I look ugly. I'm shy. I don't sound good. What will people think? What if people troll
my live? How do I deal with nasty comments? These are just some of the excuses that enter
your mind when you're ready to go live. If you've been wanting to go live on YouTube
but haven't been able to overcome the fear, this video is for you. You'll learn the secrets
to slaying your fears so you can start live streaming today.
Quick question for you, what scares you the most about going live on YouTube? Post your
answer in the comments below. I'd love to read them and I'm sure others would too. Let
me share a quick story with you. It took three months for me to overcome my fear of going
live on YouTube. When I did, I had so much fun and regretted that I hadn't gone live
earlier. I simply set a deadline to go live and just
did it. All the fears that were in my mind were completely unfounded. Here are some tips
for going live on YouTube, so you can get started today. Number one, have the correct
mindset. Focus on the message you're trying to get across to your audience instead of
worrying about how you sound or how you look on camera.
Your audience is more interested in your content than how you look or how sound. Pretend you're
talking with your best friend over a cup of coffee. If you envision talking with your
best friend instead of a crowd of people, it will be easier to slay your fears. You
can also imagine talking with your wife or one of your kids.
Be relaxed. Before you go live, you might want to listen to some music to get you in
the right mood. If you find that dancing or jumping around helps you to relax before you
go live, just do it. Have a glass of water handy. Sometimes when I'm speaking, my throat
goes dry or I start coughing. If you have a glass of water handy, you can lubricate
your throat and continue speaking. Don't worry about being perfect, just try
to be yourself. If you stumble over some words, that's okay because you're going live. Ask
yourself, what's the worst that can happen? The worst thing that can happen is that you're
going to die when you go live and that's not going to happen. One thing you can do before
going public, is to practice going live on your phone. Just playback the video and see
how good you are. Have fun. The most important mindset to have
when you're going live, is to have fun with your audience. This will help you to relax
and make the live stream go smoothly. Now, we've talked about how to have the correct
mindset, let's talk about planning your content. Number two, plan your content. If you plan
out your content ahead of time, then you won't run out of things to say.
Create a list of bullet points you want to cover so you can stay on track during your
live. It's okay to go off-script while live as long as it relates to the content you're
trying to convey. Identify the biggest problems of your audience. When you're planning out
your content, you might want to survey your audience and ask them what are the biggest
problems they have with the topic you're trying to discuss. You can then invite them to your
live to get the solutions. Now that you planned out your content, you
want to check if your gear is working correctly. Number three, check your live streaming gear.
Make sure your lights are turned on and your camera has the right exposure so you look
good on camera. Check the sound, make sure your mic is plugged-in and test the sound
levels. If you're using software like Ecamm Live,
you can click on the microphone icon and check your sound levels. Check the live streaming
software. If you're using live streaming software like Ecamm Live, make sure it's functioning
correctly. I use a Canon M50 when I go live using Ecamm Live software. All I have to do
is plug in the USB cord from my camera to my computer.
I use a Snowball microphone to capture the sound and just plug that into my computer
also with the USB cord. If you're interested in the review of Ecamm Live software for the
Mac, click the link in the top. Turn off distractions. There's been times when a phone has been ringing
during the live stream. [phone rings]
Make sure you set it to, do not disturb, while you're going live. If you got sound notifications
turned on from your computer, you might also want to turn them off as well. Check your
batteries. I typically go live for an hour. I have to make sure my battery for my Canon
M50 is fully charged because that only lasts for an hour. If you're using a mobile phone,
make sure it's fully charged. Now that you got your gear all set up correctly,
you're ready to go live. I highly recommend doing a dry run before you actually go live.
You can do this by setting your privacy settings on YouTube video to private so it won't be
available to the public. If you're happy with the setup, you're ready to go live.
Number four, structure your live stream. I follow a simple structure for my live stream
that I want to share with you. Are you ready? Start with a hook. You always want to think
about the audience that is watching the replay so you want to get straight into the meat
of the content. Instead of starting off by greeting all the people on the live stream,
start off with a hook which can be a question or telling the people what to expect on the
live stream. This will help keep the people engaged, that are watching the live stream.
If you start greeting people from the beginning, you're going to lose people that are watching
the replay. After you've introduced your content, introduce yourself and what your channel is
about. First-time viewers don't know who you are and what your channel is about. This is
an opportunity for them to subscribe to your channel.
Make sure you give a strong benefit of why people should subscribe to your channel but
keep the introduction really short. Now that you've hooked your audience, introduced your
topic, yourself, and ask people to subscribe to your channel. You can greet your viewers.
Spend a few seconds greeting people on the call so you acknowledge their presence.
I know when I'm attending a live, it's nice to get some recognition instead of just being
a number. If you get some regulars, address them by their first name. Now that you've
greeted your viewers, it's time to get into your main content. Tell your viewers to ask
their questions at the end of the presentation so you won't get distracted. You can also
tell the audience to put the questions in the chat and you'll refer to them later.
You can also remind viewers after a presentation to re-ask the question if you missed it. While
you're presenting your main content, ask the audience to like the video. The engagement
activity will help your video get promoted on YouTube after you finished with the live
stream. After you've finished giving your presentation, what do you want your audience
to do? It's an opportunity to recommend one of your
products, services, invite people to your Facebook group or check out another video.
You can also ask your audience what was the biggest takeaway from the content you've presented.
Another call to action could be asking for topics for future live streams.
Finish off your live stream by thanking everybody for attending and wishing them a great day.
You can also remind them if they have any questions that they think of later, to put
them in the comments of the live stream replay. This will help others who might have the same
questions. Here are some live streaming tips so you can overcome your fears of going live.
Number one, you'll improve with practice. The more times you go live, the live streams
will go smoother. You'll also have less fear. Number two, just do it. As I mentioned before,
I waited three months before I went live on YouTube. After doing it, I regretted that
I hadn't gone live earlier because the fears were unfounded.
Number three, get support. Get some friends or family members to support you while going
live by leaving positive comments on the chat stream. They can cheer you on as you go live.
Number four, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Realize you'll be a little uncomfortable on
your first live. Your heart will be beating faster and you may be sweating. That's okay
but just go through it. The more you do it, the easier it will become.
Keep in mind you can remove any segments you don't want to appear in the replay by using
the YouTube video editor. You can edit at the beginning, the end or even remove sections
from the middle. The great benefit of editing live stream replay with the YouTube video
editor is that you don't lose the comments or likes and you'll have a smooth replay.
Think of the benefits. You don't have to spend hours editing your live stream, you get more
audience exposure, you have a direct connection to your subscribers and your viewers. You
can build your brand and improve your speaking skills. You can also repurpose your live stream
into a blog post, podcast, article, webinar, ebook or report. You just do the work once
and reap the benefits over and over again. It's a great return
on investment.