How to Confidently Go Live on Facebook

Is your lack of confidence on video crushing this powerful route to more sales? This is your chance to promote your business using your authentic voice; the most powerful tool in your toolbox!

Getting in front of people online may not feel natural? All sorts of negative thoughts cram into our heads; we don’t like the way we look, we don’t like the way we sound blah, blah, blah.

The key is to make a few adjustments, whether it is with mindset or just a few external ‘need to know’ tips and tricks.

Firstly, stop apologising! This can really scupper how people see you on camera and may put up a red flag for listeners as to whether you really know what you’re talking about and as a result poke some holes in your credibility as an expert in your field. This can take the form of you physically apologising or verbally apologising which can affect the confidence of those you are speaking to. People will feed off your energy. Indeed some people may even try to emulate it in order to gain confidence for themselves but if you are busy apologising, this will definitely affect how confident the audience will feel about moving forward with you because that emotion will transfer TO THEM!

So what are you guilty of apologising for? The state of your hair? the mess behind you in camera shot? your dog barking? your notifications sounding off? Then the other kind of apology comes from you; that strangled, meek voice that appears in a higher octave from nowhere! Suddenly you don’t sound like you. Do you come from a position of feeling ‘less than’ or imposter syndrome? Are you worried what people will think about you? You’re thinking, “What if I mess up”? “What if I get called out on something I say”? “What if I press record and suddenly my message is out in the world and I’ve no idea how to retrieve it”!!! Self-sabotage is a thing but it doesn’t have to be YOUR thing. No one is waiting for you to fail. Most people have arrived to really listen to how you’re going to solve their problem with your solution and get guidance on how to manoeuvre from where they are to where they want to be.

A few years ago I did an audio project and I was surprised about the reaction to my voice modulation (the ‘pitch’ of my tone). People found my lower register much easier to listen to and say it exuded much more confidence. Try it for yourself. People tend to elevate their pitch to a higher register because they are trying to appear ‘happy’ or ‘welcoming’ or just plain ‘likeable’ when in fact, it comes across as inauthentic and actually presents as nervousness and fear to your listeners.

So what to do?

Work on your voice modulation. Work on becoming more aware of the inflections you use to accentuate points so this presents you as credible and grounded with the knowledge you are imparting. Work on the speed of your delivery – many people who ‘gabble’ on a Live, do not do that in real life. Others wildly flap their arms when they are under stress but don’t normally. Practice and review how you sound and how you look. Then try again until your find your gold stream formula. Ask those around you, who you are most comfortable with, to take a look at a short video you have recorded for honest but loving critique.

The antithesis of this is the overly manicured presentation where the speaker is trying to get every single thing absolutely right. Whilst doing so, they can become robotic in their delivery; another undesirable trait. People buy people first and its important to stay in your centre and sound like you. If you are trying to learn every line word by word this is not going to give the desired effect. Better to use bullet points on the card in your hand or even on a Teleprompter App – but please resist writing out everything word for word.

When we are talking physicality, we need to position ourselves so we are sitting upright and not slouching into our shoulders because this gives a rather deflated, apologetic demeanour to our audience. Become visible and unapologetic for who you are in the online space. Own it.

We also need great lighting that just needs to be simple but effective. The position of the camera needs to be above our eye line as this encourages a more ‘open eyed’ engaging look and of course, we need to check our background – you’ll be surprised what people see things behind you that you are not expecting them to focus on.

Lastly, the truth is that not everyone will love you. Imagine when you were at school and there were those you didn’t gravitate to in the school playground. There was nothing wrong with that, they just weren’t your people. So don’t get hung up over people who don’t run toward you because without doubt there are so many who will.

Having confidence on Facebook Lives is all about finding your rhythm, zoning into your passion and letting your heart do the talking. Don’t think you need to get it perfect, just get it done. Learning this new skill is just like anything else you’ve ever learnt to do in your life. It’s often not as scary as your mind has got you believing it is. Make a conscious decision to get this done. Set your intention that you are a great communicator and that you want to share your wisdom with the world. Step forward with courage and you will be rewarded with pride in your new skill or achievement. Imagine in 12 months time reflecting on a wildly successful business relationship that wouldn’t have happened had you not taken that first step out of the shadows.