2024's Top 7 Digital Marketing and Live Streaming Trends with Ross Brand

In this episode of The Social Media Takeaway, I am joined by Ross Brand, Author of 100 Livestreaming & Digital Media Predictions Volume 4.   We chat about the top 7 digital marketing themes for 2024 as predicted by the 113 contributors to his new book:

1.  The Power of Live Streaming for Business Growth: Ross shares his journey from broadcasting to live streaming, highlighting how this medium can significantly expand your brand’s reach and create deeper connections with your audience.
2. AI in Content Creation: Discover how AI is revolutionizing content production and management, and learn to strike the perfect balance between automation and authenticity.
3. The Art of Content Repurposing: Ross reveals strategies for turning a single content piece into multiple formats across different platforms, ensuring a wider and more efficient reach.
4. Rise of Short-Form Content and Micro-Influencers: Understand the growing impact of short-form content like TikToks and Reels, and why partnering with micro-influencers can be a game-changer for your brand.
5. Building Community Over Followers: Learn why focusing on building a community around your brand can be more impactful than simply increasing follower count.
6. The Importance of Authenticity in Digital Marketing: Ross emphasizes the necessity of maintaining your unique voice in a digital world dominated by AI and automation.
7. Adapting to the Changing Digital Landscape: Gain insights into the importance of agility and flexibility in your digital marketing strategy to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital world.

I always love catching up with Ross.  This episode is packed full of practical advice, real-world examples, and actionable tips to help you navigate the complexities of digital marketing and live streaming. Whether you're a small business owner, a digital marketer, or just keen on staying ahead in the digital game, this episode is packed with valuable insights to elevate your digital marketing strategy in 2024.

And here's a link to where you can purchase, 100 Livestreaming & Digital Media Predictions Volume 4 - Buy it here   

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Transcript

 Hi everyone. You're very welcome to the show. So today I am absolutely honored and delighted to welcome my good friend, Ross Brand, to join me, um, on my first ever podcast show, Ross, you're so welcome to the show. Thank you, Louise. I am so honored to be your first guest. It's such a huge honor. Um, you have such a great presence on social media, so many fans and followers.

So, uh, it's a huge honor to be your, your, your first guest on the podcast and I wish you all the best with it. Oh, thanks so much, Ross. And we go back such a long way. Um, Ross interviewed me when I brought out my first book. I brought out my first book in 2017. So that's how long ago it was.  And as he shows the book. 

And I remember, I don't know where you were based at the time, Ross, but I think the interview was like 2 a. m. My time. Was it something like that? Yeah, I'm in the New York area in the United States. So it was, uh, I think it was an eight o'clock eight to nine o'clock show. My time.  Anyhow, it all worked out really well.

And we've been great friends ever since. And we bumped into each other a few years ago in the web summit as well. Do you remember that? Yeah. Yeah. That's where, um, you gave me a copy of the book and we did an interview and it was a lot of fun. It was a great event. It was a great event. It was a great, well, thank you.

Again, for again, for being the first guest on my podcast. So I'll just give everybody a little introduction to Ross so they know who he is, because I know who he is. Ross Brand is the connection between brands, early stage startups and customers through the power of live video. He served as an on air personality, brand ambassador and consultant for industry brands such as StreamYard, BeLive.

Live view and Wirecast. Ross was instrumental in the rapid growth and adoption of StreamYard through his shows and network of digital influencers. Switcher Studio selected him as one of the five live video experts to follow and Klout named him as the world's number one live streaming expert on social media.

Wow. Ross is the author and founder of the 100 Predictions franchise. His book series, 100 Live Streaming and Digital Media Predictions, reached number one in Amazon as a bestseller in six countries and has won 25  book awards. Wow, wow, wow. He is also featured  by NASDAQ TV, Forbes. On psychology today. That is some bio.

Wow. Well done. You're off. You're doing so well. Thank you. You read it beautifully. I could use that as my introduction.  Next time I'm on a show. I just play that and I don't have to, uh,  I don't have to run through it.  So thank you. No problem at all. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your journey?

