How to Use Blab Step-by-Step

Your Guide to Using Blab to Grow Your Audience

Yesterday was Periscope and Meerkat (and Blab too) but today is all about Blab.

What the heck is Blab?

If you caught yesterday’s Periscope article, as you should have 🙂 you know by now that Blab is a live broadcasting, video streaming app that allows you to start and join conversations with leaders in your industry, your audience, and others on many different topics. It’s simple to use, and very effective for growing and connecting to your audience.

Don’t worry. Blab is also very easy to use. You won’t need a bunch of plugins or a lot of special skills and background knowledge to figure it out how to use it effectively. You can use Blab right now to grow and connect with your audience. Blab is made for interaction, so don’t think of it as just another streaming video. It’s different. It’s designed for a high level of interaction.

Step-by-Step: Using Blab

Ok, let’s get started by learning exactly how to use Blab. Then we’ll discuss what you can do to leverage its beneficial options to grow and stay connected to your audience.

Sign Up

Signing up on Blab is very easy to do. You simply click the Sign up with Twitter icon shown on the first screen.

If you sign into your Twitter account first, you won’t even have to provide your information. It will connect automatically.

Customize Your Profile

One of the first things you want to do after you sign up is to perfect your profile. It’s simple just click the dropdown arrow by your image on the upper right and you’ll see the profile option on the menu.

Once you click the profile option, you’ll be taken to your profile where you can see what it looks like. To change your profile, click Settings, which is under the profile option.

Just follow the suggestions, and then click “save settings” when you are done. Make your Blab profile unique from Twitter. This will give people a chance to get to know more about you than is on Twitter and enable you to get emails for the actions listed. Your bio can only have about 138 characters with spaces so use the space wisely.

Creating Compelling Blab Titles

Before we move forward with how to start your own Blab, let’s take a moment to address titles. The title of the blab appears under the profile of any presenters. You have up to 80 characters for your title. To create a good title, you need to keep in mind these limitations as well as your audience and the subject matter of your Blab.

Included in the title creation is choosing up to three tags, and choosing if you want to go live now or schedule your Blab for later. It’s important to use the space you have to create a strong title that will attract the right people to your Blab.

If you describe what your audience will see and hear, so they know exactly what to expect, you’ll have viewers that are a lot happier when they choose to get on your Blab. When the Blab session shows up in their newsfeed, you want them to be compelled to click through and join in. What’s useful is that you can actually change the title during the event if you end up going off topic, which helps people who are late comers decide if they want to participate.

What’s great is the URL will not change so that any other links you have out and about promoting the Blab will still bring them to your Blab. You can even include Hashtags in your Blab Title, which is helpful for use on Twitter but it does take up more of the 80 characters that you have to use for your title.

Start a New Blab

Simply click the purple “start a new blab” icon on the upper right hand side near your profile picture.

Doing that, will take you to the new blab screen where you have numerous choices. Write what you’re going to talk about, choose three tags (the arrow), and then upload an image.

Below the image upload is also the ability to schedule your blab for a later date, or host your blab now.

When you choose “in the future,” you’ll go to a new screen where you can enter the time and date that you want your blab.

Once you’ve chosen the time and date you can click “schedule blab” to finish up with this part.

Click “schedule blab” and then you’ll go to a new screen that shows how much time you have left until your blab in the center, along with the embed link. To the left you’ll have the ability to share with both Twitter and Facebook if you’ve connected Blab with Facebook too.

On the right, you can see the messages and mentions about your blab as well as send messages others can see. To find your blab later, just click on the dropdown menu by your image then profile to see the blabs you have scheduled.

Some Thoughts about Scheduling & Promotion

A wonderful aspect of Blab is the ability to host a Blab session immediately, or schedule one that you can promote so that you get a good turnout. Try to pick a time that you know is convenient for your audience, giving enough time to promote it so that they will see that you’re having the Blab.

Pre-promote by asking your audience what time is best for them. Schedule the Blab when most of your audience can see it. This will ensure a lot of turn out from your own audience and more than likely encourage the audience that you’ve not connected with to show up too. Scheduling and promotion can ensure that the people you want at your Blab have a chance to show up.

Using the features that Blab offers to schedule and promote are helpful. You can, once your blab is scheduled immediately share with Twitter, Facebook, and using the embed link with anyone using any medium.

You can click “go to blab” to use those features to promote on Twitter, Facebook and to grab the embed link.

