Episode 401: 100 Livestreaming and Digital Media Predictions Vol 4 With Ross Brand

Hey, everybody, Rob, Cairns here and I’m here with four time bestselling author, Ross Brand, how are you?

I’m great. Thanks so much for having me.

Yeah, I think this is your third appearance on the show, friend of the show. I always, yeah, something like that. But, you know, it’s funny. You and I can go.

3rd, 3rd or 4th, I’m not sure.

On and on. None. I I keep saying I need to start. Recording the outtakes before the show cause they would be just fun, you know what, I.

Mean. It’s funny. Like we were talking sports before we went, you know, to record. And I had the same kind of conversation with Todd Jones yesterday where we were talking about, you know, we got on to talk about some gear and solutions. For live streaming and next thing you know for like 45 minutes, we’re just we’re basically we’re doing a sports talk show, but we’re just friends talking about, you know, about what we talk about. But it’s it’s funny. Like when you have a good chemistry with somebody, it’s anything could be a show, any conversation.

Yeah. And that’s the video ivestreaming and podcasting. Isn’t it, Ross?

Yeah, it really is so.

He decided to do not one editions of book, not two editions of book 4 editions of the 100 live streaming and digital media predictions. And you’ve done 4. Is there a fifth coming next year? Probably.

Yeah. I mean, if you’re gonna do 4, you might as well do five, right? Yeah. Each one. Each volume is its own book. It’s all new, you know, other than maybe if you recommended tools or things here and there, it’s it’s all new predictions. So it’s a whole new one. 100 plus predictions. New intro, new forward it it’s you know, it’s not at all the same as the previous. So it’s we’ve been doing 1A year each each year and. Excited to have you in the book this year. Thank you for for contributing. Welcome. We I I think this year’s book is and I know people will say this to promote something when they have a new something. But I I seriously mean this this year’s book, the contributions, the chapters. What people contributed is the best of any of the books, and I think it’s because. People have over the time they’ve gone from the idea that I’m submitting a prediction, which is a sentence or two, taking a guess at something to. I’m writing a chapter in which the predictions are part of it, but so is sharing my expertise, sharing my knowledge, putting it in the context of. My area where I’m working where I’m concentrating where I have my business and my clients and my shows and so forth and having that that context and having people write. More with a chapter in mind and it’s just happened organically over time. I I think the book is is, is, is the best of the of the four. The 1st is kind of unique because it came a lot of it came from live streams. But the last three books the 4th. I’m just. I’m really proud of the contributions and the work that people put into their predictions. There’s some that are very short and they’re strong too and they’re very powerful, very punchy. But I like the idea that people thought in terms of chapters and and wrote something that was. Of a of a whole of a piece of of content in and of itself. And I think that makes the the book more interesting. It makes it more valuable, and I’m excited to see and hear more of of what people’s reactions are, but so far it’s all been it’s all been very positive and a lot of people have told me the same thing. That, you know, wow, this book really took it to another level.

I have actually sent the book to a couple of clients. Couple of big clients and all they say to me is. Wow. And you know, I I did that with the 3rd edition more. I did that with the 4th edition, not just because I was in it. Just. I really think it’s a powerful book. I’ve read the book twice myself. I have got the book on Kindle. No question, because that was the easy way to get it day one right.

Right.

I’ve got the book on paper back over in the corner and you now have a third way to get the book and it’s kind of new and you haven’t pushed it. So what is that third one?

I have not discussed. I have not shown the book. I just got it recently in this. Edition or version or however you want to call it, and that is a hardback. Last time I published in hardback as well. So if you like having a hardback book that is, that is an option as well. There’s the ebook, the paperback, and again for the first time it’s it’s really KDP. Amazon did a really nice job. I did the printing on this and.

They did.

And it it just looks really nice. I I had not ordered a a hard back from Amazon before and I’m I’m very impressed with the.

OK.

With the quality, there’s John Largent. You never know who you’re going to get when you. Open it up. But I’m I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled with how that that that came out.

Yeah. What I would say to anybody getting the book if it were. Me, I would get a printed copy and the Kindle copy, and I’m not trying to sell Ross’s books, but there’s there’s, there’s her there. Yeah. You’re a friend. So I can do what I want on my show. But the reason I would get the Kindle copy is it’s easier to search stuff. So the way I buy tech books is.

It’s OK, you. Do.

I always get the electronic copy and the printed copy. One reason and you and I have talked about I’m. I’m an avid reader, so I read a book a week, Ross still. So I like to read a paper book before bed. I like to kindle copies for doing research. Do I want search on the term? Do I want to find something quickly? I have last account of 230 Kindle books in my library, so I go out to a clients and I’m trying to find something I can do. A quick search right? So I would say get both. Be honest with you.

Yeah, I I find that when I’m reading to retain and learn something, getting away from electronics and picking up a physical book and immersing myself. Definite the retention is probably better in terms of being able to think through what the author is saying and. So forth. When it comes to quick, when it comes to wanting to hold it, like if I’m in bed, if I’m watching TV, if I’m doing something else and I wanna look up a chapter, I wanna do some research. Or I want to skim along. Or whatever. Then it’s much nicer to hold the Kindle and just be able to have those electronic functions like search and links and and all that. Whether you’re holding a actual Kindle device or you’re using it on, you know, an iPad or a phone or whatever, it’s nice to be able to click links and. Follow them if that’s, you know if there’s information that you’re looking for. So I I I I have sort of a similar approach as you do. I think there’s value in both of. Them and I haven’t done an audiobook for any of the books yet, but there’s there may be some new technology coming down the Pike with. With Amazon for audio books, and if that is the case, that’s another way I know I listen to a lot of audio books.

