The Key to Making Professional Quality Videos With Ecamm with Katie Fawkes

Are you finding it challenging to overcome the fear of being on camera for your live streams and videos?

In a recent podcast episode, I had an enlightening conversation with Katie Fawkes, Director of Marketing at eCamm, about the importance of conquering this fear and how it can positively impact your video content creation.

Visit Katie Fawkes' social media pages:

The Flow Podcast: https://flow.ecamm.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-anne-fawkes/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EcammLive

00:00:00

Welcome to Rocky Mountain Marketing. I'm your host, Katie Brinkley. Join us as we dive deep with the world's leading digital marketing experts. Every single Tuesday, it's all about giving you the strategies that are working right now directly from those who are making an impact. With my 20 years of experience, I'm here to help you navigate the world of digital marketing.

00:00:20

Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills or transform your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started on today's journey to success. Welcome back to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. Today's podcast. Man, I feel like it's been on the books for years and it's finally happening.

00:00:40

It's always a joy when I get to sit down with somebody that has an amazing name and they do amazing things, too. But the name is definitely great. I'm sitting down with Katie Fawkes, and she is the director of marketing at eCamm. Now, for those of you that have listened to all of the episodes, I recently had Luria on the podcast, and she talked all about using video tools to uplevel your marketing. And she talked about ecamm in the process.

00:01:09

And we didn't talk about it too much. We were talking more about how using video can really amplify your brand and your thought leadership. So if you haven't listened to that episode, go back and listen to it after you're done with this episode. But she talked a lot about this tool called ecamm. And like I said, Katie Fawkes is the director of marketing at eCamm.

00:01:31

And I wanted to bring her in because it's an amazing tool that really allows creators, live streamers, podcasters, content creators, everybody, to reach your goals and grow your business through video and live streaming, and I'm full transparency, I use Riverside for my podcasting, but every time I see someone show up or if I'm on somebody else's podcast that you uses ecamm, I am wowed at the technology. And so Katie is going to be walking us through what ecamm does, why you should check it out, and how you can use ecamm as part of your marketing strategy. So, Katie, thank you so much for joining me on Rocky Mountain marketing today. Oh, my gosh. Such a pleasure.

00:02:14

It's the Katie hour today. It is the Katie hour. Katie squared. And you even spell it the right way, too. I know.

00:02:20

Yeah, we're both good. We're good. Correct spelling. Well. So before we dive into all of the amazing ways that ecamm can help you level up your live streaming and content creation.

00:02:31

I just want to ask, because this girl here, yours truly, I'm a little nervous when it comes to being on camera, and I know that a lot of people do get nervous when it comes to camera, being on camera and, like, all the tools and having to do all these things. What's your background in video? Like, what made you decide to go into this medium? This is a great question because I do a ton of presentations on this now, which still blows my mind because I was the person that the second that a camera was in front of me, I would completely shut down. Like, I mean, you could see me shaking.

00:03:06

Like, aggressively shaking. I would have, like, tears welling in my eyes. And I'm such a perfectionist that, like, the script that I had written would be, like, going through my head and I would choke over my words, and it would inevitably end in tears. And, like, a lot of feelings of complete and total inadequacy. Like, I I have been there, right?

00:03:25

So, so many throughout marketing, everyone's like, we'll record a video of this. And I was like, oh, no, what changed was I. So I been friends for years with these twin brothers that live not too far from me, Ken and Glenn, who are the co founders and creators of ecamm. And at one point, we were having this whole discussion about their business and about how they had never done any kind of marketing, and they were like, you know, we've always just made tools that have sold that they've solved people's problems, and we've never had a need for marketing, but we'd love to hear your perspective on it. And so we started talking about marketing for their company.

00:04:02

And the more that I spent time with them and the more that I started to get to know their customers and what they were doing in the world of live streaming, the more I was like, oh, this is so cool. I would love to help them with this project, love to kind of take on marketing for them. And so I sort of really wanted to be in this space, but I didn't want to be on camera. I wanted to be behind the scenes. I wanted to be sort of, yeah, right?

