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Why Periscope is Going to be a Game-Changer for Bloggers & Business Owners

Why Periscope is Going to be a Game-Changer for Bloggers & Business Owners | If you're not on Periscope, you will be after hearing these 5 enticing reasons why this new app is changing the game as we know it. We have an incredible opportunity as bloggers and biz owners to use Periscope as a tool for growing a loyal following, creating quality content with low hassle, and...well...you'll have to read the post to find out the rest!

Just two weeks ago, I didn’t even know the Periscope app existed.

And here I am today with six broadcasts under my belt, an Ultimate Periscope Resource Page to share with you all, and now, a deeper discussion into why I think this app is worth exploring.

As we’ve already established, I’ve caught Periscope fever!  And while this is still a very new medium, and I have a lot to learn, one thing is very clear to me:

I don’t think Periscope is going to be just another fad.  I think it’s here to stay.  And I think it’s going to be a game-changer for us all–especially for bloggers and business owners.

Join me as we talk about why that is the case.

You can check out the Periscope discussion on the subject or the written out list, or both!  Whatever floats your boat.

Why Periscope is Going to be a Game-Changer for Bloggers & Biz Owners

1.  LIVE Periscope broadcasts tear down walls and forge personal connection.

Because of the LIVE nature of Periscope, viewers have the opportunity to engage with the broadcaster in a very real, down-to-earth way.  And that exchange has the potential to break down walls and allow broadcasters to form more personal relationships with their audiences.

It can be easy to start to picture a blogger as their 2D profile photo–but during a LIVE broadcast on Periscope, 2D transforms into living, breathing, smiling 3D.  And suddenly, it’s like your chatting over coffee with one of your best pals.

Nikki Elledge Brown, Queen of #bariscopes on Periscope!

Prime example: if you visit Nikki Elledge Brown’s website, you can understand why I drool over her sleek site design and super fun photos of her in adorable dresses and pink lipstick.  Oh, and her content is always killer.

Now, sometimes a very polished online personae like Nikki portrays on her blog has the potential to come across as unrelatable or too put together; however, if you watch any of Nikki’s scopes, you’ll think otherwise.

In fact, get this: she has taken to calling her scopes “bariscopes” because of how frequently she broadcasts with a bare face, free of any makeup.  Nikki’s bariscopes in part inspired me to take the plunge and shoot my first scope right after going to the gym.  (Bring on the crazy hair!)

Periscope has also allowed me to connect with Nikki personally, and having her answer one of my questions live turned me from a fan to a die-hard fan.  As a blogger or biz owner, you know that that level of loyalty is huge when you’re trying to build your brand.  It’s what we’re always shooting for…and I think Periscope will give us an opportunity to create a community of not just fans, but die-hards.

Take-away: Use Periscope to help you build a loyal community!

2.  The collaborative energy on a LIVE scope breeds creativity.

There’s an electric type of energy with the give-and-take that comes with having a live audience.  And lemmetellya, the creative potential is astronomical.

Prime example: this week, I decided on a whim to host a Monday Night Dance Party on Periscope because…well…it’s Monday and we all could use a little pick-me-up.

Well, my audience was so completely engaged and sold out to the idea that together we got to dancing on our feet and decided to make it a weekly affair.  #MondayNightDanceParty

Now, did I plan that when I went into it?  No way!  But when you get 30 heads in a room instead of just one, the creative possibilities multiply.

We are more creative as a collective than the most creative person in the collective.

And we as bloggers and business owners have an incredible opportunity to foster creative and collaborative environments with our scopes if we so choose.

So, pick your viewer’s brains.  Collaborate with them.  And remember, you can dance if you want to!  {Grin.}

Take-away: Use Periscope to magnify your creative potential.

 

Reader poll on Periscope!3.  Periscope provides a venue for instant feedback!  #timesaver

Just as we can collaborate together and come up with new creative ideas together, we can use Periscope to poll a cross-section of our blog or business community and glean instant, action-able feedback.  Do you know how incredibly valuable this is?  And what a time-saver it is?

