The Social Media Takeaway - Louise McDonnell

10 Game-Changing Social Media Tips for 2025 with Ross Brand

• Louise McDonnell • Season 1 • Episode 50

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In this episode of The Social Media Takeaway, I sit down with Ross Brand, a trailblazer in live streaming and video podcasting. With over 1,000 live shows, bestselling books, (including “100 Livestreaming & Digital Marketing Predictions” series and  “Video Podcasting Made Easy”) and a career helping creators and businesses grow, Ross brings unmatched expertise to the table.

Together, we explore 10 cornerstone principles to elevate your social media strategy turning followers into leads and sales. This episode is packed with actionable insights for business owners, from building a thriving community to repurposing content, harnessing AI, cracking social algorithms, and more. 

You’ll also learn:
✅ Why personal branding is your secret weapon for standing out.
✅ How to measure success by real business results—not vanity metrics.

Whether you’re just starting or scaling up, tune in now as this conversation is a goldmine for simplifying your strategy and seeing results.

SHOW CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
01:24 Past Podcasts Reflection
01:59 Ross's Book and Predictions
03:45 Cornerstone Principles for Success
04:37 Building An Engaging Community
08:21 Creative Content Repurposing
13:52 Using AI for Efficiency
15:30 Mastering Social Algorithms
19:33 Promoting Others for Visibility
25:08 Personal Touch in Content
25:36 Recap of Key Strategies
25:55 Importance of Personal Connection
28:45 Outsourcing for Efficiency
31:47 Measuring Success Beyond Vanity Metrics
36:30 Your Business as Your Best Sponsor
40:16 Social Media Profiles as Digital Portfolios
46:04 Final Thoughts

Connect with Ross:
LinkedIn
Youtube
Website

Grab your copy today and start shaping the future of your digital strategy! : geni.us/100v5

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to my podcast because more like this is on the way!

If you'd like to book a call to see how I can support you head over to my website here. www.sellonsocialmedia.academy/hello

My 2025 Social Media Content Planner & Guide is now available! Packed with 400 content prompts, expert tips, and $377 worth of free resources to help you save time and get results in 2025.

Grab your copy now on Amazon!
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...

Welcome to the social media takeaway. I'm your host, Louise McDonnell, and this is the show for business people who want to know how to use social media more effectively to drive sales and leads for their business. If you enjoy the show, please make sure that you go back and subscribe. And I'd love it if you would give us A five star review.

Louise McDonnell:

If you want to watch back the show, we're on YouTube. Come find us and subscribe there too. So today I am delighted to be joined by Ross Brand. Ross did me the absolute honor of being the first guest on my podcast ever, ever, ever. And so that's actually literally about a year ago. Ross is a pioneer in the live streaming and video podcasting industry. He helps. C-Suite executives and entrepreneurs elevate their brands on a global scale. He is the founder of Livestream Universe and has hosted or appeared on over 1000 podcast and live shows. He's been instrumental in the rapid growth platforms like Streamy Yard, and is the author of the acclaimed 100 Live streaming and Digital media prediction series and the co-author of Video Podcasting Made easy. His books have been number one best sellers in eight countries and received 63 book awards. You're very welcome to the show, Ross.

Ross Brand:

Thanks so much for having me. And I was honored that you chose me as the first guest. you certainly have a great network and, a lot of, influential people that you're connected to. So I, I really felt honored, to be your first guest. And, I remember it was a fun podcast and, you took off. Your podcast took off from the beginning and it's been going strong ever since.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah. And you know, I'm just looking up here. I'm just trying to remember how many podcast episodes I did last year. I'm going to say, oh, I was going to say 48, but I think it might've been in the 40s anyway. And yours was number eight in the most popular listens to throughout the year. So thank you for, for coming on and sharing your expertise. I think it's really fitting that you started the show in January last year and that you're back again this year. Because, of the fact of your book at 100 live streaming and digital media predictions for the year ahead. So this is a series you bring out a new edition every year. It's literally just been launched in the last week. So if you're looking for something nice to read with. Like, it's a really, really cool production. There are, you go through, and all the chapters are really short. There's a different expert who's written every chapter, and it's their predictions for the year ahead. And you just pick up so many nuggets by, going through the book. And I was delighted that you included me, in the book as well. So thank you so much on so many levels.

