Buffer Slack Community’s AMA with Brian Fanzo, Millennial Speaker and Change Evangelist
Hello here, we’re starting our AMA with Brian Fanzo @iSocialFanz Millennial Speaker and Change Evangelist!
Brian Fanzo speaks, consults and evangelises social for any brand open to change and is very knowledgeable in the variety of social media platforms — Periscope, SnapChat, Blab, etc. too. Of course, he is the top person to speak to for live streaming! In fact, he is live steaming this AMA now! (Watch the reply here: https://katch.me/iSocialFanz/v/73c381ae-e6aa-38d4-8676-6b3c06a2022e) Despite being almost everywhere, he is also a great family man and a proud dad of 3 girls!
If you have any questions about social media, live streaming, branding, balancing work and family or more, now’s the time to ask!
Brian, up for introducing yourself more? We will start the AMA after your introduction :)
Everyone, if you see a question that interests you, give it a thumbsup to make it more visible!
Thanks all for having me. EXCITED to be here!
Yes I’m a change evangelist mainly because I have a lot of change in my life and I love helping others embrace change. From 9 Years DoD support in Cyber Security to 4 years professional poker playing to 2 years at a startup in Cloud Computing to being partner in a Social Media Marketing Media Hub and now running my own show at isocialfanz.com.
ASK AWAY!
As a former video marketer, videographer, AV guy (whatever you want to call it) I’m naturally drawn to live streaming, though I’m not that used to being in front of the camera. I know it’s all about finding ways to show you care, but how did you start live streaming, and what steps do you suggest and individuals, or brands take to get in front of the camera and communicating with people? — Matt Aunger
For me, the philosophy I focus on with live stream is THINK LIKE A FAN which means use live stream to tell stories that people can’t get otherwise. The key to Periscope and Meerkat is the engagement and comments. Often times the value of live stream is in the comments more so than the person on video. For brands, it starts by trust and education and baby steps. Don’t force change, rather show them examples of other brands doing this really well.
How do you build a brand online that is just beginning to venture into online marketing? — Jason Rajcok (@JasonDRajcok)
Great brands are great because of great people. When starting out, the key is telling the story. There is nobody better to tell the story than those who are kicking starting it with love and passion.
Key is also to be consistent and focus at the start more on social listening and engagement then social sharing or marketing/social selling calls to action.
Hey there Brian, what was your mission in Cyber Security? — Petr Pinkas
I was to deploy and manage a McAfee security suite on every single DOD laptop on the classified and unclassified networks. We also were in charge of training and training the trainers which grew into me deploying SharePoint and Collaboration solutions to help branches of the military share cyber policies and procedures.
Wow, interesting. I’m in security software business for over 10 years, now trying to persuade everyone to use unique and strong passwords everywhere with using a password manager. From social media POV, how do you think security may be interesting for people? They tend to overlook it somehow. — Petr Pinkas
The problem is still people look at security as an all or nothing solution and it isn’t. Training is important but I have a rule. It’s the 3 T’s:
- Trust
- Training
- Tools
In that order. So if we focused on security implementation, we first have to build trust with the audience then train the audience before we start talking tools. Security tools still scare most.
What aspects of a brands story would you highlight? — Jason Rajcok (@JasonDRajcok)
I focus on the passion and purpose. People don’t care about the WHAT in the sense of the tool until they understand the HOW & WHY. Then they’ll ask for the what if the story resonates with them!
We know you have 3 young daughters. How do you explain your work to them? What do they think about it? — Christin Kardos
Daddy works on computers and helps people tell their story with the world leveraging computers. For me I want to help inspire them to understand that we all have a story and technology doesn’t replace storytelling rather amplifies it to do great things.
My short answer of what I do is often: I connect GREAT people with GREAT people to do GREAT THINGS with or without technology, social media and company culture.
Hi Brian! I work in event marketing and have been considering using live streaming to promote the events. However, not every event is exciting or promotional the whole way through. Do you think that live streaming might have a negative impact on events? — Kristen Scheven (@KristenScheven)
NO but let me explain, live stream with mobile such as Periscope and Meerkat is different than just live streaming every keynote and panel which you can do with these tools but the value is actually in telling stories that they couldn’t elsewhere and often times even the people attending can’t get such as interviewing keynote speakers before they go live, broadcasting the speaker announcements, and previewing interviews with big name attendees can all help with events. I BELIEVE mobile live streaming is the biggest game changer for connecting live events with the digital community they want to sign up for future events!
Hi Brian! Long time no chat :) I’m curious about your creative process (if you have one) — do you have any kind of “go-tos” when it comes to brainstorming new ideas, developing projects, etc? Or do things just tend to come to you? You seem to be involved in a lot of initiatives all the time! — Tia K
Tia great question, I suffer from FOMO in the sense that I chase new shiny objects to then teach others about the new technology but my big creative secret is white boarding on my walls. I like to sketch things out as they happen, build a strategy around it then go live. If i over think or try to be perfect I’ll never go live with the content which then has no value and is a waste.
I know you’re a huge supporter of employee advocacy. What are some of the important metrics that you look at when measuring success of an employee advocacy strategy for a business? What businesses are doing it right (besides IBM of course)? — Chris Mikulin
Love ya man. Employee advocacy IMO is the single greatest investment any brand can make with social media. The key metrics to me are first starting out to understand business goals and objects and current pain points. Often times recruiting, culture growth and value for both employee and brand are where I start. Metrics at the start are mostly vanity in the sense you want to get those already social sharing and celebrating their wins so that you can help those not on social see the value. Then I focus on lead generation and targeted customized sharing for employees. I also love to help brands grow employee personal brands as they are the companies best sales, marketing and recruiting assets and no employee will say no to help with making a better LinkedIn profile!
