How to Use Periscope in Your Content Marketing

business2community.com

One of the hottest online trends of the summer has been the sharing of live streaming video via apps Periscope and Meerkat. Everywhere I turn I see people shooting videos of themselves (and accompanying scenery) and sharing it via Twitter and Facebook.

This phenomenon of everyday broadcasting is turning mobile phone users into solo broadcasters, sharing everything from weekend athletic events and nightclub action, to bicycle riding and scenic beach scenes. It’s nirvana for attention seekers. And it’s expected to grow: new data from Cisco shows that globally, consumer internet video traffic will be 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019, up from 64 percent in 2014.

And it’s not just you and I using live streaming video apps, either. Already, brands and companies are tapping into the power of live streaming video to build fans and followers for the brands, and it’s certain to become a part of the digital social marketing landscape for a long time into the foreseeable future. Let’s take a closer look at one specific platform: Persicope.

Background

In a nutshell, Periscope is a live video streaming app for Android and iOS that gives you the ability to share what you’re doing in real time to your audience of followers and a global Periscope audience.

Periscope emerged in startup mode earlier this year, and almost as quickly, Twitter quietly bought Periscope for $100 million to boost its platform’s video capabilities. By the end of May, Periscope had been relaunched by Twitter in both iOS and Android versions.

On Periscope, you can watch live streams from people you follow, or just go to the global stream to see videos from those outside your follower list who are sharing live streams. Instead of just reading a blog post or a tweet about someone’s day in Central Park or a ride on Casey Junior at Disneyworld, you can actually see a video around this activity. It’s taking real-time content and turning it into TV of the future.

Of course, many celebrities are using Periscope to broadcast their own lives to their many fans, and even pop star Katy Perry was quoted earlier this year saying “you’ve got to embrace the future or you’re left behind … I embrace them mostly as long as they’re not obtrusive.”

Periscope Features

It’s so simple, even your kids can figure out how to work Periscope. You simply go to the Periscope app, press the red button to start, write in a ‘Broadcast Title’ and choose to note your location or to add it to Twitter. Once you start broadcasting, your followers will be notified, and they can jump to your stream to watch and send you fluttering hearts (akin to FB ‘likes’).

Other features include:

• 24 hr. replay – Once you stop your broadcast, you can choose to make it available for up to 24 hours after for those who missed the live stream. Or you can also turn off your replay function at any time.
• Private broadcast – You can choose to do a live stream on a private basis to only one or more specific followers. Simply press the Private button at the top before you go live and choose the specific followers you want on the broadcast.
• Sharing on Twitter – As mentioned above, to share your stream on Twitter, all you need to do is tap the Twitter bird icon before you start. As you live stream, you’ll tweet a link that looks like this below.
• Getting Notifications – Periscope will notify you when one of your Twitter followers goes live with their own stream. That way, you can try to catch them live, whether they are at the beach or at the golf course. Of course, you can always turn off notifications, and Periscope recently announced the ability to mute notifications of those you follow. You’ll still see their broadcasts appearing in your feed, but you won’t receive push notifications when they go live.

With the amount of video streams being shown, finding viewers and streams usually is best done with hashtag searches and friends of friends’ searches. An aggregate site called WatchOnPeriscope gives you the chance to see latest and greatest Periscope streams across the USA (and other countries as specified) from your desktop or mobile. It displays users in a block format, and can also pinpoint your stream via location on your phone.

Uses in Content Marketing

How is Periscope being used for content marketing? Well, Periscope users are generally using the live streaming app in two ways:

1. Talking directly to the camera like in a video blog, or…
2. Streaming an event or activity, with the audience getting the chance to see the event or activity firsthand and in real-time.

Vertical Measures CEO Arnie Kuenn noted on Content Marketing Institute’s blog in June that using Periscope in your content marketing is an excellent way to share company speeches or live events to spread your content. You can even live stream your company’s PR events from one location to employees and media watchers across the world.

Here are some examples of real brands using Periscope that can get you to thinking about using live-streaming apps in your content marketing.

In June, hamburger chain Wendy’s used comedians Rhett & Link to use Periscope with Wendy’s followers. The comics advertised Wendy’s iced tea drink and following the Periscope chat, Wendy’s site received nearly 4,500 web visits, with an additional 1,200 social media posts before and after the Periscope stream. In doing this, Wendy’s wins at content marketing.

Friend of Vertical Measures and Sales Lion Marcus Sheridan has jumped onto Periscope to share with his many followers insights and tips on how to build your business leads and conversions using Periscope and video marketing tactics.

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is using Periscope in its content marketing efforts by offering behind-the-scenes weigh-in action before fights. This helps build the brand and elevate the fighters’ presence on social media.

How Brands Can Use Periscope

If you’re a brand looking to grow your online, mobile audience, look to the ways below to find out how Periscope could fit into your everyday marketing practices.

• Test out using Periscope for a webinar. Instead of subscribing with their email addresses, viewers will tune in using their mobile phones. Your team can promote the event on social media before the webinar (Periscope-ar?), and your speaker can answer comments and questions in real time. Think of it as a Twitter Chat that is live streamed.
• Get your company’s CEO to share Periscope streams of his or her travels. Sharing a glimpse into your CEO’s business travels could humanize your company in certain cases, or add to your CEO’s overall social media presence.
• Launch a new webcast or podcast series using Periscope promos. Build up followers prior to launch.
• Offer behind-the-scenes glimpses of new product launches for your small business.
• Set up weekly company sessions on Periscope. Share stories of the company’s work during the week, and help to make your brand more human with the people in your company. You’ll be surprised at the social media love you’ll gain.

A social media revolution is taking place right in the palm of your hand. Our phones are the tubes and Periscope is the network. The screens are in the hands of your followers. Will the rapid growth of Periscope affect its speed of evolution? Will Periscope be a capable partner in content marketing, or will we be onto the next NEXT big thing in two years’ time? Let’s place that concern to the side for now, and work some magic with live video streaming in your branding efforts and content marketing campaigns!