 Well hello and welcome to this video where I'm talking all about how to get started with Facebook live video. This is something I'm so excited to be sharing and I can't believe it's taken me such a long time to do this video. I'll be talking about why doing video and specifically going live despite that fear. It's really going to help you grow your art business much faster. So stay right to the end because I'm going to share some useful top tips to help you get started straight away. Maybe even straight off to watching this video. Now if you're new to this channel my name is Sophie Mejia and I help female artists to make a living from their art or creativity by building a stable profitable business doing what they love. Now if that sounds like you and you'd like some more tips on growing your art business then you're in the right place. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel and hit that bell to get notified every time I post a new video. Which by the way is every week on a Wednesday. Alright let's start talking about Facebook live videos. Now specifically what I'm talking about is face-to-camera videos. You know not the type where you take your phone and you just pan it around your studio live. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about you actually on the camera in specifically your studio or out and about or wherever. Okay so here are some common questions I get asked all the time. Number one where should I go live and the answer that question is your business page. Now listen you can go live of course on your profile this will be go out and be seen by your friends but if you're talking about your business and perhaps about artwork or workshops or courses or products or services you're technically talking about your business and Facebook's not going to love you for that. They would really like you to do that on your page so that's what I want you to think about. Unless you're doing a chitty-chatty more personal type of video in which case that of course can go on your profile. But we're talking about building a business here so answer that question is you're going to go live on your page or in your group if you run your own group. Now if you're not sure if having a Facebook group is for you check out this video where I talk all about how to get started with a Facebook group whether it's right for you and if it is some top tips to get going straight away. So ideally you want to let people know that you're going to go live because if you just pop up and go live nobody will know they'll get a notification they might see it it might be convenient it might be not so if you let people know and say hey I'm going to be going live every Friday morning at this time from my studio or creative space then you could build up something regular and that works quite well. Now of course don't expect thousands of people to watch straight away you've got to build it it's you know it's how it works it works all over these platforms and Facebook's no different. So if you'd like some more top tips on building a Facebook page check out this video and if you want to know any other Facebook related videos I will of course link to them in the description below this one. So question number two that I get asked all the time and that is what equipment do I need how do I go live what is the best way. Well as we know there's really a couple of ways you're likely going to do that one is you're going to be using your smartphone and you're going to go live via your phone perhaps on a tripod which is how I've got it actually set up just recording this video or you're going to go live on your computer or laptop using the Facebook app or using a third-party piece of streaming software. Now I'm not about to dive into all of that but if you've got questions about that shoot your question below this video we're really happy to ask answer them. So what about other equipment to go with either your laptop or your phone well listen good lighting is essential nobody wants to watch a dark live where they're peering in to try and see you so make sure you are next to a window and you've got some natural lighting or you've got a ring light or a simple light you can rig up that's super easy but to be honest with you for a live video mostly the natural light is good and what if you're using a phone you might need a tripod these are really easy things to pick up either second hand or buy off a platform like Amazon something again is going to hold your phone now if you're using your laptop and you want to get it in a good position you might do what I do highly technical are you ready for this come closer I pile the laptop on two cardboard boxes oh yes hi-tech but that way it gets the right level that in order that you know it's I'm not looking up I'm not looking I've got a chin thing going on I've got it all lined up correctly it's a stack of boxes nothing more complicated than that now you'll probably see that I've got a little lapel mic here so sometimes if you know you're going to be in a room that's maybe got some noise or you're in a noisy a place you're going to need a microphone but at the beginning when you're first starting out it's possible to do this without any extras I don't want you to think or I can't go live because I don't have a microphone just go live anyway and then you can improve things as you go down the track I started out just with the phone as I'm pretty sure everyone else did and now sure I've got a microphone for for doing recording like this I've got a more solid microphone if I'm using my computer but I've built that up over time alright so question number three I get asked the time how long should my live be alright so there's a variety of different lengths according to what you're actually going to be doing Facebook says that optimal live length is around three minutes at time of watching but it needs to be long enough that people can get the notification and actually get onto your live and it can take about a minute for the thing to get pushed out in the algorithm anyway so if you're doing a super short video people might arrive on it and you're just finishing so I tend to find that I'm like my audience like you guys tend to like something a little bit longer and I've done a 5 to 10 minute video and found that's not as successful as if I were to do a 20 to 25 minute video because I'm teaching and sharing something so if you run workshops and courses and you're going to teach some top tips you want to maybe have something around the 10 15 20 minute mark so that someone can really get stuck in and learn something but if you're going doing something that's in situ or you're sharing some inspiration or lesson learn or something funny that happened in the studio or you're doing a live because you're out and about at a venue and you want to report back in as what's going on make it around the three minute mark because then people can get in get involved get the information get entertained and leave again so if you are in the in the teaching or demonstrating world then you could even dependent on your audience you could even set up something even longer you let them know in advance I'm going to be teaching the following things on this particular date you know make sure you you put the date in the diary that you really drum up some excitement and you could teach something for maybe an hour or more and then of course offer people the next step on that live training it's very often what a lot of us will do on what we call a webinar that you can do it on a Facebook live as well and don't forget there's lots of things that you could do with your Facebook live afterwards so hang on to the end question number four what am I going to talk about this is probably the question I get asked the most right once we've got past the the length where to go the equipment all of this is like well okay Sophie what am I going to talk about you've talked about in the studio or if you're teaching what if I'm not teaching anything what if I'm just making something what an earth am I going to share on a live so here's just a few suggestions you could talk about the materials that you use now don't forget this might not be super exciting for you it might be really interesting for your ideal audience you could also talk about what inspires you and if what inspires