious for not putting in a whole lot of thought into my backgrounds [chuckles] or just the entire experience of live streaming. 3:03 But I do think that the people that have done it have been rewarded, and the people that have invested it into doing live streams on a somewhat regular basis have really found a way to develop a long and deep relationship with their audience and with the people that show up each week. 3:21 It's almost like a weekly show for some people. I know Pat Flynn did a weekly live stream for a year. I think it was either in 2020 or 2021. I believe Roberto Blake has done some live streaming for his podcast, actually. 3:35 I think he just live streamed it and then he maybe edited for clarity and then just uploaded to a streaming platform and, of course, kept the original video on YouTube. 3:45 And there are some others I'm sure that I don't know as much about, but I do believe live streaming, for a lot of people who just don't want to think about the format of the show, they don't want things to be overly produced, they find a lot of value in live streaming. 4:01 And I think that, for me, is what turned me off. As someone who is a filmmaker, as someone who does video work professionally, I care a lot about the production value of things. 4:13 And if something is not going to be inherently a high production value, 4:19 I kind of don't really put a lot of stock into it, and I think that's why it's taken me so long to really invest into my home recording setup and get this mic and the light and all those great quality-of-life things that you need when you're live streaming. 4:35 And what I've noticed in doing live streams, one that I've hosted for the nonprofit and the one, like today, they're probably not gonna go viral. 4:44 It's very unlikely that a live stream will go viral unless you are on Twitch and people are clipping short-form videos of your longer live stream. 4:53 Twitch streamers that can garner an audience week after week typically have higher engagement. 4:59 They have people that are watching them on average for a much longer period of time than short-form video creators, and they probably also get a lot more comments per live stream. 5:10 And comments, to me, are a really good indicator of engagement. The Kai Cenats of the world have an incredibly deep audience connection, and he's been able to leverage that to get all types of people on his show. 5:26 I think he just did some flag f- football thing during the month of February. He's everywhere. He's on red carpets. 5:32 He's just living his best life, and I think all of that comes from people understanding that his audience will follow him everywhere. Yes, they will be with him in his room that he live streams from. 5:45 They will be with him on the red carpet. They don't care. They're just really in tune with him as a personality and as an entertainer. 5:54 And at the end of the day, the clips of Kai Cenat and the clips that come from long-form live stream video are really good selling points. 6:03 It's low production cost high return on investment in terms of what all you can do with a live stream show. 6:11 I've seen some small businesses do live streams when they have a ribbon cutting, or when they have an opening, or when they have a special event at their brick and mortar, and I think those have been hit or miss. 6:25 But I do think there is a way that small business owners, creators, et cetera, can use live streams strategically to build deeper audience relationships with people. 6:36 I think if your live stream is a giveaway announcement, I think Bigg's Camera in Charlotte, North Carolina, just did a live stream on Instagram when they did a giveaway for people that came in store and I think maybe filled out some kind of form for the giveaway. 6:53 They announced the winners of the giveaway on Instagram Live. I think that was a really good and creative use of a live stream video. 7:00 I think if you are giving away something exclusive, so maybe not even just doing a giveaway, but saying, "Hey, we're gonna go on live today. 7:08 Everyone who is on the live is gonna get access to a time-sensitive discount code or a free gift with every purchase made in the next hour long with a certain code," I think that's really smart. 7:23 I think using live streams for fundraising, I know that was really effective at the nonprofit that I worked with, especially because they did it around the Giving Tuesday time of year, so end of year giving was at an all-time high, and then being able to engage with supporters on the live stream was really crucial. 7:41 And I think for creators, the live stream that Michelle, Corey, and I did today, that was honestly perfect. We came up with a topic. 7:48 We had a pretty streamlined run of show where we were bouncing around on that topic, and then we took questions from our audience. We didn't have anything to give away, unfortunately, so sorry about that. 7:57 Maybe that is something that we'll do another time. It was one of those events where we started promoting it a week in advance, so just enough time for people to mark time on their calendar to come hang out with us. 8:08 We had a clear topic, a clear proposition, and we had a lot of fun, and I think we're gonna do it again. 8:15 So I'm excited to experiment with live streaming video more this year, and I would love to hear from you if some more curated live virtual events are something that you would enjoy. 8:28 I hosted a virtual film screening for Trail Therapy last year, and that went over really well, so I'm not opposed to it. I think it could be fun. 8:37 I think it could be cool to get people from this community together to not just talk to me, but talk to each other and have a good time that way. But until then, you will catch me on Substack Live. 8:50 I think we're gonna do another one again in two weeks, and on that one we're gonna talk more specifically about newsletter writing. So come hang out with us on Substack. Tell me how you feel about live streaming. 9:00 Tell me if you will do a live stream this year, and if we were to do a virtual event for the Please Hustle Responsibly community, what kind of event would you want? What are some of the things that you would enjoy, 9:12 and how can we make our next live stream even more awesome? If you're not subscribed, you should subscribe. It's totally free. I'll leave the link in the description. All right, I'm done. I'm talked out for the day. 9:24 Thank you guys so much for listening. I'll catch you guys in the last episode of the Daily Podcast Challenge for the month of February 2025. Happy creating. 9:36 [upbeat music] If you've been getting value from Honey & Hustle, I need a quick favor. Would you take 30 seconds right now to leave a review? 9:47 Reviews help other people discover the show, and honestly, they help me know what's landing with you. Whether it's this episode or one from a few months ago that stuck with you, just share what made it worth your time. 10:00 You can leave a review wherever you're listening right now, and I appreciate it in advance. See you in the next episode. [upbeat music]
