Using Facebook Live to Attract New Clients with Cindy Gersch

Our latest BizSugar Mastermind Challenge for March is a “Go Live! Challenge“. The entire month of March we will be covering ways to use video to go live online.

We’ve asked Cindy Gersch to share what she knows about Going Live on Facebook: How and Why.

Who is Cindy Gersch?

We are pleased to have 25-year, award-winning marketing professional and speaker Cindy Gersch. She was originally a reporter for CBS before switching to marketing.

When Cindy was unexpectedly laid off, she founded NEU Marketing Group. She also authored the book Following My Dreams Fighting Through a Chronic Disease.

She uses Facebook Live to create guides for her group. And keeps the members updated about changes using Facebook Live. Come ask Cindy all your questions about getting the most out of going live on Facebook.

Watch the replay video below and see some highlights from the video and the TipTalk chat. You do have to join the Mastermind to see or participate in our chats.

Video Highlights:

• Facebook Live videos get 10x more comments
• How to handle trolls or hateful people on your Live
• Doggies photobomb the video
• Streaming apps and getting around limitations

Jocelyn from J&J Virtual Marketing asked several excellent questions including:

• What if you do a Facebook Live and you get crickets?
• How do you get rid of the jitters?

For answers to this and much more, watch the video and check out the text chat.

Why Watch the Video?

Just as the Webinar ended, we received this wonderful email from Ms. Joanna Black from CartyHop®

I enjoyed the Webinar today about Facebook lives. I liked the questions and engagement you had with the speaker afterwards too.

A lot of Netpreneurs on Facebook are not using this free method of lead generation. Like me, they are shy. I posted a recent video on my newsfeed but not live yet. And I feel more confident to do a live video and announce it.

I got good information today!

Thanks for sharing the link to the replays as I have missed out on some good webinars already. I may not be able to attend live Wednesdays at 11:00 AM MST so it’s good to know I can watch a replay.

Thank you for your valuable service to others! 😀

Facebook Live Tips for Before You Go Live

 

Highlights from our Facebook Live TipTalk Chat

This is just a tiny sampling of 115+ tips, questions and answered shared during this TipTalk chat. And it is still open for additional questions and discussion. Just join our Mastermind Community to read or participate.

Poulomi Basu from We Ignite Growth asked:

“Is Facebook Live really effective, still? Or is the whole social channel lagging behind a bit?”

Cindy replied:

“FB Live is still effective. I am a HUGE stats person and you cannot argue with it’s stats. in 2022, FB was still the #1 social platform worldwide. Facebook had 2.9 B daily users. YouTube was next with 2.2B.”

Ivana Taylor, Founder of DIYMarketers shared:

“I don’t go live because what makes a live “great” is the engagement with a live audience. So, you’d need to have a large enough audience that at least 10 people show up on the live so you can have engagement with less than a handful of people.

I think you have to “teach” people to be at your lives. For example, I run a twitter chat and it’s not fun if you don’t have at least 10 people.

Am I wrong? I’d love to hear more about how to build an audience and make sure you get enough people there to engage with.”

Cindy replied:

You’re right. You should definitely have people in your live to make it “fun” and worthwhile. But, sometimes that just doesn’t happen, and the “show must go on” so what do you do? You act as if an audience is still there.

Ask the questions you had prepared ahead of time because more than likely, people who watch afterward will have those same questions and want answers.

But how can you get people to your lives? PROMOTING your Live is THE BEST way to do it. So promote as much as you can, in as many places as you can. Make the description SUPER engaging and appealing.

Leave it as an open-ended description, like with a question. Something like…How did I Grow my FB group to 20,000 members in six months? Join me on my Live this Thursday at 3 PM EDT and find out. Something like that.

Another thing that works, BUT I don’t do A LOT of is giveaways. People LOVE free stuff. So offer a free whitepaper, or discount to your services if they show up. It doesn’t even have to cost you anything. You could though also offer a $5 gift card or something cheap as well if you do want to almost guarantee you’ll draw people in.

OK What exactly is a FB Live? Exactly what it sounds like. You go Live on your FB Page to promote your business, teach something, sell something, share something, etc.

Most FB Lives should be no less than 15 minutes and no more than 1 hour, (of course that is also contingent on YOU and your business) FB Live is a free, interactive way to communicate with your clients and could-be clients and is another way to market your business.

What is Supporting Small and Local Businesses Everywhere?

Facebook is where Cindy focuses on sharing what she has learned with small businesses. She runs:

• The Facebook page Supporting Small and Local Businesses Everywhere.
• And is the driving force behind the Supporting Small and Local Businesses Everywhere! Facebook group.

I’m active in Cindy’s Facebook groups. And she does share more tips in her Facebook groups.

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We don’t want you to miss your opportunity to ask questions!

Visit our BizSugar YouTube channel for the videos of Webinars. It includes links to past SmallBizFluence events, too. Don’t miss the excellent resources shared there!