you is out and about then maybe go to a place that inspires you and do a short video there letting people know why this place is a special interest and what it specifically inspires you in terms of your artwork and your creativity you know what people like a lot of why not share a mistake something has gone horribly wrong a big mess you know a studio disaster basically people love a lot and even if it's oh my god I've just built something everywhere or this is what went wrong today this is all a bit of a disaster you know it's funny it's entertaining it's good content and unfortunately you'll probably find you get more views and shares on that then you will on your serious video so make sure to mix it all in with what you're doing anyway your story now I know that we don't want to share our entire personal journey here but your story as a creative in little bits in dispersed again with other things can be really interesting for your audience so maybe each week you share a little thing that somebody didn't know about you on your journey towards building your art business studio progress now this becomes what what by default a lot of artists are doing it's like oh I need to do a live I'll just get my camera and I might say you know this is what I'm doing and you just pan around I would prefer if you just planned it a little bit you know think about why is your audience why should they watch what's interesting if it's studio progress what was before what's the end result and what have you done in order to get there what if you learnt on the way what if you changed not just this is where we started on this is what I've done today is put some you know blue on here it's not very interesting for people you need to think about why they're going to watch and what they can learn or glean from it it could be how you've solved something so you go on a live and you say and you can even do one at the beginning of the day this is my studio working day here's three pieces I'm working on here's where I'm stuck with all of them and I'll report back at the end of the day as to how I got on video to this is how I solve that problem on painting number two remember I told you I was stuck with this that and the other well I've done this and this is the result so that can be quite nice as well because if people watch the part one then they're pulled into part two obviously top tips you know it's a given if you teach or you run any time of art service that you've always got something to share so a simple tip three ways to do something five tips to doing something all the sort of things I'm sharing on this channel you can apply to what you're doing as well so don't forget to share in the comments below this video what you would talk about what you do talk about if you already go live on your Facebook page because we would love love love to hear and if you're brave enough share a link to your video so we can have a look as well question number five how do I get past that fear of going live on camera oh my goodness me that's a whopper isn't it now thank goodness I've got another video coming up on how to build confidence on camera but for the moment let's just take a look at few things that you could do to get past this fear to the number one thing you can do is plan out what you're going to be talking about now I don't about you but just switching on live and not really having a plan is of course going to send you into fear well my god what am I talking about where am I what am I doing you need to plan what you're doing so that you've got an element of confidence when you go onto the camera number two set a date and commit all right sometimes we have this all I'll do live tomorrow but unless you're telling anybody you can always bump that on to next week next week next week so you need to just set a date and commit to it and that's just going to help you how you just got to show up and sometimes feeling the fear and doing it anyway is the best way to get past that and move forwards number three is you just need to show up and go live you know just kind of think to yourself what's the worst that can happen you know sometimes the internet goes down or maybe your electric goes down and the light goes off I've been there done that multiple times you have a brain fog you can't remember who you are or what you're doing this stuff happens and you just need to show up and do it and by showing up and doing it it's like you're going to do it you're going to practice over and over and you're going to feel better with the next one you also just want to get the mistakes out of the way alright and feel okay with it it's just a live video alright it's not the end of the world if it's a bit of a disaster you get that one out of the way and you just go again the more times you do it the better you're going to feel so like I say get them get them out of the way I actually did when I first started out back in the day I think I started with a 30-day challenge for myself really I thought I planned out what I talk about and every day I went live for 30 days I've done it with a blogging challenge I've done it with a variety of other challenges but sometimes it's the best way just get on video just get in there do it by the end of 30 days you'll feel like a pro you'll be like oh I found a great place to put my camera I found out you know the best time of day to do it the best lighting maybe I've picked up a microphone I sound better now I've I've you know made a few mistakes I've seen what's popular what's not popular and that's how it goes right I promised you if you stayed at the end there's some useful tips to get going straight away so I've got five more tips for you are you ready all right tip number one practice on your phone video first before you go live all right so you're gonna no matter whether you're using a laptop to go live or your phone just grab your phone put it in video mode and practice pretending you're live tip number two find great light and sound this is really gonna help you so just grab your phone your laptop and move it around the space that you're in until you've got the best position to give you the best light and then ideally the best room if you're using a room inside carpet padding will absorb any sound shut the door put a note on it saying I'm doing a live video please keep quiet whatever you need to do tip number three just start confidently no urs and ums don't wait for people to come on get stuck straight in a lot of people watch the replay and they're not gonna watch it if you start with oh it maybe it's live I'll wait another couple of minutes forget it get straight in hello my name is welcome today I'm talking about tip number four ask for engagement Facebook wants engagement you want people to comment below the video so ask for it tip number five you want to promote your video and other platforms right don't forget you can download it and upload it on to YouTube you can take a little snippet out of it and put it on a story on Instagram or on your Facebook you can let people know if you're building an email list which we hope you are because you're following my channel right and if you want to know about how to build an email list check out this video and check out other videos in the description below this one assuming you're building your mailing list you can send an email out with hey I just went live or I'm going to go live and you drive more people to watch that more people watching it Facebook happier and next time you go live they'll push you out to more people and remember it's okay if the first time you go live you only got one viewer or the viewer is your mother it's okay because you start small right then you go live again you tell some more people about it the next time you get 10 people then 20 people then 50 people then you start to get some conversations going and Facebook says oh okay people like this content I'm going to push it out we know that this video is vital on social media I'm going live you're going to get the most points and also by the way it's a lot easier because there's no hefty editing and uploading at the end either much much easier alright I hope you've enjoyed this video I hope you're going to go and get stuck in on going live look out for the next video all on confidence and I'll see you again on another one very soon