Your Job Security Is Creating Work For Yourself
By Cheval John
When ESPN laid off 100 on-air talent and journalist a couple days ago, people had to wonder if there are safe in their work.
One could argue ESPN is doing what any business needs to do in order to save their network.
Which ever side you choose, one thing is certain: no one is safe at their work anymore.
This is a wake up call to people that they need to build their network and communities on social media.
The ones who’s still employed with ESPN, are under tremendous pressure to raise the bar in their programming in order to help the network get back their subscribers.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ESPN, John Skipper, understands they must focus their efforts on digital because most of the audience are consuming shows, news, sporting events and entertainment on mobile devices.
“Our objective in all we do is to best serve fans and their changing consumption habits while still maintaining an unparalleled and diverse talent roster that resonates with fans across all our platforms, Skipper said in a statement. “We will continue to foster creativity and investment in the products and resources necessary to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.”
So how can ESPN overcome their disastrous loss of subscribers in order to restore their status as the “worldwide leader in sports?”
1. They need to listen to what their audience wants
Most of the audience wants sports reporting and less noise.
2. They need to return to their roots of what made them a unique brand.
When they started out in 1979, ESPN showed sports programming that led to them being known as the worldwide leader in sports.
Now most of the shows are all talk radio and debate shows that is only fueling the noise.
3. They need to be more innovative.
As I mentioned before, most consumers are now watching their news and sports on mobile devices.
They are also watching shows on YouTube and Facebook Live that are interested to them.
So ESPN can do this one thing below:
Have a once a week question and answer on Facebook Live with their CEO interacting with their fans
This will encourage their employees to do the same.
I mean, the employees are the ones who are replaceable in the first place.
So if they are allowed to build their personal brand, they will be prepared whenever they receive the notice of losing their work.
We shall see if ESPN can reinvent themselves and rise from the ashes in the near future.
As for everyone else that is reading this post, your job security is creating work for yourself as an entrepreneur.
Quality Is Much Better Than Quantity
By Cheval John
You know that you are great at a skill that can help your industry(social media, business, etc.) to thrive.
You put on your website of the skills and services you offer to gain potential customers.
Though you promote yourself until you turn blue, your hear crickets.
The prospective customers are hesistant to buy from you because they probably were tricked into buying from someone else with their self-promotion.
If you have a third party endorsement, there is a better chance of making a sale.
The third party endorsement is much more powerful because the message of your greatness is being told by someone else.
Third party endorsements can come from national or regional (traditional) media organizations in the form of television, radio or newspapers.
If you get in front of a national or regional media, you have achieved your ultimate endorsement of your business.
That is why sports professionals are getting a boat load of money to compete in their respective leagues because they are being covered on a daily basis by national, international or regional media.
And some collegiate athletes are getting their training in university sports because professional leagues are watching them compete on major media outlets.
In this day and age, everyone are considered media due to blogs (about 450 million), podcasts (250,000), live streaming shows on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, etc.
And each blogger, podcaster or live streamer will probably have some sort of lists of the top influencers in social media, technology, or even the best interior designer.
I definitely have put together lists here regarding to social media on many occasions.
Which leads me to chat about the recent blog post by Brand 24 on their “Top 100 Social Media Influencers”
That list featured the well known influencers in social media.
I believed that they earned the recognition for their hard work in social media.
However, one of the influencers on that list said “they” believed the influencers ahead of them had cheated to get there.
Cheating means buying followers.
I know for a fact that the majority of the people who are on the Brand 24 list have earned that recognition because I have seen them put in the hard work with sharing valuable content and interacting with their audience on a daily basis.
So I was thinking I should create my own list of those influencers who have earned their audience the correct way.
I was convinced by friends on social media that it would be a waste of time.
So I was going to write a post for today related to social media.
Until I saw an excellent article by Dr. Karen Freberg regarding Brand 24’s list.
Then on the first day of spring, the topic of true influencers came up in a meeting with a fellow entrepreneur at Toutsuite that made me realized I had to address this topic.
So I will tell you about what I believe about true influencers.
-People who buy followers don’t deserve to be regarded as authorities in any industry because it shows that they don’t truly understand the meaning of social media.
-Everyone are influencers whether they have 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 10,000 or even 20,000 followers because they have an active audience.
To think more about it, an engaged audience is much better than a casual audience with millions of followers.
So if you cheating your way to gaining influence by buying followers, I would warn you that you are deceiving the masses and even robbing the brands of their money due to them wanting to work with you.
They will find out on their own that you are using deception to make a living and will warn their colleagues to stay away from you.
The true influencers who have put in the hard work consistently and correctly to build a loyal audience will overtime be rewarded for life.
In fact, they have already achieved their reward because they are doing the work they love and also understand that quality is much better than quantity.
Have anything to add to this blog post? You can leave your comment below
The Art of Converting Live Stream Shows To A Podcast
By Cheval John
You might be thinking about how you can convert your live stream shows to a podcast format.
Before I get into the step-by-step guide, here are some observations as to converting a show to a podcast.