You have the opportunity to have individual connections with your community IN.  REAL.  TIME.  And yes, I rarely write in all caps on the blog, but that deserved it.

This is a great opportunity to learn what your community or your target audience is truly interested in without needing to go through the hassle of a survey form or an email to your list.  It’s instantaneous, and allows you to feel out the group, asking questions that come to your mind in the spur of the moment.

Then, the information you glean from your viewers can allow you to improve the viewer/reader experience across the board because (for example) you now know that the vast majority of your audience are also fairly new to the Periscope app like you…or so I discovered last night thanks to an informal reader poll I took.

Take-away: Conduct informal scope polls to glean instant feedback from your audience and empower them as shapers of your biz’s destiny!

4.  Periscope eliminates the hassle that usually comes with creating video content and improves productivity.  #worksmarternotharder

Double-thumbs up, all the way!  I heart Periscope!Periscope is a perfectionist’s nightmare or dream, depending on how you look at it.  But for this recovering perfectionist, it has set me free.  Why?

Because the nature of the medium is that it’s live, which means you can create a scope in a fraction of the time it would typically take to create a well recorded, scripted, and edited video for YouTube (with all the fixins’ like voiceover, cut-aways, music, titles, credits, bloopers, etc.).  In fact, the bloopers are all included within your scope!  {Yuk yuk.}

And that’s okay on Periscope because no one expects perfection.  It’s not the nature of the app.

So, in 30 minutes, I can create what typically would take me 9 hours.  That’s a BIG difference, people.  And a big amount of hassle eliminated.

Sure, I still wince a little when I watch one of my replays and see little mistakes I made…or how many times I said “like” or “um.”  Or how I used the word “marathon” instead of “sprint.”

But here’s the thing: Periscope is so new right now, everyone else is in the same boat.  Other scopers are making mistakes, too.  And I know I’m not judging them for it.  Nor should I expect my audience to judge me.

This is a new game, with new rules, and frankly, I think it’s a whole lot more fun to play.

Double-thumbs-up all the way.

Take-away: Watch your productivity sky-rocket when you discover how easy it is to create video content on Periscope. 

5.  One Periscope broadcast can be repurposed across multiple platforms.

While the broadcast replays vanish from Periscope after 24 hours, you can adjust your settings so that that your broadcasts auto-save to your camera roll.  That content is now yours to keep and repurpose on other platforms such as YouTube or Facebook.

For instance, I took my scope on 5 Strategies for Conquering the Fear of Public Speaking and uploaded it to YouTube, and then I embedded in a blog post of the same name.  That’s a 3-for-1 deal right there.  Additionally, I took a post from a year ago, 10 Lessons I Learned From Planning My Own Wedding, and dedicated two scopes to it, which you can now find embedded in the original post.  Any additions to old posts that can improve the reader experience and offer more valuable content will improve your S.E.O. and build a more user-friendly collection of resources.

For someone like me who tends to take forever creating content, I’m feeling incredibly excited about what this means for improving my output and having new potential sources of income (think product creation, membership sites, YouTube monetization, a lead magnet for email subscribers, content for an eCourse).  You’ve got a world of possibilities before you here.

Take-away: Jump on the opportunity to repurpose scopes and use that video content to grow your blog or business.  2 or 3 or more birds!  One stone.

Your Turn

Has Periscope ignited something in you, too?  Do you think Periscope is here to stay?  Why or why not?  Do share in the comments below!

And if you’re hungry for more, be sure to continue on and explore the other posts in this series by clicking the images below:

The Beginner's Guide to Periscope

20 Quick Tips for NEW Broadcasters on Periscope

Over and out!

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16 Comments

  1. I agree that LIVE VIDEO BROADCASTING will change the scope of social media. But not sure it will be Periscope that wins this battle with Facebook, Meerkat, my favorite and original Launcher of Live Video Broadcasting Hang W/ all in the mix. it will be interesting to see where this goes, and who else joins!? Youtube? Snapchat? Vine? so far the race is close!