00:04:27

I'm like, I'll produce and, like, I'll market and tell everyone. But the first project that I took on at the company was all of these incredible content creators and youtubers and influencers who are using eCamm. Like Luria, who you just mentioned, is one of them. Stephanie Garcia is another one. There's just a ton of creative, incredible people.

00:04:46

And so Ken and Glenn were like, they've been reaching out to us, and they really want to do this live streaming series with us where, like, we bring them on and they talk through their experiences, but we need someone to host it. Will you start with that as a marketing project? And I was like, oh, okay, I can do that. So don't remember this in the job description, but. Exactly.

00:05:08

So I jumped in, and I kid you not, I have the screenshots to prove it. Ten episodes of this show, meet the pros. Ten. Before I was the co host, I talked my way into, like, Ken hosting and Glenn hosting and other team members hosting. I was like, I'll produce it, but I will say that, that forcing myself to do it because I really wanted the job and I really loved the people, and I really loved the technology, was the best decision that I ever made.

00:05:35

Doing it live was the best decision I ever made because it didn't give me time to go in my head and go through the script over and over again. I just had to be on, and I just had to force myself past the tripping over words, through the shakiness and the choking up in my throat and have conversations with people and just be like, you know what? I'm just gonna. Like, my eyes are open, but I'm gonna pretend I'm closing my eyes and I'm just listening to someone else's voice. I'm not gonna overthink it.

00:06:04

I'm not gonna worry about the outcome on the other side. And it took, I mean, probably, you know, a good ten or 15 times of doing it before I started to get a little bit more comfortable. Now it's, you know, second nature for me, but it was the live streaming part of it that made the video recording part of it easier for me. Like, there's something about the fact that it's live. If you make a mistake, that's too bad, you just keep going with it.

00:06:30

And people are a lot more understanding than we all think they are. They just want. They want you. They want the content, the experience. They want to spend time with people who are giving them something of value.

00:06:42

And that was a huge turning point for me. And if, you know, five years later now, I still kind of laugh at that, because ten times, ten weeks of me being like, oh, it would be great if you hosted other person instead of me because it's scary. It's super scary. Well, and I think that a lot of times, I love the fact that you brought in the fact that it was live, and you, you were a perfectionist you were. I mean, not that you're not a perfectionist now, but I think that that's one of the biggest hurdles for so many of us from going live or producing that podcast or, you know, just putting out that short form video is that we think it needs to be perfect.

00:07:21

Yeah, I am notorious for this. My reels, I've really cut back from my presence on Instagram because I just have a hard time getting to the point. As you know, with short form video, you got to get to the point quickly and make it entertaining. And I have a hard time doing that. And so I was like, well, I'm just cutting back.

00:07:38

I can't do it. And I'm perfectionist with all of these videos. I'm like, oh, it doesn't look right. Oh, my face looks weird. But with live video, it builds that authenticity factor with your audience.

00:07:49

And, oh, look, there's Katie. Yep, I know her. You know, I know, like and trust her. And it allows you to really just kind of get over the fact that, yeah, you are going to make mistakes. People are going to see it and, oh, well, none of us are perfect.

00:08:03

Yeah, it gives you that immediate reassurance and immediate feedback as well. So what really made a difference for me was, you know, in my head, I'm looking at the camera and I'm like, everything I'm saying is wrong. Why did I say that? I wish I could go back and edit that. Like, I'm just, I'm not even listening the way I should be because I'm just panicking in my head.

00:08:20

But you'd see these comments coming through where people were like, oh, awesome point. Like, you know, thanks for, thanks for bringing up this important conversation, Katie, you're like. And you're like, oh, that's it, right? No, but Katie, that is such a good point because when you're in the business, there's certain things that seem like second nature and you're not even really thinking about that is going to change someone's business. That's going to change someone's workflow.

00:08:46

And it's the first time that they're hearing that. And so I really think that it's so true. A lot of times we're getting caught up in our own perfectionism to hinder helping others and in their own professional journey. And I think that, too, with live streaming, going live, like, just going on video is just one part of the battle. And I think that the next part that people get really caught up in is the technology they think I need to have this professional, you know, like, studio or it's gonna.