Remember when I mentioned about blab in my last post?
Blab had the technology to save your live streams in both audio and video format if the show was recorded.
They made it easy for anyone to become a podcaster.
Granted, you might have to edit some of the shows due to their instability because most of the time, some type of technological glitch happened that would interrupt your show.
Once Blab officially went away, platforms like BeLive.tv, Crowdcast and Blue Jeans Network filled the vacuum that was left.
It seemed like there was not a way to convert your live stream shows from the above platforms to a podcast.
And you might be wondering why should I convert my show into a podcast if live video is the wave of the future?
Because podcasts are still important due to the “lack of competition.”
Though YouTube is the second largest website in the world according to Alexa, it is very difficult to stand out from the competition due to the fact that they is a channel for every single topic from how to build an online business to how to find the correct customers for your business.
Podcasts have a much smaller niche because not many people are hosting a podcast.
According to Edison Research, 57 million Americans listens to a podcast each month.
And the competition is much easier due to the fact that the majority of podcasts are not well done.
If you are still not convinced about converting your live stream shows to a podcast, here are some examples of major media outlets who are converting their television programming into a podcast:
First Take is a morning sports debate show that airs weekday mornings on ESPN.
Once they are finished with their live show, the person in charge of the engineering for the network converts it into a podcast for the people who could not watch the show on television.
Mike and Mike is a weekly morning show that is aired on ESPN 2 and ESPN Radio.
The engineers then convert segments of the show to a podcast format so that the fans can listen at their own time.
Update: The show ended their 18 year run in November
Around The Horn airs weekday afternoons on ESPN. They too have their show as a podcast.
Now that you have seen some examples of major media converting their shows to a podcast, you might be thinking that they have the money and the people to convert their shows to a podcast.
The good news is that you don’t need a large budget to repurpose your live stream shows to a podcast.
So you might be wondering, “How can I convert my live stream shows to a podcast if the live streaming platforms only have the technology to save your shows as a video format?”
I will show you how people like Vicky Lashenko, who host her Mompreneur Show on Facebook Live every Monday at 1 p.m. eastern, convert their shows into a podcast.
I use the YouTube To MP3 Converter to turn this episode of What’s The Word? featuring Jessica Rhodes of Interview Connections, which was recorded on Blue Jeans Network and simulcast on Facebook Live, to a podcast
Update: That platform is no longer in service and I discovered the mp3converter.net for converting youtube videos to podcast format
First, I download the recording from Blue Jeans Network to my folder
Then, I upload the video to my YouTube channel
Once the video is done processing, I hit publish to make the video public and then copy it to the youtube to mp3 converter
You want to make sure that you don’t have the video set to private because the conversion to mp3 will not happen.
Once the conversion is complete, you can then upload your mp3 version of the show to your podcast feed, which for me is blogtalkradio.
After that, your podcast is ready to air at the scheduled time.
On a side note, you can change the settings back to private to make edits to turn your video to a snippet that will lead your audience to listen to the entire episode of your show and at the same time, build your YouTube Channel.
Podcast Version of What’s The Word?
In conclusion, you have seen how to convert your live stream show to a podcast.
If you still believe that your content is only suited for one platform like live video, then you are missing an opportunity to diversify your knowledge on different media platforms while building your business.
You can leave your comments below if you agree or disagree with the article above.
Pros and Cons of BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network
By Cheval John
It is safe to say that live video is the way most businesses and sports organizations will use to interact with future customers.
According to a report by Cision, 80% of all internet activity will have a video component to it by 2020.
That means that if you are not using video for your business, you will be left in the dust by your competition.
And live streaming is leading the way with live video.
Platforms like Meerkat and Periscope (both owned by Twitter) and Blab has brought the live streaming revolution to our daily lives.
When Facebook, the world largest social media platform with over 1 billion users, entered the live streaming game last year with Facebook Live, it created challenges for these platforms.
As an indirect result, Twitter shut down Meerkat and is in the process of integrating Periscope to their social media platform.
The owners of Blab shut down their platform abruptly in the summer time though they had a substantial user base.
It is apparent that Facebook Live is dominating live stream and is looking to continue it innovation to keep their user base on their platform.
As a result, live streaming platforms are being very creative in complimenting Facebook Live.
The platforms which are integrating their software with Facebook Live are Huzza.io, BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network
Huzza.io was founded in April 2015 as a way for musicians to get their music out to a niche audience.
Overtime, they expanded their services for live streamers and podcasters.
They were able to integrate their platform to Facebook Live which was a great option for people who wanted to use Facebook Live from their computers.
In February of this year, they sold their company to KickStarter.com and the platform will be shut down on March 1st.
I will add a note that the people from Huzza.io was much more professional in letting their users know that they will not be around anymore because it will give their users time to upload all of their live video recordings to YouTube.
The team from Huzza.io also allowed us to look for alternative live streaming platforms to continue creating our live video broadcasts.
Now, I will focus more on the pros and cons of BeLive.TV and Blue Jeans Network as I have tried both of the live streaming platforms.
