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How To Integrate Live Streaming With Your Social Media Strategy

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Live streaming

We’ve all heard the buzz: live streaming is going to be the next thing for businesses, broadcasting and brands. 

In fact, 51.9 percent of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI and 74 percent of Internet traffic is expected to be video in 2017, according to Invodo Video Stats Report, 

Viewers are drawn to the authenticity and immediateness of video bloggers. You can speak to them live from their bedrooms. The rise of live streaming platforms like Meerkat, Twitch and Periscope capture that drive towards the live moment, being in the now. Online influencers appreciate that fact that there is basically zero production time, and audiences are willingly making the switch from YouTube and Instagram.

Live streaming is like TV and public speaking wrapped into one. And it’s very profitable. Some marketers have made thousands of dollars from a single live stream simply by promoting a product at the end. In fact, more and more live streaming platforms are offering innovative ways of monetising content including branded content and virtual gifts.

More and more people want to give live streaming a try, however, with so much other social media activity already in play — scheduling tweets, analyzing Facebook ads, creating engaging posts, etc. — they may put it off.

To get started, it’s better not to think of live streaming as its own entity. Instead, consider it a critical piece of your overall social strategy.

Share Live Stream Recordings On YouTube

Every piece of content you create can serve multiple purposes. Live streams are no different. Live streaming platforms like Periscope and Blab will provide you with an MP4 file of your finished live stream, which is easily sharable on other platforms like YouTube.

If you have a podcast, you could even turn your live streams into MP3 files.

Making the switch to a live streaming platform will allow you to be active on more than one platform. Consistently produce live streaming content and upload it to YouTube to keep that channel active and content rich as well.

I’m a big fan of feeding two birds with one scone. Live streaming lets you tap into an incredible opportunity for expansion.

 

Tweet The Link The Moment You Go Live

Live streaming platforms give you the option to tweet live links, and sharing those links with your Twitter audience automatically broadens your live stream audience: your followers simply click on the link to watch you live.

As live streaming becomes more advanced, it will be possible to share live links across several other social media platforms.

The key benefit to sharing the link with your social media audience is that you will initially get a bunch of people to view your live stream. That initial audience will provide you with immediate, live interaction.

If you want people to engage with you during the live stream (i.e. ask questions), you need to build an audience.

 

Use Social Networks To Generate Anticipation For Your Live Streams

Live streams provide a high level of interaction. However, interaction doesn’t have to begin and end with the live stream itself.

Consider each live stream an event that none of your loyal fans would want to miss. The live stream itself should be engaging and valuable, but an awesome live stream doesn’t possess the same gusto as an event.

To bring that gusto into live streaming, you need to create anticipation. Let your audience know in advance when you’ll be broadcasting a new live stream. Set a specific time and date for weekly live streams and share that information with your audience.

One reason popular TV shows perform so well is because viewers always know when to watch. When Supergirl was on CBS, I always knew when to tune in: Mondays at 8 pm EST. At the end of each episode, I knew the next episode would air at the same time the following Monday. Virtually every TV show has a scheduled time, and your live streams should follow the same method.

You can also market some of your live streams like webinars. Use your social networks to promote a landing page, and when people subscribe, you can occasionally send emails reminding them about the time and date of your live stream.

And if your live stream is Q&A based, you can use social media to garner questions in advance.

 

Bonus Tip

At the end of each live stream, be sure to let your audience know when they can attend the next one. 

 

In Conclusion

Live streaming is quickly becoming an essential part of the marketing tool kit for brands and businesses. If you’re still making excuses not to get started, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

Live streaming can easily be integrated into your current social media strategy without a large investment in time or production. A good live stream can be carried out in 10-15 minutes, with an extra 15-20 minutes for preparation. That’s extremely doable if you aim for one live stream per week.

Indeed, the best strategy is to start by limiting yourself to one live stream per week. As you become comfortable with your chosen platform and begin to see results, consider increasing your weekly live streams.

Build your live streams gradually, not automatically, and focus on offering your audience valuable information that prompts interaction.

What are your thoughts on live streaming? Have any tips for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

10 Social Media Trends To Pay Attention To

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social media

Social media is always evolving and with each new social media trend comes new opportunities to learn and grow your business.

One of the few things that will remain constant in social media’s ever changing landscape is our desire to master new trends.

Social media has changed a lot. And with each new trend comes more opportunities to learn and grow your business. For example, when I created my Twitter account in 2011, Pinterest wasn’t as big a player.

Live streaming and SnapChat didn’t even exist.

Just to give you an idea of how much social media has changed, here’s a powerful video from Matt Banner that shows just that.

