Richardson continued to emphasize the importance of adaptability and paying attention to what people are saying.
“Listen to what people want and what engages them. Not just the views, but the likes and the actual interactions,” she said. “Then you start to have that confidence of, 'Oh, this is my voice on social.'”
Camera comfort
If Richardson seems comfortable in front of the camera, that's probably because she is. But even she acknowledges that it takes some courage. Not everyone is comfortable picking up the phone, turning on the camera, and pressing the dreaded red button without talking to anyone but themselves. For those who are, Richardson has some advice:
“Just turn your camera on,” Richardson said empathetically. “It all comes back to self-acceptance. Turning your camera on for a video conference is a simple step.”
Here, Richardson expressed the importance of being desensitized to the camera.
“I think the second step is just to experiment. [with] “Recording my voice was really scary,” she says. “It was really scary. I can't tell you how many takes I had to do before I got it right. I wasn't happy with it, but I got it.”
Most people have a hard time seeing themselves in front of the camera at first, and Richardson was no exception. But as she said, there's always a next take!
“First off, this isn't Facebook Live, and we're not broadcasting live national news,” Richardson declared. “So if you don't like it, take it out. That's the beauty of editing – if you mess it up, you can just start again and cut out the bad bits.”