TBBVA 032: How Virtual Assistants Can Use Periscope and Blab For Business

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Referenced Links:

• Periscope
• Blab
• Google Hangouts
• GoToWebinar

Tweetables:

With new technology popping up, you’ve just got to jump out there and try things. #vatip Gotta Tweet!

In some situations, clients just want to see that you’re a real person. #vatipGotta Tweet!

Working from home can be lonely and you need somebody to talk to. #vatip Gotta Tweet!

In Words:

Hi guys. Welcome to today’s episode. You are listening to episode number 32, and this is a follow-up just to share with you what happened when I tested out Periscope and, you know, where do we go from here.

When I first decided to do live Periscope, I sent an email to my VIP list and let them know that on Fridays at 1:00 we’re going to have the Periscope and, you know, do it. As of this recording, I have done three Periscopes, two on that first day and another one a week later, on that Friday.

Technical glitches all three times, and the third time, I was all set. I had the camera, but I could see that my voice and the audio were not matching up and so that was frustrating to me and totally got me off as to what I was going to talk about and what I was going to say. I think it was all of two minutes. I got off, deleted it, and haven’t been back since, but there hasn’t been another Friday at 1:00. I’m restricting myself to that schedule even though Periscope is open. It’s like whenever.

I’ll probably try it again today, you know, just to do like a test run. I understand you can do a private one and not have it go live, so I’ll see how that goes. I may actually go ahead and do a live one.

So anyway, that was my Periscope experience. I’m not giving up. One thing I will say that I don’t like is that it’s restricted to my mobile app. If you’re doing a Periscope yourself, it has to be done from your phone or a tablet. You can’t hop on your laptop and do it, and so that’s one of the things I don’t like because that means it’s going to drain data.

I know you can use WiFi only and I haven’t really tested this out all the way, but I think it uses a combination of data and WiFi because the last time I tried I was on WiFi only and had that, you know, major delay and I was at home on our high speed Internet so it should have been a little faster than what it was. Anyway, like I said, I’m going to test it out again and see what happens. So that was Periscope.

Now, the latest technology, you know, there’s always something popping up and I’m usually not one to hop on, but I’m just, you know, these days it’s like you’ve just got to jump out there and try things. Scared to death, doesn’t matter, just jump out there and try things and, you know, not worry about the little stuff.

The main this is having something to say, and so that is where my focus has been is having something to say.

Today, I tried out Blab, and by the time this episode gets published I may have some replays on Blab. I don’t know. But Blab, I spent about, I don’t know, maybe 30 minutes. You know how time goes by when you’re on your computer and having fun. I probably spent 30-45 minutes on Blab. I listened to replays, seeing how it works, read a few blog posts, signed up for myself.

I haven’t done any Blabs yet, but there will probably be some replays by the time you find me on Blab. But I love it already. Already I love it, and so that’s what I’m going to talk to you today about how you can use both of these platforms for your virtual assistant business, for any business really. But since this is The Business of Being a Virtual Assistant, we’re going to talk about it specifically for that, and I’m going to lean on Blab because I’m so excited about it.

Here’s the difference between Blab and Periscope.

The biggest different is that Periscope, it’s just you on camera, so you won’t see a dual screen. Blab, most of the time you’re going to see at least two people. It’s up to four, but you’re going to see at least two, and I was kind of searching around to see if I could find anybody with, you know, just themselves.

So Blab is a small group and the cool part about Blab is if you or your clients use Google Hangouts, Blab is a game changer. If you yourself have thought about doing webinars as a marketing tool or email building list or community building, whatever, Blab is going to be a great way to do that over Google Hangouts, and I’m saying it already, haven’t even done a live Blab myself, just watching other people’s replay.

People have talked about technical glitches with Google Hangout and I have assisted clients with Hangouts. I have done a couple of Hangouts myself, and yeah, all of them experienced some type of technical glitch or limit.

In one of the groups I’m in, someone was asking if they’re using a PDF as their slides because I think they have a Mac and there’s an issue with Keynote and Google Hangouts. So if you’re using a PDF as your slides, how can you see the little chat box? I don’t even know if you can see that chat box in that way because it’s taking up most of your screen to where, you know, because people are viewing your screen, they would be seeing the chat and you’re seeing the presentation.

So that’s one thing. Another issue, one of my clients, she wasn’t able to share her screen and I don’t know if that was a computer issue, a Google Hangout issue. I’m not sure.

Now, what’s not a part of Blab right now is being able to share your screen, but there’s probably an easy workaround if you’re like using two computers and you have that second computer be your – oh, okay, I just got excited, live moment. That’s the answer to my second person. So you have a second computer or a phone and let that be your second person, and let’s say you need to share a screen, so on another computer you log into Blab and let that second computer be the second person, but somehow it’s going to show the screen.

