33 Incredible Periscope Tips from the Most Popular Scopes

Periscope has exploded over the past six months, and it has become the ultimate way to build true engagement with an audience. From Pat Flynn to the Suicide Girls, online personalities are embracing Periscope and putting it to the front of their social media mix.

Vocativ reported that it took only 10 days for Periscope to reach their first 1 million users. The previous record was held by Instagram, and it took them two and half months to get to 1 million.

Periscope is not the next big thing. It is the big thing.

I watched over 100 hours of live video from the top Periscopers this past month, and I identified 33 techniques that are responsible for their overwhelming success.

Here is everything you need know to dominate Periscope.

#1 Watch Other Successful Scopes To Learn From The Pros

Try and watch at least one scope every single day for 30 days. Here are a few areas to take notes on while you watch:

• What makes you most engaged?
• What makes you want to turn it off?
• What parts get the most hearts?

I recommend watching Pat Flynn, Michael Hyatt, and Chris Ducker.

#2 Plan Your Talking Points So Your Broadcast Runs Smoothly

Organization and preparation are key when it comes to live video streaming. It can be easy to get carried away talking about irrelevant things, or to freeze up and not say much of anything. Avoid this by writing down some main topic points that you want to talk about before starting your broadcast.

As of July, Periscope was getting over 40 years of video watched per day.

#3 Practice Running Through Your Scope To Find Any Flaws

Rehearsing what you plan on talking about can be a great benefit for you, especially if you are relatively new to the world of live streaming. Just hold up your phone and do a mock broadcast once or twice, this will better prepare you for the real thing.

#4 Announce Your Broadcast To Inform People You Are Going Live

You can utilize all of your other social media platforms by letting your followers know about your upcoming Periscope broadcasts. Simply send out a message with the time you will be going live, and a link to your Periscope account.

Pat Flynn lets his Twitter followers know everytime he goes live on Periscope.

#5 Promote Your Periscope Sessions To Your Email List

The email list is where your raving fans are, and you need to promote your best Periscope sessions to your list on a regular basis. Here are two tips to remember:

• Include the day and time of your periscope session in the subject line.
• Add a brief instruction to the body of the email explaining how to download Periscope, find you and follow you.

This will allow you to instantly have a strong audience with great engagement.

#6 Engage Users With Creative Titles To Gain More Viewers

The only thing that users will see when they are scrolling through the recent broadcasts is your title and your name. This means that it is vitally important to have an interesting and compelling title that will entice users to click on your video.

Michael Hyatt is a master of crafting great Periscope titles.

#7 Choose Topics You Are Passionate About To Inspire Others

It’s always easier to talk about things that you are passionate about. Choose topics that you have interesting views on and valuable information to provide. Your goal should be to educate and inspire your viewers during each video.

#8 Create Periscopes About How To Master Periscope

The vast majority of people using Periscope are either broadcasting on Periscope or have plans of using it as an engagement tool in the future. Thus, scopes about Periscope consistently perform better than almost any other scope topic.

Chis Ducker does this with excellence below, with a scope on how to increase your Periscope followers.

#9 Adding Emojis In Your Title Will Help You To Stand Out

Periscope allows their users to add Emojis directly into the titles. This is a great advantage because it makes your title stand out from all the rest, which increases the likelihood of someone clicking in.

#10 Avoid Any Distractions To Have A Successful Broadcast

Be sure to set your phone to silent or “do not disturb” and have privacy to do your broadcast.

Adweek recently identified the top reasons why people record a scope along with the two biggest concerns.

#11 Have A Plan Of Action For Disruptive And Rude People

“Trolls” are present anywhere you go on the internet, and Periscope is no exception. Having someone who is consistently posting rude or vulgar comments needs to be handled immediately. The best way to deal with it is to block them right away. You can do this by going to their profile and hitting the block user button.

Never let any of these idiots get to you. Focus on what your real audience is saying.

#12 Use Wifi To Avoid Incurring Data Charges

Periscope uses huge amounts of data and it can be easy to over look this when you having fun broadcasting your videos. The best way to avoid running into this problem is to use wifi whenever possible.

#13 Make Sure Your Phone Is Fully Charged

Using Periscope will drain your battery extremely fast. Set a reminder one hour before your scope to charge the phone.

The Global Web Index found that the primary age group using Periscope was 25-34, which made up 49% of the user base.

#14 Optimize Your Thumbnail To Draw More Attention To Your Stream

Periscope creates an automatic thumbnail for your broadcast from the image that is first seen on the camera. This thumbnail will be the image that is seen when people are scrolling through recent broadcasts, so you definitely want to make it interesting.

Focus your camera on a “teaser” shot for the first three seconds of the scope. The easiest way to accomplish this is pointing at an image on your computer screen that is related to the scope topic.

#15 Use The Rode SmartLav Microphone For Exceptional Audio Quality

If you want to take the audio quality of your scopes to a higher level, then consider grabbing the Rode smartLav+ Lavalier microphone. This is the preferred microphone of Periscope pros.

#16 Be Energetic To Get Your Followers Pumped Up

No one wants to see and hear someone who is tired or speaking in a monotone voice. Before you go live, do something that will get you energized. Listen to a song that gets you going and do a quick set of pushups to get the adrenaline flowing.