To grab the embed code, put your curser over it and copy it to paste it into any website or platform that allows you to post HTML code.

For example, you might want to make a blog post with WordPress that has the blab info embedded in the post. Notice that you use the text function to past the code.

This is what it looks like right now because the blab won’t happen for a number of days.

When the blab goes live, your viewers can watch it from there. They can also click through to go directly to blab to watch it and participate in a more interactive way.

Replaying or Hiding

If you want to have a replay you can leave it up, the recording will automatically appear in your profile, or you can hide it if you don’t want to show it. You can also just not record it, and then it’s gone when it’s over.

You can also download the recording later and use it for an iTunes podcast if you want to. You own the recording so you can use it how you want. When your recording is ready, you’ll get an email like the one above. Then you can download it.

You can also delete them and hide them if you want, when they bring back the feature. You can find your recording in your profile. The way it’s supposed to work is that you hover over the image of the replay and an eye will appear. You can then click hide. Note: Currently the hide and delete function is disabled, but they have had it in the past, and it will probably come back. Since Blab is in Beta, which means that they’re still building it and testing it, features will come and go.

A Walk Through of Hosting a Blab

When you host a Blab there are many things you can do. Although, blab is simpler than Periscope or Google Hangout, there are fewer options. However, don’t think that fewer options are a bad thing. Here are a few of the things you can do.

Recording – Click Start Record, and you can pause record, but you can’t stop it completely until you’re done with your blab.

Accepting On-Air Guests – When someone calls in you’ll get a notice, a box with their name and a choice with a green check or a red x. To accept choose the on air guest click the green check mark. This called giving them a seat. There are four seats per blab.

Locking Seats – Click on the lock, and you can close out open on-air seats to others to prevent them from calling in. They can still view your blab and ask questions.

Taking Guests Off-Air – Click the X in the right hand corner of the blab window. If you’ve offered someone a seat and that person is finished, you can kick the person out. It’s not a mean thing of course, but it is termed “kicking.”

Muting – Click the speaker icon in the left hand side of the chat window for the person you want to mute. If you’re a host, you can mute the person for everyone, if you’re not a host you can just mute them for yourself.

Finding Info
& Seeing All Viewers – If you want to know about the people viewing your blab, just click on the eye and you’ll be able to find their profiles.

Blocking – Go to the message window on the right hand side and highlight the person, then click the red x that appears.

Asking a Question – Anyone can ask a question in the chat window to the right and type a back slash and a q and the question like this: “/q How do I ask a question?”

Posting Links – You can post links in the chat window to your right. If you want to post images, they should be secure links so that they show up.

Ending the Blab – X out everyone else, then yourself last, otherwise the blab will keep going. This is a safeguard to prevent the blab from ending just because you are kicked off the Internet. Therefore, it’s imperative to x everyone else out first, then yourself.

As you can see, hosting a blab is easy, fun, and useful. Anyone can do it. You can also use your Smartphone if you have an iPhone to host and run blabs, but currently it’s a lot easier to do on your personal computer. Blab only works on Firefox and Chrome right now, so if you have a Mac, be sure to install one of these preferred browsers.

Promoting Your Blab

When you start a blab you can promote them on Twitter and Facebook easily just by using the links provided. In addition, you can upload your blab after it’s recording to Youtube.com. This is a great way to promote your blab. A few other ideas are to:

Blog about Your Blab
Create a Facebook Event
Email Your List
Choose the Right Title
Pick the Best Tags

Share on YouTube

Blab offers a feature that allows automatic upload of your Blab to Youtube.com. Just connect the accounts, and it’s practically instant. Just go to your profile, find the replay you want, and click on it. This will give you the option to upload to YouTube.

Tips for Blab Success

Being successful with Blab is relatively easy. Go in prepared and practiced so that you can host your blab with some knowledge of the platform.