Sure. So, um, when I was a youngster, uh, in my early to mid twenties, I got, I was writing for newspapers and, um, I thought, boy, it'd be a lot more fun to talk than to write. So I decided I wanted to get into radio and I ended up,  uh, spending the next 12 years as a sportscaster and, uh, anchor and reporter and, um, Even doing some play by play and so I did that for 12 years, uh, then I moved on to other things and in 2015 I stumbled into a platform called Blab that I had no idea what I was getting into.

And all of a sudden I, I looked around and it's like, I'm in talk radio heaven, but with webcams, and I totally just fell in love with broadcasting. And of course, this case it's online, but it, it felt a lot like.  The early days when I was doing radio on a college station and I could do what I wanted to rather than fit somebody else's format in their program and Um, I just was really enjoying watching all these different people doing their shows and talking about their businesses and giving advice and Coaching people, uh, and it was a lot of fun And I said I want to cover this like I I want live stream, you know I created live stream universe and the idea was I was going to shine a light on what other people Are doing and I did do that over the years and I feel I do that with the predictions and stuff But after after uh about a month, uh, or so I I was like, I gotta I gotta try hosting this Um, I wasn't gonna host but I was like, okay, I could justify hosting because it would promote the website  Okay, so then I started hosting.

Obviously, once I did that, it really took off. I fell in love with hosting again, and, um, I've done a few shows. I've done a few shows since then, and, uh, then we star I started The Predictions pretty soon after I I founded  Livestream Universe. It was a time where people were wondering, is this gonna last?

Is Facebook live? Going to kill blab and periscope. So there's a lot of talk about that. And I said, let's, I'm connecting with all these, these interesting people. Let's get their, their thoughts down and it'd be a good thing to discuss. And, um, I knew it was something that could grow, although between the first year and the second year, I was like, I'm never doing this again, but then I did.

And when the pandemic came along. Now all of a sudden I have people who are like, never had any interest in being on camera, on mic, on using any of these tools. Now the whole world was forced into using it, and that's when I thought,  what if I try putting this as a book, like Let's see, perhaps this can be helpful to people beyond the industry, people.

And, obviously, it, it took off and it, it did really well, and so it's, uh, we're, we're approaching the fourth one. You, as a contributor to all four books, I think you've been part of the predictions probably since, uh, 2018. Uh, if we connected in 2017, so that's, uh, that's a lot of years in a row that Um, you've been a huge part of it and we even have a quote from you that is in the front of the book, uh, that sort of sets the tone.

So, uh, can we, before we get talking about the book, can I just ask you, like, so you've been in the whole live streaming on social media since probably the beginning, right? Like how have you seen that evolve and what do you think are kind of the, you know, what can people expect from live streaming in the year to come? 

It's interesting, I, so I got in in 2015, so there'd be people who were doing it before me with Google Hangouts On Air and some of the other early, uh, technology. But when I first started, if it wasn't for a platform like Blab that made it easy to just press a button, your webcam goes on and you step in, basically The people who could do it were people who had the gear, and they had the tech knowledge, so a lot of people came from tech.

Um, once it became easy to do it, then social media people jumped in. Um, my differentiators,  I came from broadcasting. Um, a lot of people broadcasting. Uh, you know, they're kind of their egos very involved in having the call letters next to their names. So for them doing online stuff was sort of like the minor leagues, but I had been out of it for so long that I just approached it as a, as a new, a new industry, a new, a new thing.

Um, and  We're seeing now that there are celebrities and big media people who are doing video podcasts on YouTube and Have audiences and are making money beyond what they ever made  you know in network TV or cable TV and so forth and every celebrity has a podcast so  At the time I jumped in Some of my colleagues I'm sure from broadcasting probably looked at me like what is he doing on the internet? 

Now they're like god. I wish I could be doing that instead of you know Dancing for the man or whatever  But what's I think what's changed is Over the early years, these features were new, like when Facebook adopted it, and some of the other platforms, and they wanted to see what it was all about, they thought it could take off, and they shared your content to a lot of people.