Anyway, something to think about, so that’s the thing, you can’t share the screen on Blab so I have to figure that out. But anyway, it’s fun and you have control on who can pop in on the webcam for it, but anybody can. It’s not necessarily just the people that you invite. But of course, the people you invite know about when it’s happening. You can schedule the Blab so people that are following you on there can see your scheduled events. We’ll say scheduled events, so that is pretty cool.

All week, I’ve just been doing a lot of studying and putting some actions into place for webinar planning and figuring out what tool to use, and I was thinking about Google Hangout, looking at GoToWebinar. GoToWebinar has made some changes to where now, you know, it could be up to 3, up to 5, up to 25, up to 100 and more, just depends, and you know, just playing with those different things.

But Blab is, I think, going to be a game changer for Google Hangout. It’s going to change it up, offer some serious competition, and it’s easy.

Oh, and the biggest thing – can you tell I’m excited? Yeah. The biggest thing is that you can do it from your computer. You don’t have to be restricted to your phone or a tablet, which I absolutely love because I’d rather use WiFi than my data. Because if you do a little research on how much data Periscope takes up, it takes up a lot of data, a lot. I don’t have an unlimited data plan anymore, so it’s very important to watch the data.

That is my story about Periscope and Blab. Now, how can we use this for our business? I’m just throwing out some brainstorming ideas. I want to get your wheels turning about how you can use this. There’s no point in sitting on the sidelines and getting things all set up for clients and we know the ins and outs about everything, but we don’t utilize it for ourselves.

How can we use Periscope or Blab for our business?

This is just I’m going down the list and thinking about ways I can use it: customer support, tech support, telesummits, webinar summits, book clubs, online parties. These are different ways that this live streaming can be used.

Think about how you use Skype right now, or how you use the phone. Let’s think about how we use the phone. Client sends an email, they’re interested in speaking with us, they have an inquiry, and maybe they want to hop on a Blab or a private Periscope to make it a chat where they can see you. I’ve had some situations where clients just want to see that you’re a real person, so this is one way to do that in real-time.

The only thing right now with Blab is that they are open to the public, so if you’re on a Blab anybody can check it out. The client may want to keep some things private, so that’s the only thing if you’re using it like a phone call. But if you’re doing a training, you’re providing group information, meetings, meeting with your virtual team and discussing something that’s not proprietary, then that’d be a fun way to hop on Blab.

Or for this podcast, this is what I’m thinking about, and I want to hear from you. Let me know what you think about this. You may have questions for me and some of you have sent emails or sent in email questions and I’ll answer. I’ve even answered a few on the podcast.

But what if I was on Blab and you popped in and asked your question and we talked face-to-face on the webcam?

I’m thinking about that for Friday at 1:00 because me and Periscope, I don’t know y’all. [Laughs] I don’t know. I’m going to go ahead and give it a try, but I’m pulling back from that time commitment on Periscope. I’m pulling back on that one and letting that be. I’m still working out the kinks with the technology.

But Blab, let me know what you think, if I hopped on a Blab at a certain time and told you I was going to be there, would you come hang out with me and ask questions and we just talk? It doesn’t have to be long, 10-15 minutes, like a coffee break, a coffee chat, something like that on Blab. Let me know what you think. Shoot me an email because all of us, we’re working from home serving clients and some days it can be lonely. You need somebody to talk to.

I’m grateful that you’re listening to this podcast right now. I feel like I am with you live. The only thing is I can’t hear you. You can’t talk back. So on Blab, we can talk back and forth literally on camera versus, you know, Periscope is all the chat. You can see me. I can’t see you.

It would be cool for us to Blab together about virtual assistant stuff and whatever else comes up like new technologies like this and how it’s working for you.

Let me know what your thoughts are about this and I hope on this episode I haven’t talked too fast, but I got so excited about that. I mean, I heard about it when I was first testing out Periscope and I was like, oh Blab, I don’t have time for another thing. But then I went to check it out and I was like, uh oh, I think I might be hooked on this one. I just need some friends to come hang out with me, need some friends to Blab with.

Anyway, let me know what you think about that. Also, how are you using Blab? How are you using Periscope? All these wonderful new tools to get out there, get out social, get out there, market ourselves, put a live face in front of the virtual title or whatever it is. You know, I’ve changed some things. Now I’m a WordPress consultant.

Put a face so people know who you are. Now, they can see, oh yeah, she’s a real person and I think these live streaming apps, even the tools on the computer, which I prefer it being on the computer. It’s nice that it’s mobile, you know, that’s a nice option. But it’s fantastic that I can do it from the laptop.

So anyway, I want to hear from you on that. I think I have blabbed to you enough on this particular episode. Yeah. I got totally excited over it. I’m very excited about it.

Thanks so much for tuning in. I always love it that you’re listening and I want to hear from you.

Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.

See you next time.