Live Better Show, Ep. 7: How Personal Stories Improve Your Live Stream

Tim Sohn is a kind and great person who is not a stranger to struggle. He knows how important it is to find an audience eager to share their experience and listen to others’ stories. Tim runs a successful show Showing up Perspectives on Cancer show. He knows how to build a community and kindly shares his experience with Chad. 

Timestamps for the episode:

3:20 – Hello Tim

6:10 – What made Tim realize that live streaming is a powerful marketing tool that helps build community?

Facebook ads, saying the algorithm is the thing! Go live, and people will see your videos, and all the magical things will happen. 

This is the time when the Tim and Jim show appeared. It was more than three years ago, and since then, a magical community of people has appeared around the show. 

7:40 – Tim’s story 

Fifteen years ago, Tim was diagnosed with leucaemia, and by now, Tim is successfully fighting the disease. For the first time, Tim shared his story in June on Jenny Gold’s live show, Podcast, not Podcast. They discussed living with chronic leucaemia, and Tim felt that’s the most proper time to share his story. 

11:50 – Why do sharing personal stories help to build the community? 

First of all, we are all human beings. Many of us have many connections that we even thought of; in the case with Tim’s, millions of people are somehow affected by cancer. The show helps bring people together, share their stories and meet people who have gone through the same experience. 

Encourage people to share their stories. The community isn’t only about the host’s personality. It is about people and their shared experiences. 

20:32 – How to come up with a story that deserves to be told? 

Just think about your day, things you did, people you’ve met, and conversations you had. There are always some things that unite people, like common interests or tastes. 

23:20 – How to add freshness to stories that have already been told?

Each story can be observed from different perspectives; you can share different time periods, diving into more details and specific moments. 

27:55 – How to find your audience?

It was all about starting a show on the topic that bothered him for Tim. On top of that, social media networks, join the existing communities to find like-minded people, use hashtags related to your topic issues. 

30:27– What kind of content plan can be prepared for a show based on your personal story? 

Pre-show interview. 

It is vital to talk with a guest that you will have in your show. Discuss all the possible topics that you could discuss. Ask if there is something that they don’t want to share. 

Research

If you don’t have enough time or any other kind of obstacle, you can always do research. Study who is the person you will stream with; what interests do they have? If there are some interviews, watch or read them to be prepared. 

41:00 – Are there any unexpected reactions? 

Depending on the niche you are streaming in, you might meet kind and helpful reactions. Show hosts should react adequately. 

Don’t pay too much attention to hateful comments, but each case should be observed on a case-by-case basis. Try to figure out who is behind the comment how it overlaps with the topic. 

Probably your show is something that might help them to overpass the hate. 

47:30 – Is it always necessary to have a story to become a successful streamer? 

If you want to run a successful show, you should be yourself. Show up as a real person is a basis for a show; having a story is just an addition. Stories are just a tool that helps keep people in the topic, a tool that helps build connections.