10 Ways to Use Periscope for Business

Live video has been brought up here and there and Google+ even has its own version with its Google Hangouts (but those are confusing as hell and need to be put to death). But finally Twitter has really brought the house down with its newest app called Periscope. I say new, but it’s really been around for close to five months. So I’m a little behind, sue me!

I’m sure that many of you have probably already heard of said live video streaming app because it’s amazing. I have only recently begun to see the beauty of it, but I’ve fallen in love and I’ve fallen fast and hard. It’s a really easy app to use, you can begin broadcasting video from your phone’s camera instantly, and you can open your app to watch amazing videos pretty much anytime. Videos that can seriously help to improve your blog or business.

Long story short, if you’re not taking advantage of this incredibly and fast-growing social media platform, then you’re losing out.

If you’ve just recently jumped onto the Pericope bandwagon and you’re trying to figure out various ways that this app can really help your business’s marketing strategy, I’m sharing X ways to use Periscope for your biz with you now.

1. Customer service/support

Have you had a number of customers/clients with the same issues over and over again? Host a live broadcast and invite them all so that you can discuss the issue and answer questions over live video. Seriously, Periscope has brought the customer service game to the next level. No longer will YouTube videos be a huge, serious thing. WE ARE LIVE.

2. Product demos

Are you launching a new product? Whether it’s a physical product or an informational product, using Periscope to do a live run-through or demo of the product is genius. This way, your potential buyers are watching in real-time and can instantly ask you a question as soon as they have it and also immediately get an answer. Game changer.

3. Conduct interviews

If you are fortunate enough to meet in person with another blogger/business owners or just someone that you know your followers will want to hear from, interview them. Host a live interview with that individual, ask your questions, but also keep an eye out for when other people shoot in questions. Using Periscope can help because someone else might have an incredible question for the person you’re interviewing that you hadn’t even thought of. It’s almost like a group effort but it’s not.

4. Live tours

I’ve seen several bloggers do home tour blog posts before. And we eat that shit up because we all want to know your life. Periscope is another great avenue for bloggers to do a home tour or for a business to do a live tour. Opening a new restaurant? Live tour that shit for your new customers? Opening a new hotel branch? Definitely live tour that shit!

5. Exclusive sales, discounts, and promos

Reward your Periscope viewers occasionally by including an incredible flash sale or discount code specifically for them for watching your broadcast(s). Not only will this bring in more sales directly because of your Periscope, but it will incentivize them to watch even more of your broadcasts. Seriously, it’s a win-win. What can go wrong?

6. Run a Q+A session

Again, this is something that I’ve seen bloggers address in a blog post or even an email newsletter. They take in questions and answer them all at once. That’s still a great idea if you’re a big influencer and you get a lot of questions (you could even consider creating an FAQ page to help people out as well). However, Periscope is an incredibly avenue for a Q+A. You’re setting aside a dedicated amount of time (15-30 minutes, or even an hour if you’re a superstar) and directly answering questions from your followers. This is huge for creating brand loyalty and just connecting with your customers/followers. Huge.

7. Conduct surveys and focus groups

There are few ways to go about this. Maybe you’re looking for feedback on a new redesign, logo, or product launch. Or maybe just have a few questions about what people think of your brand. You could gauge how much people like a new design or rebrand via hearts–the more hearts you get and the higher they rise on your screen, the more people like what you’re showing/saying to them. You could also ask questions and check out respondents’ answers in the comments section.

8. Announcements

People love announcements a lot more than we realize. If we give someone a hint that something big is coming soon, they are going to come back to find out what it is. We’re just nosy like that. Use Periscope as an avenue for live announcements, like a rebrand, or a new e-course, or that you’re running for president or something.

9. Behind-the-scenes

I’ve mentioned before how much I (and seriously everyone else) loves a good sneak peek of behind-the-scenes. It’s a great way to get your audience involved in what you’re doing. Working on a new informational product? Give out a little snippet of it and discuss your methods for working on it. Creating a new blog design? Give us a sneak peek of your branding board and talk about how you decided on certain design aspects. Show us your office/workspace area. We’re creatives…we love a good workspace tour.

10. Informational session

Use Periscope to teach your followers something. Use it as an extension of your website. Get on camera and talk to your followers about how they can improve something, how they can start doing this, what they should be doing for that, what have you. Instead of creating a blog post about your next idea, turn it into a Periscope broadcast and give your followers a lesson.

Speaking of awesome informational Periscope sessions, I have a Periscope collaboration coming up with Marissa from AmpersandCreative.co, Kayla from KaylaHollatz.com, and Michelle from Bloomology.co coming up and this is something that you guys are not going to want to miss! We’re hosting a Periscope Power Hour this Wednesday, 8/19 right after #createlounge (my favorite Twitter chat).

The four of us will be taking turns discussing different aspects of being your offline self online. Since we all have our blogs/businesses online, it’s important to give our clients/readers a good idea of who we are even though we’re not actually working together face-to-face. Tune in to learn about building an online presence that looks and feels like you by focusing on the four pillars of transparency, vulnerability, voice, and balance.

Check out this page for more information. We all hope to see you there!