How to Go Live on Social Media with Confidence

The importance of video has long since been known to business owners.  Video helps to make our messages relatable by allowing our audience to see our faces, understand our body language, and better read the inflection in our voices.  Even knowing how imperative video is to the growth of our businesses, however, doesn’t necessarily make us comfortable with the idea of putting ourselves out there.   Let’s face it, the thought of being on live video can be a little terrifying, right?  Well, don’t worry!  Today, I’m going to share with you some simple techniques that will make live video feel far more accessible to you as you grow your business. 

The first step in navigating your nerves is to try not to focus on them.  I know that’s easier said than done, but what might happen if you put your focus on something a bit more helpful?  Instead of feeding the stories that are convincing you of all the reasons you shouldn’t do video, try focusing on why you are doing it in the first place.  It’s not about you.  It’s about your clients and how you can help them.  Video is the easiest way to use your unique gifts and talents to share your message with the people who will benefit from hearing it.  Sometimes even making just this one simple shift can be enough to take down the jitters!

Next, consider writing out the main points that you want to discuss in your live video.  You can do a bullet point list, or maybe you want to go all in and write out the whole speech.  It’s entirely up to you, but having something in front of you will help you to remember to hit all of the important points you’d like to make and will provide a flow that feels relatable to your audience.  Also, don’t be afraid to check your notes during your live air.  No, really!  Full permission to be human, here!  In fact, checking your notes or presencing that you’ve lost your train of thought can be really endearing and may make your audience like you even more.  If they don’t like you and they are giving you grief for not having it all perfect, well, they’re probably not your people anyway. 

What comes next?  Practice, practice, practice!  When you’re in the shower, driving in the car, walking your dog…you name it!  Any time you are by yourself or with a supportive friend or family member is an opportunity to get even more clear and comfortable speaking about what you want to go live with.  You might even choose to record yourself and then go back to lovingly critique your performance and make notes of where you’d like to do things a little differently.  Enough practice and you’ll be ready to go live in no time!

Lastly, visualize yourself going live.  Your brain is, after all, perceiving the anxiety of going live as a threat and we tend to avoid threats, right?  Visualizing yourself going through the process will show your brain that it is completely safe and that there’s nothing to worry about and the more times you do it, the less the fear and uncertainty will get a chance to show up.  When you’ve envisioned yourself totally rocking it, ask yourself how you can embrace that person that showed up in your vision.  Who do you need to be to meet this goal of showing up live? 

You might still be thinking, “But I don’t have it all perfect!”.  Let me tell you, you do not have to have it all figured out.  In fact, if your live video is too practiced and polished, it’s probably going to fall a little flat with your audience.  People want to feel like they can relate to you, so every hiccup or interruption or dropped camera or garbage truck banging around outside of your window at the most inopportune time…these are all opportunities to humanize yourself and connect with your audience in a more authentic way.  Don’t panic if something doesn’t work out the way you planned.  Just put your best foot forward and roll with the punches! 

Feeling a bit more enthusiastic about live video on social media?  Great!  There are a couple extra things that you should consider.  First off, if you’re creating your video from your phone, make sure it’s fully charged.  It would be a total bummer to finally get up the nerve to go live and then have your phone die halfway through your speech, right?  Also, make sure that your wi-fi can support you by “unplugging” any other devices that may be using it that you can give up for fifteen minutes or so while you go live.  It would be equally as disappointing to have a weak wi-fi signal as you try to embrace this new skill! 

One final trick that I’ll share with you (and how I overcame my own fear of posting live on social media) is to practice live where nobody can see it.  How do you do that?  Create yourself a private Facebook group where you are the only member.  Then, literally go live.  This gives you an opportunity to get familiar with how everything works, to “push all the buttons” so to speak and get yourself comfortable with the ins and outs of live video.  Do it as many times as you need to until you really begin to feel like you’ve got the hang of it.  Once you do, nothing can stop you!  

Are you ready to tackle the anxiety monster that’s preventing you from going live on social media?  That’s great news!  I’m happy to help you along the way, so don’t forget to check out my website for more resources that will contribute to your success.  I’ve just released “Social Media Content Made Easy:  Create 90 Days of Content in Only 30 Minutes” and I want you to take full advantage of it.  Head over to tracybeavers.com/social and check it out for yourself.  Let me know what you think!

💥 You really can create social media content with ease!
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