You, if you went on Facebook and you were connected to people who were in social media and live streaming, it was like, ping, ping, ping, Luis just went live, Ross just went live, this, right? Now you go on Facebook and you don't get those notifications.  Um, even in my group, which is a group about live streaming, Um, the reach is not, like, not everybody gets notified if I were to go live in my group.

So, organic reach is much tougher to come by. Um, it, it, it requires Not only bringing your audience, but finding other ways to communicate with them to let them know what you're doing and, and, and really distributing, like you're distributing this as a podcast, you're distributing it as a video, you're going to share it in a newsletter, you have to have all those different pieces because you can't rely on the platforms anymore to just put your, your content in front of a massive network and then, um, Uh, by default a certain percentage show up and you've got a uh, you know a big live audience So I think that's the toughest thing right now is how how do you stand out?

How do you connect? Do you build community versus? You know the old way was sort of like I try and get a lot of people to watch And then when I realized there's a good size audience Then I think about let me start a facebook group or let me do a newsletter. Let me build now I think if i'm it when i'm advising somebody I say start community think about community before you do your first episode because um, it's better to have 10 engaged people hanging out in a community who, who might buy something, who support you, who want to communicate with you, who will communicate with each other than it is to have a thousand people who are stopping in and dropping out.

Um, but are really, you have no way to engage with them or, uh, bring them into the fold of what you're doing. So I think that's the biggest change. You really have to have a whole ecosystem based around your content now. Exactly. Like, so I still think it's pretty amazing though, like at, you know, at, at the concept  that you can buy a webcam, like, or you just have your phone, you know, your phone has that capability.

And that you can go live and that you, you know, you can potentially reach so many people, but you're right, Ross, the, the days of, you know, turning, turning up and having, you know, thousands and thousands and thousands of people watching, um, are gone and you have to work much harder to, to create, as you said, a community or what I would normally tend to do is I would have like, if this show is going to be going out in my private group.

So, yeah. I'll be emailing my list saying, Hey, do you want to check out the interview in my private groups? And so I'm going to be dropping it at this time and this, you know, so people, people know when to tune in. So, so just, so a little bit back to the book. So, so the, so, so tell us how, so you invite experts to send you their predictions for the year ahead in terms of live streaming and digital marketing.

Yes.  So, um, every year.  It's we say 100, right? That's the magic number. Uh, this year it's actually 113, but, uh, the minimum is a hundred. And. 

Um, it's, this year is the, is the best. I mean, this year's predictions, and I'm not saying that to try and sell this book, it's just, people are getting it, like, you have a chapter, and you can really put some, some thought into, uh, you know, conceptualizing more than just I think X, Y, and Z is going to happen, and there's, you're getting more and more of people sharing their thought process, their insights, their strategies, um, there's a lot more than predictions in, in, in the book now, it's like, some of these are, some of these entries are really like roadmaps for how to do. 

Work in a specific niche in the, in the digital world. Fantastic. Yeah. I actually think though, that  in terms of, cause I know when I was writing my prediction for the book and, and I sat down and I was, you know, I had to kind of think about it for a while and,  and I think that where we are, like we're, we're coming into 2024 where like.

We're like two years or three years past COVID now, I still don't know the timeline of COVID because we lost so many years, but like we had a time where we were all locked down. And as you said, you know, everybody wanted to know how to live stream and be on social and then learn and do online courses.

And all of that went crazy. Right. And then I think the year after that there, you know, nobody wanted to be online and it was kind of nearly the opposite. And then I think 2023 was kind of a year where we were coming out of it. Now, 2023 was a difficult year for, for many, many businesses. There was a lot of those, it was a difficult trading year, I think all around the world.

Um, and I think because of that,  When we look towards 2024, um, people maybe had a bit more clarity, um, in their predictions. And I'm not surprised that you say that the, the, this year's book is, is, is probably the, the, the  best yet. And I, and I'm really looking forward to checking it out. So, um, so tell us like at a top level. 

What can we expect or what's coming down the line? Well, if this were the first book and not the fourth book the title would be 100 AI and digital media predictions because I've got to say that at least 60 or 70 percent. I think of the Predictions touch on some aspect of AI.  I don't know that I would have called it that because it's, it's not really just about AI.