00:09:19

I need to learn how to do film editing and garageband and all of these things to just go live. And that's where ecamm does come in. And just for the record, I'm not an affiliate with ecamm. You know, like, I just think we're here in Riverside right now, and we're recording in Riverside. But this is why I.

00:09:36

Like I said at the beginning in the intro, I just love it whenever I go on someone else's show that does use ecamm, because it. It looks like I'm going on, like, national tv. Like, it looks so cool and so professional. And I think that some people are like, oh, wait, there has to be a huge learning curve for using tech that looks this good. Nope.

00:09:59

And the. The secret, and I think the magic in a tool like ecamm is that because it started as a live streaming tool. So certainly it can help you live stream and you can multi stream. You can kind of do all of that. It has this live to tape structure and format that actually makes creating whatever kind of video significantly easier, because if you're used to, let's say, creating PowerPoint presentations, right.

00:10:26

We've all done this at some point in our lives. You have, you know, each of your different slides that you set up, right? So it's like, this is slide one. That's like my welcome, and then this is slide two. That is my whatever it is that you're building.

00:10:36

Right. Ecamm is laid out almost the same way. So we have what are called scenes, which are like slides that allow you to think through and plan out what you want your show, your video, your presentation to look like. So you do a lot of the work upfront so that when you're recording the video or live streaming the video, you are literally just going from one scene to the next. And so it looks, as you said, like a television level broadcast, but it's remarkably easy.

00:11:03

It's all drag and drop to pull those things in. It's just because you're doing it in that live to tape format. It means that you're adding the graphics in as you're recording, you're adding the video clips in, you're sharing your screen, you're bringing on guests, you're doing all these things as you're recording or you're live streaming, so that ideally, you don't need to do any editing on the other side. You know, you've done all the content. You have those visual triggers kind of reminding you like what's next?

00:11:27

You know, you're changing it and you're like, okay, now we're moving into talking about da da da, you know, next scene, you're going into the next thing. So if you can change your kind of mindset, even if you're not live streaming to producing it as if it was live, you will, I think, create much better content and you'll help overcome that perfectionism. And hopefully you're also really limiting down all of those kind of fears and costs and time that you'd be spending really overthinking the editing and post production part of it as well. Well, and I think that too, going live. So I've been trying to do more master classes and like webinars.

00:12:05

And I think that if you're using a tool like ecamm, it just levels up the whole game as opposed to just having your little zoom or loom thumbnail in the corner. So for those who are, maybe they're developing their first slO, or maybe they're starting to do more master classes or webinars, or maybe they want to create their first course or update a course. How could using a tool like ecamm help them for more of a structured workflow, but not necessarily live streaming? They're going to record this, but more of that structured workflow. Yeah.

00:12:37

So again, you would likely build it out in advance. So using our scenes, we also have profiles. So that allows you to, like, save a project in eCamm. So you could have one that's like, for your webinars, you could have one that's for your live show. You could have one that's for your Instagram reels.

00:12:54

Right. And it lets you build it out and save all of your presets so that when you sit down and do your webinar, everything is there and you're literally just, you're kind of clicking next, next as you flow through. And as you were saying, it allows you to do things that you don't have the ability to do in some of these other tools. For example, we have a full zoom integration. So if you're using Zoom.

00:13:14

Let's talk about that. Yeah, so let's talk about that because I know a lot of creators are still using Zoom for their podcast or for recording. Yeah. So I mean, let's talk about that latest integration that you guys just came out with. Yes, I mean, we know, you know, Zoom is best in class when it comes to video communications, webinars, presentations, all of these kind of video connection points.

00:13:35

Right. But there are still limits in what you can do from a production standpoint within zoom, right? So it's not all that easy to share your screen. Like when you do, you become really tiny in the bottom corner, or if you wanted to be able to roll a video clip, or you wanted to be able to add your name along the bottom or your logo or some of these graphics, right? You only have a couple of different options of what you can do, and they're pretty limiting as far as creating an engaging experience goes.