    My vote goes to Hang W/ –> Especially since they have Pay Per View and pay people to broadcast!

    just my thoughts..

    1. Ooo! I’ve never head of Hang W/ before. Will have to check ’em out to learn more. And you may be right – – that live broadcasting in general is what will change the game. I agree–I’m eager to see where this goes and what new features these apps develop next. I get the sense they are working around the clock to try to keep up with the growth from waves of early adopters. Bottom line, it’s exciting to be on the ground floor. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Mish.

  2. Hello yes I love Periscope and I want to add to my Youtube but I didn’t like the blank space around the video, but you Lauren have nailed it. How my friend did you do that? The video imbedding into the iPhone, how did you do that if you don’t mind sharing please?

  3. Hi Lauren!
    I just downloaded Periscope last week and I absolutely loved it! I will definitely try this as a medium to promote my business! Thanks for the encouragement! Great info! 🙂

  4. I had heard periscope in passing on a couple of blogs in the past week but never read into it. I’m so glad you made this post because now I know why I have to get periscope ASAP. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. 🙂

  5. I’ve just started using Periscope and playing around with it. This post gave me some great ideas to incorporate it into my blogging. I’m just wondering what you use to do this hands-free. Are you still using your phone or can you do it on the computer?
    I just stumbled upon your blog and I can’t wait to read more of your posts!
    Thanks!

  6. I was excited to check it out but the reviews are terrible after the latest update. I’m debating on whether it’s worth the time now. It sounds fun though!

    1. I’d hang in there, Jen. I think Periscope is just growing at a faster rate than the app can hire developers, and I’m sure they’re working around the clock to improve app glitches. Actually, if you hop on tonight at 9 p.m. eastern, I’ll be hosting my second weekly #MondayNightDanceParty. Should be a fun time! Hope to see you there.

  7. Hey Lauren,

    Great post and I’ve already downloaded it to look into further as I’ve not heard of it before but anything that can create content on several mediums has to be good, huh! I’ve been researching my blog and am currently pre-writing content to post and chomping at the bit. One question I did have was the quote that you used earlier, ‘We are more creative as a collective than the most creative in the collective’, is it your original quote? I would love to use it on my website as it’s worded perfectly how I feel about design in general. So, if it is, do you mind me putting it on my website and referencing yourself or can you offer the name of the person who originally said it (or in our world, typed it)?

    Warmest
    Adam

    1. So glad you’re going to dive into the app some more, Adam! I really do think we’ll be hearing about it more and more in the days ahead. And yes! That quote is a Lauren Lanker original. 😉 Although the concept was adapted from a book I read back in my grad school days, the name of which escapes me…but it was about the idea that we are more intelligent as a group than the most intelligent individual in the group. And I really do believe the same concept applies to creativity! (And clearly, so do you.) Thanks in advance for the shout-out on your site! And best of luck to you in your artistic journey.

  8. I love Periscope, but I must admit that it is becoming crappy lately.
    A lot of people are just joining it and making it look a lot like Snapchat (no, I don’t like the low quality of the material generally shared on it).
    I think that very fast there will be a division and they will need to optimize who we hear from.
    Great post, Lauren. I discovered your site through Building a Framework from Abby and now I found this post on Scoopit! Love your content and I am hoping to improve my writing with your tips.

    1. You’re right that we’ll need to optimize who we hear from – – I haven’t yet turned on alerts, but if I do, I’ll need to go in and turn off everyone but the few I do want to hear from. Right now, I just scroll through my feed and choose the replays I want to see based on titles or if they are someone who delivers quality content. I’m choosy! 😉

      Aw, and that’s so sweet to know Abby sent you over. She’s a dear dear friend of mine and has really created such an invaluable resource with Building a Framework. Let me know if any writing questions crop up for you. It’s one of my greatest passions!

  9. Aww you’re so cute! I’ve been toying with the idea of joining but I definitely hate public speaking (which really makes no sense, since I’m pretty extroverted!). I’m going to have to check out your other post. . . Thanks for sharing!!

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