It's about how AI integrates with Live streaming, podcasting, YouTube, blogging, newsletters, email marketing, the whole panoply of things that you do, uh, when you have an online business. Uh, but, yeah, that's the, that's, if you want to have a theme for For 2024, if 2023 was sort of like, there's this chat GPT thing out there and some early adopters are playing around with it and they ask it questions and it can do a little bit of work for you.

Now it's, it's getting serious. Like, how can, can this, can this enhance my productivity? How can I use it? To focus more time on creating and less time on  the fundamentals of managing my business. Can it, can it speed the time of market of getting my newsletter out? Can it help with show notes and transcriptions?

Where can this come in where I can still be me and bring my Personality my knowledge my expertise to the content i'm creating but everything else gets sped up and the productivity is there And I don't know how many people Discuss this or if anybody discusses, but I I also think that um, well karen glasser mentioned the leveling effect Effect that it could help solo creators and small businesses compete with larger media organizations, um the disadvantage that the solo creator has and the small The small channels and so forth is they don't have the teams to put out the volume of content That big media does so  Big media, it's easier for you to become addicted to the bigger players content because it's always going to be in front of you And it's always in front of you.

So you're you're more likely to watch it. It's a self feeding algorithm, so how can I as A person who has a time only to record, let's say, one video a week, or one podcast episode, how can I perhaps use AI to turn that into something that feeds the machine on a daily basis on YouTube, or Facebook, or wherever, to where now I become somebody's viewing habit, or I'm able to churn out.

Even original content several days in a row by, uh, just being not having to spend as much time on all the other aspects of.  Yeah. So AI, I can imagine is just front and central in 2024. And it absolutely is. Um, and yet you're right. It's like, it really speeds up the rate of productivity.  My prediction also talks about AI, but in my prediction, I talked about the importance of authenticity.

Um, you know, so yes, by all means embrace all these, the new tools, um, they are wonderful. They will increase productivity. Absolutely. But  you can't lose yourself to AI because one of the things I would always be very passionate about,  especially if you're, um, if you're a coach, consultant, an online entrepreneur. 

You know, it's so important, like, that your face is out there. It's so important that your voice is out there. And if you lose yourself to AI, if you just start creating reams and reams and reams of content, that's not really you.  It, it's gonna be counterproductive. So yeah, I think AI is a huge opportunity.

I also, that there's, there, there's a challenge there to, to use it but to to, to also to be authentic to, to yourself and to your brand voice and to, to your brand. Are you using it in, in your business? Yeah. Yeah. I use it. I love it. Mm-Hmm? . Yeah. I love it. Yeah. No,  yeah. It's fantastic. Like, but. Um, one of my, my favorite prompt for chat GPT, if I'm honest, is checks and texts and grammar.

So I still write my own stuff. I don't want a chat GPT to write anything for me. I still write my own stuff, but I'll get it, you know, so I'll, you probably see my, my, um, my  English is much better than it used to be because it's all in the same tense. So, so I have this wonderful habit of skipping tenses and just mixing them all up.

So it checks that for me. Um, or like, you know, you, you know, yourself for us, like when you're live streaming, as we're recording this now, we can download the transcript and we can say, please send me the name, the main points. Now like that, I'll still take that and I'll rework it the way I want it. You know, to put it out there.

But as you said, it just speeds everything up. So having to start at a blank sheet and having some ideas and some things. And, you know, if that's summary, if those points aren't  where we want them to be, we still can then bring ourselves and our knowledge and our specific experiences, and we can clean it up quickly.

Editing quickly is now the skill more so than can I generate on a blank.  Although, when it came to writing the book, I used AI for four pages, and that's the glossary. I put a glossary in for the first time, because there's all these AI and new companies and stuff, and I'm not sure that the average reader Including myself.