Ross Brand:

Thanks for being a part of it for so many years. probably six or seven years in a row, right? You've contributed to the predictions and certainly, since we've made it a book, it's been a lot of fun.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, absolutely. And I have to say, like, we just were having a chat before the show, you know, it's at the beginning of the year now, and I know people may be tuning into this later in the year, but I think any time of the year is good to make a plan, but I think January is a particularly, or February, particularly good time to sit down and to really focus on the things that worked for you last year, the, maybe have a look at the areas where, you know, your time was taken, where you feel it was maybe not such a good use of time. And I think the best way really to make your marketing a success is to kind of know for the, like I know for the year ahead now when my launches are, what I'm doing, that was all done and dusted toward, you know, towards the last quarter of last year. So I think your book is, your timing of your book is really wonderful. And when I was reading it, actually. One of my favorite things about the book was your your introductory chapter, which was about 10 cornerstones principles that have consistently guided creators to success. Now when I read these I was going yes, yes, yes, yes, love this, love this, love this. So I would like you in this episode to just really talk us through those principles. And I know you have put those together based on all your expertise, all your years of expertise, and your years of reading all those chapters of all those, the live streaming and digital media predictions. So you have the benefit of having read them all and having, you know, really thought about them. So will you talk us through the cornerstone principles that guide creators towards success?

Ross Brand:

Sure, sure. I don't have the list in front of me. Let me.

Louise McDonnell:

I do. I'm a good student. I was reading. So you were saying the first principle is build community from day one.

Ross Brand:

So this is some of these principles developed ten years ago and some of these principles developed, In the last year or two, this is one which is sort of always been true but we didn't realize how true it was until the nature of social platforms really started to change and the way we would build community would be around our social posts and our social live streams and videos and people would gather and there'd be a chat , in the comments and so forth. And that was one way, but it always started with putting out the content and a lot of it first. Building an audience and then that audience might, if you're really lucky and you do things well and you sustain, that might form a community. in the comments and so forth. And that was one way, but it always started with putting out the content and a lot of it first. Building an audience and then that audience might, if you're really lucky and you do things well and you sustain, that might form a community. now I tell people that I work with, episode one, where is your community going to go? if you think that relying on an Instagram image or, you know, a YouTube shorts video or something is the way you're going to build community. You have to realize that the social platforms aren't even feeding your content necessarily to your followers. They're feeding it to whomever they think would be a good match for it. and they're also testing it quickly and going, Hmm, this isn't taking off. Maybe nobody should see that. So for many reasons, but not the least of which is you need a way to communicate people with people outside of the algorithm. So when we talk about community, we could be things like Substack. It could be a LinkedIn newsletter. It could be a community platform like a Locals or a Mighty Networks or a school. it could be a, a membership community where people Pay something to get it. But the idea is where do you take people? They find you on Instagram. They find you on Facebook. They listen to your podcast. Okay. They enjoy it. You have one or two listeners or fans or viewers. Where do you offer them a way to keep in touch with you and where they can communicate with you and like minded people? And, and I think that is more important than ever because of the nature of the algorithms. and the pay to play, that so many of the platforms have made. Their essential purpose at this point. So you have to control and own your audience and you have to find a way to have that relationship and keep them involved. And you also think that, you know, 10 members of the community who are willing to pay you is worth more than 1000 followers who, you know, glance at your posts and then move on and, you know, never sign up for your email list or never take a course or anything else. So, you know, it's not volume anymore. It's how, how many people can you get really engaged and where are you providing them a space for them to continue with that interest and support you, which they probably want to do if they like your content.

Louise McDonnell:

I totally agree with you and everything you're saying. So let's say you're really into TikTok, you're really into Instagram or you're really into LinkedIn. You can build a community there by regularly chatting and interacting with others. And so that it's not just a broadcast, that it becomes a two way relationship. And I think that that's very, very important. And guess what everybody? In 2025, that's what the algorithm is looking for. So if they see that myself and Ross regularly message each other over and back, which we do, we're much more likely to see each other's content. So that's number one. I love this. Number two, repurpose content creatively.

Ross Brand:

So you do a podcast episode, let's say you record the video and you're going to post the video on YouTube or you do a live stream. What else can you do? Not everybody's going to watch that video in its full amount. So what else can you do to get in in front of people who consume Content differently. They may consume only short videos. You know, they may only watch reels and YouTube shorts. They may prefer to read blog posts. They may prefer an audio podcast. You take that one piece of content and you repurpose it so that you're reaching people on the podcast apps on the video platforms and also on your blog on, you know, your community. If you have a community platform, you're putting it there. You're sending it by email. You're finding different ways to extract value from that original piece of content and sharing it. In the places and in the formats that people like to consume content on online. And the other thing is there's a branding benefit from doing that. Not everybody's going to click through and watch your full show and that's okay, but they see you making a great point. Or an interesting quote, or sitting next to you know, an influential guest. And all of a sudden they're thinking, you've got something going on, you're making waves in this industry, you know, maybe I should look to work with you or collaborate with you or hire you, you know? So there's multiple benefits from repurposing that go well beyond driving people to watch that primary piece of content, which is how people for years had thought about it. But, but think about it as. You just it's it doesn't matter where they discover you where they encounter you where they enjoy your content just give them the opportunity and see what happens I completely agree and I love this and I think Like even I know when i'm speaking to people in a training scenario I'm speaking in front of people. I