Yet.

Because I can do that while I’m driving, I can. I can do that when my eyes are tired from staring at screens from my streaming and, you know, editing video and all that kind of stuff. So it’s really cool that we have all these different, different ways to.

Screens.

Assume books now rather than just a you know, a heavy old hard back or whatever. And in this case it’s a very manageable hard back, but you get those, you get, you get those encyclopedic type volumes on the history of the world or whatever it’s it’s kind of nice to have it in Kindle.

It sure is I.

Audio where you know you don’t have to kill yourself to read it.

It’s funny, I I remember the days ago in the college, and I carry books around in my in knapsack and they’d be like, why the hell does this bag weigh so much? Because.

Right.

They’re all heavy and and then you get into this. You know now because in trauma on the Kindle and take them with, you don’t have to take the book with you. Right? So I, as I said, I think there’s value to having book. I do add your books to us. I’ve got a I’ve had an audible subscription for way too long. So before Amazon bought it so. Yes. So we talk about digital media predictions and before we get into. It. They’re podcasting live streaming games, going through you and I were talking about beforehand a bit of a a tough go. Right now we’re seeing lay off Spotify’s laid off people. Multiple podcast networks have laid off people. We’re going back to a lot of podcasts are inserting ads from a cast right now instead of their own host, right? Ads. What do you make out of all this going on?

Right.

I think it’s a tough time in the industry in general. It’s a tough time for the big providers. It’s a tough time for the solo creator. It’s a tough time for the small media team. I I don’t even know if the big companies and big media can all say that they’re happy with what. They’re they’re getting out of it. I do know on the.

No.

At the top, podcasting is working for, you know, celebrity podcasters and and really big brands and people who just hit on a on a moment and their podcast takes off. There’s still that level of success. That’s out there and those folks have no trouble getting sponsored and getting contracts. You saw Rogan just signed with Spotify again for 250 million plus. Yes, and it includes distribution to YouTube and other other platforms which.

And and and the non exclusive too. His RSS feed can go elsewhere this time.

Right.

Right, which basically Spotify is taking like the television network approach, which is I’ll let you put this on others you run some of our ads on that. So it’s an opportunity for them to sell more ads and Joe to get in front of more more audience and and Spotify.

Mm-hmm.

As well, but I think these things are all cyclical. I think the way that social media now is treating posts and videos is different than in the past where in the past you built up an audience and then you reach that audience through notifications. So if you had a big following. And you went live where you published a pod. Cast many people in your network would get notified. Now you’re the size of your audience or it doesn’t matter as much and your notifications are very minimal. There’s very limited organic reach, so every post, every video, every move you make. On social media is being evaluated based by the algorithm based on. Is this something that that’s going to draw traffic or not? Not like we’ll alert his network and and see how that goes, right? But it’s sort of like. Every piece of contents being compared to every other or being tried to find a place for it. So on one hand it’s still a good time to start if you haven’t done it before and you need some runway when you start anyway, right? You need some time to get get, get your rhythm, get your your.

Yeah.

You settle on your topic and exactly where you want to. Help with things, Polish your craft, but also for the newbie. I mean you could start a YouTube channel tomorrow and your first video could find an audience and take off just as somebody’s 700th video could. So on one hand, I think. Yeah, you shouldn’t be discouraged if you’re new. On the other hand, if you’re somebody who invested a lot of time in building an audience and a community, you can’t rest on your laurels and say, well, because I’ve got this. Unity all I’ve got to do is show up and the platforms are going to put my content in front of those folks. You still have to be. Original and curious and and and playing around with content to find that right formula.

You know, I’m one of the one of the things I’ll I’ll say being a podcaster and you and I have talked about this. I’m not going to go over episode 400. So by the time this airs you, thanks, Russ. It’s been.

Wow, congratulations. That’s impressive.

Yeah, a labor of love, really. I didn’t start off as and I I don’t take ads. I I do it to put eyes on the business. That’s why I’ve done it. I’ve enjoyed the podcasting community and one of the things that I’ve kind of looked at more and more. Is. Is it? Worse. Doing video so when I started I didn’t do video. You know that you’ve been on when we’ve done audio only right? And because of YouTube and I shared this with my tip in the book, I think you have to do video now. I don’t think you have a choice. And how’s your take on that? Do you think we should be doing video? Do you think we should be doing? My dear woman, what do you what?

Do you think my my opinion on that hasn’t changed in five or six years, which is? At the least, turn on your video camera and record video of you recording your podcast. Even if you only publish the audio as a complete show.

Yes.