I didn't know all of them and what they mean exactly. So I asked ChatGBT and Bard for definitions. And I used that. But that's 4 pages out of 286. The way I used the rest of it is  Do you put a comma here or not? What what do you think? Should there be a comma in this sentence? And I love the way chat gpt gives me the argument for like you could be here's why you could use a comma Here's why you wouldn't whatever and I say well, this is what i'm thinking Then it comes back with why that's I mean it's because these things aren't all black and white and it's very interesting Like I feel like i've learned a lot about Grammar and things that I do that I didn't even realize okay, this is correct But why am I doing it or you know, does it work here or whatever?

I don't know. I it's really interesting I mean even with terms and words and things I this is is this word appropriate for the sentence or you know, whatever and I Just I think I enjoyed it more than I should have, but I really enjoyed the process of editing, uh, you know, the book and writing my introduction and all that.

Um, but I didn't take anything and put it in chat GPT for this one at least and say, rewrite this as, you know, a live streaming expert with,  I don't know. Youtube channel and a weekly show. I didn't do any of that stuff I just I took people's predictions And and basically kept it as close as I could to what they did I wrote my intro I wrote about three versions of my introduction and then  put it together Best way I could and and and that's kind of how I did the book But the glossary is all from chat gpt and and bart.

I just asked can I get a one sentence definition of? This term or whatever for a general reader in a in a book glossary or whatever and um Yeah, and then I acknowledge it right at, right at the top. Yeah, I've had some, I've had some fun with ChatGPT where I ask it to check syntax and grammar and then it comes back and it goes, your sentence is mostly correct. 

Yes, very polite. And I'm like, thank you.  Don't you feel like you have to say thank you and like, this is a tremendous help and all this stuff like, like you're talking to a person because it's so polite and. It is, but I laugh. You could, you probably just hear me laugh. You'll hear me from the office laughing while I'm, while I'm having those.

It's, you're mostly correct. Oh, thank you very much. So AI front and central for 2024 that, so with 60 percent of the predictions touching on AI, that has to be absolutely number one. Okay. So where are we going after that then Ross? Okay. So I, in my introduction, I have a, uh, a subhead or a paragraph, you know, between a paragraph breaks, I have micro is the new macro. 

So like we were talking about with community, uh, there seems to be, uh, a bigger push now to have local events, regional events, um, virtual, but not. Uh, three, four days, two hour events, meetups, um, uh, brands are looking for other ways to connect with audiences. Uh, there's more interest in micro influencers than some of the big players because of the personal relationship.

They have with their, their audience, um, micro content for education, uh, rather than somebody sitting through a two hour webinar or a three hour live stream. Here's five minutes of what you need to know on this. Here's five minutes of that. And then maybe we have an in person training in the office or something along that line.

So it's, it's realizing this is, uh, how people are now consuming content. And experiencing things and I think it's a change and it's a huge gonna be a huge change in the events industry um, but it's also a change in content and  uh, one of the predictions, um, john burke who's uh, you know spent much much of the last decade or two involved with you know, kind of the the lines between tv and and and and digital  Um, said, you know, coming to probably streaming channels and, and perhaps TV as well are episodic short form content.

Like, you know, tick tock, you're, you know, a tick tock series people. We talked about this on my show the other day, actually, there's a tick tock series of people who are. We're taking a nine month cruise and people, and every day they're putting out content from it and then there's all these people who are following it and reporting on it and making content about it.

And so it's the same concept as a half an hour or hour soap opera or whatever, but it's, it's in, it's in 30 second and one minute bites and it works. And, and. There's perhaps TV will say that's more more interesting at some point than than long form content Although I also think even though micro is the new macro There is a place for long form content particularly now that youtube has embraced video podcasting Um, you're also going to see More shows and more talented people doing things like what we're doing here, which is an open, expansive conversation rather than soundbites and short form.

So I think there's a place for, for both in the market right now, but that's my, that's kind of partly my thought. And it's partly coming from, from the predictions.  Yeah. I always think that like, um, episodic short, um, short form content, you know, is absolutely, I think people are time poor. And I think, um, and this is a good one as well.