Louise McDonnell:

know sometimes people don't even really understand what you mean when you say repurpose. So like even I would just even to say to reuse your content creatively. So Ross, you've spoken just really, really so well about how people could reuse, let's say a podcast episode like this, but like you can reuse any content. So let's say you have an inspirational quote that you know your audience loves. Don't just use this once, use it once a quarter because right. You know, I've heard of somebody that said, I didn't feel I should do that because I felt, no, I've done that before they said to put out the inspirational quote the second time around. And exactly the same people were like engaging and commenting on it. So people don't remember what they've seen yesterday. So they're not going to remember what they saw last month or two months or three months ago. So. Think about if you've got strong content that's evergreen, think how many times can I put that out in the year? And that's a really easy way for, for populating your content calendar. You know, and even if you've got a pod, a blog article on your website, even put in a chat, put in a prompt into chat GPT and say. Write me the most clickbaity like intro to encourage people to click through and read this article. I did this with a client earlier on in the week and, he had a really interesting article and then we got what chat GPT gave us was gold, right? So then I changed the prompt and I said, Now I want you to take a different slant on that. And this time I want you to include. This part of the article, it gave us a totally different prompt or totally different response. So I said, in three months time, put the article out again. Nobody will even notice.

Ross Brand:

Niche,YouTubers have been doing that for 10 years. I mean, they take a video and, you know How to use live streaming 2020 and then it's how to use live streaming 2021. How do you 2022? Is it really that different? No, in some cases, they're even taking clips from the old stuff and mixing it in. But the idea is you can revisit it. And every year and every new development and every news cycle is another chance to go back to that content. And with chat GPT, you can literally ask it to rewrite it for you. So you write it in the positive, then you ask it to write it in the negative, like, you know, why you should have a YouTube channel. The next time you say. Tell me the 10 things that can go wrong with your business. If you don't have a YouTube channel so that same piece can actually be fodder for many pieces of content. Now that's easier said than done because there's the creative side and there's the science side, right? And the creative side in me is like, let's just do something from scratch and do something new. But more and more, I'm realizing that. You know there's only so many ways to say things. And so if you can use something that you said really well and just put it in a new context, repurpose it, or even refresh it for a new year or a new quarter, that's okay. And when it's something like a quote or a short blog post or whatever, yeah, throw it out there again. Most people didn't see it. And those who loved it are reminded of why they loved it again. So you play the greatest hits for a week and then you go back to new content. That's okay too.

Louise McDonnell:

I love it. So it's like a huge saving of your time and your energy, you know, and you're going to get the value out of the content you've created in the first place. Okay. So that's two repurposing your content creatively. Three then is to leverage AI to streamline workflows.

Ross Brand:

Yeah, so, there's outsourcing to other people, and there's offloading to AI, and that which isn't your competitive advantage, if AI can do it faster, do it better, let AI do it. But then you still have to bring your personality, you have to, take the generic and add in your specific examples from your life, you know. Case studies, stories, storytelling, it's not a turn it over and let AI run your entire brand and content output, but those aspects, you're trying, getting transcripts, getting, you know, show notes together and all that. let AI do that and then, and stick to where you're showing up with your voice and your writing and your top quality stuff, but that which can be easily transcribed and you don't lose anything or easily generated or, you know, if you're not good at writing titles for a YouTube video or for a blog post, let AI give you five and , don't scratch your head for a half an hour going, Oh, I can't find something that's interesting or going to go viral. Grab the best one, put it up there and, you know, save yourself 25 minutes.

Louise McDonnell:

And like the five suggestions AI give you, you mightn't like, but you might like half of the first half of one and the second half of another. And it just helps you do it faster. So I love that. Leverage AI to streamline your workflows. and I think actually a very important word in that is workflow. So I think if you don't know what your workflow is, if you haven't figured that out. That's a good place to start because you know, if you can get that right then it's easier to streamline them Okay, number four master the rules of social algorithms

Ross Brand:

