Speaker 1 00:11 Hi and welcome to another episode of social PR secrets. My name is Lisa buyer and I'll be your host. Today's guest is Kathy hackle. Kathy is a public relations professional and she is also one of the most innovative and futurist experts that I know. And this episode we talk about live video and how to integrate it into the social media and public relations strategy. Welcome Kathy. In this enter.
Speaker 2 00:40 So Hey everybody, we are here today talking, not live. We're actually recording. Um, but we're going to be talking about live video and I have Cathy Hackl here. Hey Kathy. Hey Lisa. Thanks for having me. So Kathy is the expert on live video and she's going to take us through what some of the trends are in live video, what we can do with it as a social media manager and what we can expect in the future. So Kathy, what is this huge trend with live video? Why is it so important? And tell us what you think the latest is happening.
Speaker 3 01:11 Well, I think live video, I mean live streaming has been around for a long time, but I think it's fairly new that we're able to actually go live from our phones. Um, I used to be a journalist then back in the day we needed a live truck, a satellite truck truck to go live. Now we have millions of to realize of dollars of technology, let's say in our phones. Um, it's basically it has taken over the world in the sense that a platform like Facebook is all in on live video. So mere CAD, which has already passed away, came out first, um, February last year. Then Periscope came out in March that my pillow there, um, I was one of the first people on Periscope. So that always makes me very excited to say. And then, uh, and then Facebook jumped into the live streaming, um, and the live video world. And that really changed and revolutionized everything. Uh, and I think a lot of people are going to start to see the campaign ad on television and billboards and digital billboards where Facebook is asking you, is showing people how to go live. And urging like and really trying to get them to go live on, on the platform.
Speaker 2 02:13 So you can go via as a individual and as a brand, you can go live on your Facebook page. And so give some examples of some trends on how um, brands large and small can utilize Facebook live
Speaker 3 02:25 or any other live streaming video that might be appropriate. Definitely. I um, you know, brands are using it to create fun engagement. Um, I saw a lot of brands on election nights, um, not too long ago, uh, using it, you know, since the country was so stressed out, no matter, you know, this is all political. I'm just saying everyone was stressed out, still tired, everyone's tired. They had a lot of brands had like, you know, like get released stress, like watch a candle, like a nice candle. Not the, there was a negative candle, but, um, you know, they had like a, uh, Japanese, um, like a garden. They had different bread. Some brands were trying to something, um, to say, okay, it is election night, but you know, you can always watch her feed and it'll be, you know, people are relaxing. So I saw that play out a little bit and I'm on Facebook live and I thought that was interesting. They're using it a lot to communicate with audiences and to promote their, you know, what they're doing. Um, I like it because of the engagement, you know, I think people can ask questions and then the brands if they can, they can answer or that they can always go back to those comments. But it's that real time engagement that you get on live video that I think is very, very valuable to brands.
Speaker 2 03:36 Definitely. And I see, you know, just some of the, the speakers and in our sector. So guy Kawasaki is one, I love how he's using it and he can basically use it as, um, announcing news or doing a kind of a, uh, FAQ on a certain subject or just doing a presentation that you would just see at a conference. You can just do on Facebook live,
Speaker 3 03:59 having your own TV show. Like now you can have the, you know, the Lisa buyer show or the Kathy hack listener or the whoever show. Um, it's like having your own show cause you can go live. Um, and I, that being said, if you are going live for a brand that you work for or represent, you have to do it from your business page. Okay. Especially if you're, if you're a company that sells products and everything. So I think you're going to be two different things. The live video that's going to happen on the business front. And then the live videos can happen on our personal pages, which is going to be more like, Hey, I'm out here at Lake Alice or whatever. Or, um, you know, I'm out, I'm out shopping for spectacles from Snapchat or whatever. You're going to see a lot of these things kind of like happen and it's going to be different. The context of the live video is going to be different.
Speaker 2 04:44 So, um, how do you choose, so let's say you have a, um, you're a personal brand and you have a huge following on your Facebook profile page and not so much of a following on your Facebook brand page. So, you know, it's like you have to kind of balance out, okay, where is your audience? Right?
Speaker 3 04:59 You got to balance it up and you can still go live on your personal, it just has, you just have to make sure that you're not selling on your personal, okay. You're promoting a new product. If you're trying to get people to buy tickets to a movie or whatever it is, you have to make sure that it's done in the business page and not in the personal page because, um, Facebook is gonna crack down on that. Oh really? Okay. Yeah, they're gonna crack down on that. And also because this has already happened to me and to lots of people, make sure that when you're going live, um, if there's music in the background or whatever, be very careful with that because I've had that word. Some of my lives have gotten shot down because even if it wasn't my music, let's see, we're at a restaurant and there's music in the background. If the computers and all the, you know, the AI that is behind live identifies that as a copyright material, they will shut it down unless you, unless you can re they at least send you an email asking if you have permission to use this copyrighted material.