Video was more of a scroll stopper than an audio clip is, so if you want to use anything from LinkedIn to Instagram to any of the other major social platforms to promote your podcast, to raise brand awareness of what you’re doing. Having that video clip of that impactful moment of that funny comment of that heated engagement, whatever, whatever happens in the show, that that’s the minute that you could pull out the 30 seconds, make a real, make a a short or or you know. Pull a 5 minute clip on one topic and put it on YouTube. Even if you don’t put the whole thing on YouTube. It’s the making that visual imprint for people means that even if people don’t listen to your podcast, they are seeing you in their feeds, hosting shows, talking to people, having conversations like you said, the podcast is a part of drawing people into your business. So take advantage of all the different ways to reach them. Understand that somebody can see a clip on social media and go look up your business just as they could listen to episode after episode and. And so there’s many ways to reel in customers and clients and and you’re not taking full advantage of it if you’re not doing some form of video. If you’re not comfortable with video, OK, let it pass. But again, you can you can just turn on your camera record. Your recording of the podcast just have the camera on you as you’re talking. Forget about it and maybe there’s a moment in there where you go. Ohh, I’m really glad I caught that video because I can use that and that’ll be. A heck of a clip to put on on my social platforms. It could be a great clip to put on your website to show you talking about your area of expertise. It’s, you know, the video and visual just has a way of working on social media. Now the audio is huge because you’re making you’re building that relationship, you’re going right into people’s ears. They’re able to take you with them when they’re not online. So this isn’t about audio versus video, it’s about. Video completing the package in a world in which we’re all marketing our business online and using all these different tools.

So true, you mentioned audio and you listen to the podcast. We’re talking in the car, and when you’re out in the boat, what’s your podcast player choice?

I listen on I OK? So, honestly, there’s there’s a debate whether it’s really a podcast or it’s not a podcast, my podcast Listen Player of Choice is YouTube. I I am most podcasts I will consume on a television. OK. In place of when I would maybe have watched television in the past, I will watch a video podcast or I will watch a show or a segment of a show that might have been on television and was redistributed as a video podcast. Type clip. If I do use a player I I I use the Apple Podcast player. If I’m just using an audio player, but I I I would say much of the time. Many of the pod, many of the podcasts I listen to are available on YouTube and that’s the first place where.

I figured.

I’ll think to go, and even if I’m doing just audio, I’m playing it and then, you know, I’m in the car. So I flip the phone over so I don’t look at the screen. I’m driving. Yeah. So I mean, like it or not, YouTube is is a major player in in where?

Yeah.

Online. Audio and video is going and it’s it’s a huge search engine and how it’s going to work with RSS feeds and video and such. For traditional video podcasting, I don’t know, but it’s, I mean, it’s a factor and in the general public, we all think of you.

No.

Tube is a a YouTube talk show now as a podcast. That’s what all the people call it. That’s what they call it, right? If you if I were to talk to somebody who wanted to do a show.

Yeah, that’s what I call it.

And they said, you know, I want to do a podcast and I say, OK, what are you thinking of? Well, we want to have two cameras. Like, they’re thinking of YouTube or Spotify. They’re thinking of video 1st and then, oh, yeah, we can also send it to these audio apps. But they’re really thinking of what? Joe Rogan is doing or any of the other big Celebrity Podcast, podcast, hangout type shows. People often think of the studios which you know if you have an unlimited budget you can fly people in from all over the world if you do. Don’t. They’re probably doing a remote thing, but yeah, people are thinking video as a as a part of podcast thing. It’s it’s really only the dictionary that hasn’t caught up, and maybe it has.

What I’ll tell you is since I switched to doing video my numbers. Uh.

Doubled.

And my numbers were good beforehand, but they doubled just from being on YouTube. So the way I kind of do my podcast pages now is I actually embed the YouTube code and the audio code on the page, right, right on top of each other. So somebody just wants to listen to the audio. It’s there. I think one of the biggest mistake that podcasters make is they don’t have enough places to watch their show on their own website.

Right. Right, right. I make a blog post out of my shows in which the first thing you come to is the video, which will be if the video is on YouTube, then it’s a YouTube in bed. If it’s a public video on YouTube. If it’s not, then I’ll host.

So. So do I.

It. With streamable or another you know? CDN. If I’m not because then why send somebody off to YouTube if I’m not getting views and credit for? You know, so and then and then I’ll have a headline and you know a little bit of the metadata or whatever and then maybe a sentence and then under that is the audio player. So they’re both there prominently and then under is to subscribe. And my subscribe is. It’s it’s YouTube, it’s Apple Podcasts, it’s Spotify. And for my podcast, that’s on speaker. There’s also speaker for my podcasts that are not on speaker. It’s it’s basically Apple. Spotify and YouTube are are the. Three big ones and then further down I’ll have icons for all the, you know, I would subscribe and follow plugin and and and I’ll have Pod Chaser and you know all the yeah, I have all the all the different ones where it’s available.

Yeah.

Pocket cast and on. And and the moral of the story is you should be putting out your podcast, as many distribution sources as you can, because RSS does that for you. And that’s really easy to do.

Yeah, yeah. You don’t know where a listener is going to come from, and so it’s worth doing that.

It is. Donna, let’s go back to the book for a second. Sure. You had over 100, I think there was. In the end, it says the title was 100, but I think it was like 110 or something like that. But it’s on you.

We had we had 113 this year.

115 yes, Sir. Do you want to share a couple of compelling things of the book? There was a couple that really stood out for.

