What’s the Deal with Periscope?
Scoping is already a verb and 10 million users have signed up to the live-streaming app, so should you be using Periscope?
Let’s start with a quick introduction to this year’s most exciting new platform:
What is Periscope?
Periscope is essentially a live TV station, run from people’s smartphones. It’s a live video streaming app that allows anybody, anywhere, to show the world exactly what they’re seeing in real time.
What is the USP?
The real-time element is really the biggest USP. In the initial stages, Meerkat looked like a contender but Twitter has since bought Periscope and restricted Meerkat’s access to their information, making it harder to use.
Another excellent feature of Periscope is that it’s ‘most loved’ videos aren’t from users who have the most likes – they’re individual videos. Users can like a video at any time, multiple times, so that number of likes closely correlates with the quality and value of the content. This way, you can gain a huge audience with a single good video, without having to build up followers over time to get exposure.
How Many People Use It?
10 million people have created Periscope accounts, but they’re not necessarily all active. They don’t report on daily log ins, but Periscope have told us that people are watching 40 years-worth of live video every single day.
What Can My Business Do with It?
Live streaming is best for information that people want as soon as possible; if you have behind the scenes sneak-previews, events, or even seminars/webinars that you’d like to broadcast, Periscope is an excellent way to do it.
Currently, Scopers are showing off their mornings at the farmers’ market, brainstorming sessions, and explaining their own beliefs to an ever-expanding audience who want to see the raw news, not edited versions presented hours or days afterwards. What you do with it really depends on what your brand is doing, and what you want to show to your current customers. Streaming a busy kitchen in a restaurant, the production line for your products, a presentation, or team building activities are all excellent ways to improve transparency and address client concerns or add another layer to your existing social marketing.
Twitter has been the go-to social media for real-time images since a plane landed on the Hudson, and this is the next logical step for both the social platform and social marketing as a whole.
Integrated Campaigns
Only 14% of marketers integrate their campaigns across all channels, which means that you don’t provide access and information for all of your clients who may prefer different platforms. Periscope is definitely a platform you should use to add another layer to integrated campaigns, rather than treating it as a completely separate entity. If you have an event, live Q&A session, or want to show off behind the scenes footage, don’t forget to let people know on other media and provide teasers and information on other platforms. For larger events, encouraging people to join you via email, other social media, and even a landing page on your website will increase your engagement and ensure that you reach the largest audience possible.