Use Show Notes – Staying on topic is essential because you want people to come to your blab and stay in your blab. It’s easy for people to come and go but if you’re not prepared, you may get off topic.
Practice Makes Perfect – Not only should you practice your blab with a few friends (and even strangers), practice being a guest too. Learning the ins and outs of blab is simple, but there is still a small learning curve in the beginning.
Get People Involved – Remember that blab is about networking and communicating with people. Don’t expect to get to just talk to the air and get people who are going to click to your webpage or buy your products. They want to ask questions and interact.
Engage with Viewers — Ask for follows and feels and invite people into a seat to be on screen for an interview or to ask or answer questions. This is a great feature. People love being put in the hot seat.
Promote Other Blabs – If you want people to like you and promote you, do the same for them. It’s a great idea to hand off a blab at the end by telling the participants about another scheduled blab.
Attend Chats in Replays – When your blab is in replay you can attend it and people can still participate in the chat. Why not answer questions in the replay live to give more connection to the viewers?
Repurpose Your Blab – When it’s done, you can take the recording and do whatever you want with it. Have it transcribed into a blog, post it on Youtube.com, upload it as a podcast on iTunes, whatever you want, you can do. It’s yours.

Using blab to promote your business is a long-term plan. You’re not going to promote your business and make sales over night with blab. It doesn’t work the same as Google Hangout with webinar Jams and is not built for that type of marketing. However, it is built for networking and getting to know your audience. Have fun with it, relax, and see where it takes you.

7 Tips for Growing Your Audience with Blab

If you’re just starting out you probably have no Blab audience but you may already have a small audience outside of Blab. So, you’re not really starting with zero, but the great thing with Blab is that you can start with Zero and quickly build up your audience.

Cross Promote to Get Blab Viewers – To start building your audience with Blab you’ll first want to tell the people you already are connected with about your Blab. Luckily, Blab makes that easy, you just get a link directly to your blab and you’re good to start promoting.
Networking is Fun with Blab – With Blab you can join other chats, ask questions, text chat during a Blab, give props (feels) to other Blabbers, and more. The interactivity is better on Blab than any other live streaming platform including Google Hangout.
Use Blab for Community Development – If you want to start a community with Blab as your basis for connection, you can do that. Just publicize your Blab with the right people to attract them to your event.
Do a Product Showcase – Using Blab to highlight your products and services is an excellent way to bring your blogging content into your Blab. Demonstrating your products and or services in a live event is a great way to show your value.
Give an Insider’s View – Blab is a great way to do a “day in the life” or some background about your company and how you work. This can work great for many different types of businesses and give you an opportunity to connect with your audience on a more human level.
Interact Easily – With Blab, there are several ways to interact outside of the live feed. There is a chat going at the same time, plus ways to give participants credit through what Blab calls “feels.” You can also have contests, promote events, and share any type of video you want.
Repurpose Your Old Content – If you’re not sure what to do on Blab, you can repurpose some of your old blogging content to give ideas for hosting a Blab. You can embed your Blab into your blog, turn it into a podcast, and upload to iTunes – honestly, the possibilities are endless when it comes to finding ways to grow your audience on and with Blab.

Growing your audience with Blab is really a no brainer. Growing your audience with Blab is simple. Once you start using it for the things it’s meant for, networking, conversations, and showcasing your expertise. Don’t be shy. Any blab can let up to 3 other people speak on the Blab. Find the right Blabs to show your expertise to and you’ll end up well known as an expert in your niche before you know it.

6 Ways to Use Blab in Your Business

When you first get on Blab and see how it works you may be confused about how you can use Blab in your business. All of these examples provide ways to grow and connect with your audience in a new way that resonates with them.

Product Announcements – Host a Blab to talk about your new product launch. You can do the Blab in advance of a webinar with the creators on the panel discussing the reason you came up with this product or service and what went into creating it.
Repurpose Your Blog Ideas – Do you have old blog posts that explain the minutia of your niche, teach facts to your audience, and so forth? Repurpose them by hosting a Blab using that blog post as a starting point for the topic idea.
Host a Q&A Session – A great way to use Blab is to do a Q & A session where people can submit questions in advance using Twitter or Instagram (or both) and even allow them to ask questions during the live event. Hint: Asking for questions in advance is a great way to promote the Q&A event.
Host a Webinar with Blab – You don’t need to use fancy programs to have a webinar. You can use the Blab app as a webinar platform. In fact, one can argue that Blab is a better platform because it’s so much more interactive.
Build Your Reputation – What other people say about your company is what matters most. You can drive that conversation by participating in it. Blab gives you the opportunity to spread awareness about your business by hosting your own Blabs but also by participating in other people’s Blabs.
Stream Live Events with Blab – With Blabs you can do both live and recorded events. You can embed a live event right into your blog so that people can watch from there, or you can give them the link to come to the Blab on the website. It’s up to you. Why not do both?

