The world of content creation is evolving at a dizzying pace, with artificial intelligence (AI) and live streaming leading the charge. How do creators adapt to these sweeping changes while staying ahead of the curve? In an exclusive interview, I sat down with Ross Brand, an expert in digital media and live streaming, to unpack vital insights and strategies for thriving in the content creation landscape of 2025. Whether you’re a seasoned content creator or just starting, this blog captures the wisdom shared and offers actionable steps to take your game to the next level.

I was one of the authors in his new book, 100 Livestreaming & Digital Media Predictions.

Ross is well-known in the digital media and Livestreaming space. Now he is writing on Substack and helping many that way as well.

Check out the video here:

https://youtu.be/OpwNEZTZKNY

https://youtu.be/OpwNEZTZKNY

The Role of AI in Content Creation ?

According to Ross Brand, AI has become an indispensable part of content creation. “AI is a collaborator,” he emphasizes, explaining how creators can delegate repetitive tasks, like generating show notes or brainstorming YouTube video titles, to AI. However, he advises against completely handing over creative control. Instead, creators should focus on their unique strengths—whether that’s hosting, storytelling, or building relationships—and use AI as a tool to enhance their efficiency.

Ross offers a golden rule: don’t “copy and paste.” Instead, “copy, paste, and customize.” Put your unique spin on the content AI helps you generate. As Terry Brock aptly puts it, “You’ve got to ‘Terry-ize’ it, or ‘Ross-ize’ it!” The takeaway? Use AI to save time but keep your creative voice authentic and personal.

Adapting to Changing Social Media Algorithms ?

One of the most significant shifts in the digital landscape is the way social media platforms now prioritize content. Gone are the days when creators could rely solely on building a following to ensure visibility. Ross explains that platforms like TikTok have reshaped the game by focusing less on followers and more on finding an audience for each specific piece of content.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Short-form, engaging content is king. Focus on creating content that captures attention quickly.
• Performance in the first few hours is critical. Platforms test your content to determine audience interest.
• The playing field is level. Even creators with no followers can go viral if their content resonates.

“It’s not about feeding your content to your followers,” Ross notes. “It’s about finding an audience for that specific video, blog post, or photo.” This shift presents an incredible opportunity for independent creators to compete with larger brands and accounts. However, it also requires a deeper understanding of audience preferences and a commitment to higher-quality content.

How to Discover What Your Audience Wants ?

Understanding your audience’s needs is crucial in today’s digital landscape. Ross suggests leveraging AI to identify trending topics and what people are searching for within your niche. However, he cautions against blindly following trends—your content needs to be a balance between what excites you and what interests your audience.

Ross also highlights the importance of crafting attention-grabbing headlines, hooks, and titles to reel in viewers. “Are you hooking them in the first few seconds?” Ross asks. AI can assist in generating ideas, but the creative execution is up to you.

The Power of Live Streaming ?

Live streaming remains a powerful tool for content creators, and Ross Brand has earned his reputation as an authority in this space. Why is it so effective? Ross explains, “If I go live for a half-hour, I’ve got a half-hour of content.” This raw, authentic format allows creators to engage directly with their audience while also creating repurposable content.

Here’s how to get started with live streaming:

• Start simple: Use your smartphone or a basic setup with an external webcam and microphone.
• Practice on platforms like Facebook before moving to business pages or LinkedIn.
• Focus on your passion: Talk about something you care deeply about to build comfort and confidence.

Ross also emphasizes the versatility of live streaming. From a single live session, you can generate video clips, podcasts, blog posts, and social media content. With AI, you can streamline transcription, content repurposing, and even generate newsletter outlines. The possibilities are endless!

Final Words of Wisdom

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Ross Brand’s insights provide a roadmap for creators navigating these changes. Whether it’s using AI as a collaborative tool, adapting to new social media algorithms, or diving into live streaming, the key is to embrace innovation while staying true to your unique voice.

