10 Entrepreneurs Share How They Use Periscope for Business

For startups, it’s a tough road to success: about 50% of small businesses fail in the first five years, and tech startups fail at a rate that’s estimated to be as high as 90%. But, for hopeful entrepreneurs trying to get their companies off the ground, there’s a bright side: a growing number of inexpensive, innovative apps are available to fight those figures. One of these is Periscope.

#1 -Personalize Experience

Have you ever been dying to ask a question but you just can’t seem to find the answer online? Or better yet contact a company that actually has a phone number and answers it with a live person? Periscope allows my company the ability of providing a personalized experience for customers that is interactive, informative, & fun. The No Mo Nausea Band is the first and only natural way to stop nausea, vomiting, and headaches instantly for kids and adults. I believe I should be an active part in creating my brand around customers getting to know me not just as the inventor but also as an anesthesia expert. Utilizing my medical knowledge, I am able to use periscope to build better brand awareness as well as trust with all of my customers. Answering their questions on a one on one basis allows me to interact with them in ways I never would be able to especially since the NoMo Nausea Band is sold in hospitals, pharmacies, dive shops, and airports across the world. For small businesses, it’s an amazing opportunity where there’s no production cost and the video doesn’t have to be perfect just real. I want my followers to purchase my product from as a recommendation from someone they know, like a good neighbor. Periscope just happens to be the community where we live.

Thanks to Jacqueline Darna, NoMo Nausea

#2 – Interactive

In June 2015 when I first downloaded Periscope, I became a big advocate of Periscope for promoting both my business which is for startups and promoting my clients to use Periscope for their business. I run startup pitch events in Boca Raton, FL called StartupPOP where 10 companies each month pitch in front of a panel of investors. On June 15th and September 15, 2015 we ran events in Boca Raton where Periscope followers could watch our event live. We had over 150 viewers each time and people who could not make it could watch. Since then I have pretty much been on Periscope about 60 minutes day. I believe that Periscope offers any business with an event a way to show off the event in real time in ways that all other social media does not. The big factor is the interactivity with the Periscope broadcaster! You can ask questions that allow for instant answers and views. This is a major improvement over Youtube videos and social media like Facebook which are random and focused on friends and family.

Thanks to Dan Gudema, StartupPOP

#3 – Best Thing to Being There

I use Periscope to do livestreams of presentations. That way, if people can’t come to a speech because of time or geographic constraints, they still can experience it. If Twitter is the best real-time feedback tool available, then Periscope is the best real-time “best-thing-to-being-there” tool.

Thanks to Spencer X Smith

#4 – Showcase Human Side of Business

Periscope is an excellent tool to showcase the human side of your business. As a tax accountant, I know people avoid taxes like the plague. I use Periscope to bring humor to tax topics in real time and give exclusive Periscope-only offers to potential clients. Also, Periscope helps promote my virtual tax preparation services to consumers outside my local service area.

Thanks to Yvette D. Best, Best Services Unlimited LLC

#5 – Value to Audience

Periscope is a great tool for businesses looking to provide value to their audience and/or customer base through live video streams. The most important part of any social media plan, however, is identifying and documenting a defined strategy! Two key points — 1) Figure out what value you can provide to that audience, 2) Identify WHY someone would take time out of their day to view your live stream. Perhaps you’re giving people a sneak peak at a new product, maybe you’re leveraging the platform for your content marketing program geared toward providing your expertise on a specific topic or niche. Whatever you’re doing, make sure you have a defined strategy and a defined objective. Do you simply want exposure? Do you want to drive direct sales leads? Are you trying to increase your subscriber base? etc.

Thanks to Ricky Shockley III, Shockley Marketing LLC

#6 -Broadcast

We use periscope to broadcast our presence at game conventions. In addition, we broadcast all of the sessions we run on game design. This allows people who can’t be there to tune in and a) see what the event is like and b) learn from the speaker in the session. Our community has appreciated us doing this and several new people have found us through these efforts.

Thanks to Tavis Parker, The Game Crafter

#7 – Value Tool

Periscope is an incredibly valuable tool for businesses that need to put out content daily, but don’t have time to blog or set up elaborate video shoots. You can be up and broadcasting from anywhere in just a couple of clicks.  I’m already seeing an increase in social media followers, as well as website traffic. I love Periscope, and plan to make it a regular part of my content marketing.

Thanks to Julie Anne Eason

#8 – Stay Connected

At the University at Albany (Albany, N.Y.) we have just started to scratch the surface of the Periscope world. Leveraging Twitter to promote live streaming is a great, real-time, way to share University-wide events. Most recently, our social media team used Periscope to live stream the President’s 2015 State of the University address. We’ve also utilized the app at various University press conferences and briefly at the Class of 2019’s Convocation. Periscope is becoming an integral part to our social media strategy and is enabling the entire University community – past and present – to stay connected.

Thanks to Dr. Robert Jones, University at Albany

#9 – Reviews

Previously we had no idea about what periscope was but recently a customer of our product liked it so much she did a periscope review of it. We came across it on twitter and later found our she also posted it on Twitter.  We have now started to use it to get reviews from our customers to show and post on social media. It’s a great tool for it.

Thanks to Tarique Khan, Rip N Go

#10 -Live Medical Procedure

OrthoCarolina is a 38-office, 160-physician orthopedic group in North Carolina based in Charlotte. We used Periscope in October to actually go into clinical visits with patients and live broadcast from inside the patient exam room. OrthoCarolina was the first medical group in Charlotte to use Periscope to show a live medical procedure. We did five total in-room broadcasts as part of a National Physician Assistant Week marketing plan to promote the work that PAs do, so all the Periscopes were with PAs. Three were aspirations (knee drains) and two were injections. Four of the five patients wanted to be on camera too, show their face and talk about their injuries and working with a PA.