By now, you’re probably aware that I will jump on any opportunity to share what I’ve learnt in my time. What can I say? I’ve got a lot to give. In the past few weeks I’ve been noticing the increasing popularity of the new Twitter-owned live streaming app http://www.periscope.tv. This new tool allows anyone to broadcast videos in real time that can be watched all around the world. While some users are streaming make-up tutorials, sushi eating and dolphin shows, I decided to go for the business approach of a Q&A session as a test drive.
Before the Q&A session began, the Conscious team did some preparation. I needed viewers: without viewers, there are no Q’s, without Q’s there are no A’s – so it would have been just me, in an orange shirt, broadcasting to the globe.
Email invites were sent out, 5,377 invites to be precise to our three email communications audiences (clients, prospects and partner companies).
A reminder email was sent to the same list an hour before the session. We also had a practice run, to make sure everything would run smoothly. Come 1pm, it was lights, camera, action. Dan Hodges was in the room as well, fielding the questions that were being posed via Periscope comments and via Twitter.
“What if something goes wrong while you’re on camera?” Dan asked me, five minutes into the live stream. Well, what’s the worst that could happen? (Spoiler alert: no seagulls crash into the window, steal my phone and take my viewers on a sky-high tour of Bristol.)
I was live for 41 minutes to a total of 84 viewers. I managed to answer around 20 questions on law firm marketing: everything from social media content to the general costs of marketing. See how it went below!
So – is Periscope all it’s cracked up to be? How will law firms use this tool?
Well, I was able to run a successful Q&A session without even leaving the office - a definite win!
The truth is, clients/customers like to be engaged with. They like interaction and they like to be included. A live Periscope session provides this, and plays on the fact that many of us (as consumers) are driven by FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).
For example: ask someone to read a blog – they might read it, but they might also say they’ll “read it later.” Invite someone to an impromptu live interactive Q&A session and force an immediate decision to be made: will they tune in and be a part of it, or will they miss out?
But Q&A sessions aren’t the only form of broadcast you can do as a law firm. You could also give a live presentation similar to a webinar that could focus on an area of law; for example ‘top ten tips on post-divorce finance’ (because who doesn’t love a list these days.) Themes like these will attract a wide audience and can be useful for a vast number of people. Create a buzz for your session on other platforms beforehand and you could expect a great turn out. It can also be used in a story-telling fashion, perhaps a ‘behind the scenes’ or a ‘day in the life’. You may think that this won’t be of interest, but trust me, this is just another way of showing off your law firms personality.
Why not start your own weekly news broadcast? Round up all the stories you would share with your clients on other social media pages and prepare a live stream on Fridays? It’s likely that this kind of thing will start to accumulate a following, and could become a staple in your social media marketing.
Overall, this has proved to be a successful experience for us and is, without a doubt, an engaging medium.
So much so, that we have decided to make it a weekly activity in our calendar (and hopefully yours!)
Each week we will be covering a new topic in legal marketing for 15 minutes on Periscope.
All you have to do is download the Periscope app on your device and follow @ConsciousSol and wait for the notification to let you know we're live n' kicking. Use the app to type questions and we will attempt to answer as many as possible.
Why not give it a go yourself? Let us know if you are and we’ll tune in!
Some points worth mentioning:
- Don’t stream using your 4G. Think that’s an obvious one, but if you’re doing live streams regularly using your data, your phone bill will make you cry.
- Don’t put someone in front of the camera to give a live stream if they aren’t a confident speaker.
- Plan in advance. Don’t end up on camera twiddling your thumbs.