How to Determine if Your Business Needs Periscope or Meerkat

Do you hear about new trends in marketing and wonder if they are actually a good idea for your business, or if you are just a victim or shiny object syndrome? The latest in social media is live streaming on Twitter using platforms like Periscope and Meerkat. If you’re not sure whether this is a good option for your business, then here are the five questions to ask to determine if your business needs live streaming with Periscope or Meerkat.

If you don’t have a presence on the top social networks – particularly Twitter and Facebook, you might want to consider building those up first. This will give you an audience you can market your live streaming video sessions to, for one thing.

It will also give people social outlets to connect with your business once the live streaming sessions are over. That way, even if they aren’t ready to buy, they will continue to follow you.

2. Do your competitors use these platforms?

The next question to ask yourself is whether your competitors are using these platforms. Not only that, but are your competitors successful on these platforms? To find out, you can look at your competitor’s Twitter feeds as most will announce their live streaming session on Twitter.

While you don’t be able to find out if your competitors are actually generating revenue through Periscope or Meerkat, you can find out if people are actually viewing their live streaming sessions and engaging with them. To do this, monitor your Twitter feed or connect with your competitors on the app they use. Then keep an eye out for their next live stream.

3. Does your audience use these platforms?

If your competitors are using Periscope or Meerkat, you could assume that your target audience is using those platforms as well. Otherwise, why would your competitor be doing it?

The answer is because it’s new. You can’t fully trust that if your competitor uses a new platform, you should too. You can, however, look at the Twitter streams of users who follow you to see if they are live streaming themselves or tweeting about streams they are watching.

4. How does your audience respond to your videos?

Does your business publish video on other networks, like Facebook, YouTube, etc.? Does your audience engage with those videos in the form of comments, shares, and likes? This can be a good indicator to whether your audience would want to watch a live streaming video from your business.

5. Can you come up with a live stream theme?

Last, but not least, can you come up with a good idea for your live streaming session? Unlike the average video that you can keep filming retakes, you will be live in front of an audience. So you need to carefully plan your strategy as opposed to just hopping on and hoping for the best.

The following make for great live streaming videos on Periscope and Meerkat.

Host an open Q&A for your audience, or a Q&A on specific topics related to your products or services.
Show some behind the scenes of your office, your business, an event, a webinar, or similar situation.
Create a mini-webinar and ask all attendees to hold questions until the end or post them on Twitter so you can see them once you’re finished with your presentation.
Do an interview with someone your audience will be interested in learning more about and asking questions.

If you can come up with some good themes and focus points for your live streaming sessions, then it never hurts to give a few sessions a try. For those stuck on ideas, try checking out your competitor’s live streams or ones viewed by your Twitter audience to see what will resonate best with your target viewers.

In Conclusion

If you decide that your business does need to be on Periscope or Meerkat, take some time to try out both apps to see which platform is best for you. Also look at the platform your competitor’s choose and your audience likes to watch. This will ensure that you get the best audience possible for your live streaming session.