5 Tips for a First Periscope Live Broadcast for Bloggers

Are you a blogger afraid of doing Periscope live for the first time? Wait. Let’s back up a bit. You have heard of Periscope, right?

For those who haven’t heard of the app yet, Periscope is a live streaming video app that Twitter purchased even before it officially launched in March 2015.

I discovered it about a month ago and have been a complete creeper on Periscope since then. Before using it myself as a blogger, I wanted to learn more about it. During this time, I watched as many broadcasts as I could and planned for my first one to be epic.

The first attempt was an epic FAIL!

However, you know as well as I do, that in life you often learn more from mistakes in your journey. This is why I want to share tips for the first time of going on Periscope live for bloggers.

1. Periscope Live: Do Research

If you have established yourself on Twitter, you are definitely positioned well. Since the two are connected, once you set up your Periscope account, the app will recommend to you tweeps you already follow on Twitter. —-> Follow them on Periscope!

Allow your phone to receive Periscope notifications. It might be annoying if you’re following hundreds of people, because your phone will make noises every time someone broadcasts. However, it’s worth it so you can observe what they do and participate in their live streaming video sessions.

You also want to have some followers before going live on Periscope as a blogger to create some potential for people to actually ‘tune in’ to your broadcast.

2. Periscope Live: Prepare Your Phone

This is why my first broadcast never aired as intended. I had planned going live on Periscope for the first time on the beach in my hometown, Daytona. I wanted to show people around the world (yes, I aimed big for my first audience), what driving on the beach looks like. Daytona Beach, Florida is the ‘The World’s Most Famous Beach’ because it’s where NASCAR and stock car racing originated. Read my What’s it like to Grow Up in Daytona Beach story for the town’s racing history.

Showcasing my home town for the first broadcast was my plan. I chose not to promote it in advance because I was afraid of my iPhone. While on holiday in the US from London, I have a SIM card with an American phone number in my old iPhone 4. In London, I use an iPhone 5 with a UK mobile plan.

I had my notes ready to go and was in my hot beach location, but my iPhone 4 couldn’t connect to Periscope. You must have access to wifi or 4G. Since I had researched in advance, I anticipated this problem but hoped it wouldn’t happen. When I learned the connection wouldn’t be possible, I was sure glad I hadn’t promoted going live on Periscope to 7,000+ Twitter followers in advance.

Oh, and make sure your battery is super charged. A Periscope live broadcast can be draining!

3. Periscope Live: Be Interesting

What I noticed in many of the people going live on Periscope in the month I spent watching is that not all of them were interesting. Just like Facebook and other social media networks, watching people eating Cheerios for breakfast or discussing their monster hangover is boring.

While few people will likely watch your first Periscope broadcast as you air it, they will have the option to replay it for 24 hours after it happens. Make sure you do something interesting so they want to watch you the second time. At the very least, introduce yourself and your blog.

4. Periscope Live: Hash it Out

Once you’ve decided something fun to do for the first time you are going live on Periscope, think of a great title and relevant hashtags. I’m going to use #sunnyscope #sunnynews and something relevant to the Periscope topic I pick each time.

5. Periscope Live: Promote Your Periscope

If you’re like me and a bit nervous about what will happen the first time, especially if you have technology fears, you can hold off on advance promotion of your broadcast. But, once it does air, you need to release the social media kraken on your Periscope account. It takes a long time to build a following if you’re just waiting for people to discover you with no notice or advertisement.

If you’re a blogger, you probably have a social media following on several networks. Let them all know you’re on going on Periscope live as soon as you finish so they can atleast watch a replay.

Periscope Live: Final Thoughts

Because I didn’t think my iPhone 5 could handle saving my broadcast once I finished, I also used my digital camera to record it. In fact, I put the experience on YouTube so you can see what happened behind the scenes for the first time I was able to broadcast Periscope live as a blogger/vlogger.

In the vlog I integrate the download which saved to my iPhone so you can see a sample of what you’ll receive after your broadcast. In fact, let’s make Tip 5 1/2 that you should set Periscope to record your broadcast on your phone.

I absolutely plan to accomplish a Periscope live broadcast from Daytona Beach. It looks like I will need to buy the iPhone 6 in Florida and insert my UK SIM card. Then, I can use the iPhone 5 with my American SIM card for the broadcast.

Stay tuned, Sunny friends! Oh, and make sure you follow me on Twitter and Periscope, if you aren’t already. I’m @sunny_in_london on both.

Please share this on your social networks, if you found it useful. Also, I’d love some hearts from you when you tune in to my Periscopes. Make sure I follow you back too!

I ended my first day on Periscope live with over 1100 hearts! Let me know how your first time goes on Periscope live. Best of luck!