00:14:03

So ecamm will allow you to use everything that you put within ecamm will automatically transfer over as your camera in zoom. So if you drag and drop in a GIF or a video clip or you want to add some text into the screen, you can do all that in minutes in eCamm. And that automatically will show up in zoom as your camera. And any audio or sound effects or music or video files will transfer automatically over into zoom. So it just allows you to really create a much more dynamic, engaging experience with your membership, with your attendees, with your even if you're going it through Zoom and then live streaming it out, it just gives you a ton more control and as you said, allows you to really level up your experience, right?

00:14:48

So it's not, it's not what everyone else is used to seeing. You're able to stand out with your brand colors, with your logos, with all of those assets and things that you've created over the years to really bring your message to life. And now for just a quick break. You've heard me talk about some of my favorite social media tools on the show, and one of them is a tool called Metricool. Metricool allows you to plan, analyze, and grow your digital presence all in one place, from websites to LinkedIn to YouTube.

00:15:19

You can track everything that you're doing online and see just what's working and what isn't. Check out Metricool today at Katiebrinkley Live. Cool. Just a note. If you use the links I provide, I may receive compensation.

00:15:33

You know as well as I do that life can get pretty hectic sometimes. It happens to all of us. That's why I'm offering you a simple weekly reminder so you don't miss out on any of Next Step Social Communications episodes. If you're up for exclusive tips, juicy. Details, and some inspiring quotes to brighten your day, just sign up for the free email newsletter.

00:15:55

All you have to do is head over to Katiebrinkley.com podcastnewsletter or find the link in the show notes all right. Let'S get back to the show. So if someone's listening to this and they're like, this sounds really cool, but it still sounds really complicated. What if I just want to have someone produce it for me using ecamm? Like, could I have, like, my EA set everything up and then all I have to do is press a button?

00:16:18

Or can I just show up and talk? And I can have a producer in there that just changes slides. Is it capable for helping in that regard? Yeah, absolutely. So we have a community of thousands who are, at this point, pretty, pretty savvy in the world that he can.

00:16:34

So you could certainly hire a producer from anyone within our community. For anyone that watched Luria's episode on YouTube, you saw her zipping in and out of stuff. And I was like, man, I feel like you're producing a show here. This looks amazing. You know, do my screen, too.

00:16:49

Yeah. Yeah. So you can. You can definitely either learn yourself to be a producer. You can have a team member produce everything for you, or.

00:16:58

Yeah, or you can, you know, you could hire someone within our community to be able to do that. It is. It is really nice to be able to sort of, you know, we joke that with ecamm. It's. It's sort of like this always on kind of sidekick.

00:17:09

So, you know, when you get, when you get that level of good at it, it's always fun when you jump into someone else's zoom and you're like, oh, you know, I can share that for you, or I can take, you have the ability to do a lot more than anyone else. And so you can, you can really bring that with you into whether it's a podcast interview or into, you know, a webinar, a session, or whatever it is that you're doing, it just gives you a lot of flexibility there. It does. I mean, on the point of, you know, how hard is it? It is more difficult than, you know, than like a streamyard or a riverside or one of these tools that are pretty, like, focused and have a lot of built in templates and kind of a way of doing things.

00:17:47

Ecamm is a little bit more of an open book, and there's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot you can do within it. And so certainly you can make it as simple and focus as you want, or you can make it as complex and complicated as you want. We have people who are using it regularly to record their podcast, for example. And so they have it really kind of simple and built out the way that works for them.

00:18:06

And then we have people who are running these huge, as you said, television quality productions with, like, thousands of attendees that are coming in through Zoom, and then they're piping it out across all these different social channels. But all of that is possible within ecamm. And so the learning curve is really dependent on what it is you want to accomplish and how complicated you want to make it, really. I mean, as far as things go. Well, Katie, you keep talking about your ecamm community, so you do your creator camp.

00:18:37

It's actually happening right now. Right. So talk to us a little bit about that and then who it's for, because obviously, listeners can't come this year. But just like yours truly, I've heard everyone I talk to, like Jeff C. Luria, like all of my friends in the digital marketing world, are going to this.

00:18:53

So talk to us a little bit about this ecamm camp that you guys have going on. Sure. So if you don't know us well, we have an incredible community of creators and podcasters and video professionals that we affectionately call the ecamm fam. This is an open community, so you do not have to be using ecamm to be part of the fam and hanging out with us. We have a Facebook group and a discord where people hang out and help support each other and give each other ideas and inspiration and practice and play.