Speaker 3 05:57 So just be careful, you know, just be careful and keep, you know, keep your ears out, you know, your ears out for that kind of stuff. So,
Speaker 2 06:04 so we have all these different outlets to pick from when it comes to live streaming videos. So there's Facebook, there's Periscope, there's Snapchat, there's YouTube, and now
Speaker 3 06:14 we just heard Instagram. I deal so exciting. Right.
Speaker 2 06:18 So what do you think about that and how do you choose,
Speaker 3 06:21 um, okay. What I think from that is that last year when this came out and a lot of us embrace it, some people in the social media world were saying as skeptics or whatever, this is just a fad. No, I was just thinking over social media, you know, like it's not going away. It's taken over social media. How do you choose, I think that it has to be the platform where your audiences, um, it's some, some brands are going to be very heavy on Twitter and have a lot of followers on Twitter, so those brands probably need to be more on Periscope than there are going to be on Facebook live. Um, so I think choosing is going to depend on which brand and what type of brand it is and where the audiences, uh, if you're trying to reach, uh, you know, millennials and gen C definitely Snapchat. I mean, you, you're a super amazing Snapchat or Lisa and then you know that firsthand that if you want to reach that audience, that's where they're at. So, um, I also love musically, so I think that's a fantastic platform. Of course it's more like fun and everything, but still, that's a great place for brands that I don't see a lot of brands there yet. So, um, I think it's a good place for them to have fun. That's competition. That's competition. And they can have fun. I'm musically, you know,
Speaker 2 07:30 definitely. So, um, what are some mistakes that you see brands making and when it comes to live streaming?
Speaker 3 07:36 I mean, some of the things that really are pet peeves of mine are one brand's test on there. Like they go live, but they are testing on actual Facebook live pages. And you know, that is just not professional. You obviously probably have a communications team. So my, I urge you to test it out on a personal page before to sit on a business page. I think that's very important. Um, and you know, some people say like the lighting or shaky, well, I mean it live, it is live is raw and authentic and sometimes that's part of the beauty.
Speaker 2 08:07 Yeah. It's probably, I mean, it seems like social media, I mean, it's a little bit more forgiving than to be a, I mean, hopefully we're, we're getting to that point where we're not like really, you know, calling brands out because of these authentic things that are happening that it's authentic. It's real. Right.
Speaker 3 08:24 Yeah. So, you know, um, I mean, and then that being said, you know, yeah, if you can afford certain equipment, go for it. You know, if you can try to make your lives better, do em doing better, but don't think that it has to be a perfectly produced YouTube video because it's not YouTube.
Speaker 2 08:39 Exactly. So do you have any favorite moments, for example, the Chewbacca mom? I mean she, you know, just comes to mind, but what are some of your favorite moments and in live streaming video?
Speaker 3 08:49 Uh, I'll tell you my favorite moment. Um, well that actually I have two or three. I'll tell you my favorite moment in live streaming. This was back in may of last year. So Facebook live wasn't around. It was actually on Periscope. Uh, David Goodman fielder who's a reporter for the New York times was inside North Korea. He was in Pyong young and he went live on Periscope and he was going to show us something that we don't really get to see ever. Um, you know, because he, he was doing it from the balcony of his hotel. That's the only place he could do it. Because he's usually, he always had like a, a, uh, a handler or whatever. So, you know, he was very limited as to what he could show. But just being able to see that unfiltered view of North Korea of young, young, young, without having, you know, having the government, let's say, control that was interesting and everyone on the feed was like, are you going to get arrested?
Speaker 3 09:40 What's going to happen? Well, at that point Periscope was so new that of course a lot of people didn't even know it was under the radar, under the radar. So I still have those, those screenshots because to me it was impactful. Yes, I was able to see this, I was able to experience this with this person in real time and have a conversation with them while they were doing this. So by far, I mean, that's one of my favorite, favorite moments. Um, you know, I think, um, Dan rather has had some really interesting, honest moments, uh, on Facebook live. If you follow him, if you, you know, he's an incredible, incredible journalist. Um, so I think that it's been interesting to be with him in his, in his living room. You know, you're used to seeing you. Many of us were used to seeing him behind the desk.
Speaker 3 10:25 Um, and it was interesting to have that access to him on live. Um, those would be one of my favorite moments. Chewbacca mom. I mean that just everything. I mean that's like a catalyst. That was when I arrived. Video has been recognized. Um, not so favorites. I would say one of my not so favorite moments, but still quite important. Um, Filando Castiel uh, an African American man that was shot and filmed it on Facebook live. Um, I can tell you that that was a very critical day. I think in love video it showed the power of live video. Um, I can tell you I spent literally like four hours on media calls that day because they were looking for someone that knew about like video. Um, so it was really interesting to see how this is becoming not only a fun tool, but a tool that can be used for social good in some way.
