Lessons Learnt From Broadcasting On Periscope Daily

Periscope was something we were an early adopter of being there on day 1 when Twitter relaunched the app on March 26th 2015

We took to it as avid viewers and occasional weekly broadcasters, but it took Caleb Maddix, 13 year old Author of Keys To Success For Kids, to give me the push I really needed to Periscope more often. Caleb is one of the inspiring Scopers out there – in business terms think a mini Gary Vaynerchuck or Grant Cardone Junior – and scopes several times a day.

It gave me the impetus to think – if a young entrepreneur can scope several times a day then surely I should be turning up every day

So over the past week I scoped religiously every single day and here’s what I learnt from the experience

1. Daily Actions = Daily Growth

Over the 7 Days I did a 7 part series on Startups and turning up daily as part of my daily actions was a sure-fire way for growth

In one week alone my Periscope followers went up by 15%

If you think of Periscope in Traditional Terms i.e TV Shows the classic shows are ones that have a thread and a theme and want you coming back for more. Think a soap like Coronation Street. A ongoing drama like Broadchurch. Or a comedy show like Peep Show

Think of Periscope like any other Social platform – turn up every day, give snippets and keep people coming back for more

2. You Have To Feel Comfortable With Your Surroundings
If you feel awkward about your surroundings you’ll come across awkward on camera

Like many small businesses I work from home because of my type of business doesn’t need an office and to save time on the commute – so often unless at an event I’m scoping from home

6 of the 7 shows I did downstairs from the dining room table – the lighting was right, the setting was right and I was comfortable in my surroundings

The one scope that in my own head was the worst scope I’ve done to date was in my bedroom

Despite Social Media being open and transparent I feel that some zones are private zones and you have to hold a little of yourself back

There are many that feel comfortable broadcasting from their bedroom (I’ve watched countless of them), but for myself it just didn’t feel comfortable opening up my private room to the world

3. Scoping Early Evening Just Doesn’t work
It’s far too early for any definitive data on the best time to do a Periscope show, but one time I found definitely didn’t work was the dead zone between 6-7pm

It’s a time I find doesn’t work well for Twitter either which is telling. It’s a busy time for people driving home, watching the 6 o’clock news on TV or having their evening meal home – the competition for attention is too much even for a 5 minute broadcast

In terms of the sweet spots time wise, I found around 11am worked well for getting both UK viewers in offices and mid morning breaks and also the US waking up to watch scopes

4. Trolls Will Come And They Get Blocked
Best say this now – at one point whilst you broadcast on Periscope you will be the victim of a troll

It’s the one big nightmare of having something so open and so real time as Periscope that literally anyone can type anything

I’d took precautions and found known trolls from twitter and blocked them before I did any broadcasts whatsoever and I’d advise anyone using Periscope to use the search function and do the same

But during one of the 7 shows an anonymous viewer came on the show just to troll and to put it blunt to call me an “Ugly c**t”. As you can see from the photo below in my bio – I’m not Brad Pitt, but I’m not the elephant man – so it was brushed aside, they’d lost the argument by going personal and their profile was clicked and blocked in 2 seconds of it happening. It literally takes 2 seconds to block a troll on Periscope

In terms of trolling as I said they will come at one point but they’re rare. In terms of numbers – 1 troll out of 500+ viewers across the week isn’t a big problem

5. The Same People Won’t Turn Up EVERY Show
The same people don’t engage with every tweet

The same people don’t see every facebook post

The same people don’t turn up to every networking meeting

Periscope is no different and although if you produce good content, a core will come back to watch the show live or on 24 hour replay

But life and work gets in the way which means there will be a mixture of new faces and regulars on every show

6. Periscope Is An Engaging Platform – Engage
In the same way that not enough people engage on Twitter, not enough people are engaging on other people’s shows on Periscope

The best thing about Periscope is the open 2 way communication for what is essentially a TV show from your phone

You have literally open access to smart business people giving away free advice

Ask questions, double tap the screen in appreciation and be an active part of the periscope community as the broadcasters are not telepathic so can’t see you nodding in agreement etc

Bonus point – Every time I engage on someone else’s show with the key point of “add value” rather than selling – my own followers grow

7. Your Scope Won’t Be Perfect Every Time and That Doesn’t Matter
Periscope is live and gone within 24 hours

This is real life and like a business talk at a live event, you’ll walk away thinking of what you forgot to mention or how you tripped over your words at one point

It’s human, it’s not a final product, it’s not something that will last forever

Of course you should prep for what you’re going to say and have a structure – but every scope will not be perfect and it doesn’t matter

Don’t beat yourself up about it and move on to the next show

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At Altrincham HQ we specialise in growing businesses via effective Social Media Marketing