Tips and Tricks to Increase Your Periscope Viewers

It's not surprising that Periscope is one of the "it" social media networks right now. With its unique spin on online communication, this social network reached its first 1 million members within 7 days. For comparison, Twitter took 24 months to reach that first million member mark, Facebook took 10 months, and Instagram took 2.5 months.

But how does Periscope work? Well, a Periscope user will broadcast a live video (called a "scope"), and anyone can watch the video while interacting with the broadcaster in real-time. A viewer can both chat with the broadcaster (by tapping "Say something"), or can show the broadcaster that they like the scope by tapping the video to give a heart. After the initial broadcast, videos remain available for anyone to watch for the following 24 hours, after which point in time the video gets deleted from Periscope's servers. It's a great way to really connect with other people, especially if you are the person doing the broadcast – the social network lends itself easily to helping broadcasters be seen as experts in their relative fields.

Six months ago, we gave you some real estate ideas for Periscope; now that you've had some time to experiment with the platform, here are some of our tips on getting more viewers and better connecting with them during your broadcasts.

Promote Your Show

This is often one of the biggest things that people forget to do! Even before your first show, you should be telling your followers on your other social networks about your upcoming broadcast – and include the specific day and time that you will be doing it. At the end of each show, you should also be promoting your next scope – give your viewers a bit of a teaser as to what you will be talking about in your next broadcast, as well as what day and time it will be. Also, don't forget to ask users to follow your account and share your broadcast if they found it helpful!

Start Talking Immediately

When people first start Periscoping, it's not unusual to hold off on talking until at least one person has started watching. The problem with this is that there are two ways for people to watch scopes: live and in replay. This can end up being a lot of empty space for people watching a replay of your broadcast, and you may end up finding that retention is very low for replay visitors.

Introduce Yourself Throughout Your Scope

Not everyone who watches your scope will know who you are, so at the beginning of your broadcast introduce yourself and what you are planning on talking about during that particular scope. As well, since the nature of Periscope means that people will start viewing your broadcast part way through (think of it like turning on the television part way through a show), you may want to introduce yourself a few times throughout the broadcast itself. This way, any latecomers to your scope will also have an idea of what you're talking about.

Engage With Your Viewers

Periscope is, like other social networking sites, meant to be social. Don't forget to talk with your viewers – that's one of the reasons they are watching it. It doesn't take much to make viewers feel special – say hello to them when they join your broadcast, and answer any questions that they may ask in the chat. If you find that you don't have much communication currently happening, try asking your viewers a question and see what kind of responses you get!

Turn Location Settings On

With Periscope's Map section, users are able to see where people are scoping from in real-time and select which scopes to watch; this can be a huge benefit for a real estate agent who wants to build their reputation in a local area. Take advantage of this – especially if you're using Periscope for an open house or if you're using it for recruiting agents in your local area.

To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.