The New Social Media Secret Weapon

My latest social media obsession: Periscope! Hopefully, at some point in the last few weeks and months, you’ve become familiar with this new social platform. Periscope allows users to live stream directly to the world, either to the general public or to a private group of friends. Like other social media platforms, users can follow each other and become notified when someone they are following holds a live broadcast or can gain access to any recent missed events as well. As the app integrates with Twitter, it’s easy for users to promote their live event instantly and for their follows to share the event! How cool is that?

It’s no secret that visual platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube are growing out of control. Images, after all are the future of social media. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Why write or read a blog post if you can just instantly stream your thoughts to your followers or watch your favorite guru or internet personality in real time! Although Youtube is one of my favorite platforms, it requires much time and energy to produce a high quality video. That’s not the case with Periscope. A short live-streamed event means very little prep but instant and direct communication with your community. A scope may not get as many viewers as a YouTube video might, but the direct interaction is the gold. No matter how many comments I reply to on a YouTube video, nothing will replace that direct interaction that Periscope provides where you have the ability to reply to a question or comment directly on live video. I am always looking for better ways to add value to my community and directly interact with as many followers as possibly so that they learn, they aren’t just my followers, they are my friends too! Bringing your community through that transition from follower to friend is the magic of social media and any platform that gives your community that level of access and connection is going to be a magic bullet. Whether you are trying to grow a following through social media or build a business online, connection and interaction will propel your efforts forward at warp speed!

After hearing so much buzz about the app, I decided to download it the other week onto my iPhone. The app for Periscope is only available on mobile devices via the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Shop, and it’s a completely mobile based broadcasting system! I’ve been following all my favorite business and lifestyle gurus, watching and interacting with them as they do a quick “scope” and share some tips or hold a Q&A. “Scope,” if you haven’t already guessed is the official term people use to refer to one of these live streamed sessions. Now, Periscope is only a one way video output, so you can watch, but the event host can’t see you. Interaction happens one of three ways via the app. First, through hearts! When you tap on the screen of your smartphone during a “scope” you send virtual love to your host which helps their video rankings. The second way to interact with your host, as well as the rest of the community watching the event, is through comments. Like I said, Periscope integrates with Twitter so you can see the comments of others which pop up with their profile picture and account name from Twitter, which is pretty cool! Like Twitter, you can reply to comments made by others by tapping on the comment, which gives you an @reply option. The third and final way you can interact with the host and the event is by sharing the event on Twitter or with specific friends within the app by tapping on the user icon on the bottom right hand of the screen during a broadcast.

As you can probably tell, I am really fired up about this new platform and I can’t wait to get started using it myself! Obviously, with my move this past weekend, it was hard for me to figure out a time to jump on and host a scope, but I am very excited to announce that this Friday, July 24^th @ 3pm eastern, I plan to broadcast live on Periscope! For my first event, I want to cover YOU, my community, on the topic of social media and forging that direct connection. So please, download the FREE app Periscope onto your iOS or Android smartphone, follow me @MissTrenchcoat, and mark your planners for Friday at 3pm!

I can’t wait to see you and please, let me know if you plan on attending my first scope by sending me a tweet and using the hashtag #charmedscope which I plan to use to announce my future events as well! So excited for Friday!

xoxo,