00:19:18

And we do a lot of free workshops and trainings and all kinds of programs on all topics within the world of video that are geared towards this particular audience who are our people, but also open and available to everyone. And so creator camp was really born of that idea that we are a community first company. We are here to help support creators. We really want to be able to kind of be the tool and the sidekick that makes this entire experience easier and more professional and more customizable. And so creator camp is this event that's unlike anything I've seen, at least where we have about 100 people, sometimes we go a little bit higher.

00:19:59

This year is a little bit higher than 100. We split everyone up into five groups that we call cabins, camp cabins, and we have counselors who are in charge of each. So Luria and Jeff have been counselors and counselors. This year, we run each cabin through a series, a circuit of five hands on workshops through the session, and then we have a ton of kind of extra activities that happen, but it's really collaborative. It's a little competitive.

00:20:27

There's an awards ceremony at the end, but it's really meant to be this, like, very collaborative, hands on experience where you not only get to do all of the things you have questions about, but work through the entire video process together, and you get the opportunity to really get to spend time with people that you might not otherwise have access to. Right? So, like, people like Luria, you might see her talking on a stage, but you would never necessarily have the time or maybe the courage to go up and talk to her. You have people who are brand new, who offer an amazing perspective to people who have been doing it for a long time, and then you have people from all different industries and backgrounds. So, you know, what I learned from, like, a lawyer who's using video is going to be really different than what I learned from a podcaster or a YouTuber, et cetera.

00:21:14

So it really creates these mentorship groups as well that live on long past the end of the last day of camp. So it's been a really special event. I'm so excited for this year. Even better now. I won't say bigger next year because I do like to keep it small and intentional, but somewhat bigger.

00:21:30

I love the summer camp, like, kind of feel that you with counselors and everything, that's really awesome. And like I said, I keep hearing people talk about it, so I'm like, man, I want to go. Yeah, come. So it seems like it's gonna be an amazing event. And you were talking.

00:21:44

We've talked a lot about live streaming, and I know a lot of creators are probably like, okay, so I was live streaming to my Facebook group. Yep. What are your recommendations for people that are like, can I use ecamm if I wanted to live stream to my Facebook group? Yeah, it's a really great question. So if you have a Facebook group and you've been kind of active in this space, you'll notice that over the last year, Facebook has made a ton of updates to groups.

00:22:09

And unfortunately, one of them is that they've really, really, really restricted down what's possible in the world of live streaming into groups. I think a little bit is control. I think a little bit is really trying to, in an election year, make sure that they're controlling privacy and a lot of kind of who has access to what. So it's probably a good thing from Facebook standpoint, it's not a great thing for people who have been using tools like ecamm or Streamyard or any of these other tools into these groups. What I will say is that if you've got a group that is active and they're used to spending time with you in a video way, whether that's live streaming or you've been sharing a lot of videos into the group, letting them know where they can do that in the same kind of engaging way is probably the best path to move forward with.

00:23:00

So instead of trying to follow all of Facebook's rules and restrictions and trying to get it to work with Facebook, we've seen a lot of people have more success doing something like setting up a YouTube channel and just sharing the YouTube live stream, scheduled events into the Facebook group and training your audience that if they want to engage with you and spend time with you, they should come over to your YouTube channel. YouTube spends a lot of time really making sure that your videos are searchable. They really have done a great job with creating an engaging, wonderful experience for people in the live chat. So it's probably better than trying to force it with Facebook. Even though I totally get that it's a big change for people, it's hard to kind of make some of those adjustments.

00:23:45

Edie, you've talked a lot about your community with Facebook. You said, we have a Facebook group, we have a discord. And I don't know if people really picked up on the fact that you said, we have a discord. And I think that this is your opportunity, like you were saying, train them to watch on YouTube. Own your space.

00:24:01

Yeah, own your space. I mean, you have the opportunity to create your own membership hub or your own community hub and discord. Yeah, it was real popular during the NFT craze. And, you know, we're just in a little bit of a bear market right now. So not that many people are hearing about discord again, but that was a really great space where you could really create a lot of different channels and create community.

