Let’s talk Periscope. Is it worth “hopping on”?

This was a question proposed by one of our members in TFE Academy the other day and it’s something I want to discuss with you too. Is Periscope “the next big thing”? Or is it another flash in the pan?

In this post I’m going to take a look at what Periscope is, how you can use it to grow your fitness business, the mistakes you MUST avoid if you’re going to use this platform and how to implement a strong strategy to actually get measurable results from all of your efforts.

Periscope started a bit of a debate inside our group so let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using a platform like this.

Before I dive into whether I think you should or shouldn’t consider using Periscope for your fitness business, let’s take a quick look into what periscope is for those who have been hiding under a rock.

Periscope is a video streaming platform, which allows you to broadcast live video to the world. Everything happens in real time, people can engage with you by leaving comments and asking questions, you can stream for as long as you like and people can send you ‘hearts’ when they like what you’re saying. You can also offer a replay to those who missed it, which is available to watch for 24 hours, and it’s all free. Sounds pretty cool right? I think so.

There have been other live streaming apps around for a while but Periscope seems to have taken the ‘world by storm’ as it gained momentum and has had 1 million users just 10 days after it launched on the iPhone.

The potential is endless. You can share personal stories, show a live workout or segment in the kitchen cooking a healthy meal, run a tutorial on a whiteboard, offer live testimonials, anything that people would find interesting and tune into, is definitely worth doing on Periscope.

It will allow you to get out content really quickly; you can build a whole new level of trust with your audience and is great for increasing your profile. It’s live. It’s real, it’s raw and it’s unscripted.

What’s not to like?

There are clear benefits to using a social media tool like Periscope and if you get onto it early, you can build a huge following.

BUT…

Whatever you do, don’t run for the moving train without thinking about a strategy before you jump on otherwise you may never get to your destination…

It’s really important to make sure you have a plan in place for using a platform like Periscope. As with anything you put out there online and on any social media platform, it can only be an asset to your fitness business if it is part of an overall strategy.

There is definite potential in using a platform like periscope but ONLY if you have your own systems in place and quality content to deliver. Way too many people use social media platforms (i.e. Instagram, twitter, facebook) and build up a huge following with zero strategy behind them and it kills them. They might have followers but they don’t ever move from people ‘liking’ their posts to actually being of value to their business.

I’ve seen (and worked with numerous fitness businesses) who have huge followings on Instagram and Facebook and they have all of this information “out there” on other platforms without having a place to direct traffic and a way to monetize it. (I spoke about this in another recent post “What would you do, if you lost half a million followers overnight?” so read that straight after you’ve read this post).

The same thing applies to Periscope. You can build up huge followings on a platform like Periscope but if you don’t have a strategy in place for turning those ‘followers’ into paying clients then you could very well waste a heck of a lot of time building something that only impresses your friends and not your bank balance and you never truly help people as much as you could have if you had a strategy in place.

So, how do you turn it from a ‘cool’ tool to an asset for your business? Make sure you’ve got your systems setup and ready to go so you’ve got a way to turn people into leads and ultimately clients. (I’ll show you how to do that in a moment).

Here’s one way to think about it. Periscope is potentially one form of traffic generation (similar to Facebook, Instagram, Webinars, Blogging etc.) and therefore the only time it’s really worth looking at is when you’ve got all of your systems and strategies in place and you simply want to get more exposure so you can get people into your lead generation and sales funnel.

What does that really mean in ‘non marketing’ terms?

Do you have a way to consistently turn ‘followers’ into ‘leads’ and ‘leads’ into ‘clients’ online?

Yes?

If your answer is yes, then Periscope will be perfect for you. Jump on it, build a following and generate as much exposure for your fitness business as possible.

No?

If your answer is no, then you must work on your strategy first and foremost. Without it, you will struggle to grow and you’ll be distracted by all of the new and upcoming social media platforms and never actually benefit from the exposure.

If your answer was no, by all means play around with it, see if you can build a following – but do NOT put all of your time and energy into it until you’ve got your systems/funnels in place. Instead, focus on creating a way to consistently turn leads into clients and then you’ll really be able to build your fitness business. That’s where success lies. Not in the number of ‘hearts’ you can get.

You can’t take hearts to the bank.

That’s what almost all ‘online social media platforms’ should be for – building relationship with people, helping them, building up your credibility and getting you and your business exposure so you can get people into your funnel, as opposed to building up your profile purely on someone else’s platform. That way, if you do invest time into it and you get more exposure and get people into your funnel, and it turns out to only be popular for 15 minutes then at least you got something out of it – rather than simply wasting your time on ‘the next big thing’.

Okay, so I’ve spent all this time talking about the benefits of Periscope and the pitfalls to avoid, but how do you make it work? What kind of ‘systems’ do you need in place to make this work?

Simple.

You need a place to send all of your followers to, that isn’t just another social media platform. Instead you need to send them to a platform that you own and you need a way to capture their attention and to get their information…

…which means you need a lead magnet.

You need a way to attract people to what you have to offer beyond social media and so at the end of a periscope session where are you leading people? (this goes for all of your social media platforms)

What’s your “call to action”?

Do you have something pre prepared that you can lead them to? For example if you’re doing a live workout, do you have a copy of that workout available for download somewhere? Can you get their name and email address in exchange for this workout?

Or, are you doing a live cooking presentation where you could provide the recipe for them as a download?

Or perhaps you’ve created a free fitness challenge you want them to be a part of?

Think about how you’re going to get their contact information so that you can follow up with them once you’ve finished with your periscope otherwise you might lose them forever and never ‘see’ them again…

So that’s step number one.

This is a great place to start and will set you on your way. Create something of value you can give them in exchange for their contact information.

If you want a detailed guide on how to implement this into your business, I cover step number two and three of this proven 3 step system in TFE Academy.

If you want to join in on the discussion about Periscope then we’d love to see you inside the TFE Academy. We’ll be able to share with you how we’re going to use Periscope in the future and how you can use it inside your fitness business. We’re also working with all of our current members and helping them build their lead generation systems inside the TFE Academy so we’d love you to join us so we can help you implement this too.

Get more fitness business resources and training inside the TFE Academy.