Social media will continue to change rapidly and, as it does, it’s better to get ahead of the game. These are current trends to watch:

 

#1: SnapChat’s Rise To Power

SnapChat is HOT right now. In 10 seconds or less, you can put a snap on your story. Within that snap, you can provide advice, entertain, or literally anything else that your audience will enjoy.

The cool part is that it only takes 10 seconds or less to record a snap.

But even cooler than that is the platform’s unique capabilities. Now you can take a picture of someone’s SnapChat ID and automatically follow that person.

SnapChat’s communication capabilities mesh texting, video chats and phone calls into one. And people can choose which form of communication they prefer at any given time.

For example, if you are in a public place and prefer to use the text feature, you can still see the person you’re texting via video. During a phone call, you can text links to websites in real-time without losing the connection or sending an email.

SnapChat is probably the most advanced social network right now and it’s giving all of the other social networks a run for their money. There’s really no other social network like SnapChat.

 

#2: Interaction On A Whole New Level

Interaction means more than responding to or sharing other people’s posts. That form of interaction will remain a constant, but other forms of interaction, such as those available on SnapChat, are gradually gaining popularity.

Similarly, the interacting capabilities of live streaming apps, for example, are increasingly leading us towards real-time, face-to-face interaction.

Maybe some day there will be a social network that turns us all into Martian Manhunters that can read each others’ minds. Indeed, big players in tech are developing emotional recognition technology. And we’ve also got Oculus on the loose.

 

#3: Live Streaming’s Continued Dominance

Live streaming is making interaction more fun and immediate. I especially like Blab, which allows the guest and audience to post in the chat section.

blab

This way, people can add links directly within the chat section so everyone can click on it, rather than try to remember it.

Don’t expect live streaming to go away anytime soon. It may be tricky to get the hang of in the beginning, but you’ll get better with practice.

 

#4: Podcasting As The Underdog

With SnapChat, live streaming apps, and other social networks dominating the news, it’s easy to forget about podcasting.

The podcast is the cool kid who never gets invited to parties. Every year, podcasts are gaining in importance and attracting larger audiences.

Podcasting is simply audio. So people often choose YouTube because YouTube it is more popular and visual. But podcasting allows you to tap into the iTunes Podcasts and Stitcher audiences (among others) that you won’t reach with other forms of content.

Better yet, if you prefer YouTube over podcasting, why not convert your videos into MP3 files. It’s a very easy way to repurpose your content. Speaking of repurposing…

 

#5: Repurposed Pictures

In the past few years, virtually every social network want to be that place where you share your pictures.

And including an image in your tweet or Facebook post generates higher engagement. And Pinterest and Instagram actually require all of your posts to include an image.

More of these types of social networks will come into existence. As a result, content and images will continue getting repurposed. We’ve already seen this happening with blog posts. Tell me if any of these tips sound familiar:

  • Republish your blog post on LinkedIn Publisher.
  • Republish your blog post on Medium.
  • Try to republish your blog post on a guest blog.
  • Better yet, get your blog republished on a big media outlet like The Huffington Post.
  • Turn your blog into a video.
  • Make your blog into a book.
  • Turn your blog into a podcast.

Images are increasingly getting repurposed. How many times are images shared from Imgur? How many Instagram photos are being shared on Pinterest? Popular images are shared across multiple networks, often without attribution.  And as more images become repurposed, there is a greater need for photo optimization tools.

Image-obsessed users are always chasing after the perfect shot and design elements.

 

#6: The Immortality Of Blog Posts

The only places you hear about blogs dying are on other people’s blogs. I find that funny.

Blogs will never die because they offer users a unique voice and home on the web, and everyone needs that presence on the crowded internet.

Think blogging is dead? Take a look at how many blog posts have been published today. I’ll wait.

 

#7: More Blog Posts About The New Social Networks

I feel this one is inevitable. There are enough blog posts about Facebook and Twitter to keep you, your children, your grandchildren, and your great grandchildren satisfied for the rest of your lives.

Surprisingly, there still aren’t as many blog posts about SnapChat and live streaming. I actually wrote a blog post about SnapChat recently. And people want more of that information.

People aren’t asking me for Twitter tutorials because many of those already exist (I have also done a lot of them).

SnapChat and live streaming apps will soon be as saturated in terms of content and products as Facebook and Twitter.

And because there are more content producers today, especially user-generated content creators, saturation will happen much faster on new platforms than it did for Facebook and Twitter.

 

#8: More Outsourcing

With new social networks coming out every year, it’s easier and easier to fall behind the trends. That’s why I have outsourced 95% of my Twitter work.