Like if somebody doesn't know you.  Yeah. If somebody doesn't know you and you pop up in their newsfeed, they're much more likely to watch 30 seconds to a minute  than they are an hour,  you know? So your, your episodic or your short form content is a great way to reach new people and to, and so that they want to eventually consume your longer form content.

That's what I would think. Yeah. But yeah, I know myself, even if I'm, even if I'm doing a training course and I go on, the first thing I do, if I'm very honest, is I check how long the, the, the video is.  You know, and so I'm like, Oh, 20 minutes. Oh, like, and if it's short, I'm delighted, you know, 20 minutes. I'm happy if it's 40 minutes, um, I try and watch it on double time.

So, um, my ears are nearly burning and trying to listen quickly, but, um, yeah. So I love that. So micro is the new macro. So, okay. So anyone tuning in here. Think about your short form content. Think about episodic. So even if you, if it's, even if, if it's video, keep it short form, I think for your colder audience.

Um, if let's say it's even a newsletter, like even if it's in like a LinkedIn newsletter, you could do, you know, um, series one of three. And so, you know, you get, you, you, you get them to read the first one and then they're so interested. They definitely subscribe because they don't want to miss the next two or the next one I'm going to talk about.

Exactly. And then even on the third one, if you say this is a third, this is the three of three and they like it, they're going to go back and look for the other two. So I love that form. So the episodic, and you see, you do see a lot of TikToks like that, where, you know, it's unreals, it's one of three or one of four and you follow them.

I think Louisa, you're doing your audience a favor by doing that in a way, because There's such a volume of content out there that, like, if I can pin it down to these are my five people that I check out every day or whatever. That makes my life easier. It makes it easier if I get addicted to somebody's content because then I don't have to spend time scrolling and searching and all that.

Um, the challenge is for a lot of people myself included is um, doing short form content hasn't been the natural way that I've, you know, if I've done short form content it's more been more formal like a news report kind of style than, um, so you have to get used to that. And, um, I think that's, you know, for me, for 2024, it's can I give a, a piece of wisdom or make somebody laugh or tell an interesting story in 10 seconds or 15 seconds or 30 seconds?

And, yeah, yeah, I mean, maybe there's no beginning and end either, because, you know, rather than thanks for watching, it's sort of like, Just natural, they should want to flow into the next one and the next one.  But I also think that's where your AI tools come back into it. So even if you're recording your longer form video or live streaming, that you can then go back and use your AI tools to take out the shorter form.

Um, you know, whether it's written content or, or video content. So I think it all, it all, it all feeds in. And I love the whole focus about local and regional events. And that's definitely a post COVID thing because people still want to get out and meet people in person. Like I'm online, like no more than you, Ross, I live online.

I'm online all day, every day, speaking to people in every corner of the world. And I love us and I never want to change and I never want to go back to before, what it was before COVID where I traveled a lot more, but.  You know, I do have it in my diary, you know, get up Louise, get out and go to events and meet people in real person, people, you know, so that's, I think where the local and regional events are coming from.

I definitely think that's a, that's, um, you know, a post COVID thing where people are kind of, if maybe they're working from home a little bit more, but, but they're intentional about, you know, meeting people. In the, in the real world,  I agree. I agree. It's, it's, it's a need that we have and it's fun. It is fun too.

Yeah. So micro is the mat is the new macro. And then what's the next big prediction you have?  Um, well, I don't know if this is a prediction or it's just kind of my thought, which is again. Where is everybody? How do you find that audience? Uh, because the platforms aren't gonna do it for you. Um, YouTube might be the one.

If you optimize it right, and if you SEO it well, and if you're Very intentional about your titles and thumbnails and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, it's still got to be when they click, there's got to be content that people relate to, and there's got to be some sort of community mechanism, some sort of Email, I think that's the challenge because it used to be if you were good you were entertaining you were informative You couldn't help but grow an audience and that isn't the case on facebook and linkedin and and x right now because On some of the platforms like X, people, a lot of people are automating their stuff and they're not hanging out there in Twitter chats like they were seven years ago or whatever, uh, but I think on the other platforms, they're not sharing it out.

