How Food Bloggers can use Periscope

Social media is an ever changing landscape and recently we saw Periscope become the new kid on the block. A number of bloggers embraced the new platform and here Aly from Bug, Bird, Bee gives us her tips on using Periscope. Aly is an occasional parent and lifestyle on Bug, Bird And Bee but prefers social media to network with other bloggers and brands. Follow Aly on Periscope bugbirdbee and watch her past scopes on Katch.Me

Over to Aly…

1.Watch Periscope Daily

I watched a huge number of broadcasts for a week before I did my first Periscope scope. You can find people to follow by clicking on the Peribuddies icon at the top of the home screen. This will bring up featured, trending and following users.Featured Periscopers are hand picked, trending based on the number of people watching and following are people you follow on Twitter. I found it easier to ask around who was using the app, then see who they are following. I follow as many different types of people so I can see what types of broadcasts are out there.

How do I interact with a scoper?

There are several ways you can engage with them, foremost is the chat function, you can tap the right hand side of your screen to give hearts to show appreciation and finally reshare their broadcast to Twitter and your Periscope followers. You are able to take screen shots of the broadcast, this will show a camera icon float up the right handside of the screen. Why not tweet your snap back to them?

2. Use Periscope on a regular basis

My first scope was really nerve wracking, I fumbled over words and missed out on some important information I wanted to pass on. It’s always a good idea to have something to say when you go live so people know what your broadcast is about, have the points you want to make written down as a reminder.

How do I start?

Once you have downloaded the app and signed in, go to the home page and tap on the peribuddies icon and then the single peribuddy icon. Edit your details on your profile, make sure you have something relevant and interesting so potential followers can see what you’re about.

Next you need to go to your settings and select at save broadcast, this auto-saves to your camera roll after it ends. To start a broadcast go back to the home screen and select the television tab, you’ll need to tap on the red camera icon in the bottom right hand corner from the home.You’ll be presented with a broadcasting page, here you select public or private, toggle precise location, chat and Twitter options. A private broadcast is between mutual followers, this won’t show up in the global list and only those invited will get a notification. Public broadcasts will show up on the global list located from the globe tab on the homepage if you select precise location and your followers will get a notification if they have opted to.

Choosing your precise location is a personal choice as it’s within two blocks of accuracy. As location data will show you on the global map, this refreshes every few minutes. Red dots show live broadcasts and blue replays, pinching and swiping will search around the world for broadcasts. In the “What are you seeing now?” is where you pick an eye-catching title of your scope. Some use emoticons to help scope stand out in the feed but be wary for using them too much as Periscope tend to over look those that over do it along with hashtags, your title should be true to what your broadcast is about.

When you go live there is a 5 second delay, this is an opportune moment to greet replay viewers. Let your broadcast populate for a few seconds before you get started.

Introduce yourself and go about your scope. As you broadcast new viewers will pop in so you’ll need to reintroduce yourself and your topic several times. If you encounter a troll in your scope with inappropriate or negative comments, don’t bother engaging with them. Just click on their comment and you will be able to block them. Throughout the scope avoid swearing or inappropriate language to uphold a professional image. Scoping in landscape looks better than portrait and I would highly recommend getting a mini tripod to use with your phone.To stop broadcasting, swipe down and select the red button that says STOP BROADCAST.

What do I scope about?

The only limit is your imagination really, maybe try one of these:

•A recipe you are making

•Tour of your work space

•A special day out

•Talk about your latest blog post

•An event you are at

•Tips on something you are passionate about

•Demonstrate how to do something

•Share someone speaking at an event.

•Review a new product

But there are things to think about, broadcasting at a live concert maybe breaking copyright laws. At a conference I attended last year, a speaker prohibited the use of any filming as he felt those who paid money to attend, should be the ones exclusive access to his session.At the same conference I live-streamed other sessions with permission and the evening blog awards. In public places you need to be mindful of other people, think about where you are and who is about. Remember to engage with your audience in comments, say thank you for watching and encourage them to tap the screen to show love with hearts, and through sharing the scope by swiping right on iOS devices and up on Androids.

3. You won’t always get it right

What I learnt from Google+ hangouts is that things can and will go wrong and Periscope is no different.The best way to handle it is to laugh and move on. This is why I love live-streaming, for its rawness and real time aspect as it shows your audience you as you are.

4. Broadcasting for anonymous and shy bloggers

When you first switch on to broadcast you will see what’s in front of you and so will your audience.This still allows you to broadcast without showing your face, you’ll have to make sure you keep your commentary going by engaging with comments on the screen. If you want to do a selfie video, double tap the screen on the switch icon at the top of the screen.Read the questions and say hi back to people.

5. What to do after your broadcast.

Breathe, take a few minutes to jot down good points and bad points. The next 24 hours is when you want to let others know that you’ve scoped, this where the Twitter integration is paramount. If you set your broadcast to send out a tweet, pin this to your Twitter profile. Tweet it a few times to invite people to watch the replay. Share the link to Facbook.

After 24 hours, your scopes disappear from your profile. But there is a online tool called Katch.Me that saves all your scopes when you sign up to their service.It also enables you edit the name of your casts, have your own landing page showcasing your casts, download your casts to upload to YouTube and embed your scopes into your website.To drive views to your scopes add an ‘on air’ embed button to your blog.

Are you a user of Periscope, do you use it regularly and how do you use it?

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