How to Implement Periscope into Your Trade Show Plan
Periscope, one of the newest social media platforms on the market, recently reached the milestone of 10 million users – who together watch 40 years of content each day. This massive potential for engagement has PR pros buzzing about the new capability to bring events, such as trade shows, press conferences and product launches, to media and customers like never before – live on their Twitter feeds.
As with any new initiative or platform, it’s important to know the details before you get started to maximize the potential of your campaign. Here are five tips for making your first Periscope campaign a success:
- Make content and scheduling decisions before you get to the show. Don’t arrive at an event, expecting opportunities for live video to fall into your lap. Carefully consider the type of content you want to provide – interviews, product demonstrations or booth tours? Develop a schedule to deliver the content you need. There will always be spur of the moment opportunities that arise, but a Periscope “shot list” will help make sure the flow of content is continuous.
- Prep your people. Work with spokespeople to ensure they are comfortable with being filmed live. Some people will be ready to jump on camera, others may want to think through what they will say before the red recording light turns on. Provide questions or background information before the show and build time into your filming schedule for a practice run (or two!).
- Make a plan for responding to commenters. The interactions made possible by Periscope’s live commenting feature are endless – and it’s important to have a plan for replying. Many commenters will be interested and engaged in your video, but the Internet can be a cruel, cold world. So it’s best to have a strategy in place for dealing with trolls. Check out Periscope’s option for limiting comment capabilities to the people you follow by ensuring the comment symbol is turned on, or be prepared to receive comments from users across the globe. Consider turning the comments off if you’re not prepared to reply. Otherwise, do your best to reply in real-time, making the live stream more engaging.
- Don’t expect pro-quality video. Periscope is a fantastic tool to engage your followers, but at the end of the day, it is an app that shoots video on a smartphone. If you plan to save the videos to your photo stream and repurpose the content (incidentally, a great way to extend the life of your event), be prepared for cell phone-quality video.
- Experiment a little. As a new platform, many companies are still figuring out the best way to leverage Periscope. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new ideas to see what works best for your brand.
With a little preparation, live streaming on Periscope can be as easy as “3-2-1 Action!,” and can catch a lot of attention for your clients.