So, what’s your next step? Start experimenting! Try a live stream, explore AI tools for content creation, or focus on creating short-form videos that resonate with your audience. As Ross says, “The bar has risen, but so have the opportunities.”

Have you tried integrating AI or live streaming into your content strategy? What challenges or successes have you experienced? Share your thoughts in the comments below—we’d love to hear your story!

Here is a Spanish language summary for your convenience:

En este episodio de “Stark Raving Entrepreneurs,” Terry Brock entrevista a Ross Brand, un experto en transmisión en vivo y medios digitales. Ross acaba de compilar un libro titulado “100 Predicciones de Transmisión en Vivo y Medios Digitales Volumen 5”, que incluye contribuciones de 102 autores, incluido Terry.

Durante la entrevista, Ross y Terry discuten cómo la inteligencia artificial (IA) está transformando la creación de contenido. Ross enfatiza que la IA es un colaborador esencial que puede ayudar a los creadores de contenido con tareas como crear títulos y notas del programa, permitiéndoles centrarse en sus fortalezas principales.

También abordan la evolución de las redes sociales, destacando que las plataformas están priorizando contenido corto y entretenido sobre la construcción de una comunidad de seguidores. Esto nivela el campo de juego para los creadores de contenido si saben aprovechar esta tendencia.

Ross ofrece consejos prácticos para empezar en la transmisión en vivo, sugiriendo que los principiantes pueden usar sus teléfonos inteligentes y herramientas basadas en navegadores. Asimismo, recalca la importancia de encontrar un equilibrio entre la pasión personal y lo que el público desea ver.

Finalmente, Ross menciona el potencial de la IA para mejorar la eficiencia del contenido y sugiere el uso de herramientas como Substack para los creadores de contenido.

Este episodio ofrece una visión detallada sobre cómo adaptarse y aprovechar las tecnologías emergentes en la creación de contenidos digitales.

Here is the English language transcript:

Terry Brock [00:00:00]:
We know that our world is changing dramatically because of AI. And how do you, as a content creator, adapt to that? Well, to find out about that, I had a treat that I wanna share with you, an interview I had with Ross Brand himself. Himself. He is well known for talking about live streaming and AI, how this is working together. And he gave us some real gems. He just finished compiling a book of 100 predictions on live streaming and how AI is working in that. I wrote one of the chapters. Honored to do that.

Terry Brock [00:00:30]:
And we talked about all that in this interview. So this is one you wanna grab that pen and paper or your note taking device of choice and take some notes on this as you hear somebody who knows what he’s talking about that can help you enormously in this. And stay through through all the way to the end because that’s where you get a chance to see Gina taking care of things. Gina Carr, my partner working with us on this and how she is putting it together as well. So I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Leave a note of what you think of this interview, the kind of points that he made and what we did, and stand by to learn a lot. I’ll look forward to hearing from you. 2025 is bringing about a lot of changes in social media, in video, in live streaming, and, oh, it can be overwhelming.

Terry Brock [00:01:13]:
You know what I’m talking about. But there’s ways you can get ahead. I got a little secret. I’m gonna share with you what I’ve been doing. I’ve been reading a book lately that I had the opportunity to contribute to, one of 102 authors talking about what’s going on, the predictions that are being there for live streaming itself. And I tell you what, I got a special treat for you right now because the person who put that together is a legend in the field of social media and also with digital media, live streaming. He knows his stuff. His name is Ross Brand.

Terry Brock [00:01:42]:
He’s joining us now. Ross, thanks for being here with us.

Ross Brand [00:01:45]:
Thanks for having me, Terry, and thanks for talking about the book.

Terry Brock [00:01:47]:
Oh, yeah. Well, this book is great. I mean, it’s not just as always a book to see, but and because I’m in it. But, seriously, just this morning and last morning, I’ve been reading a couple of chapters each time. They’re that’s the nice thing about it also. They’re very short chapters. Maybe 1, 2, 3, 4 pages or so, and I get a lot of good information. But I wanted to, talk with you from a big picture point of view, from 30,000 feet.

