I’m gonna tell you why as a creator you need to be using Instagram live to build your community. And How to actually go live for the greatest reach. Build your knowledge, build your relationships and we’re gonna figure all this out with some help from a couple of my creator friends.
Youtuber, video editor, photographer and content creator Jay Lippman, Jay – ‘basically if its got something to do with the camera or the things that come out of a camera that’s me’. Jay Lippman: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCarj5Fzq5drmiRiUwxPm8Uw
As well as musician, illustration artist, photographer, Youtuber Frank Garcia aka Artemorbid, Frank – ‘This is cool, this is a new format’ Frank Garcia: https://www.youtube.com/user/artemorbid
I’ve branched off on a mini obsession with the idea of Instagram live. Which has coincided with me reading ‘real artists don’t starve’ by Jeff Goins. Where he states thriving artists; practice in public, have mentors and they don’t create alone.
Thriving artists find communities of like minded creators to support and collaborate with. But how do I find my tribe when I’m living in Nairne, South Australia. I can’t exactly do meetups, collabs or have a coffee, but with Instagram live I can… kind of… virtual, but are lives really a good way of find your people?
Jay – ‘I get more of a feeling that I am helping people from the live streams. When we are actually going back and forth and talking, than I do in even my most successful video, which at the moment is approaching 9000 views. When i come off an hour long livestream with 14 people I have more of a sense of accomplishment with that.’
But is it the best use of my time? Because I’m trying to create kids books, as well as this whole document my career pivot journey thing.
I’m worried about making content for content sake, Gary Vee says ‘Document, Don’t Create’, but I think I’ve gotten what he’s saying all twisted. Because I’m literally not creating anything, and my kids books are sitting idle. I need a way of mooshing my documenting and creating together, so my creative work doesn’t get left behind.
Frank – ‘Here’s an idea for you, just brainstorming here. Is to find other Instagram people that are writing children’s books and then have them come on your live and interview them, and ask them questions about their books and then they can talk about your book as well.’
This is so cool because with the Instagram live streaming format, unlike Youtube. Instagram notifies the followers of both the people on that chat that they’re live. So we now have a much greater audience of all their people and all my people… Everybody wins!
Going live on Instagram.
- First you open the Instagram app… but before that, don’t forget to put your phone into do not disturb mode. Then make sure you have a good cellular or preferably a wifi connection.
- Hit the camera in the top left of the screen.
- Then you are on your camera screen. Scroll left on the bottom menu to Live.
- On the live screen you can ask your viewers a question. See currently active followers, Front or rear facing camera and choose from a selection of live filters
- Once you hit the go live button, it’ll check for a connection and you’ll sit there nervously waiting and then – Bang – you are now live.
- From the live screen you’ll notice an icon with two faces. Tap on that if you want to request a viewer to join.
There’s a few things which are a massive pain with Instagram Live tho. Especially if you want to repurpose your live streams and chats for other content. I think the first thing is that it’s s unreliable. I’ve had a live chat with really bad echo, I’ve had one fail to share out to my stories. And I think there’s been audio lag on almost every Live that I have done. But the biggest drawback for me is there’s no feature to save a live chat, only a solo broadcast. So if you want to want to use your lives for content you need to do a screen recording when you playback the live. Despite all of these issues tho I still think the positives outweigh the negatives.
Jay – ‘I love Instagrams feature of being able to jump on and talk face to face. I think livestreams on Youtube are good with the right technology you can do the whole face to face thing as well but… I’m actually liking this, I’m really liking this the intimate face to face thing.’
Surprisingly looking along my Instagram stories feed, where shared Instagram lives pop up I don’t see hardly anyone doing live at all… not many.
Frank – ‘That’s actually good for you, jumping on doing it right away because I think that Instagram promotes this more. Because they see it as we have this feature. Taking advantage of this is a really cool thing.’
Frank – ‘I can see trixierixy and missmetalnix88 are in the house, hello guys. That’s another thing I do, i’m very interactive with the chat ‘Wilderstead says – very cool content creators, insider tips and tricks happening’ yeah awesome! So that’s what I Like to do with my chats, if you watch my streams on Wednesday Im very interactive with the people and the chat.’
That’s a great tip, I know when I jump on a livestream that it makes me feel good when you say hi.
Frank – ‘Absolutely.’
So if you haven’t gone live but are thinking about it what are the main things to remember? The things to help get you past that initial hurdle. I know for me it’s having a loose plan of what you’re gonna talk about, so you’re set even if no one rocks up. And having a couple of bullet points to talk around.
Jay: ‘I think my biggest piece of advice is to honestly do exactly what you’re doing, go live a whole bunch so you can get more and more comfortable doing it. Because the faster you can get comfortable doing it, the faster you can be your authentic self and really start pulling people in and building that community’.
Totally and I’d really love to see more creators jumping on live and chatting with their fellow creators that they have been talking to for years in the comments, to actually talk face to face. Because I’d be really interested in listening in on and joining those conversations. I think that’s what makes Instagram Live so valuable.
Merchandise
Latest T-Shirt Art Featured in the vlog (Order on Redbubble)
Dog Pong – https://tinyurl.com/yybzmo6v
Authors & Books Mentioned
Jeff Goins
Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age: https://amzn.to/2JeVagt
The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do https://amzn.to/2JfHJNi
Gary Vee
Crushing It https://amzn.to/2J28juf
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
https://amzn.to/2IZwQ2T
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Join in on the Live creator chat’s on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/andycmarshall/
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Watch the Vlog of the Blog on YouTube : https://tinyurl.com/yc8hhkgy
Do you go live? What are your thoughts on using Instagram live to build your community. I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Kids Book Illustrator Andy C Marshall 