Yeah, I I mean, I think what stands out to me and a lot of times I. The introduction to the book has sort of morphed from a here’s my sort of state of what I think to.

Yeah.

The the trends that I’m seeing in the predictions and they often align with you know how I’m seeing things, but not always. But the introductions become much more about what are the main themes that you’re going to come across in this year’s. This year’s book. Obviously the biggest one is a.

Yeah.

Oh, no question.

Everything is changing at such a rapid pace with AI. How you know how you integrate it? What tools do you use with it? What are your concerns about it? How do you stay human and still take advantage of the speed of of AI?

Yes.

In terms of productivity, that’s that that so that’s number one. And there’s so many great predictions, I can’t even single out any because there’s so many people come to it from from different perspectives. But I would say overall, although there are concerns about the ethics of things and being human and and where the dangers are in terms of overreach, I would say that for the most part, almost everybody sees a positive side of AI as well in terms of productivity.

I do.

Karen Glasser stands out in her prediction because she talked about the leveling effect or the democratizing effect of AI. If we’re able to do with AI, some of the things that. Were previously an advantage for big teams because they had dedicated people to do blog posts and graphics, and we’re able to do all this stuff quickly with AI, we can focus on hosting our shows. Now we can we we can, we can play a little bigger than our our size so to speak. We can we can have.

Yep.

Some of the benefits of a team by offloading work to AI, so I think that’s a big a big theme. How do we do that? What apps do we use? What’s the quality? All those things are are to be seen, but it’s an exciting time and it’s a time where I think. You can’t. You can’t just throw up your hands and go. I’m not interested in this. Even if you did that, when, when? When websites came out and e-mail came out and you threw up your hands and you said, I’m not doing this crap and you you came kicking and screaming 567 years later and you got on. You’re like alright, I can do this for work and then social media came out and you said I’m never touching that. Why would anybody tweet or and years later? Maybe you got a couple of profiles or whatever, but you didn’t care and. I think you can’t take that approach with AI. If you want to be in business or you want to have a job or you want to just understand modern life. AI is not one to go. It doesn’t matter for me, I think unless you’re, you know, a year from retiring and you know you’re set for life.

I would.

And even then you you wanna even in your spare time if you’re on vacation. If you’re retired, AI can still make your life easier and better and make make it better for understanding what your. Your family members are going through and different people, so I think you got to get on on board a little bit and at least understand it and kick the tires and play with the tools because it can have a big impact and from where I sit, it’s about. Learning how to offer something to the tools. Right? So instead of going this is going to replace me, how do I learn how to better?

Yep.

Input information that the AI will use to generate, and then how do I better edit, reform, refine kickback for another question, how can I use it? And I don’t know about you, but one of the most exciting things I find is when I’m I’m trying to. Come up with an idea concept of business plan of an article.

Yeah.

Or whatever and and I I kick it back and forth with. It’s not that I go write this for me. Here’s the sentence. Write the rest of it for me or whatever. But it’s like I’m making the case that ChatGPT and it’s saying think about this or what if this or this is really good but and you’re like or it’ll say something. I’ll go. Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m trying to say. And like four more sentences, will will roll out and it’s like it. It’s an interesting way to.

Please.

Almost like Co create content as though you’re there with a friend and you’re like, both excited about the same idea. So, I mean, it doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It doesn’t have to be. It’s replacing humans. It can literally be like you’re telling your idea to somebody instead of sitting there staring at a blank screen. And and then typing it and wondering where’s my next bolt of inspiration gonna come from? Or what’s the next thing to cover. You’re you’re doing it in conversation and and and next thing you know, you’ve got. The. All the makings of a a pitch, an article, a business plan, and then you just go about doing what you do to tidy it up and and and put it into form. So that would be #1 #2 would be I call it micro is the new macro is the the term I gave it. There’s a lot of interest. And smaller events, local events, micro influencers rather than big name influencers.

I agree.

There’s shorter, shorter form content not talking about just shorts and reels, but people who are doing 1/2 an hour podcast sometimes saying I’m going to make mine now 15 minutes or people starting a new one and going it’s going to be 10 minutes. People are busy, they don’t want to commit to it. Something that’s going to take 1/2 an hour if I give them more regularly short bites of. Something perhaps that’s a better way to keep an audience engaged in an ongoing basis, whether it is or it’s not, I don’t know, but that is the thinking that’s certainly out there. And I think I I wanted to just reflect that that. Back as well.

It’s funny when you when you mention that a couple year, about a year and a half ago, I I looked at I do, as you know, interviews, but I also do short tip podcasts in between. And I was gonna ditch the short 5 minute tip podcasts, and I must have had 20 people e-mail me and said please don’t.

Right, right.

So people like the short bits, I think to what I listen to and to come to mind. One is Danny Brown’s One minute podcast tips and those who don’t know Danny. He’s an Ontario based podcaster and he does a quick show. That’s a quick podcast tip of the week. And the other one I was thinking about. Is 1 by one of the industry journals called Pod news.net. They take their e-mail briefing every day and throw it into a podcast, and they’re done in five. Minutes and gone.

Right. It’s like a flash briefing style podcast.

Yeah. And I listen to that every day because it keeps me up to date on the industry and from my standpoint. I would rather do that than read it, to be honest with you.

