How can your company take advantage of Periscope and embed into a marketing plan?

First of all if you haven’t yet come across it, Periscope is a live video streaming app created for IOS and Android. The startup was purchased by Twitter for $100million in March 2015 who soon after relaunched the streaming service within their own App store account, also making it available on Android in May. Periscope describe the service as ‘being able to explore the world through someone else’s eyes’

Burberry have used it to live broadcast their fashion show, giving users an access-to-all-areas experience to their entire event.

Adidas have used it to show the Real Madrid striker, James Rodriguez, signing a new contract to remain as their brand ambassador, which was watched live by over a thousand people.

The Guardian newspaper use it to give their viewers live tech demos, which are educational.

The viewers in all these instances can interact with the broadcaster, taking traditional broadcasting from a passive to an active format, where viewers can influence the broadcaster with direct messaging.

Other brands testing out what they can do with Periscope include:

• Spotify: streaming behind-the-scenes videos with artists;

• Mountain Dew: drawing people to a merchandise stall;

• Red Bull: live streaming events happening at their Guest House during Miami Music Week;

• DKNY: giving viewers a live glimpse of their fashion closet.

In all these instances, the brand opens its doors to whoever is already following them, allowing them to connect in a very real way with their fans. As Periscope is owned by Twitter, such invitations can be put into anyone’s activity feed increasing exposure and opening visibility up to a whole new audience and a Periscope stream can quickly spiral and be shared.

Another area where Periscope could thrive is in live sport. During the recent Pacquiao-Mayweather boxing blockbuster bout, Periscope made it simple to watch the event live (although deemed as a huge act of piracy as it was broadcasted by members in the audience). This was available despite the pay per view fees and millions involved in the sport.

So how are businesses to make use of Periscope to engage their audience?

Announcements & Celebrities

Periscope could be used to announce special offers and competitions as a way to push instant traffic to a brand’s website, where a Tweet might only create a low click-through rate, an audience engaged onto a live stream presents a greater opportunity for surges in traffic.

Add a celebrity into the mix and such an endorsement marketing could rocket-boost engagement rates even more.

Company culture

Another way to bring the consumer closer to the brand is through behind-the-scenes visits. This technique uses the personal connection that Periscope allows.

This direct access could be turned into live Q&A sessions for a business to find out what their customer needs. Periscope could be used in a real-time company board meeting for instant user feedback. Such an honourable role for a consumer could prove important for brand loyalty.

Product Teasers

Another customer-connection use of Periscope could be to give consumers a sneak-peek to products before they are launched. Imagine watching a hotly awaited product being stacked on the shelves the night before its release like the latest Apple product or Playstation game. How about seeing Harrods marking up the Christmas sale items before you even get in there.

Trending Events

When Oreo tweeted “You can still dunk in the dark,” during the 2013 Superbowl power cut, they were greeted with a huge influx of retweets (15,000) and 8,000 new followers, plus another sixteen-thousand additional entries into a competition they were running at the time. Their brand had improved greatly with having a platform which enabled a real-time response, but how much did spontaneity and serendipity have to play in the ‘Oreo moment’? For brands to master socially-enhanced live streaming, they will have to synchronise their product with the audience and context.

Periscope vs Meerkat

Periscope isn’t the only live-streaming app on the scene; Meerkat is another popular alternative which has been given multimillion dollar backing. Since Periscope was acquired by Twitter, who have over 230 million users, Meerkat will have stiff competition.

Two current functionalities that are integrated into both of these apps is that the broadcasts are removed; Meerkat does so immediately and Periscope after twenty-four hours. Whether companies will invest in content that disappears will remain to be seen.

This has been improved this week as Periscope has provided the ability to view Periscope streams after they have ended. Previously this was just available 24 hours after a stream ended and only on Android and IOS. Now you can view the new ‘web replays’ when clicking the stream opening up a new browser enabling you to re-live the moment and watch the stream replay. The natural step will be for Periscope to add embed codes for sites to add on their own websites then we can really take advantage of Periscope marketing opportunities. I imagine it’s coming soon, so keep watching as this new marketing channel evolves.

In a consumer-climate driven by immediacy and responsiveness and where the user’s perception of brands becomes dependent on their interaction with it, live-streaming could be another powerful tool towards the direct target of consumers.

Are you ready to add Periscope to your marketing plans?