Pros of BeLive.TV
The platform is free to use
Your live stream shows goes straight to your facebook page
You can record your show at a certain time
You can do a one on one interview with a guest if you have an interview type of show
The comments from Facebook will appear on their platform
Cons of BeLive.TV:
The platform does not have a way to download a stand alone video
Your live stream will only be for facebook live
If you want to put your video on other platforms like YouTube, it will be impossible due to the fact that Facebook and YouTube are competitors
They are currently in beta
Update: BeLive.Tv is now giving a 14-day free trial of their platform. Afterwards, you will have to pay a yearly subscription of:
$144 for Lite
$240 for Standard
Pros of Blue Jeans Network:
You can post your live show on different social media platforms in addition to Facebook Live
You can record at a certain time
Once the recording is over, you can still continue your Facebook Live stream if you want to continue the conversation with your audience
You can upload the stand alone video of your live stream to YouTube
You can also convert your livestream shows into a podcast
Cons of Blue Jeans Network:
The platform is not free to use
Depending on the price selections, you will be allowed to have from 25 to about 500 people in one room for your shows
The comments from Facebook will not appear on their platform
Update: The leadership team from Blue Jeans Network recently dropped the starting price to $12.49 a month which includes allow anyone to simulcast to Facebook Live. Now the meeting room can hold up to 50 people for the standard “me” option.
Live streaming is here for a very long time and Facebook will continue to be dominant in that space.
If you are only focusing on growing your Facebook Page and don’t have the budget to invest in a live streaming platform, BeLive.TV is the choice for you.
However, if you are looking to diversify your social media presence with live video, then Blue Jeans Network will fit your business.
For me, Blue Jeans Network is the platform of choice because of the features that it has to simulcast on Facebook Live and turn them into podcasts.
In a future post, I will share with you on how you can convert your live streaming shows to a podcast format.
Did I miss any live streaming platforms that integrates with Facebook Live? What are your thoughts about live streaming?
You can leave your comments below.
What Is Stopping You From Live Streaming?
By Cheval John
May 10th, 2017
Social media is a mechanism for business owners and companies to connect with their potential audience.
Many see it as a platform for free advertising.
So they self-promote their events or services hoping people will buy from them.
While others place all of their focus on building their business on the different social media platforms.
They don’t understand that the different social media platforms belongs to the owners who created them.
When they put all of their eggs in one basket (in this case, a social media platform), they end up losing their client base in the long run.
That’s why many scrambled to regain their audience when vine shutdown earlier this year.
Another example is when Facebook changed their algorithms which decreased the organic views of each post a couple of years ago.
Business owners now have to pay for facebook ads in order to regain the audience and make money.
I am not an expert on boosted posts on facebook, which I did try out their ads on my business page and got some likes from people I did not know pertaining to my previous articles here.
What I do know is that live streaming is an important avenue for businesses to get their message out to a prospective customer.
Facebook entered the live streaming matchup in 2015 when they allowed celebrities and public figures access to this new video on demand as a test run to see if live streaming would work for them.
When they saw the positive results of live streaming, they decided to allow everyone to have access to facebook live in early 2016.
YouTube was ahead of the video revolution when the platform was created in 2005.
The platform allowed anyone to upload videos of their cats surfing, cover songs of famous artists, even their reaction to a home run at a baseball matchup, or highlights from a collegiate softball game.
YouTube decided to enter the live stream market between 2015 and 2017 and allow anyone to showcase a news program or sporting events that is occurring.
I found out about the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) when they live streamed the playoffs on their YouTube channel.
The CWHL has been around for 10 years and it took a live streaming show to discover talented women who are professional hockey players.
You might be wondering which one of the platforms is right for you if you are considering live streaming for business.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing between Facebook Live and YouTube
Facebook:
This platform has 1.9 billion users
You can broadcast your live streams to your friends, family, group page and fans who liked your business page, respectively
The live videos is very personable
You can live stream from your mobile phones
A person can now broadcast their live streams from their own computer
YouTube:
The social media service has over a 1 billion users
It is the largest video website in the world
Google, the world largest search engine website, owns YouTube
You can become an “expert” over time with educational videos which solves a pain point for your audience
So you have seen the difference between Facebook Live and YouTube.
Both facebook and youtube are working on allowing two or more people to live stream at the same time.
Here are some video platforms that will allow multiple people to simulcast to facebook live or youtube from your computer
Blue Jeans Network:
Their on social platform allows you to simulcast to facebook live
Zoom:
Allows you to simulcast to either Facebook Live or YouTube.
A side note: You would have to buy their Pro plan at $14.99 a month before you can upgrade to the webinar platform for $40 more.
Crowdcast.io
This live video service recently launched the multi-stream software that allows you to simulcast to either facebook live, youtube or periscope.
You would have to put in the API key in order to simulcast to either platforms
Wirecast
This is a live streaming software of telestream which allows you to simulcast to facebook live, periscope and even youtube
Now you have seen the options which can help you to live stream for your business.
The only question is:
“What is stopping you from live streaming?”
You can leave your comment below.
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