The fact is video is one of the most effective marketing mediums that we have today. What’s great is that you have it readily available with the Blab app, and since it’s connected with Twitter, you can use it immediately to get the word out about your business, build your expertise and more.

Tips & Tricks for Engaging Your Audience

If you want to get your viewers more interactive with you when you host a live streaming Blab, you’ll need to invite them in. Be courteous and make the Blab about your audience instead of about you.

Customize Your Graphics – Use software like Canva.com to create good graphics for your show as a way that demonstrates your professionalism. Highlight your guests with excellent graphics, and you’ll get more viewers and participants.
Ask an Important Question – In your promotions for your Blab ask your audience a burning question so that they know what you’re going to answer, or so that they can answer it during the event.
Solve a Problem – The truth is, people don’t care that much about you, sorry about that, but it’s true. What they care about is whether you can solve their problems. If you can solve just one problem during your Blab, you’ll get a lot of viewers and participants.
Invite Questions – Before your Blab begins, ask people to send you their questions, or ask a question that invites a response that you can share with your audience. Tell the people that the most interesting comments and questions will get some airtime on the panel.
Bring Questioners onto the Blab – When you get someone asking a good question or providing a great answer to a question in the chat, why not bring them on live on camera to your Blab. You’ll get a lot more interaction if people believe they’ll get a better seat in the house.
Attend Your Replays Live – There is a little-known trick to make the replays more fun. You can attend them live and still participate in the chat. Show up to some of your replays and answer questions within the chat.
Observe Other Blabs – If you want to be taken seriously in the Blab community, it’s imperative that you observe other Blabs before you host your own. This will help you see how things work, learn about Blab etiquette and more.

The days of passive display ads doing all the marketing work for you are essentially over. Today you must engage your audience in ways that no one ever thought of in the past. Today, marketing efforts have to be more personal, more direct, and more connected to be successful. Blab gives you an outlet to do that, which is second to none.

Why You Should Use Live Streaming Video for Your Business

To understand the advantages of Blab, it might help to understand how to use streaming video in your business and why it’s important. After all, video is more likely to be shared, more likely to be liked, more likely to be consumed than any other type of content that you can produce online. With the advent of mobile devices that can not only play but also create video, the popularity will only increase.

Video Builds Community — Video gives audiences far more insight into the people involved in a product or service that you just can’t get across in a regular blog post. In many ways, video brings humanity to the online experience. When you have humanity, you have community.
Build a Huge Library of Content
with Video – Using video gives you the ability to create a large library of content such as behind the scenes information, audience interviews, client interviews, creator interviews and more. You can get very deep by also using community discussions.
Increase Your Brand’s Perceived Value – You know that the most important thing you have going for you as a brand is your perceived value. That is what the audience believes you are worth. By being open and transparent through video, you’ll boost that perceived value exponentially.
Understand the Multiple Uses for Video in Business – Q&A’s, product demos, show your passion, inspire others and connect in ways that some people may have not considered yet. You can even let people inside by broadcasting your live brainstorming sessions and even let your audience in on it. The uses of live streaming (and recorded) video in your business are unparalleled.

Think of live video a way to bring real value to your audience the way a band brings real value through live concerts even though they also offer recordings of their songs and performances. You can leverage the same type of feelings from your audience if you plan it right and host live streaming events on a regular basis.

Examples of People Who Are Doing It Right

“If you don’t have a good Internet connection, this isn’t for you.” —Lori Webb

She hosts the Open Blab for Entrepreneurs and is very excited about the future of Blab as well as how it can be used for business.

“The elevation principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems at no cost.” —Michael Stelzner

“My entire business has been built on periscope and blab since July 2015.”

It’s clear that learning to use live streaming to market your business through platforms like blab, it can be done. Visit these three people’s blabs and you’ll find out soon that you can do it. If you’re not using live streaming yet, you are likely not doing everything you can to grow your business. The tips in this report will help you jump in quickly and be super successful.

If you want to get started with Blab, you can get started right now. Sign into Twitter and then sign into and set up your Blab account. Then, jump into a live blab as a guest. Don’t be scared to ask questions and jump in a seat if invited. Buckle your seat belt, your life and your business is about to change.

Don’t forget that I have a set of 11 video tutorials on how to master video streaming including Blab, along with advanced strategies. Available for Elite VIP members only:

Blab and other streaming apps video tutorials