Terry Brock [00:02:08]:
What do you see happening in the world of digital media, streaming, those kind of things? And before we go any farther, what’s the official name of the book?

Ross Brand [00:02:16]:
The official title is 100 live streaming and digital media predictions volume 5. Good. It’s actually the 10th year, the 10th anniversary of the predictions. They started the 1st 5 years as blogs focused on people in the industry, and then with the pandemic and everybody working remotely and using remote audio and video tools, we published as a book. So the last 5 have been in in book version. But Under live streaming, digital and digital media predictions volume 5.

Terry Brock [00:02:46]:
Okay. It’s good. And the thing I like about it, it’s real practical. This is something that we can use in our business, those of us who are content creators, and we can see what’s going on. So we’re gonna have you ask you, get your crystal ball out there. Make sure the batteries are working on it now. Rub it real well. And based on what you saw in the book, not that you’ve memorized every chapter.

Terry Brock [00:03:04]:
No. No. No. But just just the general theme that you’re seeing. What is working now in 2025 and will be working, and what isn’t working that we thought was work or that did work before, and how the it’s changed?

Ross Brand [00:03:16]:
Well, I think AI is a huge part of of everything that we’re doing now. And so, if you look at every prediction, I wouldn’t call it an AI prediction, but I would call it a prediction where AI seeps in somewhere to it.

Terry Brock [00:03:31]:
So Yeah. It’s about in everything we do right now.

Ross Brand [00:03:34]:
Right. And so how does my industry how does my if you’re a content creator, if you’re an online entrepreneur, how in my niche can I employ AI to my advantage, and what are the steps that I need to be aware of that I don’t trip over or hurt my business? So how do you use AI? And I would say if there’s a consensus opinion, it’s AI is a collaborator. It’s a a it’s somebody to offload some of your busy work to, but you never take the thing that you’re the best at. If you’re the best at hosting shows, you that’s your strength, that’s what you’re competing on, that’s what people come to you for, then that you do. But, yeah, you put AI to work to do the show notes and and, you know, help you come up with titles for the YouTube video.

Terry Brock [00:04:25]:
I like what you I like what you’re saying on that because that goes along with what I often say is you need to not copy and paste. Not at all. But what you do is you copy, paste, and customize, put in your own voice. You want to as I say, you eyes it. So you would Ross eyes it. Gina would Gina eyes it. I like to Terry eyes it. So it sounds kinda cool that way.

Terry Brock [00:04:44]:
Terry ize it. K. So let me get specific here. What specifics do you see for content creators that we need to be aware of with the changing environment, with AI making such a big impact?

Ross Brand [00:04:54]:
Well, I think we have to understand how the algorithms on social media are changing. This is a big difference from the way things used to be done, and the way we used to work was I wanna build an audience. I wanna build a community. I’m gonna put out content. I’m gonna build a following, and then the social media platforms will show that content to my followers.

Terry Brock [00:05:16]:
Yeah. It’s a great idea. So that doesn’t work anymore?

Ross Brand [00:05:19]:
No. It it TikTok has changed the game, and this is not an endorsement nor is it a criticism of Tik Tok. This is an evaluation of reality. Every platform noticed what Tik Tok was doing, and many of them said, let’s gobble up some of the features for ourselves, which put a value on short form entertaining content versus social, necessarily social first content. But then it’s also not about feeding your con the content to your followers. It’s finding an audience for that specific video, that short clip, that short photo, that, you know, that photo, that brief blog post, whatever it is, it’s it’s where is the audience for this? How do we get this to go viral? Which means only a small portion of the people who are following you may get that in their feed, and it also matters how you do in the first several hours after you put a post out because that testing’s going on, and it’s looking for signals that this has an audience or it doesn’t. It it’s neither for or against you. It’s trying to find, is this going to keep people on the platform? Are they gonna be interested in this or not?

