Periscope 101 for Bloggers & Brands

After 11 years of blogging, I’m comfortable with typing up a post. I LOVE twitter. Obsessed with Instagram, even though I wish I was a more skilled photographer. I kinda hate Facebook now that I have to boost my posts in order to have them be seen. I find Pinterest addictive and depressing at the same time (my twin’s birthday party will never look like that!). And now there’s Periscope…

What is Periscope? 
Periscope is a free live streaming mobile app available for Android and iOS that broadcasts user-generated video content in real time right from your phone or tablet. Rather than general pre-recorded video content, this app is live, which makes it a lot more captivating and honest.

Why Periscope? 
According to Cisco, by 2019 video will account for 80% of all internet traffic. Periscope is a great way to develop your video technique and connect with your readers in a more interactive and visual way. Unlike with YouTube videos you don’t have to worry about editing these either, it’s live and raw.

Ugh, ain’t nobody got time for that!  
Don’t worry, setting up and maintaining a Periscope account isn’t as time consuming as the many other social networks you’re already managing on top of your blog. In fact, I like to think of Periscope as an enhancement to what you’re already doing. You can use Periscope to tease or promote a post that you’re already working on or to bring your readers into events that you’re already attending. Thankfully, Periscope works seamlessly with Twitter, which purchased Periscope for a cool $100 Million. Also, while it’s nice to have a large following, it’s not as important since people from all over can and will tune in once you hit broadcast. Thus, you don’t have to stress as much about your follower count.

I am by no means an expert, but after 46 broadcasts and 5k hearts I have discovered and observed some helpful tricks & tips…

Periscope 101 Tips for Bloggers & Brands

• * Before you begin your broadcast, put your phone on Do Not Disturb or airplane mode (and turn on the WIFI). This way your scope won’t stop as soon as you receive a phone call or a notification.
•  Go emoji crazy! – Adding emoticons to your Periscope titles will help your scope to stand out
• * Use hashtags in your title! While you can’t search hashtags on Periscope, if posting to Twitter this helps gain more viewers. Same with tagging appropriate accounts or brands.
• * Speaking of hashtags, there are special ones you can use to replace the hearts that appear with other animations like baseballs for the #WorldSeries, etc. 2016 list here
• * Before you click “Start Broadcast” aim the camera at the most important graphic you want shown since that’s what will be seen in the thumbnail.
• * In your Periscope settings, be sure and toggle the option to Autosave Broadcasts to your camera roll. After all, you never know what you’ll end up capturing and this way you’ll have a physical copy of your video just in case. Also, this version doesn’t have all the hearts and comments, so you can also use it for YouTube or for other projects.
• * No worries if you mess up or trip over your words. This is all live, people understand that. While you should try and prepare for your scope, it shouldn’t sound rehearsed either.
• * Engage your viewers. If you can, say hello as people join your scope. Ask for their feedback during and try to answer their questions.
• * If you should get a troll who is commenting with mean or sexual messages. Don’t worry, it happens. You can either ignore them, talk back to them or simply block them. Just tap on the offending comment and block the user from being able to continue to comment.
• * If you are broadcasting from your home, DO turn off the location option! Otherwise your home address will be shown. If you’re in a public place, DO enable the location feature though so more random people can join and discover you.
• * Set Tune In Reminders: Post ahead of time on your social channels that you plan to broadcast at a certain time or during a particular event.
• * Remember, people can still give you hearts during a replay within the next 24 hours, so not just during live broadcasts. Thus, post to your social channels a ‘Last Chance to View’ and a ‘Replay’ reminder’ before the link expires. That way you can hopefully gain some more followers and add to your heart total.  
• * Grab a Periscope user badge code for your blog at https://www.periscope.tv/embed  The special thing about this widget is that it comes to life when you're LIVE! You can see mine on the top right hand corner of my blog.
• * Have your friends share your broadcast while you’re still live, so that your scope will appear to all their followers as well. All they have to do is swipe right and select the option to share with all followers.
• * Don’t just scope, but watch scopes too! Follow friends, bloggers and brands that you enjoy and learn from them.
• * If you want to be a big deal on Periscope try scoping at the same time or day regularly, so fans can plan to watch and come to expect it. The more successful scopers like YoPickles does this. Personally, I’m just not that organized or dependable like that. 

Do you have any additional tips? I’d love to hear them. 

Also, be sure and follow me on Periscope @TaraMetBlog to catch my latest scopes