What is your strategy for brands/companies that are super small or on their own? — Jason Wolf (@JasonGuyWolf)
TIME is the greatest asset of any company but small ones really already max out that time with limited resources and support. For me I like to look at technology and social tools that can fit in my workflow but not add additional steps to what we are already doing. So if you already have a content meeting every week, why not content meeting and strategize on the video stream tool BLAB and then you have content you can use, you get feedback from your audience and you didn’t add any steps or waste any time by making that change!
Brian, love to hear about how you balance work and family! You seem to be flying to many places for keynotes and events and following you on Facebook, I can tell that you are such a great family guy and dad! How do you juggle both? — Alfred Lua
Support is key at home and at work. I don’t believe its balance because balance would mean you cut everything down the middle. I more focus on being 100% in the moment when I’m doing either my work or my home and that way I don’t waste a moment of the time I have. I also try to be transparent on both sides allowing me to not have to juggle where the line is on what I’m sharing, rather I am who I am and I’m lucky to have awesome family and friends that support and help me out. There is no greater thing in my life than being a DAD!
You’ve had a HUGE year this year — absolutely inspiring! What would you say was your highlight so far? And biggest win? — Chris Mikulin
My biggest win was actually nothing to do with me but two people I work with almost daily who I have been lucky to see their awesomeness for well over a year, recently go rewarded with two awesome dream jobs because people were exposed to their awesomeness through a community that we don’t monetize or sponsor. That to me is ROI on spending 1 hour a week every week for 2 years doing a twitter chat.
For me personally the highlight came on stage at the Periscope Summit when I gave a keynote not like any other keynote I had given as I focused on WE > Me and the power of community instead of teaching tools and stuff that I had implemented. On stage was the first time anyone had seen the slides and it was full of things I hadn’t done on stage before. Afterwards and still to this day I’m getting messages about that presentation and have booked a dozen or more speaking gigs thanks to that one amazing opportunity I was given all because of PERISCOPE.
What do you do to help mentor other people who want to get into the same business as you? — Jason Rajcok (@JasonDRajcok)
I don’t believe in competition rather in collaboration to help each other grow. I do mentor a group of people as part of my business to help them tell their story, grow their brand and ultimately by helping them be better it improves the community that I love and support and do business therefore it’s a win-win.
Hey Brian, it’s crazy how your Twitter following grew. I’m hoping to build my Twitter following and engagement too. What’s a good first step to take and how to continue from there? — Alfred Lua
Growing twitter followers has never been harder than right now. The good news is there is a ton of value in every engaged and targeted follower you have join your tribe. The key is listening to where and what your audience is talking about then engaging where they are and providing value. I believe TWITTER CHATS are the single greatest way to grow followers as it is engaged users that share a common purpose and passion.
What is one question that you wished people asked you? — Jason Rajcok (@JasonDRajcok)
Why I wear a hat and talk about my kids, tattoos and life so openly and transparent? Does it lose me business?
That is a good question…would you mind answering them? — Jason Rajcok
I believe there is so much noise today in the world both online and offline that standing out and making sure that you make a difference is difficult. So for me focusing and leveraging the one thing I can GUARANTEE is unique aka ME. It allows me to build a business and a brand that nobody else can copy and makes me stand out from the crowd in my own way in my most comfortable form, my own skin.
Brian, I’ve always marvelled at your ability to work with so many different tools and platforms, adapting quickly, and determining use cases, etc. What I can’t figure out is how you manage to do it all. How do you find time to learn new things, experiment with things, meditate on ideas, and yet communicate with thousands on an ongoing basis? That math fails when I try it, but it could just be how I operate internally. And do you feel that you are missing anything by being as consumed as you are by that which you allow to occupy your time? (I hope that makes sense) It’s a question about balance and about what you wish you had time for. Thanks in advance. — Jim Canto
Saying NO is something I’ve struggled with and is a goal of mine to improve in 2015 because prioritization I’ve learned is impossible if you say yes to everything. With that being said, I focus really hard on doing things that I do best while also knowing that there isn’t a day or twitter chat or meeting or phone call or slack AMA that I can’t learn something new about myself or about others and tools. For me I’m a tech geek and love teaching change so in my free time when my kids and wife are asleep. For fun I go do what I get paid to do which means EMBRACE FOMO and test and tweak so I can educate people to make better discussions who don’t have that time or skill set.
I never knew or was told being a GENERALIST was a thing but now I wear it like a badge. I’m proud to be a generalist in the sense that I don’t have a niche and I don’t care because I care about knowing and doing just about anything at least once!
Failure doesn’t scare me cause I know I’ll never settle for it. But don’t get me wrong I’ve failed many times in 2015 and they have sucked and stung but I’m better because of it.
….and you sleep when? LOL Wow (I love your answer, BTW) I consider myself a generalist as well, which is why I’m very difficult to employ. Keep up the good work, Brian. (even though you spell your name wrong.) ;)
P.S.; I don’t stay up as late as I used to, which is also why I don’t get to experiment as much anymore. That’s when I used to learn the most as well. — Jim Canto
Yes being a generalist is still something many hard to understand its value, manage the skill and embrace the need but WE are together driving that change, but keep at it soon generalist, evangelists and futurists will be a HUGE needed job for all companies big and small.
Okay! I guess I should wrap this up now. We have come to the end of the hour! Thank you so much, Brian, for the amazing AMA session today!! :) — Alfred Lua
THANK you so much for having me! Tell you what for those that missed this live and come in when its over, ASK ME ANYTHING for the rest of the day today and I’ll come back in here and answer throughout the weekend and won’t let any question go unanswered :)
If you want to get better at social media — marketing, management, analytics, and more, sign up here to join us for AMAs and connect with other like-minded folks!
