You don’t need be an expert on all social platforms, and not every one of them makes sense for your goals and target audiences. Savvy marketers know the value of being active where their target audience is first, and the benefits of being an early-adopter on those channels.
Live-streaming-video Apps such as Periscope, Meerkat, and Blab enable users to broadcast live video streaming through their mobile devices. Periscope seems to be leading the pack at the moment. This free live-streaming app you can download from the iTunes Store or from the Google Play Store. If you’re on Twitter, you can also link Periscope and Twitter.
The tagline says it all; Explore the world through someone else’s eyes. Periscope allows you to video events or situations and your followers can watch you in real time. The key thing to remember is that these videos are only saved by Periscope for 24 hours, although you have the option of saving your videos to your phone’s camera roll. You can follow people, adjust your notifications, settings and profile, just like with any other social channel. Periscope also has a blocking mechanism; so if you prefer some of your followers not to see your video stream, use it. You can also turn off the location feature on your phone before you start a broadcast.
It is emerging as a novel platform to connect with consumers, bloggers and media in ways that you may not have been able to using other social media channels. Although you cannot get direct referral traffic to your website or blog via Periscope because unlike Facebook or Twitter, you cannot post a clickable link, it can boost search engine traffic. You can mention your practice website a few times during each scope so people know who you are and how to find you.
Using Periscope is called ‘scoping’ and you can scope often or infrequently, as you prefer. Some users spend a lot of time creating the perfect video, while many others just jump on whenever they are doing something that may be interesting to their followers. It is a free platform (for now at least), and you can use it at will.
Consumers flock to Periscope to see what their your favorite brands or celebs are up to and to gain access to content of interest on style, beauty, health, fitness and almost anything. Think of it this way; you do a lot of interesting and unusual things every day in practice, the Periscope is a way to showcase your work and the patient experience.
Because Periscope is connected to Twitter, that’s where you will be promoting your broadcasts primarily, so it’s important to know who your Twitter followers are and find out what posts rock their world. Keep in mind that mobile users have an increasingly short attention span, so if you don’t capture their interest in the first few seconds of your video, they are more likely to stop viewing your stream. By sharing your broadcast on Twitter and turning on the location tagging option, you can reach a larger audience.
Another benefit of Periscope is using it as a way to advertise your practice or medical spa. You can showcase your specials or offers followers a peek behind the curtain and show them what you do or how you do it. You can also highlight new products available, and allow consumers to engage with the practice staff and ask questions.
The title you choose should be compelling. It should describe what your video is about, and tell people why they should either tune in now or replay your video stream later up to 24 hours.