Right, right. That makes total sense and I think I think another theme is sort of where is my audience, right? Because again, social and I include all sort of just as a general, they all work differently, but just in a general sense.

So.

Social isn’t so much about feeding your content to your audience anymore. It’s how am I going to stay in front of an audience. So if I go on to YouTube and I’ve last watched a couple of your videos, I know you’re going to come up first or at the top of my home.

Yeah.

And then I’m more likely to watch another of your videos. So if you’re putting out short, short, not too short, but short content every day. Like let’s say you’re doing a 5 minute or a a 10 minute video every day updating on something in the news or a short interview, here’s today’s tips. With this expert or. Whatever. Now you continually stay at the top of my feed and you become a habit, right? I don’t have to go looking for something interesting because every day I’ve got Roberts podcast, you know? And that’s what YouTube’s calling it as well, whether it has video or not, they’re calling it a podcast. That’s that’s at the top of my feet. So there’s that, that part of it is kind of how do you become? An addiction to to your audience, how do you become in front of them all the time? Because of the way the algorithms work, but also how do you get that momentum where it’s like I can’t miss what Pod News is going to say today because today might be the day that there’s that major breaking story. That affects me, right? So there might be a lot of days where you’re listening and you get this. Nothing really pertains to me, but you don’t want that day to come along where it does. And that’s the day you decided not to keep up. With it and and that’s I think that’s what James, who runs partners has has tapped into because it’s for better where it’s it’s the, it’s the kind of the paper of record so to speak for the for the industry it’s the 1st place a lot of people think to go to get news. On on podcasting and it’s a very impressive. Very impressive thing that he’s built up to to be able to churn out that content every every single day. The then then the other thing is what other ways can we keep in touch with our audience and stay in front of them. And I think building community is another aspect of it. We had been told. Get on Facebook live, get on Facebook, go live on Facebook, build a Facebook group. Reality is Facebook having a Facebook group? Doesn’t guarantee you. That those folks will be notified when you go live when you post something, when you have a new episode and and and so that means how do you foster community outside of? The social networks that could be a newsletter. It could be an e-mail community, but I’m I’m thinking that, you know, finding a dedicated app, a lot of people or not, not a lot of people, but some people use local. Some people use circle like where are you going to build your community? Where they’re always going to get notified when you. To post something or share something, they’re going to get, probably get e-mail notifications and they can talk to you. You you can give them access. Maybe there’s built in some monetization. So I think you have to think of not how do I get a million people to watch or listen, but how do I get that first ten and then that next 50 and find a place where that core group of people. People can stay engaged and you give a little more access of yourself. Maybe you put some bonus content on, but you also have some, perhaps some premium offers over time. Does that make sense? Is another way to to work around the algorithms?

No, I sure does. I agree, I. Yeah, I agree with. I agree with that. Now in terms of promoting. Especially live streaming stuff, reels, Instagram or TikTok, and I know you’ve talked about I have to go there because I know for me I have this bigger version of TikTok and part of the reason is it’s 50% owned by the. Chinese government. So I as a rule, I avoid TikTok. I am not a TikTok consumer, I’m not a TikTok publisher.

Right.

Am I leaving money on the table?

I I mean, you’d have to test it out and that’s the only way you would know. That’s the only. I. I’m sorry. I I I wish I had a better answer for you. But you, you just have to test it out and see if your content plays there or not. For me, I find that I do better on reels than the other two. I do better on YouTube than I do.

Yeah, I knew you were. Going to say that.

Yeah.

And TikTok, TikTok is the least of of them. It’s also. So I think my general social usage would go towards Instagram over TikTok. YouTube is where you know I think about video. So if I have one and I put it on Instagram, I’m going to put it on YouTube shorts. If I put it on YouTube shorts, I’m probably going to put it on Instagram occasionally. I remember to put it on TikTok. As well, but I’m not that active on on. Talked. I haven’t put a lot of time and effort into shorts and reels, but I have a now subscription to Opus Clip and that’s basically it’s technology where you take your video so you could take an interview like this. Upload it to Opus clip and it will use AI to give you 20 to the. Dirty shorts, reels, TikTok videos that you could actually just download and deploy, and if they’re not exactly what you’re looking for, but they’re close, you can edit. You can edit them right within the app, and if you’re not comfortable editing audio or video, you can edit by text. And then they’ll render and you know be. In in, in vertical and so forth. So I have to use that tool more get more comfortable with it. But if I can do it quickly and it still has a chance to do something for me, great. But I with everything I got going on, I I I don’t see myself becoming dedicated to making a lot of shorts and reels and things like that.

Yeah. Hey.

I I think. If I could do it quickly and and and it has some interest, but you know, I’m OK if my Instagram is still.

Yeah.

Pictures and you know what have you basically. And this isn’t something I I I don’t think we discussed this in the book really, but. Basically my approach to social this year is LinkedIn first.

I agree.

