Social media is a fast-paced ever-changing medium. It’s evolving daily and to capitalize on it, you have to be on the cutting edge of it. Do you remember when Facebook really got going? If you added a picture, it meant that your audience of potential viewers of that post was bigger than if you didn’t have a picture. Next was video. If you posted a video, Facebook algorithms let more people see that post than one without a video.

Right now, the hot trend is live streaming. It started with Periscope on Twitter but Facebook dove in and really stole the market away with Facebook Live. If you aren’t live streaming on Facebook, you are missing the proverbial “marketing boat.” Facebook Live is “it” right now. If you are using this feature on Facebook, it is getting to a much larger audience than just a photo post. I can hear the collective sigh. I know, you don’t like being on video. Don’t panic, you can start out by having the camera face away from you and show something about yourself or your business.

Let’s say you are a real estate agent, go to your favorite pizzeria or the dog park in your community and share it with your audience. Tell them why you love this particular venue. What makes it special. How it is a treasure in the community. You are sharing valuable information about the community without selling per se. But the more you do this, the more you are building trust with people and when it does come to buy or sell, they’ll remember that you really know the ins and outs of the community and they might want to work with you.

What live streaming does is that it allows you to show your authentic self. People get to know the person they see in their feed and hopefully that translates to knowing, trusting, and eventually buying from you. When you do turn the camera on yourself, you don’t have to be in front of a professional studio setting. Make it real. Show people the real you at work or doing something you love to do. Let them see the authentic you, not something staged. Don’t worry so much about how you look, it’s more about what you’re saying or sharing. People want to get to know YOU! And the best part of all, live streaming is free!

Remember that you can take your live stream and once it’s recorded, load it up on your YouTube channel as well to get double bang/”Google juice” for your buck. If the content is something pertinent that could be translated into a blog post, take the video and have it transcribed (rev.com is $1/minute) and use the video with transcription as a blog post. That one Facebook Live becomes at least three content sources for you. You can also take snippets and quotes out and use them on Facebook and Twitter as well as individual posts.

I’m not sure how long live streaming will be “hot,” but for now, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. You can’t afford to miss out and I guarantee that one of your competitors is or will be doing Facebook Live and they will beat you to the punch. Embrace technology and what it can do for your business and get those cameras out and start recording live! To learn more about how to use social media and DIY-PR to massively grow your exposure, visit us at www.SocialMediaandPR.com and if you happen to be a Realtor, check out www.RealtorsProfit.com.

To Your PR Success!