Terry Brock [00:06:31]:
Yeah. Actually, Ross, what you were saying there really makes a lot of sense. We’ve gotta focus on the audience. It’s not just you know, although I put out some really dandy good videos, so I thought they were great and everything. And both people that saw it really enjoyed it, you know, that kind of thing. But what you’re saying, I think, is so important.

Ross Brand [00:06:46]:
It’s a it’s a playing field leveler, though. Here here’s the good thing. If you have no followers and you’re doing your first video, if you do something that appeals to an audience, that can take off. Even the biggest accounts, you’ll notice one day they get thousands and thousands of views or hundreds of thousands, and then the next day they’ll put out in a video and it’ll have 5,000 views or 3,000 views or hundreds of views, and and that’s because it’s not based on the follower count anymore, which is a way that the independent creator could take advantage of it. But it also requires upping the level of the quality and understanding, as you said, what the audience wants.

Terry Brock [00:07:28]:
Okay. Let’s get real nitty gritty here. Easy. Yeah. You are absolutely right. So here for those of you watching this, you wanna get your pen and paper ready if you don’t have it already or your note taking device of choice. And I’m gonna ask Ross, okay. What do we do so that we can make sure we appeal to that? Or how do we find out what the audience wants? I might think, well, they wanna know about blue widgets, and the audience is going, we don’t care about that anymore.

Terry Brock [00:07:51]:
We want this other thing. How do we find that out in AI, wink, wink, wink, might play a role in that? What do you think?

Ross Brand [00:07:57]:
Well, certainly, you can ask AI what people are searching for, what people are interested in within your niche. You can look at other content you’ve put out and see what resonates or not, and it doesn’t mean that you have to follow that all the time because you’re a creator, and you wanna do things that mean something to you, but you’ve gotta find that sweet spot where there’s a mix between what your passion is and what you enjoy creating, and what an audience is looking for. And then it’s about how you shape your content. Are you hooking them in the first few seconds? Are you hooking them with the first line? Are you writing a good headline or a good title to your blog post or your story? And those are things that AI can help you with without taking away from the story that you wrote. It’s still you. For instance, I do the first version of everything generally either live or live to tape style, so I’ve created the content myself, but then when I put a blog post together or I repurpose it, then I’m looking at how AI can help me do that quicker and do that, maybe more effectively. Because, you know, if you are a solopreneur or small business owner who’s creating content, you are wearing so many different hats that nobody who worked in television or radio or movies ever had to wear before or newspapers. You know, you write the article.

Ross Brand [00:09:21]:
There’s somebody else that it’s it. You have a headline writer. TV, you’ve got a whole team of people getting you ready. But if you’re doing this online, this is an adjunct to your business. You’re not putting a whole media team together unless you have a really big company, and even there, it’s it’s not easy to justify for social media. So you have to you have that’s where AI is a difference maker. If you think about it that way, it’s not done for you, but it’s done with you, and it’s things you can offload.

Terry Brock [00:09:52]:
I like that. There’s things that we can offload, and it’s done with us. And I think that’s important. Now one of the things I wanna bring out, and since we got you here, we’ll take advantage of you just a little bit here. Because in the book, a lot of people talked about live streaming and the importance of live streaming. You are the king in that. You know so much about it and everything. Tell us why live streaming is big, so we know where that is.

Terry Brock [00:10:11]:
And what can the person who’s watching this do to start getting into live streaming? Do they do it with just their phone? Do they have to do more? Do they have to spend a lot of money to get into it? Now, what do you recommend to that person who’s watching this saying, okay. Tell me, Ross. What do we need to know about livestream?

Ross Brand [00:10:27]:
Well, getting started is easy because if you have a smartphone today, you’ve got a camera that’s terrific. You’ve got a microphone that even if you use the built in microphone is gonna pick up pretty good audio, and then there’s lots of little gadgets you can plug in to make your audio better. And, of course, there’s so many browser based tools. If you wanna go from a laptop or a desktop computer, really, there isn’t a whole lot that you need. They’ve your laptop probably has a built in camera that’s getting better, so it’s not a crazy crazy thing to use that, but you can upgrade to an external webcam or use a camera that you already have in your home. You can get very good microphones for under a $100 that are USB plugged right in. That’s basically what you need. Now how do you get started? How do you use live streaming? I always tell people when they’re getting started, go live on your personal profile on Facebook and talk about something that you’re passionate about.