And over the years, I’ve always done. If I’m gonna open up a feed right, I’m if it’s if it’s news related. If it’s sports related, if it’s related to something breaking in the in the industry, I’m probably going to go to Twitter if it’s to pass the time flicking through some pictures, I’m going to go to Instagram and when I think the post, if I have a nice picture. I’m going to post it on Instagram 1st and if I have some. News. I’m at an event. There’s a great quote I want to share. There’s a piece of information I learned. I’m going to go to Twitter. That’s kind of how it’s how it goes and it kind of goes the same way when it comes to promoting things. I’m going to go to Twitter 1st and then, you know, Instagram and do the Lincoln bio thing and. Probably drop it in Facebook and go Oh yeah, I should probably promote this on LinkedIn too. But now I’m making a concerted effort that when I have an idea or I hear something great, or a photo or whatever, think about can I can I can does this work on LinkedIn and if it does, let’s think about how we can tell the story on LinkedIn 1st and then if I want to or have time I can post it on the other platforms. But let’s treat LinkedIn as as the active creator network that it possibly could be and is for some people rather than, you know, another place to maybe. Throw up a promo post or whatever, but to actually do content for LinkedIn and with.

No, I don’t. I don’t disagree, Ross.

With that, I started a newsletter as well a a couple of weeks ago on LinkedIn, so I’m I’m very committed to that and I’m also now making an effort that when. I just want to consume or engage or check check any notifications. I’m not like on top of my notifications all the time. Go to LinkedIn first if you’re having a conversation. If the conversation is could be on three different platforms, let’s do the one on LinkedIn 1st and if I get time for the others that’s OK and I think.

Yeah.

I’d like the quality of the conversations on LinkedIn. I think it’s friendly. I think it’s there’s a sense of community there amongst creators I I think. It’s not as competitive as the other platforms. I I think it’s crazy not to at least explore what’s possible on LinkedIn. If after six months or a year I find it’s not doing anything for me, then at least I don’t have to go back and go. What if you put more time into LinkedIn, but I I I other than when I got LinkedIn live for.

Yeah.

Like 6 months. I don’t think I really six months to a year where I was all in on LinkedIn and LinkedIn live. I don’t think I’ve really given LinkedIn a a fair chance.

I think you’re that changed. For me. It’s funny. You talk about it as about it’ll be three years in December. I got asked by LinkedIn themselves to Co manage a WordPress group and that WordPress global community has over 10,000 people in it. And the minute I started, well, partially because LinkedIn originally populated the group with anybody who had WordPress is a scale, so they pretty populated group, but we haven’t lost people. When we when we started those saying the Courtney Robertson there they we were around 6000. So we’ve grown that.

Right, right.

And. As a result, being a Co manager of a large group, my LinkedIn profile has gone up and that’s what people don’t realize when you get into that stratosphere, when you’re managing a group of 10,000 people, it actually raises your profile. And so I I’ve gone all in. You know, it’s funny.

Right, right.

Both you and I are not talking about that Facebook platform. Because I’ll be honest with you, Facebook’s not my favorite platform. I I will say that every time we have this conversation and it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even post personal pictures on Facebook. I might post one here, one there just to appease the family, but I I don’t even do that like because they.

Right.

All scream at me. Because I’ve taken all my big trip pictures and put them back on my personal website and said go here, I don’t want them. Well then I don’t want to either. Like I’m just.

I I’ve been so fed up with Facebook. Facebook’s been my example of how. No. Big tech big media are combining to really crush the small creator and all the things that they told you to commit to, and then they changed on it or they they didn’t give you reach and all the platforms do this, they have a new same new feature they tell you go all in on it. And then after six months or a year or two years.

Yep.

They start backing off and like you’re left with a a group or a live streaming strategy or whatever that isn’t working anymore. The funny thing is, I think LinkedIn has I. I mean, I think Facebook. Has not worked that well for so many people that the space is opening up a little bit. Again, I I had made a point that I wasn’t going to live stream to Facebook unless it was like going live in the moment and do something like I wasn’t going to do my shows on Facebook anymore because I.

Yeah, don’t do it, do you?

Why do I want to do my show where there’s going to be 3 people watching? Because Facebook doesn’t alert anybody or show it to anybody. Except now it’s starting to build again a little bit and I’m starting to go there again, just because I think I think they so crushed the small creator and and that they need to start bringing people back up again just to have people who might buy an ad once in a while. Booster poster, what have you? I could be totally off on that, but I think. That people have so put their attention on Instagram and and other platforms, TikTok that Facebook, you know, these are all utilities. I mean I I don’t get emotional about like yeah, I pay, I get ****** at Facebook. But hey, if the only the lanes open, I’m going to I’m going to drive down and. And throw it in the basket. You know, I mean, this is this is this is business and and I I do think that there may be again. I don’t have scientific data on this, but maybe opportunity opening up a little bit on Facebook now.

I I would. Agree with you. It’s funny when you say about your shows. I do post my podcasts as you know, on Facebook, but that’s about all I’m posting these days, so I I’ve still got this ongoing 4 year old this year and we’ve talked about this where I can’t post my business domain on Facebook. I’m still into this problem, so at that time I was running ads. I was doing other stuff and I’m like, OK, you don’t want my money? I’ll give my money to Google. I’m OK with. So we kind of we’ve touched on a lot today, let’s talk about live streaming platforms. We’re recording this podcast on streamer streamers, a platform you and I both know very well. I like stream yard because it records locally and it’s the one.

OK.