So the social algorithms we talked about this a little bit in the community discussion, but they've changed and it used to be you build an audience and social media puts that Content that you now post in front of that audience. If I'm following Louise and I occasionally like or or comment on a post, I can figure for the rest of my life. I'm going to see Louise's content, right? Unless I unfollow you. That doesn't work that way anymore. It's looking at each post is an individual con. Piece of content much like YouTube has for a while. and this is really probably all growing out of TikTok because that's how TikTok works. whether you like TikTok or not, it's irrelevant. TikTok has had a tremendous influence on how whatever platform you do like and are using works. So instead of thinking, what am I feeding my followers? Think what is a great piece of content. That people who I want to work with, who I want to be attracted to my business, who I want to communicate with further, what would they be interested in? And how do I make this fresh and exciting and interesting for them? And so, the good news is if you have zero followers, but you put out a really good piece of content. You may go viral and if you have a million followers and you put out a really dull piece of content that nobody's interested in that doesn't match up with any audience out there, or that no audience that sees it responds to in any way by commenting or sharing or whatever, then that's not going to get in front of a lot of people, and that's different. So people with big audiences aren't seeing the same consistent results, and people with small audiences aren't as disadvantaged as they used to be. So understand that, and it's better to do four really good pieces of content in a month than it is to do 30 pieces of weak content if you want to grow an audience and connect with people who can help you, Get where you want to go in your outreach and also in your business. So, I think that's an understanding that's not talked about very much, but this is the new reality

Louise McDonnell:

And I know a lot of my clients get so hung up on followers and I'm like, followers don't matter anymore. They don't like, it's nice to have them, but they're vanity. And actually just to add, I totally agree with everything you're saying, but to add to that, it's the same principle for your paid ads now. especially on Facebook, Instagram, and tick tock. Like it's based on the algorithm, right? So it's based on the subject. Let's say you produced a wonderful piece of content. You have no followers. And let's say you spent a hundred dollars pushing it out. They're paying to put it in front of people that you know, are interested in that topic. That 100 is going to give you so much reach. It's not that you don't pay an impression. You don't pay to reach an individual or a number of individuals. How they charge you depends on how the audience responds to it. So if you produce a really good piece of content that people are very interested in and you spend 100, you may reach a few thousand. You know, 20, you could reach like a lot, a lot of people because take the way I see it. It's like taking a ball and throwing it down a hill. It just, it will go, it'll go and go and go and go. So that's really good news. I think for everybody, if your quality of content is good and you spend money, you're going to get really good value for money. On the flip side, like if you're putting out content, it's really boring, it's really dull, and if it's just all about you and all trying to sell and just really not of interest to people, it doesn't matter how much you pay or it doesn't matter how many followers you have, it's like standing at the bottom of the hill I'm trying to throw something up, it's just not going to go very far. So I love that. Yeah. So master the rules of the social algorithms and in 2025, it's all about interest in content and engagement. Okay. Number five. Love this. Promote others to gain visibility and build relationships.

Ross Brand:

Well, this is one of my foundational ones. when I started, before I even hosted my first show, I started sharing what shows other people were doing on, Livestreams on Blab and on Periscope and, then, you know, after I got started hosting shows, I started, doing updates in which I'd go down the, the schedule of shows that day, get people to send me, what they're doing, who their guest is find their promo card and so forth. so People are doing this less and less to the extent that they were doing it before. It used to be in the culture to share other people's content. It was very much in the Twitter culture, in the live streaming culture. Basically, people are very protective of their feeds now. And you don't see that a lot. So if you really want to stand out, find something good that somebody's done. And share it, congratulate them on an award they won, tell people that you're gonna watch their show next week, or you just listen to a great podcast, and it's worth checking out, or do some sort of roundup. Post where you go through, Hey, the 10 podcasts that have the biggest impact on my business or what have you. But by doing that and highlighting people, it's more than just getting the hope that they'll reciprocate. It's now you've put out a piece of content that's rich that these folks will want to share and be happy to be in, but you're also becoming the focal point. So you don't have to invent everything out of the air. Sharing other people's stuff is. Still probably the best way to get people to have an to know you and have an interest in you think, Hey, you're at the center of what's going on. So, I'd say whatever it did for you 10 years ago, it'll do 10 times that now because very few people do that. And, you know, you can come up with something like, you know, an annual blog post or you can come up whenever somebody shares your content makes you the star of the show everybody likes that, even famous people like that.

Louise McDonnell:

You can do, it's such a nice thing to do. Like, I think maybe that on Instagram, because like you're only really sharing, it's harder to share on Instagram, isn't it?

Ross Brand:

I think Instagram's not the easiest place to do that, but you could do a carousel post with, You know, the five websites that are most helpful to, you know, and tag the company or tag the, you know, the individual who founded the website or what have you.. And it's also just, it's helpful, useful content and it puts you at the center of what's, what's going on in the, in the industry.

Louise McDonnell:

You can always screenshot somebody's stuff and share it as a story or share it to stories. And , if you're on LinkedIn, it's a really nice thing to do to share somebody's content. So like if you're publishing three or four posts a week, like you still have a few days in the week there that you're not creating content. Now you don't want your LinkedIn feed or your feed in general to be made up of other people's content. Because sometimes I see people do that, that they don't create their own content, their own unique content. And all they do is share others. Don't do that because you have no visibility in your own feed then.