Ross Brand [00:11:25]:
Think about what you wanna say to open. Think about what you wanna say to close. Keep those things relatively brief. And in between, you’ll probably be fine talking about that which you’re passionate about. Do that a few times, see how you feel. If you don’t feel great about it, do it a few more times. Once you get comfortable, then you can go over to your business page or some of the other your LinkedIn or your YouTube or wherever you may be putting more of your business content, and then you can start to bring that in. It doesn’t mean that every livestream has to be, here’s my product and here’s how to sell it, But you wanna drop the name of your business in.

Ross Brand [00:12:03]:
You may wanna drop what you do, and then do some content that is in some way related to that without necessarily selling. So you’re you know, if you are give me a give me a, an industry.

Terry Brock [00:12:18]:
Let’s say you’re producing for, the before physicians, and you’re appealing to physicians. You might know a lot about that for whatever reason. That’s what you’ve covered. How would you design your, craft for that? And particularly, how do you find out what the physicians you’re talking to are interested in and gonna spend their time, their most precious resource watching your video or listening to your content, etcetera?

Ross Brand [00:12:41]:
Well, that takes a fair amount of research in an industry that I’m I’m not in, but I will say that you you do have to, talk to the doctors, talk to the nurses, talk to the people, learn what they’re purchasing and what what’s in and what’s not. But one of the ways you can make your video is you can demonstrate what the different equipment is and how to use it. That can be one type. You can do open q and a’s where doctors can come and nurses can ask you questions, but then you can also talk about purchasing trends in the industry. So you’re not necessarily selling your product, but you’re saying, this is what people are looking for. This is what the latest, you know, recommendations are from the big health care companies. And then you can mention, hey. If you’re looking for one of these, I’ve I’ve got this, but that you don’t have to lead with that.

Ross Brand [00:13:32]:
And that can be in any industry. And over time, you build trust, and over time, you bring you bring people in because they get to know, like, and trust you. I know that’s very cliche, but that really is a large part of what it’s all about.

Terry Brock [00:13:46]:
Yeah. I mean, that’s still true. It might be cliche. It might have been said a lot, but they need to know you. Know you’re out there. They like you. Hey. I like the way he does that.

Terry Brock [00:13:54]:
She does this really well, and then they trust you. And all of that is there, and they trust you because you’re giving good information. You’re giving information that people need and that satisfies and and solves their problems. So, Ross, you have helped so many people, including me. I gotta say, by the way, those of you watching this, this guy knows what he’s talking about. That book, I highly recommend. It costs $7. Come on.

Terry Brock [00:14:14]:
Get the ebook for $7, and I love it. I find I’m getting a lot of good out of it. I wanna go out there and do it. And so, Ross, what words of advice would you give to that person who’s watching this and they say, okay, I wanna get going or I’m already doing it. I might have been doing it for several years, but what do I need to do now given the world where it is today?

Ross Brand [00:14:33]:
Well, I will say this. I think the number one reason people should consider live streaming, and the book goes into a lot more than live streaming, it’s less about live streaming than it ever was because of how much AI, and how many different platforms have come along in different mediums. But the reason why live streaming is great is because we’re all pressed for time, and if I go live for a half an hour, I’ve got a half an hour of content. If I try and produce a video, if I so I you can take that half an hour livestream. From that, you can you can have video clips for social media. You can have a long form video for YouTube or wherever you wanna put a long form video. You can rip the audio and make it a podcast. You can write a blog post, a newsletter.