Like videos and things like they used to you have to get that momentum and that may be Volume, it may be short form and frequent. It may be Uh, like I say through building a community building a powerful email list  We're all going to be working through that right if we're creating audio and video content on social platforms, how do we Uh get value from it and part of it is saying Maybe just saying  it really doesn't matter how many people watch the actual video or live stream or listen to the podcast because that that content can be repurposed in so many different ways the great thing about what we're doing here is After 45 minutes, we have 45 minutes worth of content,  right?

We're doing basically live to tape style. So we've got all this con You've got all this content now that you can repurpose that you can use from blog posts to email news Like you've you've got to kind of have all these different touch points with people It's not to say that you want to be the jack of all trades and do everything But you've got to realize that  Promoting on social media and then people show up is not the way the not the way To build the big audience today.

I don't think  yeah No, I think I think you're right like so i'm going to take this This as you said this this recording and i'm going to make a poll on instagram linkedin and then i'm going to have a teaser and then i'm going to drop the show live in my group and then i'm going to take the transcript and um make Uh, like a blog post or a newsletter from it.

So, so there I have five pieces of content that very relevant right now, but who's not to say that I couldn't drop that content again in, you know, two months time and just focus in on maybe one aspect of it. You could break the content into, you know, talk about AI specifically, talk about macros and, you know, so, so many different ways you can repurpose that content.

And I think one of the things that I would recommend to anyone listening in or watching is that  Don't be rushing on to the new shiny bit of content all the time,  like think how much that you, that you can, you know, repurpose the same piece of content as, as much as possible so that you get value from it.

Because, you know, if you're a small business, even if you have a team of people working for you, you know, it takes a lot of time to, to create content and to publish content. So as much as you can repurpose, and I think that's a really, really strong. Message from the, from the book Ross, which is absolutely amazing.

So, um, so, so, so the top, top three themes, I suppose we've took, we've discussed today that are all in the book is number one, AI. Um, number two, the, the micro is the new macro. I love that. Um, and that the third, um, big theme is distribution, repurposing and being out there, being out there, not necessarily forcing yourself to create more content.

from scratch, but finding ways to make the most of your content. And,  you know, as you mentioned, really is so important is, can you leverage the AI tools now? Can you use something like an Opus Clips to quickly get 10 short form videos right from a talking head video? Can you put that transcript in ChatGPT and get a quick summary that you can then shape into a blog post?

But it, you know, also you take that blog post, you can read a paragraph of it as, as part of a short form video, you can pull the audio, like there's so many things that you talked about that I think anybody can think of who's active online can think of five things they could do.  Pretty easily, you know, you got to carve out some time, but it's not as much time as it used to be  to get their stuff in front of more people.

And it's, it's, it's an interesting, it's an interesting time with these tools. Um, the other thing I want to mention related to all of this is that's a theme throughout is.  I think you, you, me, the person, is more important than ever. The more tools get democratized, right? The more we all are able to buy a webcam, and we all have a smartphone, and we all have Now we all have ChatGPT, and we all have BARD, and, you know, we all have Transcription ability and all that now it comes down to Can I connect to an audience or not?

What it what what makes me different from the next person and It isn't the video camera. It isn't the microphone. It isn't and it certainly isn't, you know The ability to churn out all this stuff from ChatGPT, it's, is there something that comes when I talk to you or you read my work or whatever, is there something that's worthwhile and, and  I think, you know, you have to double down on yourself now, right?

You have to realize what's unique about you, what are you good at, and how does an audience relate to you. And I don't think we had to be as intentional about that when we were all getting notified about each other's content and it was very easy to be there for people and get the algorithm moving just by showing up and commenting and sharing.

And with that not being the case anymore, and with so many people putting  general content that comes from AI sources, how do you stand out? What is it about you that makes somebody want to come back again and again and again? And I don't know that there's any easy formula for that, but that's what everybody's got to ask themselves.

What am I good at? What do I like doing? And what is there a market for and hopefully at least two of those three things, if not three of three things can, can coalesce somewhere. Now you've got a reason that people need to, to watch you.  Uh, yeah, I love that Ross. It's so, so true. Yeah. So it really comes back to the individual.