I seem to have the less problems with if you’re looking at platforms, what else would you look?

OK, so stream yards might go is still my go to for most things. OK, if you’re a man and you know Full disclosure I you know you I know you know. But I hosted a show for stream yard. I’ve worked with them and they’re good people and I’m I’m still an affiliate.

They’re good people, they really are.

And and continue to share those links and so forth, so. For me, stream yard is still, you know, the in the starting lineup and and it’s at the top of the list. It’s the first one I’m likely to go live with. OK. Now, what other options if you have Mac? And you like to be a little more hands on in setting up your scenes and your overlays and maybe even doing a little. I don’t know whether it’s color grading or Lutz or all. All these different different production elements. If you want that level of control ecam is is a high quality app. The video quality is really good on ecam I think you can stream in 4K on ecam. I’m not positive, but I believe you.

This.

And but it’s got a. It’s got a very active community and there’s a lot of information out there you can learn. It’s definitely. Not as easy as stream yard and what I like about stream yard is I can get a guest on, but I would never tell anybody who is good at using ecam. You shouldn’t use ecam because I think it’s it’s it’s. A highly highly professional platform and it opens up complete create almost complete creative control. If you really want complete complete control at a professional level then you have things like OBS and WIRECAST and V mix, which I don’t. I don’t mess with so much.

What?

Anymore because. I I I just don’t like stream yard has given the stability now and ecam has that stability that I I can do everything I need in those platforms. And so the heavier the heavier load on my computer of wirecast or the. Less user friendly layout of OBS for me. Aren’t necessities, right? But I I still have wirecast and occasionally a project comes along where I I will choose that to use, but again, so stream yard, ecam, wirecast are all I I would still recommend.

Yeah.

All three of those, the other one that’s always been high quality but mobile is not my thing. So much for live streaming and. Really not setting up Multicam and things like that with mobile, but but Switcher studio has always been a a highly professional platform for mobile and they seem to be adding more and more features that make it less of just an exclusively iPhone iPad.

Yeah.

Mobile and and really almost like an integrated. Entire video platform with all the bells and and and and whistles. And I haven’t checked out their latest updates, but I I plan to do that, but they’ve always done high quality stuff. If you’re an iPhone user and I if you’re if you’ve got iOS devices, you can do a very very. Impressive. Live stream or podcast or recording or whatever in Multicam and control it right from right from an iPad. So those would be the ones that I, I highlight. I think I you know re streams OK. I I think their their sales the ability to put a product with a QR code and all that right from their interface is really cool. That’s that’s something I like about restream.

It’s funny, I.

Yeah. But I I I think. For that type of platform stream yard, I would put stream yard over it, waved did some creative things with their platform, eating mocks. They both have a fair number of of positive points to recommend them, but again stream yard. Is just. It’s more refined at it. It may not have all the bells and whistles as some of the others, but it’s got the stability down. It’s got the bandwidth down, it’s got the quality down. But you know I would keep an eye on even mucks as as well. So if you want to come back around. I I think stream yard if you have stream yard and ecam in in your in your arsenal. If you’re on a Mac between the two of them you can do almost anything with live streaming you need to do if you’re on. Uh, windows. Uh stream yard still is. Is is a great go to and then maybe you want to look at vmix or maybe you want to look at OBS or something else for when you need complete control over how your your video comes across on screen.

I do not need on Windows the complete control and the hassles of setting up will be asked anymore. I am sorry. I have been.

You ask a simple question and you get a you get. You get a rundown of the entire industry. I mean, people like people like Riverside. They like the local recording stream yard as local recordings, but Riverside mixes them together so people like like that. I’ve never gone in too deep.

It’s OK. I know.

I know.

On on on Riverside. And then there’s tools like the Atem mini and the A10 Mini Pro and the 810 Mini extreme that you can use to switch and record and some of the A10 mini products you can actually stream directly to YouTube or Facebook right from the right from the box without even needing the computer. So it it all depends on what.

Yeah.

Level of complexity and and so forth. You want to deal with.

Thanks a lot for this today, Ross. As we kind of wrap it up. A. Bit I’m doing this presentation on Saturday and about lessons learned from over 400 podcasts. You’ve been live streaming for a long time. What are your three top lessons you’ve learned? Put you on the spot because they.

That is a that is a $400.00 question for the 400th pisode top three lessons learned from live streaming or from anything.

Think. Or podcasting. Or doing any. Yeah.

It’s about the host, not about the guest, not about the subject matter. At the end of the day, it’s about whether they like the host or not. Has the biggest factor in whether people come back again and again. Is their relationship to the host. There are many ways to engage your.

Yeah.

Audience. It doesn’t have to be shouting people out in the middle of a sentence and stopping and go hey, this person’s whatever. Although that can be fun at times and a casual live stream, but there are many ways to engage and recognize your audience beside. Kids putting comments on the screen or shouting out and I think one of the most effective ways is. When you see something in the chat that can become a question or become an additional comment in your to bring it in Ohh Rob in the chat says that he sees podcasting going this way or whatever. What do you think about that? And that’s that to me is is. What makes live streaming special is that you’re getting that instantaneous feedback, and you have people in the chat who know more.

Yep.