Ross Brand [00:15:20]:
All that half an hour content, when it’s done thoughtfully, you’ve got everything you need to be an online creator within that half an hour of content. You’ve now got it out on paper or, you know, once you transcribe it, you can then drop it in. That’s where the AI comes along. Drop it in. Give me an outline for a newsletter. Write a 600 word show note article. Give give me a blog post. Give me put put the 5 most impactful quotes so that I can do graphics of them.

Ross Brand [00:15:56]:
And then you look at it, and you evaluate it, and go, is this really the way? And then you rewrite it in your own language, or you bring some of your own experiences and things that, you know, I look at at chat gpt, for example, as a generalist. So it’s got a general idea of a lot of things, but I have the specifics from my life experience and from my insider knowledge of whatever my my field is. And so you put those 2 together, it can be very powerful, and it can save you time. But the bar has also risen, so, like, people expect more now. They expect a transcript, or they expect, you know, there might be an audio version and a video version depending on where they are. And some platforms will do all that for you, but it it saves you time, but it’s also, you know, lifted the bar a bit in terms of where the baseline is.

Terry Brock [00:16:51]:
Yeah. Absolutely. That’s the that’s the key because we’re seeing it change quite a bit, but there’s a lot of opportunities out there, and we know it’s good. Now one of the opportunities we know, we don’t have time to go into right now, but sub stack. And matter of fact, this guy show had a session yesterday here at the conference where we are, and I got a chance to hear that really good. We might have to bring this guy back. Let me know in the comments what you think. Might have to do something with him again on that, but substack is something you wanna look into.

Terry Brock [00:17:16]:
Ross is a man who’s been, working with it some. And Ross, some people say, okay. I wanna check that out. How do they find you on Substack?

Ross Brand [00:17:23]:
So you can find me at rossbrand.substack.com,

Terry Brock [00:17:27]:
Ross. Please spell Ross Brand.

Ross Brand [00:17:28]:
Yes. R o s s b r a n d dot substack.com.rossbrand.substack.com.

Terry Brock [00:17:35]:
Alright. Well, Ross, you have helped so many people. You’ve helped me. I really appreciate you through the years we’ve known each other and honored to be in the book. And by the way, get the book and be sure and read my chapter, chapter 75 no. 76. Yeah. Go be sure and read that, and then get in touch with this wonderful guy here.

Terry Brock [00:17:51]:
Follow him. See what he’s doing. Your career will benefit as a result of it. Ross, any final words before we say goodbye?

Ross Brand [00:17:57]:
I just wanted to say thank you for having me on and for participating and being a co author in, a couple of the books. It’s been wonderful working with you, and you’re also the moderator for one of the, talks that I gave, and that was great. So, it’s a it’s a pleasure to to talk with you, and, I I really appreciate all you put into the books and and your predictions.

Terry Brock [00:18:19]:
Oh, you bet, Ross. I get though those of us that are professional speakers, we adapt to a lot of different things. So we do it. And, also, by the way, I wanna say a big thank you to my cohost, my partner here, Gina Carr, who is over here. Gee, I’m gonna turn this around and embarrass her a little bit. There she is. Gina, thank you for getting pictures and helping us out on all of this stuff.

Ross Brand [00:18:37]:
Happy to be a fly on the wall. I’ve learned so much from these 2

Terry Brock [00:18:40]:
And we’ll have to get you when we get you on a microphone. Here, hold the mic for a moment.

Ross Brand [00:18:44]:
Happy to be a fly on the wall and learn from these 2 brilliant guys.

Terry Brock [00:18:48]:
Alright. Well, you see this how we do. We just keep it real. It’s us right here. Authentic, not all the fancy schmancy stuff that, like, the grown ups do. But, hey, I’m Terry Brock with Stark Raving Entrepreneurs. We get wonderful people like Ross come

Ross Brand [00:18:57]:
by and talk with us often. We wanna

Terry Brock [00:18:58]:
hear from you. Let us people like Ross come by and talk with us often. We wanna hear from you. Let us know where you’re creating, what you’re creating about, and the questions you have. I will look forward to seeing you a little bit later, and have a wonderful day.