I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie Liu on the Live Ecommerce Podcast and talk livestreaming best practices. She is a live video strategist and founder of Light Camera Live. Stephanie shared some fantastic insights into live streaming and liveshopping best practices that I wanted to summarize for anyone interested in getting started with live video & video commerce.
Stephanie’s Background
Stephanie has an extensive background in digital marketing and social commerce, having worked at agencies managing campaigns for big brands like Nike and Sephora. After having a daughter, she decided to start her own business focused on video and live streaming.
Stephanie started using live video to showcase her expertise and connect with potential clients. Her audience became interested in the production side too – what tools she was using, her lighting setup, etc. This evolved into product unboxings and reviews, which was Stephanie’s first foray into video commerce.
Tips for a Great Livestreaming Show
Some key takeaways from Stephanie on producing engaging live video commerce content:
Best Practice #1:
Hook the audience in the first 3 seconds – Stephanie emphasized the importance of an attention-grabbing opening: “The hook for me is really, how do you get someone to stop the scroll? And for me, it’s usually like a question or you’re taking a bold stance.” She suggested using visual hooks like changing up your positioning in the frame as well as auditory hooks like asking a compelling question or making a bold statement.
Best Practice #2:
Prepare a “run of show” document – Stephanie creates a detailed plan for each show to keep things running smoothly: “I have written down all my different hooks. I created something called the video script maker. So I just click a button and it auto generates a run of show for me with the hook, the intro, the transitions from one segment of the show to the other.” See our recent post on blueprint.
Best Practice #3:
Get creative with hooks – In Stephanie’s words: “Don’t limit yourself to just verbal hooks or what’s in your background. There’s so much fun. That’s Hey, for the listeners to have listened to us all the way through those episodes. This is the first time someone is saying that this is actually gold. I hope you. Pick that up. The idea of like using your space as well to move and you know, like actually the, the screen doesn’t, you don’t have to be static on the screen.”
Best Practice #4:
Focus on connection over perfection – When working with brands new to live video, Stephanie emphasizes engagement over polish: “It’s not about perfection. It’s about connection. You need someone who’s going to be dynamic and who’s going to have fun with this, who can carry on a run of show.”
Best Practice #5:
Repurpose content extensively – In Stephanie’s words: “I want digital confetti. I want it to be where people like, Oh my God, where is she? Where is she from? She’s everywhere. I want people to think that because it creates that fear of missing out.” Her advice is to turn each live show into as many pieces of repurposed content as possible.
Key Takeaway
My biggest takeaway from chatting with Stephanie was just how much opportunity there is to repurpose live video content. A single 45-minute show can easily generate 94+ pieces of “digital confetti” to sprinkle across your marketing channels if you plan it right.
I highly recommend listening to the full episode for more of Stephanie’s tips! You can find Stephanie on Instagram @heystephanielive.
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