I continue to interact with my audience and make sure everything is running smoothly, but other than that, I do little else. I outsource the work needed to keep that platform active and content rich.

Naturally, you cannot outsource your own live streams, videos or personal interaction with your audience. But literally everything else offers the possibility of outsourcing.

And without outsourcing, it’s difficult to focus on new social networks and opportunities beyond social media.

Expect outsourcing of social media activities to grow.

 

#9: Increased Need For Diversification

Each social network competes for our time as well our attention.

YouTube wants to keep us on the platform for as long as possible because the more videos we view, the more money YouTube makes on video ads.

Facebook wants to keep us on their site for hours so they can make a big profit from their advertising network. Same thing with Twitter and other social networks.

“Most of the others.”

That phrase has evolved into hundreds if not thousands of different social networks competing for our time and attention. When we put them all under the social media umbrella, that’s a lot of time and attention commanded by social media alone.

People’s opinions will change. Some people are migrating away from Facebook. Others are migrating away from Twitter. Others won’t even give SnapChat a chance.

No matter what your audience’s preferences are, you always want to be present in their feed.

Increased diversification also increases the amount of times our content and pictures get seen and repurposed, as well as the need for outsourcing to keep up with it all.

Managing that many social networks on my own (in addition to everything else) is too stressful for me to even consider.

 

#10: Constant Changes In Response To Social Media Trends

Every time a new social network with revolutionary capabilities rolls out, the big players try to copy that social network before it becomes too big.

Remember Meerkat? That live streaming app was hot until Twitter slammed the door shut.

The feud between Meerkat and Twitter got ugly. Twitter cut off Meerkat’s ability to access its social graphs in the eve of Periscope’s launch.

Then Periscope became the big live streaming app. But soon after, Facebook launched Facebook live. YouTube also offers live streaming capabilities.

A while ago, Vine was the revolutionary social network everyone was talking about. The six second infinite loop got all of the hype imaginable.

Then Instagram came out with its 15 second infinite loop videos.

Facebook is currently working on a SnapChat-like app. Expect other social networks to follow.

I don’t like the trend of the big social media players trying to copy the new and emerging social networks. The only reason Facebook didn’t bother copying Instagram is because Facebook ended up buying Instagram.

But it is what it is. In the end, we get more and better choices, but still, copying a social network like SnapChat makes no sense to me. It makes more sense to keep innovating and offering users something new.

 

In Conclusion

Social media will continue to evolve. And as we continue on our quests to master social media, we will have to take action based on emerging trends.

Those who tap into those trends and take action early will enjoy the most success from new social networks.

What are your thoughts on social media trends? How do you keep up and decide where to spend your energy? See any social media trends on the horizon? Sound off in the comments section below.

4 Ways To Use Blab For Your Business

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Blab for business
Another social network gets thrown into the mix

A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak at the Authority Super Summit. I looked at some of the info about the event and was hooked. Here’s some of the facts that caught my eye:

  • Guinness World Record for longest live event
  • Hundreds of other speakers (I knew several of them, and speaking at the same event as them was an honor)
  • It would be all on Blab.

Wait, Blab. What’s that?

Blab seemed to be the only social network that I missed. It was still new, I heard little about it, but now I was forced to use it. If I didn’t use Blab, I couldn’t speak at the Authority Super Summit.

And then my eyes were opened.

After my 6 am presentation, I thought more about how I could use Blab for my business. I had a great time interacting with the audience in a way that I never thought was possible. I had a fun time during the Authority Super Summit and enjoyed using Blab.

Now that I had done my first Blab (technically speaking), I had an idea for how it worked. The wheels in my mind started turning, and I thought of how I could use Blab to take my business in a completely different direction.

Goals that once seemed impossible were now light work—all because of Blab.

Okay, I’m giving a solid testimonial about Blab. I’m sure Blab’s CEO is very happy with me right now. But less raving about Blab’s potential.

It’s time for me to provide you with the information. More specifically, four ways that you can use Blab for your business.

 

#1: AMA Session

AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything.” Your audience asks you questions, and you answer them. However, Blab provides an interactive chat section that rivals all of the other chatting methods on the web.

Example of the Blab chatting sections on the left and right

Since the chat section gets updated in real-time as you do the video, you can easily read questions as they appear in the chat section.

I know this isn’t something revolutionary. Webinars also have this feature where you can ask questions. However, it is easier for people within the audience to interact with one another as you give your presentation.

You want this type of interaction to happen because each person in the audience is giving someone an additional reason to continue watching the presentation. It’s easy to feel alone when watching a live presentation on your computer screen. You don’t get the same impression as being at a local event in a room of 100 people.

