If you’ve been following the Stapleton Scoop on Facebook lately you’ve probably noticed that Mariel and I have started doing Facebook Live posts. (Here was our first one back in Nov) We’re really excited about it actually and I wanted to take a second to chat about not only why we think it’s so great, but why it may be something other Stapleton small business owners may want to consider.
Before I dive into my list of reasons I want to make it clear that we don’t think our videos are great yet, we think the potential is great. We have a long way to go & a lot to learn! As I read up on Facebook Live (you know…while I was stalling because it’s scary to turn on a camera and go live!) one consistent thing I learned was there really is no way to get good at it other than turning on the camera and doing it. As one person said, you’re first 100 videos are gonna suck so just get them done. That mentally helped me out a lot, it took the pressure off. So bear with us as we learn the tool.
Why we Love Facebook Live:
It allows us to get information out quickly.
We’ve been writing the blog for 6+ years now and we love it, but it’s time consuming. There are times when we want to get some info out to the community on a topic via a post but we don’t have the time to tackle it. (For example this FB Live when the new model home opened for Wonderland Homes “Freedom” town homes) Researching, writing and editing a written post or video takes up most of a workday! With FB Live, it’s understood that the video won’t be perfect and we can pull out our phone, go live, get you the info we want to provide & then get back to work. So it allows us to share information we learn as we’re out and about in the community much quicker, which will result in us being able to add more value to our readers. Win- win! (Small biz owners: What could you be sharing with the community via FB Live that you’re not because you feel you don’t have time?)
It’s a two way street.
Written blog posts and regular videos have their place, but they don’t provide the two way communication that FB Live does! As you probably know, when you’re doing a live video the people watching can ask you questions via the comments and you can respond to them in real time. That has amazing potential for our goal, which is to get out valuable and timely information to the Stapleton community. You don’t have to email us or wait for a response….we can just help you get what you want to know right there in the moment. (Small biz owners: As a small business owner in Stapleton what types of questions might your potential clients ask you if they had a way to do so?)
We get to meet cool people & see fun things.
Mariel and I got to go tour the new Punch Bowl Social with their manager Matt. The week before that I gave people a quick tour of our Progress Coworking office. Turns out just learning cool stuff and sharing it is fun for us and helpful for the community. Win-win again. We’re starting a list of things that we should do on FB Live, what would you find useful? Let us know and we’ll get on it! Interviews with interesting characters in the community, new businesses, coming soon listings, model homes, community events, what else? (Small biz owners: What types of fun things could you go do that would be valuable to your potential customers? Which interesting people could you go interview?)
Facebook loves it.
Facebook is all about promoting FB Live videos so by doing this we can reach a wider audience than we would normally. Why does FB love live video? Because that’s what people love. Here are some stats on the importance of video marketing that show why it matters. (Small biz owners: Are you swimming up stream using old marketing methods that aren’t effective any more? Or are you going with the flow and going where your customers are?)
It forces me to focus on progress not perfection.
Like I said, I know we don’t have it all dialed in yet. But how many ideas do people have in their head that never see the light of day because they’re waiting for perfect? Screw perfect, it’s not going to happen. If I’m worried about perfect I’m really worried about how I look and that’s when I’m off target. If we focus on giving value to those watching instead of on looking good we don’t have to worry about being perfect. (Small biz owners: What is that idea you’ve had but you’re waiting to do it because you need to do “X” first? Is “X” just an excuse when really it’s fear holding you back? Progress, not perfection!)
So that’s our quick explanation of why you’re starting to see us at Stapleton Scoop doing FB Live. If you’d like to give Facebook Live a try at your Stapleton business let us know, we’ll come by and do one with you to get you started!
