Getting Ready For the Video Action Plan course
What you need to succeed
You probably already have everything you need to successfully plan and deliver your next live video. But let’s just double check to be sure.
Video Camera
You don’t need anything fancy. Your usual webcam or smartphone is all you need. If you’re using your smartphone, I recommend having some sort of tripod to hold the camera steady while you record.
Microphone
A microphone is not essential but it will improve the quality of your recordings. If you don’t currently have a microphone please don’t let that stop you from taking action! Go through the course, complete all the steps, including going live, and put purchasing a microphone on your “to-do” list when you’re able.
Lighting
Good lighting helps make your videos look polished and professional. But unless you’re filming at night or in a windowless room you don’t need to spend money on lights.
A Social Media Platform
Decide where you’re going to go live. I suspect it will be one of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube. If you’re a vetran live streamer, feel free to go live on multiple platforms. If you’re just getting started, pick the place where you’re most active. You can always add additional locations later.
Note: If you’re planning on going live on LinkedIn you’ll need to use streaming software like StreamYard. For the other platforms you can just go live using the social media app. On Facebook you currently need to use your phone to go live unless you’re using software.
Streaming Software (Optional)
You don’t need streaming software to get started with live videos but there are some great reasons why it’s useful.
- You get higher quality video when you’re done your livestream which means you can more easily repurpose your videos. However, repurposing videos is an advanced strategy so if you’re feeling overwhelmed, leave this one for later.
- You can stream to LinkedIn. I don’t know why LinkedIn chose this route but you must use software to livestream to LinkedIn. You can’t do it from the LinkedIn app. But don’t worry, most streaming software has a free version.
- You can stream to more than one place. You’ll need the paid version to do this but it’s a great way to instantly show up in multiple places at once.
There are lots of streaming software you can use to go live on social media. I use StreamYard and recommend it to my students because:
- It’s easy to use and easy to connect to all your social profiles
- The free version works very well. However the paid version lets you stream to multiple social media profiles at the same time, it gives you full HD recordings, lets you stream to Facebook groups, gives you more cloud storage for recordings.
- If you’re having guests on your livestream it’s easy for them to use and they don’t need to create an account.
- You can get transcripts of your videos which is helpful for turning your videos into blog posts or emails.
ChatGPT (Optional)
While you don’t need to use ChatGPT to take part in Video Action Plan but it will make things like creating titles, writing descriptions and crafting emails to get people to view your live video easier and faster. It can also take the transcript of your videos and quickly turn them into blog posts, emails or other content. And because it’s starting with your own words, it sounds like you, only slightly better.
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