Why business should use Periscope?
Mobile technology is quickly reaching unprecedented connectivity; users have the ability to live broadcast video straight from their mobile devices.
The app Periscope was used during the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight: HBO Boxing took everyone inside Paquiao’s dressing room live. ESPN Reporter filmed the action as everyone entered the arena. Showtime took everyone onto the red carpet at the fight. So you may ask …
What is periscope and what does it do?
Kayvon Beykpour and Joseph Bernstein developed the app, which was purchased by Twitter for $100 million in January 2015. The app gained a million users in the first ten days after its iPhone launch, and gained many more after its release on Android in May.
Periscope is a fun and useful mobile app that allows users to live-broadcast video from their phone from anywhere in the world at any time, and can be used in conjunction with Twitter, enabling other users to see links tweeted in order to view live-streams. Periscope saves any video you stream to your profile and allows other users access for 24 hours.
The technology and entertainment industries, citizen broadcasters and even politicians have hailed the app. But musicians are also using it, and even the Prime Minister is a fan. Because it offers a very cheap method of reaching new audiences.
How are brands and other industries are using it?
Like all new social media platforms, brands are rushing to engage their audience in new and exciting ways with Periscope’s groundbreaking technology. Spotify, for example, recently live-streamed a behind-the-scenes video with an Irish folk singer named Conor O’Brien. During the stream, 382 viewers tuned in live while the video was replayed 99 times the next day.
Another example is Red Bull, a brand known for experimenting with new social media platforms as they rise. They’ve begun testing Periscope at Miami Music Week, a popular Florida music festival. Red Bull plans to live-stream events happening at their signature guest house, in coordination with content posted to Twitter and Snapchat. Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones used Periscope to broadcast their ‘secret’ show in LA in May. The Telegraph also says that more than 40 authors have done live broadcasts on Periscope, “showing fans where they write their books and often reading from currently unpublished work”.
Why should you Periscope?
If your website is your brochure and your blog is your newsletter, then Periscope is your camera crew!. Periscope is another platform for people to find you. It’s certainly possible that if you put out consistent, high quality content, you’ll build an audience on Periscope.
Live broadcasting with Periscope can create a very intimate connection with your viewers. There’s a sense that you’re together with them. And creating that kind of connection is a powerful thing. It can help you build your personal brand or grow your business’s brand and it can help you be memorable to your customers.
Periscope is one of the most exciting platforms to hit the social media world in quite some time. It provides a level of connection and engagement. It allows the broadcaster to invite their audience into their world instantaneously and in real-time, to experience a personal behind the scenes perspective. So, capitalize on this – show them something that’s relevant in the moment: Live behind the scenes, live support, major announcements, . Be vulnerable and be authentic — don’t script it.
No matter what your brand is, or what the platform is, you should always ask yourself “how is this going to create value for my audience?”