More about a topic than you do or come at it from a different direction. Think of something that you didn’t think of. Know your guests better, and so if you’re keeping an eye on that without having without losing the show, it’s it’s like having 20 producers. In the chat, you know helping you out. So engage with your audience. Bring in the content. But it doesn’t have to be in a way that’s disruptive to the flow of the show. Some people think if they aren’t shouting out people every second, oh, they’re not doing a live stream. Right. And that’s that’s not the case. You can go into a podcast style recording and very much bring people in, in the flow of the show. The third thing would be. You know, videos the scroll stopper. As I said earlier, whether you do audio or you do video content, if you want to repurpose it on social media, you’ve got to think about the visual and how that captures attention. Many times people are listening or are watching and their audio is off. So do you have? If you’re doing a social clip, do you have a a visual that captures their attention? Do you have a a, a graphic? Do you have a? Captions that that work. I’m not saying that I do all those things all the time either. They’re a lot of work. They’re a lot of time. They they, you know, they don’t always. You can do all that work and you don’t always get a return on it. But the reality is video is important.

Hmm.

Oh yeah.

For the social outreach part of it, and having those the those videos, as we talked about. Earlier, having that option to cut a video clip, even if it’s an audio podcast and you’re only publishing the audio, can take you a long way in terms of, you know, the brand awareness and the recognition and even even leading people back to your business, so that those.

Awesome.

Could be my three I would say.

What?

Actually for #1. I was just getting to a summary and I I couldn’t just shut up, but I had to try and do a summary and I lost. I lost track. What the hell? What the heck?

That’s OK.

It’s all good, it’s.

Did I say?

That sounds good. You know, you know what? Ross will watch the replay like everybody else.

I just gotta bother me. Ohh number one is the host that you you, you, you. You’re the one that that that brings people in not your guest.

House.

Yeah. So the host focus on yourself as the host doesn’t mean you don’t focus on your guests, but if the host is so important and so remember, it’s your relationship, a lot of people think that getting the big guest is what’s going to going to keep an audience, but it’s really developing your relationship with the audience.

Yeah.

That was the 1st. One. And then there’s also two and three. You can watch it again, and if. You missed it. Give Rob a little extra watch time or listen time.

And it. Yeah, it’s funny. You mentioned the host because it’s also the host that gets those guests and right, you know, I kind of look at my my podcast journey. And I’ll tell you as you get better and you, you do more and you do more episodes, it’s easier to get those guests because of the host. And I. Had no problem pulling in people. I did a a share with you. I did a call for guests on Twitter a couple back in December and I put together 8 podcasts out of that call for guests just because of my notoriety in the community because of who I am.

Wow, that’s great.

Because of my relationship with people. And it’s all about relationships, and people don’t understand that podcasting is the same. It’s all about the relationship.

Right, right. But it it’s what your guests brings. It’s the why you’re having them on, how it fits into what you’re doing. If you just have a big name on for the sake of having a big name on. Of course, if you have that opportunity, take it. But if you expect that that person’s audience is going to come over and stay with you because you had them. On that isn’t what they’re gonna. That isn’t what your audience is going to come back for, right? They’re gonna come. Come back because they like you when that big guest isn’t there anymore, you’re the one who brought them in. You’re the one who’s entertaining them. You’re the one who’s feeding them information that they want. And. I I think more hosts have to realize that and not think it’s outside themselves where the answer to to, to growing and to making a better show.

Yeah, I I. I agree. With the Ross another hour with you flies by with you and I always touch on so much.

So it’s fun, Robert.

Yes. It is show show that hardcover again. Please go out and get the book. That’s the hard cover version. As I said, encourage you to get the Kindle version as well and then either the hard cover the soft cover by the way as we’re recording. I’ve already ordered mine so there you go.

OK.

Oh, you’re awesome. Thank you, Robbie.

I I just, I just love they’re they’re like some of the best read books in my library just because. Of to do and not just being involved in this year’s project or it’s good information and there’s stuff in versions one version two and version three are still as relevant today as ever before. So I would say go get, go get all four and support Ross Wood he’s doing.

Absolutely.

And support the other amazing people who wrote tips. I mean 113.

Yeah.

Tips this year? That’s.

Uh.

It’s pretty good. I suspect we’ll see an audio book. You beat me? They got a punch because I was going to ask you when it was coming. So.

When, when, when?

AI gets off its spot.

Yeah, when? When? When Amazon officially rolls out AI to me. To where? I’m not breaking any rules or anything. Then we’re going to we’re going to click that button, and in a few minutes we’ll have. An audio book.

If somebody wants to get a hold of us to talk live streaming or digital media has the best way.

Yeah, livestreamuniverse.com livestreamuniverse.com is the website or. Message me on any any of the socials. I’m on LinkedIn. That’s kind of where my focus is. Reach out and connect and then you know, I’ll accept your your connection and then we can message each other on LinkedIn.

Yeah. Thanks Ross for all this. And again Congrats on the book. And here’s to many more. Have a great day.

Thank you so much, Robert. Thanks for sharing the book and thanks for being a part of it and writing the the The Caps there.

Such such such a pleasure to be involved and to support somebody I consider a good friend. So that’s you.

Thank.

Know. You’re welcome. Have a great day. Ross bye bye.

You too. Thanks, Robert.

The.