Speaker 3 11:18 Exactly. And Cathy, you know what, I think it's important to point out that you've really been behind live streaming videos since, you know, practically day one, Kathy put together the very first Periscope summit. Al Roker was involved, he'd been behind the scenes at Twitter. You've been behind the scenes at Facebook. So tell us, I mean, give us some tidbits of like how you saw this, you know, getting started and like, what was it like to be at Twitter headquarters and Facebook headquarters? Um, I can tell you the live video has changed my life. Um, you know, I, I wouldn't be where I am today if it not, if it weren't for live video. It has been amazing. Um, I think that because of the fact that I embraced it so early on and I saw it, I saw I was coming. Um, I've been granted access to amazing events and being able to kind of like, like you said, via Twitter, you had Facebook.
Speaker 3 12:08 Um, you know, because it's like being there, you know, visiting the mothership, that's what I call it. You know, and it's interesting because the first time I went to Twitter I just remember how nervous, excited I was. I was just kinda like, like nervous now, you know, kind of like funny. But I've been to Twitter like three or four times. So now I'm just like, Hey, I'm just going to Twitter, which is hilarious. It was like Facebook. I've been to Facebook twice, same thing. The first time I went I was just, Oh my gosh, this is like, this is it. Like I saw Mark Zuckerberg, the selfie moment of your life. Actually, it's like crazy. So, um, so yeah, I mean these are trends that folks need to embrace. You know, and my advice to people that are listening to this is if you find a platform or a, you know, something that's going on social media and you love it, embrace it, you know, embrace it and try to learn as much as you can about it.
Speaker 3 13:01 Because if you become the go to person or someone that has a lot of knowledge on this, it's going to be really beneficial to you. Definitely. And so what do you see as what's on the horizon? What can we expect from live streaming video and what do you see coming up? Well, um, mobile mobile live video on YouTube is going to be interesting. They announced that at VidCon this year. Um, we can do YouTube live. I mean, that exists already. It's more of going live on your mobile. I think that that's going to be the big thing. Um, and you know, they still haven't released it to the masses. Very few detours have access to it. So I think that that'll be interesting because this is a YouTube generation. So we'll see how that changes. I think that it's also having a huge impact on television.
Speaker 3 13:45 Uh, many people who are cord cutters and don't have cable watch the elections or watch the debates or whatever unfold on Facebook live. So, um, I think that, yeah, I wrote an article about this for the Huffington post back in September, August of last year on how live video in some way was the future of television. So, and I see that in the aspect of Facebook live of Snapchat, of all these components of what my video is. So, um, I think we're going to see a lot more integration and it's, it's just going to be truly exciting. Yeah. And I think we'll see how things are gonna work out with, for example, I read how the NFL, I guess is banning live streaming video from behind the scenes, you know, and it's like, okay, wait a second. This was what we really liked. Yeah. I mean it's, it'll be interesting to see that being said. Another big trend, and I know we'd probably don't have a lot of time to talk about it, but as you know, like this is extremely passionate. Like I'm extremely passionate about this is VR is virtual reality and what live video eventually is going to evolve into social VR. Um, which is partly what Mark Zuckerberg, uh, displayed in Oculus three.
Speaker 2 14:52 So you might want to definitely share that with your students cause that demo is truly fantastic of what kind of a little bit of what the future holds in the live video space. What Kathy, I think a better idea than that is we'd love to have you back. I want to talk about trends the very last week of this class and we'll get really into more detail about virtual reality and some tips and how it's going to be integrated into social. Can you come back and join us in a couple of weeks? Would love to, you know, I'm always here to, to share the knowledge. Okay, great. We'll try to set that up. Um, any last pieces of advice when it comes to live streaming video? Maybe equipment tips, wood future's pretty managers. Just a couple of quick actionable tips. Yeah, I mean try test it out.
Speaker 2 15:33 Get, I mean, there are simple things. You don't have to spend a little gazillion amount of money. This is like a little tripod. It's like $19. Um, you know, just have fun with it. Learn, learn how to do it and just go live. Really. I think that that's my thing. Go live and in. Yeah. And what's out for what's coming because VRA and NAR are going to have a huge impact on my video. Okay, great. Well. Kathy, thank you so much for joining us. We will hopefully get together with you in a couple of weeks and I will check in with you then. All right. Thank you.
Speaker 1 16:06 Thank you for listening to this episode of social PR secrets. If you like what you heard, check out the book on Amazon or follow our
[email protected] this episode was sponsored by the buyer group, a social PR agency, striving to keep our balance in the digital world, practicing public relations, social media, and search marketing while occasionally drinking a glass of wine or two for the best creativity and results. Thank you all for tuning in. If you would like to get a free chapter of social PR secrets, go to social PR secrets.com/free.
