Why Your Agency Needs to be on Facebook Live with Amy Porterfield

Facebook Live is one of the hottest ways to generate new agency business. You can spend tons of time and resources sending a hundred emails to your perfect prospects but you’ll earn more trust in just one live video than all those emails combined. Live streaming video is where it’s at... and your competition is not doing it yet, so you will stand out from all the “me too” agencies. So what are you waiting for? In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you need to be on Facebook Live. 6 Steps for starting live video. Tips to set you up for successful live videos. Today’s guest is THE expert on Facebook marketing, Amy Porterfield - an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and social media marketing trainer. Following an amazing career at Harley-Davidson and working with Tony Robbins, Amy decided to give it a try on her own. After overcoming tons of obstacles, she’s become one of the most well-respected Facebook marketers today. She’s on the show to tell us all about why Facebook Live is one of the hottest new ways to generate new agency business. Why You Need to Be on Facebook Live When you put yourself out there in video format, you build trust with your clients so much faster than with the written word. You’ll get more traction with 1 video than in 100 emails or blog posts. But recorded video can be overwhelming, stressful - the equipment, scripting, lighting, editing. Ugh! The difference with live streaming video is most of the overwhelm and stress is eliminated. It is what it is - no script, no editing. And your viewers get to know the real you. Sure, it opens you up to vulnerability and criticism but the more you practice the better you get. There aren’t many people who love seeing themselves on video but still, Amy says you’ve got to embrace it. Social media channels like Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Facebook Live, etc. are not going away anytime soon! And, your competition isn’t there yet so now’s the time to jump in and build your following! The best part is, Facebook prefers video right now. Your live videos will jump to the top of your prospect’s news feed and you’ll be seen far more than regular social posts by your competition. BONUS - When you are doing Facebook Live videos, you’re also creating amazing audiences for Facebook retargeting. You can segment your audience based on the percentage of videos watched and then market to them accordingly. There is a super low barrier to entry and the rewards are huge! 6 Steps to Starting Live Video: Go live from your business page, not your personal profile. (A typical rookie mistake!) That’s where your prospects will be watching you and where you want the videos to live forever. Do some prep work in advance by creating a rough outline of what you’re going to talk about. This will prevent you from losing your train of thought or rambling :) Give the post a descriptive title so your audience knows why they need to watch. Name it something like: “How to Do {something cool} Without Doing {something that sucks} Take your time. Facebook seems to prefer longer videos, like 20-30 mins. It might seem long, but it’s easy to do if you prepare in advance. Just share a few nuggets of advice, a story and answer questions/comments. If questions aren't posted by viewers, just ask and answer typical ones yourself! Be patient while you build an audience. Don’t worry about the number of people who are watching the live stream… just act like people are watching and eventually they will. Go live on a predictable schedule and at least weekly. Promote your live videos in advance with social posts so people know when to tune in. Going live regularly will help create a watching habit for your audience. Tips to Set You Up for Live Video Success Facebook Live is for everyone - no fancy software or equipment is necessary! Here are Amy’s tips for success: Go live from your desktop through your web browser, instead of your smartphone. Use your smartphone or tablet to read questions/comments that pop up during your live video. Have someone on your team give you a signal (like text or PM a thumbs up) when the audio and video is up. Use a window for natural lighting instead of messing with artificial light. Technology glitches are going to happen. Keep your emotions in check and handle it with grace. Don’t let tech issues hold you back from trying again. When you’re ready to go pro - Amy uses a Logitech webcam and subscribes to Wirecast screen sharing software. Need Guidance and Support to Grow Your Agency Faster? Most agency owners struggle to scale. We’ve developed an amazing mastermind to guide you through the journey of implementing the right systems so you can scale your agency — instead of feeling overwhelmed by it. We do this by bringing together successful agency leaders to share strategies, offer advice, and reveal what’s working (and what’s not working) in their agency. The truth is, whatever you want to accomplish in life, nothing will help you go further, faster than getting the right adviser in the context of motivated peers. If you want to GROW fast and smart, Digital Agency Elite mastermind will help.   How Can You Improve Your Agency Further? So using Facebook Live for your agency is now ticked off your list of promoting your business on social media buy what's next? How can you improve further to take it to the next level? Take a step back, look for weak spots in your business and then think of how you can fix them. No matter what challenges your agency is facing, I can help you get through all of it. From my experience in the industry, there are many topics I can offer guidance from the different phases of growth you will experience to how you can build authority for your agency. Growing your agency can be a major struggle for any agency owner and I can show from knowing when it's time to hire a sales manager or expand your sales team, creating a process for performance-based pricing which can be the best pricing strategy for your business and learning how to keep your big name clients happy. Are you ready to create something cool and want more advice? Learn about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.