#17 Welcome Your Viewers And Mention Their Names

When you first begin your broadcast, be sure to welcome all of your viewers and thank them for watching. Be sure to mention the name of anyone that takes the time to post a comment.

In a recent survey, Emarketer reported that men are slightly more interested in using Periscope than women are.

#18 Speak To Your Audience As If They Are Friends

Remember, you are not lecturing students in a class or trying to show your superiority. You will get the best results by speaking to your audience as if you are having a simple conversation with friends.

#19 Have Conversations During Your Broadcast To Better Connect With Viewers

Periscope is all about the interactions that you have. People are more likely to continue tuning in if they feel like they are a part of the show.

Adweek published the results of a poll conducted by Horizon Media’s WHY Group, which identified the top six factors driving interest in Periscope.

#20 Recap Your Key Points Every Five Minutes

10-20% of your followers will jump on your scope after you have been talking for at least five minutes. A quick recap will bring the new viewers up to date, and it will reinforce the key points to the rest of the audience.

#21 Ask Questions That Have One Word Answers

Periscope users engage most when you ask questions that contain one word answers.  Here are a few great examples of this technique in action:

• Where are you from?
• Rate your mood from 1-10.
• What did you eat for dinner?

#22 Move Around And Showcase Your Surroundings

Try to avoid having an entire scope of a talking head. A Periscope gives you the freedom to walk around and give the audience a grand tour of your environment. Let them see your home, office, family, and anything else that will bring your audience into your life.

In a recent review of Twitter activity, Topsy tweet analytics clearly showed that Periscope is dominating Meerkat. Periscope averaged over 60,000 tweets per day, and Meerkat only managed a few thousand each day.

#23 Never Turn Your Back And Keep Your Eyes Focused On The Camera

The last thing anyone wants to see is the back of your head. If you are showing off your surroundings, then point in the general direction while maintaining eye contact with the camera. Your audience will feel a perceived emotional connection when your eyes are consistently focused on the camera.

#24 Ask For The Swipe To Increase Periscope Shares

The swipe is an important user engagement that you need to initiate just like asking for the taps. Put your best foot forward in your first two talking points, and then you can ask for the swipe. The key takeaway is to ask for the swipe after the viewers receive great value.

Salesforce recently compared the engagement rates of Meerket and Periscope over an eight day period. The results showed that 57% of Periscope users shared at least two scopes.

#25 Work On Multi-Tasking Skills To Successfully Broadcast And Interact

Multi-tasking is a must for Periscope. This is because you will be simultaneously speaking in your video, while also trying to interact in the comments on your stream.

#26 Keep Your Head On The Right Side In Landscape Mode To Leave Room For Comments

When you use landscape mode, comments are going to cover most of the left hand side of the live feed. Make sure to position the camera so that your head shows up on the right hand side.

#27 Pause When Flipping From The Front To The Back Camera

The scope broadcast is briefly cut off everytime the camera is flipped. If you are mid sentence during a flip, your audio is going to be cut out.

#28 Use The Olloclip For A Wider Angle Lens

Many Periscopers are using the Olloclip for the wide angle and fisheye lens, which allows their audience to see more of what is going on. The wide angle is best used when filming your talking head, and the fisheye is typically used for capturing work that is being done on the computer screen.

#29 Ask For The Tap To Make Your Hearts Go Crazy

Showing hearts is Periscope’s equivalent of an audience clapping. The average periscoper will not tap unless you ask them, and there are many newbies that do not even know that tapping creates hearts. Here are a few ways to creatively ask for the tap:

• Tap your phone if you agree.
• Tap to show me some love.
• Tap if you found this Periscope session useful.

The best practice is to ask for the tap every 3-5 minutes. When planning your speaking points, strategically place your “tap” call to actions for optimal engagement.

#30 Keep Your Phone Stable To Make Your Broadcast Professional

If there is one thing that no one wants to watch, it is a shaky phone that is bouncing everywhere for an entire broadcast. Practice holding your phone still if you will be walking and broadcasting, or find a stable place to set your phone to record.

Many of the most watched scopes are using a mini tripod. The Manfrotto Mini Tripod is the preferred tripod of top Periscopers.

#31 End Your Broadcast Enthusiastically To Leave A Good Impression

Ending your broadcast can be tricky. Do you say bye and click off, or are there some other things you should be doing? My advice is to recap what happened during your stream, give some shout outs to people that where extremely active, and say thank you.

#32 Poll Your Followers At The End Of Each Scope

Ask your audience to rate the content of your show from 1-10. This allows you to identify which topics resonate the strongest with your audience.

In another recent report, Keyhole found that the number of users on Periscope with 10,000+ followers eclipsed Meerkat by 300%. This means that the power hitters are clearly choosing Periscope over Meerkat.

#33 Save Your Broadcasts And Use Them in Your Blog and Social Media

Once you have a saved version of your video, repurpose them across different venues. Put them up on your blog, Facebook, and YouTube.

Now you have everything you need to dominate Periscope like a pro. So go out and make it happen today. Please take a short moment to share this fabulous article with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you have a website or a blog, then you can use the infographic below in an article of your own. Just be sure to link back to this article somewhere in your post.