Ross Brand:

Yeah. The retweet isn't the answer.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, exactly. But one, like, even if you said to yourself, okay once a week, I'm going to make it my business to find a really nice piece of content and share it from somebody. Do you know what the benefit is? They're more likely to share yours. They're more likely to recommend you. They're more likely to engage and you're building that relationship.

Ross Brand:

But again, you can do it as a piece of original content by sharing with, here's why this article helped me. Check it out. It might help you but also I do a lot of it in my newsletter now. So I have a LinkedIn newsletter and I also Go on sub stack and I've been doing what I call weekly roundup at the end of the week in addition to whatever other content I put out and in that I have like newsmakers and milestones and so Somebody launches a book somebody reaches their 300th podcast somebody Takes a new job in the industry. somebody writes an article or a newsletter that's particularly helpful on a topic that's of interest to a lot of people. There's a way where I'm creating, it's my content, it's my newsletter. I'm not sacrificing my space there, but within it, instead of Buy my book, listen to my podcast, which there's some of that in there. Right. But it's not all that. It's also by Louise's book. Listen to her podcast. Check out. XYZ's book. Guess who just launched a new newsletter? Maybe you didn't get a chance to watch their videos on YouTube over the last three years. Guess what? You can subscribe to their newsletter and they're going to give away a hundred dollars every four weeks or whatever the news is around it. It's just kind of report on the people like you're reporting on celebrity news or business news or what have you and right there. Very few people are acknowledging that somebody got a new job or a new role or a promotion or launch something new. That's where understand why, Louise is good at social media and express that is different than just retweeting a post that she put out, but understand how she helps people. And now the person who reads that goes. Oh, somebody really appreciates my work and they get like, hey, they're talking about me better than I'd feel comfortable talking about myself.

Louise McDonnell:

I love it.

Ross Brand:

And it doesn't always have to be good, and it doesn't always have to be fluff. It can just be matter of fact, too. Just like, here's, Louise has a new podcast, this person has a new job whatever it is, but make it your piece of content. Your name is at the top, you write the first line, or whatever. And then. Then you have your bullet points or your people or your items and it can go a long way. It really can. And I think more people should think about that when they're going, I don't know what to write for my blog this week or my newsletter.

Louise McDonnell:

And so number six so we've gone through the first five. I'm just going to recap before we get to number six. Number one was building a community from day one. Number two was repurpose content creatively. Number three was leverage AI to. Streamline workflows. Number four was master the rules of social algorithms. Number five was promote others to gain visibility and build relationships. And now we come to number six, people come back to you.

Ross Brand:

Yeah. So ultimately there's how many channels talking about every topic, right. And how many, but it's the way that you talk about it. And the way you make your audience feel and the way you show up for them and some of its intangible qualities. You might not even realize, but , it's you and you can't replace you. So don't forget that your. a big part of what they come back for, they'll show up one time because you have a big guest or they'll show up one time because you offer them a way to make more money or get a better job or become more popular on social media, but they'll show up week after week if they like you the host and they feel connected to you and they feel that you're on their side, you're saying what they're thinking, you're maybe giving an opinion on something interesting to them That that moves them or that that intrigues them or makes them think sometimes they show up if they don't like you and you know because they still want to hear what you have to say but know that that's the essential part and as long as you're doing writing you're doing audio you're doing video you're doing you're taking pictures. Ultimately, it's what you bring to it that makes you stand out. yeah, there's the topic. Yeah, there's the, the content, but there's also the brand and the brand is you, right? It's just not something that lures people back. People come back for people.

Louise McDonnell:

And that's so important. Like, so for anyone tuning in who's A bit allergic to social media that doesn't really like it. And I, I work with lots of people who hate social media, and they don't want to be a part of it. They don't want their faces, their voice to be part of it. I think it's an important message to hear that if you do, your social media will be stronger. I'm all over my social media, but really like, and people know I have a dog and a cat cause I feature them regularly. Cause they're usually filling out when I'm working. But does anyone really know anything about me? No. So, you know, you, you're not really putting your inner soul or your inner secrets out there. You're just putting your work persona out there and you're showing people, you know, what you're like as a person, but in a work,

Ross Brand:

But a picture of you with your dog, right, because that's you. Right. And, and people see you and they get a sense of who you are. That does more to bring people back than a stock photo of people celebrating because they ran a really good paid ad. But seeing you, hearing your voice, seeing how you interact with somebody else, whatever, is more important to saying, I feel comfortable working with this person or this person I think could help me accomplish my objectives. more so than if you just go generic, generic, generic, but you have all the, the best information out there.

