[PODCAST] Build Trust And Credibility While Livestreaming

People do business with people they like, trust and find credible. In the digital world we live in today, building trust and credibility can be a challenge. When you meet people IRL they can look in your eyes, see your body language and hear your voice. The closest we get to this online is through video. And, through the power of live video, we get the opportunity to talk with any number of people, all in one place. In this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast, Ross Brand returns to chat about using livestreaming to build trust and credibility.

Livestreaming is the internet’s gift to every business owner, solopreneur, entrepreneur, and creative professional. These days, you can directly interact with your audience via a livestream and reap similar benefits of an interaction in person. It's an unbeatable venue to show why people should do business with you.

Endless Opportunities In Livestreaming

Ross Brand (the “Mayor of Livestream” is the prolific founder of Livestream Universe and a recognized authority in everything livestreaming. He believes, while social media offers a multitude of platforms to get out your message, not everyone is cut out for every one of them (nor do they have to be). But with livestreaming, almost anybody who is passionate about the service or product they provide, can produce their very own livestreams. Ross observes that “If you have the aptitude for doing this and are quite effective at it, it's one to look into because the cost is low and the reward is quite high.” You can even start with your smartphone and you’re good to go.

More importantly, livestreaming has endless opportunities for you when you do it right. In a single episode, for instance, you can talk about and share what you know. You can also interact in the chat. Your audience gets to ask you questions and you can respond to these questions to exhibit your expertise and establish rapport with them at the same time. You can even provide customer service by answering questions related to your product or service.

You become a thought leader and the go-to person who becomes top-of-mind when they need your product or services later. People are also apt to recommend you to others after they've seen you livestream. Livestreaming gives people a chance to see who you are and how you react in real time. They see your humanity and how you deal with people. All this gives your buyer persona a good reason to do business with you.

Walk The Walk

Whether it's livestreaming or it's real life, people will trust you based on your ability to mean what you say, practice what you preach, and keep your promises. As such, do not make your livestream a show to lure people into a bait and switch, then leave them hanging after they’ve shown you some support. Ross says, “The place where people go wrong with it is when people are marketing and they make promises they can’t keep.” Of course, you want to attract people but attracting by making promises you can’t deliver is bound to end in a disaster.

Yes, you want to attract people, but attract them because you are interested in building a long-term relationship with them in the name of business. You may quickly get their attention when you promise to do something but you will lose them twice as fast when they find out you didn’t really mean it. Instead, Ross suggests you “Offer what you can deliver on.” Nothing more and nothing less.

If you do promise something, make sure you are able to walk the walk. In the same manner, when you tell people you will have a live broadcast on certain days and at certain times of the week, you have to do everything you can to ensure you will be there to do the show. Not showing up when you say you will hurts your credibility. Even when you have technical issues, show up and tell your audience what’s happening. Your honesty will be appreciated. Ross says, “Doing it with second-rate technology is better than not doing it all.”

Be sure to listen to this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast to get the scoop on LinkedIn! And, if you like it, leave a rating and a review!

Please note: The Friedman Group is an inbound marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado, and we work with professionals and business owners across the U.S. Our digital marketing services include: inbound marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and digital marketing strategy and implementation.