Um, you know, you're, you are, what's unique about your business. If you're the face of the business. you know, you've got to be front and central, you've got to, you've got to be authentic, you've got to be there, you've got to share your voice, and people will connect with you, and the more they connect with you, and the more they know, like, and trust you, the more likely they are to reach out to you.

So yeah, no, so really, really great takeaways there. Um, um, so, so tell us, Tell us about this book. When is it, when, where is it available? So it'll be available on Amazon. It'll be in ebook and paperback and perhaps, um, for the first time I'm going to do a hardcover as well, but when it launches, we're definitely launching with ebook and paperback and maybe hardcover and there'll be, there'll be a discount.

Uh for launch day. So, uh, if you're around launch day or maybe the day after too, maybe i'll keep it for a couple days Uh, it'll be 99 cents for the ebook. So and it's normally I think 6. 99 us. So um, that's uh If you've never looked at a book before that i've done or that, you know louise and all these great people have contributed to um, take advantage of that and take a look at the ebook and um If you like that, then the paperback has  pi, more images and a little bit more to it.

But, uh, the content, the actual content from the contributors and from me and, and everything else is the same, other than the images. So it's, uh, it's a pretty good deal. I, I think, uh, I'm, I'm biased. But yeah, that's what that's when it drops. Uh, it'll be 99 cents when it does. So, well, I think that'll be the best 99 cents that you will spend  in 20.

That's my prediction. It's the best 99 cents you'll spend in 2024. And for the four page glossary alone, which I am dying to read through, um, you know, I just think in terms of.  Something that you can dip in and out of, something that you know, that you can, that you can use to really help focus yourself and, and improve your performance on social media.

You have over 100 experts who are doing this week in, week out, who are training on it, coaching on it. And they've given their projections and their advice. What a wonderful concept, Ross Brown. So congratulations to you. And this is the fourth volume. So, and I know that takes a lot of work. Um, in number one in six countries.

On Amazon, which is Phenomenal. I must say, cause I've got to number one in one country. I've never got to number one in six countries. Um, and not only that, 25 book awards, which is absolutely amazing as well. So, you know, I don't think I need to tell anybody any more like the statistics speak for themselves, you know, so the track record speaks for themselves.

So congratulations Ross on another amazing publication, the very best of luck. to you with the launch date, which is the 17th of January, 2024. So if you're watching this on my group, and today is the 17th of January, you need to buy the book today, because this is when you're going to get it for the discount.

If you happen to be tuning in a  little after this, or at some stage throughout the year, it's still really good value. So make sure you pick it, you pick up a copy. Well, thank you so much for having me. It's such an honor to be on the first podcast and you have such a loyal and  Enthusiastic and smart audience.

Um, I love, I love the people who follow you and it's, it's just such an honor to be a part of your first podcast. So thank you.  Ross, always an honor. And we look, we must organize to bump into each other again at some stage.  You gotta come to the States for a conference or just, just to enjoy, uh, just to enjoy getting away.

I think I'm on the wrong coast this year, but I definitely, I will make it my business to be in New York, um, at some stage and to meet with you. So, um, thank you so much. Oh, congratulations on speaking. You're speaking at Social Media Marketing World, right? No, not, no, I'm not. I'm just, I'm just going. Oh, okay.

I'm just going. I'm actually This is, I'm actually looking forward to not having to speak. Just, I just want to go and consume and network, um, and learn. So, um, you know, we never stop learning, you know, and that's how, that's how we can, you know, be the best coaches and trainers for, and, you know, for our, in our own businesses, you have to keep learning.

So, um, I actually can't wait to go. I can't wait to, to fill my head full of new ideas.  That's great. I hope we see each other. Uh, Florida is nice too. This time of year,  January is a, is a, is a great independent creator event. Lots of, lots of great events. So hopefully we'll, we'll cross paths hopefully, hopefully we'll look at thanks again, Ross.

And I look forward to meeting you throughout 2024 and best to look at the book launch. Thank you so much, Louise. No problem.

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