Using Periscope for Business Purposes

Have you heard about Periscope? You may have not since it is quite a new app released in March 2015. Even before getting into the public’s attention, it catched Twitter’s attention, who acquired the promising app even before its launching. According to Periscope’s blog, by August 2015 the app reached 10 million users! And the figure is likely to continue growing at this pace.

So, what is it? As the name suggests, Periscope is an explorer tool. In this case, you will be able to “explore the world though someone else’s eyes” (quoting from the app’s official website). Periscope is a live video streaming platform, through which you can transmit a live recording of yourself to your Persicope and Twitter followers. It’s like Skyping, but taken to Twitter’s scale. Instead of video calling a single person, you’re sharing your recording with the whole community. Not only that, whoever’s watching you can comment and ask questions. These show up on your screen whilst broadcasting making it easy to answer and interact.

So far, I’m sure you’ve understood that we’re looking at an app that is likely to change our lives just as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have.

But how does this affect me as a Social Media Manager? In case it is still not clear to you, whenever the word sharing and community appear, that means you as a Social Media Manager must be present there. Therefore, being on Periscope is a must if you want to be plugged into this digital world. Though Periscope is still quite new, it is growing very fast, which means that it’s the perfect time for businesses to start establishing a strong presence on it. Businesses that are early adopters may be perfect for opening up to a new audience, and the benefits are likely to be worth the try.

How can I use Periscope for business purposes? As Periscope is such a new app, businesses are still trying to figure out how they can profit from it. Here I bring a few suggestions:

1. Whatever you share, bear in mind that the app makes it possible to save a stream and allow it to be replayed for up to 24 hours. The same as Twitter, this app is focused on real-time content. Therefore, sharing often is vital, the same as sharing content that does not require a re-viewing.
2. Periscope has the advantage of having Twitter as its parenting company. Profit from everything you already know about Twitter: promoting with hashtags, using trend-topic hashtags, you name it.
3. Take advantage of the information Periscope provides about your streamings. As soon as you stream, Periscope allows you to see how many people watched it, how long they spent watching it and how many hearts you were given. With this information you can test different topics and formats to determine what’s suits your audience best.
4. Take into account that Periscope is just one of the many Social Media tools. Don’t use it in isolation and try to combine it with other different tools.

These are broad suggestions because further actions will depend on the product that you’re promoting. Please, feel free to comment and ask for any suggestion or further explanation on the topic.

Try the app! It’s available on the App Store and on Google Play.

Happy Scoping!