Louise McDonnell:

Brilliant. Yeah. I love it. Okay. Number seven then is outsourced to scale smarter.

Ross Brand:

Okay. So basically the rule of outsourcing, that I've followed Well, first of all, you have to be able to afford to outsource or offload, offload is usually what I use for turning things over to AI and to some extent everybody can do that. but for outsourcing, the thing you never outsource, and this gets back to you is you, you don't outsource, what's your competitive advantage. And the competitive advantage is you're unique. You, your personality, your knowledge, your expertise, the stories that you have, the way you make people feel, you have to still show up as you, but if you're not good at editing, anything you could live with an industry standard level for, because it's not what you're competing on, outsource it if you can afford to, outsource your video editing. Or don't edit video, record in one shot and post it outsource your transcripts, outsource your show notes, outsource, scheduling content in advance, whatever you can do that doesn't Make you stand out versus the next person in your industry. Don't spend time on that. Spend the time that you have, the creative energy that you have, on that which is your competitive advantage. And in the social media landscape, in an audio and video landscape, that's you, the host, the creator, the blogger, the, the personality, the business owner. and that's the one thing your relationship with your audience and with your community that can't be outsourced. So you always have to give people access to you. You always have to show up with something fresh and funny or interesting or informative. but the rest of it Very few people are competing on there's a few people out there who are exceptional video editors and they should never outsource that because It's an advantage their videos pop off the screen because of how well they edit them But 99 percent of the people or 90 percent of the people who make videos online if they could save themselves an hour or two To make other great pieces of content or to follow up and respond to comments in the chat or what have you, that would be a much more valuable use of their time than trying to get the perfect edit on a video.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah. So stay in your zone as genius is what I'm hearing you say. Yes. So spend time in your zone of genius. And if there's things that you don't do well, or that take up too much of your time, or that tire you out so that your genius disappears. And you can't afford to outsource it. So yeah, I have started to outsource a lot of things and I have to say it's really freed me up and I really like it. And actually my mantra this year now is to, to outsource to people that are better than me at those things so that I'm learning, I'm acquiring new skills or my team is acquiring new skills all the time. Love it. So number eight then is measure success by business impact, not vanity metrics.

Ross Brand:

So this one's pretty self-explanatory. Did I, did I make a sale? Has my revenue gone up since I started doing a certain type of content? Not have I gained more followers, not how many people watched, but if I do a live again. A simple example, I do a live stream and I get ten people to watch it, but I put out a call to action to set up, you know, an informational session with me about consulting or whatever, and three people respond and set up sessions, that's a very successful live stream. If I do a live stream and a thousand people watch and not one person even signs up for my email list, I didn't move the ball forward for my business. Yeah, now I may pay off down the line, but again, the way the social algorithms are going, there's no guarantee that because those people showed up today, that tomorrow they're going to be fed my next piece of content. So, think about what you want out of each piece of content and measure that, but vanity metrics. Actually had more value than we gave them credit for in the past. Likes and things like that were an indicator. If your content had, it's not an indicator anymore. It's all about business objectives. It's the way you should measure anything that you do related to your business. It's not what the department. Measures things. It's how you measure the business and whether or not there's a line of sight from what you're doing right into the business results you have. And, the better you can quantify that, the more powerful your work is going to be in terms of meeting your objectives, but also the better you can sell your skills to other people if you can make the case that this is improving their bottom line rather than it's making them popular.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, exactly. And this is one of my hobby horses, as you well know, Ross, is that, like, I'm always telling people in my coaching calls or even my clients. They generate a lot of sales on not necessarily huge following. And I'm always approached by people that are like, you know, 000 followers. And they're like, but I don't know how to monetize it. So like, don't worry about having all these huge amount of followers. Just worry about the business impact. I think that's hugely, hugely important. And the other thing to say, I think about social media in particular is that sometimes. The benefits from social media are more indirect than we think. And so I have an agency as well. So we manage social media accounts for clients. And this is our challenge is that I went regularly. Somebody will say to me, Oh my God, Louise, we have never been busier. Like you're working with them for maybe four or five, six months. And then they go, gosh, we've never been busier. But I don't think it's anything to do with what you're doing. And you're like. All right. So what, what else did you change?