However, the interactive chat section Blab provides makes it difficult to feel alone. Suddenly your viewers have other people to talk to. As your viewers make new friends through the chat section, they are also watching your presentation.

That’s a win-win for you and your viewers. Better yet, Blab makes it ridiculously easy for the speaker to engage with people in the audience. The speaker can post something in the chat section at any point during the presentation.

Speaking of posting something in the chat section during the presentation…

 

#2: Get More Subscribers

During my first ever Blab, I was focused on nailing the interview. The Authority Super Summit was one of the most prestigious event I had been invited to speak at, so it took me a while to fully appreciate Blab.

However, I gained appreciation for Blab when it was my time to promote myself. I mentioned the landing page for my free Kindle training series. However, the problem with promoting a landing page at an event like this is that you must provide the link.

Long links filled with dashes are easy to forget. People who want free training won’t want to go through the hassle of typing in URL after URL until the free offer shows up.

So I decided to post the link to the landing page in the chat section. Out of the 67 live viewers, 9 of them signed up to receive the free Kindle training series for a 13% conversion rate.

This was a last-minute, spur of the moment thought that resulted in 9 new subscribers in less than a minute of additional work. As I host Blabs more often, I will be aiming to increase that number and eventually get over 20 new subscribers from each Blab.

However, considering my first Blab brought in 9 new subscribers, I was happy with the results.

 

#3: Host A Summit

After my interview during the Authority Super Summit concluded, I wondered how difficult it would be to create my own summit. Now, a 65 hour summit like Authority Super Summit would be very difficult for me to do (and stay awake for). I would need a lot of help to even get close to that record.

However, I didn’t see the problem with hosting a shorter summit. Part of the success behind Authority Super Summit was that each of the speakers promoted the event a few hours before they went live.

That meant Authority Super Summit would always have a big crowd. By the end of the summit, thousands of people had tuned in at certain points throughout the summit.

If you host a summit of superstar speakers and get them to promote the summit, then you too will generate a lot of exposure for your Blabs.

It’s a win-win for both of you since you have a Blab with a lot of exposure and the speaker has a chance to highlight his/her expertise and where you can find him/her on the web.

 

#4: Podcast AND YouTube Channel Content

Here’s a cool thing about Blab: when you are done with the Blab, they automatically send you a video file and an audio file.

Most people freak out when they think about leveraging every platform—tweeting, posting on Facebook, uploading videos to YouTube, putting pictures on Instagram, and all of that stuff.

Let alone live a life outside of work.

But Blab makes that part of the process as easy as pie with those two valuable files. You can use the provided audio file to create a podcast episode and the video file to create a YouTube video.

So the one Blab interview you did is now a part of your YouTube channel AND your podcast.

The cool part is that you didn’t do any extra work. The content was literally given to you since you did the Blab.

Successful entrepreneurs understand how valuable their time is. Being able to feed three birds with one scone is a game changer, especially when those three scones are the emerging Blab, the well-established YouTube, and podcasting which connects you with the iTunes audience (among others as well).

 

In Conclusion

Blab is a game-changing social network. It allows you to spread your awareness on three platforms at once by putting in the same amount of work to produce one video.

The interactive chat section is beyond-this-world awesome. Viewers get to engage with each other, and that interaction will result in them watching you speak for a longer period of time. You can also engage with the viewers and even post links within the chat section.

What are your thoughts about Blab? Do you see yourself using it in the future? Sound off in the comments section below.

 

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5 Ideas For Your Next Blab

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5 Ideas For Your Next Blab
The next big thing is already here.

A new social network. Yes. Another new social network…as if there weren’t a lot of them already. Each social network brings its own set of promises, but if you use them all, you risk spreading your time too thin.

But this new social network is THE social network that you must make time for. It’s called Blab, and it’s changing the way we use social media.

It came out in April 2015. I have always heard good things about it but thought I could use my time doing better things…until I was forced to use Blab.

I was invited to speak at the Authority Super Summit about how I use social media to drive more Kindle book sales. This summit was an online event…entirely hosted on Blab.

We broke a Guinness World Record for the longest live event, but the more important thing is that I finally used Blab.

I finally learned why so many people were talking highly about the new social network. Blab is more than just another live streaming social network. It (along with SnapChat) is changing the way we use social media.

I don’t want to talk too much about my excitement for Blab. I could probably write a book just about my excitement towards Blab. You may be hearing about Blab for the first time, or you have heard about it before, but now you are ready to dive in.

If you are ready to dive in or just want to create more Blabs, here are five ideas for your next Blab.