00:24:26

So be thinking about ways that you can train your audience to leave social media and really become that tight knit community that you could have a summer camp with, or that you could, and I say summer camp, it's October, but I mean, you know, that summer camp feel with. And that will say, okay, I'm willing to not just stumble across your information as Mark Zuckerberg gives it to me. I'm willing to actively seek out the information that you can provide me in the community that you've built there. For me, Facebook groups, I mean, the reality is that they're, they are free, they're easy, they are like, where people are and are comfortable with, but they're incredibly difficult to use to actually share resources with. So, like those Facebook groups, yeah, people are seeing your content ad hoc as they're like scrolling through Facebook, but, you know, you're losing some of that intentionality.

00:25:18

You're losing control over what you're showing them. And when you don't know if they're seeing all of your posts or content, it's hard to curate and sort content there. It's hard to have individual conversations. So it, in addition to just not owning the space, it's also just not really designed for membership and true community in the way that a tool like Discord or circle or mighty networks or any of these other platforms are set up. And, you know, I think it's worth at least looking into.

00:25:44

At ecamm, we've kept both. We have a huge community on Facebook. People, you know, like to be able to be there, but for live streams, we do everything on YouTube and we have that discord space that is there if people want a better experience and be able to find the content, connect with us, have like, you know, discussions, the way voice channels set up for each of our spaces. So it is a better experience, I think, for people, it's hard to make those changes right when you're used to something for real. Yeah.

00:26:09

Well, Katie, this has been an awesome conversation. And I think that, you know, with live streaming, with using video, for those of you who are podcasters or thinking about launching a podcast, turn on the camera. For the first hundred episodes of my show, I had the camera on and then immediately after hitting record, I would then drop the video section into the trash and just keep the audio. Use that, you know, that video and there's ways for you to uplevel the experience for your users, for your audience. And ecamm is an incredible tool to do that.

00:26:43

So, Katie, if people want to check out eCamm, join the community, join the discord. Look at the creator camp for next year because this year is already sold out and happening. What's the best way for them to do all the things well? So you can find us in on virtually every channel if you search ecamm. Ecamm, the best place to connect with any of kind of our community, our events is to go to ecamm.com community.

00:27:07

That's where, like, all of our shows are. And it links through to our Facebook group and to our discord. We'd love to hang out with you, even if you're just shadowing and kind of hanging in the shadows for a little bit and seeing what's up. It's great to get ideas, I think, to be able to see what other people are doing to that's exactly it. Like, you can get ideas, you can learn a little bit more about this tool and how it can be used all of the different ways.

00:27:29

Because I mean, every time, like I go on Jeff sees social media live show, I'm like, man, I feel like I'm like on the news. Like it's so cool. And there's people that know the tool inside and out and are able to create this sort of experience. But like you said, he just has different scenes and he just is updating those scenes every week. And I once you learn the flow, it really is going to level up your entire user experience for your show.

00:27:54

So ecamm.com community, check out the discord. Check out the creator camp. Join in. Check out Katie. Katie, you have a couple podcasts too.

00:28:04

So if you fellow podcasters want another show to listen to, Katie, what are your shows? So if you want to learn all about video podcasting and why you should be choosing video to work alongside your podcast, you can check us out at the flow flow dot. Ecamm.com is our weekly podcast. And then if you're a total movie geek, I have an eighties and nineties movie podcast called the VHS Club that you can find on YouTube and also wherever you listen to the podcast. Amazing.

00:28:29

Well, Katie, thank you so much for joining me on Rocky Mountain Marketing today. This has been awesome connecting. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. I hope you're leaving with valuable insights and the inspiration to lead your market. If you've enjoyed our time together and found today's podcast episode useful, I have a small favor to ask of you.

00:28:50

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00:29:16

And be sure to pick up your copy of my new book, the Next Step Social [email protected]. book thanks again for tuning in. I'm Katie Brinkley and I can't wait to dive into more strategies and stories with you on the next episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. Let's keep on taking your marketing to new heights.