Ross Brand:

Exactly. And, you know, people can, you can force people to measure that how did you find out about us, you know, sign up for our email list and then, schedule an appointment. To, you know, there are ways to met, but mean it's a long game social media. You don't do it thinking you're going to get a return in three weeks. Because you got more followers or you didn't get more followers doesn't mean it isn't impacting your business. Plenty of people watch and don't comment and don't like and don't follow. I, I can tell you at Thanksgiving and different times, my relatives and others know what I'm up to. I've never seen many of them like or follow or comment or anything else, but they're lurking and they know. You know what I mean? So, people know. People may not be, Not everybody wants to be out there and depending on what industry you're in, people sometimes they just use this for entertainment and whatever, but it doesn't mean you're not making an impression in their mind about, Hey, when I need help with my Facebook ads, I'm calling Louise, right? Cause she knows that. So, but I might not need help for six months, so you can't look at it as I watched your video. I didn't. Set up an appointment and, Oh my God, this was a failure, right?

Louise McDonnell:

That's exactly it. Yeah. So measure success that sometimes it's more indirect. And I know like you said, and you're right. You can ask people how they heard about you. But the thing is, if you're really good at your marketing and if you're consistently putting yourself out there after a while, people don't know where they've heard of you. They just know they know you, to bear that in mind as well, because it is important, but I suppose what I do

Ross Brand:

That's the ideal of a successful campaign online. I feel like I know you, I'm not even sure why I just feel like I know you already.

Louise McDonnell:

That, that is so true. So that's what you want. And, and you get that by consistent showing up consistently and being consistently good with your content and consistently good with everything that you're saying. So let's keep going with it. Number nine. Your business is your first and your most important sponsor. Love this.

Ross Brand:

Yep. brand deals come and go, AdSense and different ways people make money from their content. You can do it, but it's not easy. but you can always sell your own products and services. And that's probably if you're In a certain business that's probably something related to that is in your content. And, it's also, even if you want to do brand deals and things, if you're able to capably talk about your business and treat your business in a professional way as a sponsor. Then who isn't going to go? Hey, I'd like Louise to talk about my business. I'm in the social media industry What if she endorsed my business at the beginning of a video or in the middle of a video? In general, most people aren't successful through online because they get big brand deal. It's a smaller number of people who do. Most people are successful because they're able to increase their business. They're able to grow their business, grow their revenue. and so think about that. And treat your own business just like you would treat that sponsor that you can't believe came to you and offered you hundreds of dollars, or thousands of dollars a video, treat your own business that well, from the first show that I ever did, I said, and today's show is brought to you by live stream universe, for all things, live streaming, find us online at live stream universe. com. Okay, any company, any company would like me to be able to say that just as, roll off the tongue, just as effortlessly for them and eventually, you know, companies did come, but you always treat your own business as one of your sponsors. You're having a virtual summit. You get sponsors who pay and you put their logos up, but you put your own company logo up there too. And if you have tiers of sponsors, well, you're investing your time and your energy and your money into this event. You know, my case, Livestream Universe, your case sell on social. media or Louise McDonnell should be. The gold or the platinum tier sponsor for your, event, along with whomever else is willing to pay what it would cost to get that high tier. Right. you know, and if you don't get a sponsor, then it's brought to you by. Louise McDonnell or sell on social or live stream universe or whatever it is, that you're, you go by for your business.

Louise McDonnell:

I just like to say that this show is brought to you by social. media. Did I not do that? You are so right. Treat your own business like your most important sponsor. And then not only are you positioning yourself and you're giving people ideas, but you're also getting the main benefit for your business.

Ross Brand:

Yeah. And it doesn't mean you have to do an infomercial, but just get the name out there and the website. And it's like, Oh, okay. That's she does social media stuff. Okay. I get it. You know, there's plenty of people who are doing interviews about social media and conversations who aren't actually selling social media services, right? Let people know there's a place they can learn more and that's it. And you move on and you, you, you smoothly transition back to your content. You get it in once or twice you could even do, at the end of a podcast for those who listen to the end if you've been wondering what we're doing at sell on social media, we've got two new courses that are coming out next week. You might be interested in them, you can, you know, what have you. but if you keep it short and, and sweet, I think people who are interested in you, and are interested in your content will also be interested in knowing what's available. Product services and courses and different things within that genre.

Louise McDonnell:

Fantastic. And then last but not least, and I love this too, I love them all. So, your social media profile and profiles are your digital portfolio.