 

#1: Valuable Insights

No matter which social network you use, providing a valuable insight is a great Blab idea. You can discuss a tip or a few of them within the same Blab.

The valuable insights you provide should be related to your niche. I know that sounds very obvious, but being reminded of the basics allows you to perform the basics flawlessly without any thought.

 

#2: Interview An Expert 

Here’s where Blab gets really cool. Blab gives you the option to have up to four people on the same call (including yourself). That means you can interview an expert and ask them questions.

However, you can also organize panels and ask each expert within the panel a series of questions. You can get insights from multiple experts within your niche, but using Blab to host panels has other benefits.

You get to know more experts within your niche. When I look at people who have shared my content, I immediately remember the people who interviewed me on their podcasts.

These experts will remember you in the same way, and you’ll also get more traffic from these experts since they’ll promote the Blab to their audiences.

Some of these experts may decide to interview you.

 

#3: Q&A

You can use Blab to host a Q&A in which your audience gets to ask you questions. This will be a great experience for your audience because when they ask you a question, and you answer that question, the relationship between you and those individuals within your audience gets strengthened.

I don’t buy a lot of online training products. One of the few products I bought was offered during a webinar in which I asked my question and then got a response.

I remember feeling great that my question was being answered since it felt tailored towards my specific question. Of course, I wasn’t the only person who got value from the answer, but you can make certain people in your audience feel great when you answer their specific questions.

And some of those people may end up buying your products in the future.

However, if you intend on hosting a Q&A, make sure you can attract a large enough audience to the Q&A. My recommendation with a Q&A is to tell your audience about it a few times before it actually happens.

A few email blasts specifying the time and date will do the job.

That way, you’ll have a large enough audience which means you’ll get a lot of awesome questions to answer.

The last thing you want on a Q&A is to not receive any questions. If you aren’t sure if your audience will provide you with enough questions, ask some of your friends prior to the Blab to ask their questions.

If some of your friends ask questions, then other listeners may decide to ask their questions later on.

 

#4: Share Your Goals

What do you want to accomplish this month? Sharing your goals online can be fun, and people get to see the raw version of the work that you provide.

If you state your monthly goals to your audience, there’s no turning back. Accountability at its finest.

However, if you don’t accomplish all of your monthly goals, people get to see the human side of you. I believe that one of the beliefs people have is that certain celebrities or role models are perfect and flawless.

The thinking is that certain people have so much aggregate success, but within that success are many mistakes. I’m sure you can find a typo somewhere on this blog. It’s hard, but they probably exist.

I have found typos on some of the most excellent blogs and media outlets. They are rare, but they do exist.

Sharing your goals lets people see what you are trying to do. Sharing your goals will inspire your audience to share their goals while giving themselves more ambitious goals. While the idea is to accomplish all of the goals that you set for yourself, being honest about the goals that you accomplish and don’t accomplish lets people know that you aren’t perfect.

“But I know I’m not perfect. Why would anyone think I am perfect?”

As you audience grows, you’ll get people from all sides of the spectrum. Some will want nothing to do with you. They’ll make it a point to insult you in front of your face. Other people will think that you are perfect.

In my opinion, showing your imperfections lets your audience know that it isn’t as hard as it seems to accomplish what they want to do. The goals will be more tangible.

But most importantly, people get to see your personal side. They get to know you as the person, not just for your profession.

 

#5: Make Predictions

Do you think aliens are going to take over the world? Is Blab a fad or a big deal? You can make your predictions via Blab and let people know what you think about your niche, the world, or something else.

Making predictions is fun because you get to put your prediction out there and get engagement. Some people may agree with you while others may disagree with you. Regardless, you are getting engagement from your Blab, and people will be back to hear your other predictions.

With this said, don’t make outlandish predictions just for the sake of attention. Make predictions that you would make if you were only talking with your friends. Which social network will be important this year? Will the Cubbies win a World Series?

If you do enough predictions, your Blab account can turn into quite the time capsule.

 

In Conclusion

The live streaming capabilities combined with the chat section make Blab a different kind of social network. If you are thinking of your first Blab or want to think of more Blab ideas, then you can use these five ideas to come up with several ideas.

If you feel like you are in the middle of the Blab equivalent of a writer’s block, you can always interview experts within your niche. You can also interview experts in your niche if you want to connect with them and provide your audience with additional value.

What are your thoughts about using Blab? Have any Blab ideas for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

 

Want To See How I Distribute Blabs Across All Of My Platforms

Get the inside scoop on how I distribute my Blab videos across all of my platforms the moment I finish recording. It won’t even take you a minute to read through the document.

All you have to do is enter your email address.

Get My Blab Battle Plan--FREE

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