Ross Brand:

Yeah, I mean, you don't have to be running campaigns, you don't have to be running ads, you don't have to be churning out content regularly. That said, if you're holding a spot on Twitter with your name. Put your best bio out there. Put a link to your business. Have your current headshot. if you're on Instagram, you can pin three posts to the top. Pin the three that, you know your best photos, or your best, videos about your business, or whatever it is. And, so, when I hear Somebody say Louise does great work in the social media area, what's the first thing I'm going to do? I'm going to Google Louise McDonnell and what's going to come up? I don't know, your LinkedIn, your YouTube, your Twitter, what have you. And I'm going to go check out those sites and I'm not doing a deep dive. I'm taking a quick look. Oh, Louise, okay, she does sell on social. She has, an agency. She also works with individuals or, you know, has groups. And so she does it, you know, on an individual level coaching, but she's on an agency level. Okay. There's a lot of things going on here. She speaks, she knows her stuff. What I'm trying to say is like, you can win in this game without actually having to play it regularly if once in a while you think this is great. I won an award for this. Let me do a post on that and then pin it to the front and people will know. Hey, I got recognized in my industry. here's a testimonial from a client. Maybe I should pin that video. And so. Keeping the impression that your account is current that people know where they can find you, how they can find you, what you offer, what Recognition you've gotten think about that. That's your portfolio. It's your chance to tell your story I also think one other thing on this in an AI era AI is only able to pull from what's existing out there So if you don't tell your story on your major social platforms then they're gonna go looking for other places to find your story and And then it's either going to make up stuff or it's not going to find anything or not going to find what you want. So the more often you put your story out there on these social, major social platforms, that everybody, every Google search and every AI search takes you to, the more you're shaping what people find out about you. and so they're finding out the most important things about you and your business rather than, you know, that you played college hockey or that , you were a cheerleader in fourth grade or, you know, that you once had a parking ticket and we're overdue and getting it or at a court date, you know, they're not finding out things , you're telling your story, you're putting your best foot forward, just like you would in a resume.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, true.

Ross Brand:

You know, or an old fashioned portfolio, you put the best pictures and documents in, somebody flips through and goes, I'd like to work with that person. That's the least you need to do on social media. And that can take you a long way.

Louise McDonnell:

I think more and more what you're finding in particular about business profiles on social media is that like the algorithm, it's harder and harder to get that content out there. So I say to my, a lot of my clients that remember that your social media channels are your portfolio. So, and they become a destination that the people check out. So even if somebody found you through, a Google search, they go to your website, your website tells them who you are and what you do, but your social media tells them who you are and what you're doing right now. And it helps them to create that relationship with you because they can interact with you. It's like a two way conversation. So I think it's really, really important that like, if you have no following and you're running an ad . And so somebody's seeing a piece of content from you for the first time, if they like that content Guarantee the next thing they're going to do is check out your, your, your, your profile. So make sure again, it's optimized and make sure you've got nice content on it because they're going to, they won't do a deep dive, but they will look down through the first few pieces of content. That's why that's so important.

Ross Brand:

And just because I have identified. These principles doesn't mean that I live by all of them, and I know that I'm much better about keeping the ones under my personal name up to date and so forth, but the things that don't matter to you, Generate a lot of traffic like your Facebook business page, you know, and your your LinkedIn business pages i'm not as good about keeping them up to date and really it should just be once a month Or at least there's something I post something new. I post something current Or when I'm posting just schedule it for those pages as well. the cool thing about your Facebook business pages is you can link them to your, Twitter, your, Instagram accounts. So you're getting that content coming through. As well. Yeah. So look, they have been like 10 cornerstone principles.

Louise McDonnell:

I think they're, they're really, really strong. And you're right. Like Ross, I agree with absolutely every single one of them to say, do I do all of them perfectly? Well, I suppose that's the challenges, isn't it? It's to aim to do it. So just a quick recap before we finish up. Build a community from day one. Repurpose your content creatively. Three, leverage AI to streamline workflows. Four, master the rules of the social algorithms. Five, promote others to gain visibility and build relationships. Six, people come back to you. Seven, outsource. to scale smarter. Eight, measure success by business impact, not monetary metrics. Nine, your business is your first and most important sponsor. And 10, your social media profiles are your digital portfolio. Thank you so much, Ross, for sharing all your expertise and for sharing those principles with us. I think this has been an amazing show. I've enjoyed it so much. I've got so much from it myself. I know anyone that's listening in is also going to feel the same. If you enjoyed this show, please give us a five star review on whatever platform you're listening and whether that's YouTube or it's , the podcasting channels, and make sure you check Ross out. Ross, how can people find you?

Ross Brand:

livestream universe.com or they can find me, on substack@rossbrand.substack.com.

Louise McDonnell:

Great. And I know you're also on Instagram.

Ross Brand:

I'm on all the socials. Different Ross Brand one on Instagram. I Ross brand on Twitter, Ross brand on LinkedIn I livestream universe on YouTube. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for supporting the predictions in the book over the years. And, it's always fun talking with you and, I admire your work and how you stay on top of all the trends and all the different ways that people use social media. So thank you for your friendship and for all the support over the years. It's an exciting time to kick off this new year. And, I'm so glad that the podcast is going well, over the past year.

Louise McDonnell:

Well, thanks so much, Ross. Thanks so much again.