3 reasons why I deleted Periscope -- and it felt GREAT!

Just on the off-chance that you haven't heard of Periscope, it's an app owned by Twitter that lets you broadcast live to the world through your cell phone. I had heard about the app earlier this year, while I was crossing my fingers that it was not one more social media tool I would have to master for my previous job as the Media Relations Manager at the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society. Since I handled all their social media, it really put a damper on my desire to do my OWN social media, and the thought of another platform was just TOO MUCH for me at the time.

 

Broadcast live from your phone on Periscope

 

I remembered hearing that Lion Country Safari's Marketing Director was broadcasting a lot of their animals live. My previous boss at the Zoo was like, "You would enjoy promoting the Zoo through Periscope, because you have experience reporting live." I immediately responded with a firm, "No thanks! I have too much to do, keeping up with and creating all the content for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram." 

Photo from Periscope

 

But here's the thing-- I DO have a lot of experience reporting live from back in my news days. I enjoyed liveshots, even when it had me out in less-than-desirable spots...

 

Got a lot of sympathy for this one -- and it was one of my final live shots!

 

So when I finally tried Periscoping (or "Scoping"), I was HOOKED. I mean, really hooked -- so much so, that my battery drained down to 15% every time I would broadcast, LOL! Note: the app really does drain your juice quickly, so I recommend a Mophie or a portable juicepack so your phone doesn't die mid-Scope.

 



 

Within 20 days, I did 80 Periscope broadcasts and garnered more than 50,000 hearts. Those are kinda like "likes," and you can get unlimited hearts from viewers of your Scopes.

 

I even bought a Joto Universal waterproof case... yep, this link to the product is my Amazon affiliate link...

 



...just so I could Scope live while I was snorkeling my favorite place, the snorkel trail at Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach. That got a ton of positive reactions!

 

 

 

I also bought a cool set of clip-on lenses...
 

 ...that give you a wider perspective. I only used them in one scope at Palm Beach, but I have had fun taking photos with them.

My Palm Beach photo! This, and Singer Island, were my favorite places to Scope



So, you may be wondering WHY did I delete the app from my phone? Let me count the ways:

1. I was getting notifications like crazy from people that I follow who would Scope. After your phone buzzes 6 times in 10 minutes during a business meeting, people start giving you the "eye." It got annoying, especially when it was a Scope labeled "Test" (from when someone would be doing their first Scope). *Update -- see below comments -- yes, you can turn off notifications, but even if I had known that (because I did NOT know that) I doubt I would have turned them off. I actually enjoyed scopes from Lion Country Safari and PenguinSix and wouldn't have wanted to miss them.

2. It felt like I couldn't find my footing. I did have my largest amount of hearts broadcasting from a beach sunrise on Miami Beach, because the Miami name gets automatic recognition. I don't live in Miami, and most people (unfortunately) don't recognize Palm Beach as quickly as they would Miami. I am working to change that now in my current role as PR Manager for Discover The Palm Beaches, the official tourism marketing organization for Palm Beach County... but I also wanted to try doing more than beach Scoping.

I tried doing a makeup tutorial, because I love doing those on my YouTube channel and they are well-received, but that flopped (and a Hater/Troll called me "ugly!" I told him his spirit was ugly, and he actually agreed with me, bless his heart-- he needs prayer). I tried doing a Scope after a church service where I play, and the singer sang "Ave Maria" while I accompanied her-- that actually had a crazy-high retention rate, but only 11 total live viewers. Well, come on, now, we're giving you a concert experience! A little bit frustrating trying to figure out a niche.

3. The main reason is because it started becoming WORK. It was fun at first, but after a few days, I realized I was broadcasting just to broadcast and get hearts. Felt like I was losing my soul, haha! Ok, that's overdramatic, and not really -- but I did feel like I was not paying attention to the location where I was actually standing, because I was staring at my screen and responding to comments and questions. It took away my enjoyment of what I was doing.

When I was Scoping, I felt like I was reporting live, even if it was on the beach. For perspective --the first time I did a beach liveshot at Bathtub Beach on Hutchinson Island, I felt so thrilled. Then when the night wore on, I was like, "I'm WORKING at the beach. Who am I kidding? This ain't fun." That's how I started feeling about Periscope.

When I was snorkeling and doing those broadcasts, my friends with me were having good times, admiring the sealife. But there I was, chugging along, holding my phone up and down, above and below the water... trying to squint to read the screen in the bright sunlight... there in body, but not in spirit. So it was like a huge wakeup call, and one of the last Periscopes that I have done.

Well, at least THEY were having fun that day...



I realize that it's a hot trend right now to Scope, and some of my blogger friends like Nicole at One Picky Chick and Lauren at Working Mom Magic are doing a #SeptemberScopers challenge. I am all about supporting them, and if you want to watch some cool ladies do their thing broadcasting, this is the group to follow.

But having written all of that, let me just say that I do not regret deleting the app from my phone. I re-installed it temporarily, just for this blogpost so I could screenshot some of the images on my profile, and my phone started crazy buzzing again with all the people Scoping. It was a reminder of why I was just DONE with it... at least for now. Will I ever Scope again? Maybe! Only time will tell... and you will have to stay tuned and follow me on Twitter to find out!





5 tips on how to get Twitter responses from celebrities and big companies

I've been on Twitter since 2009, but only recently became super-active on it. You can follow me @angelacruz! :) It's amazing how the social media network gives you instant access to well-known celebrities and large-scale companies/organizations that otherwise you would have to jump through a bunch of red tape to contact. Even if you were to reach them the "old-fashioned way" through a personal letter, it could take weeks or even months to hear back from them, if they were to respond. Nowadays, you have a direct outlet to reach them on a public social media forum.

Here are 5 tips on how to get responses, whether it be a RT ("retweet"), a personal response ("reply"), or even just a star ("favorite"):

Tip #1. Get creative with photos. Whether it's a selfie of you holding a photo of your favorite celeb with a thumbs-up, or maybe you tweet a photo of a company's product shown in an interesting way (see below)-- you're more likely to get noticed in the online crowd.

Tip #2. Endorsements, AKA declarations of love confined to 140 characters, can motivate responses. Below is another response from smart USA, after I shared this Palm Beach Post article that talked about how much I love my car. It makes the company or celebrity look good, so they are more likely to RT or favorite, or reply like smart USA.

Tip #3. Use hashtags as short endorsements. It's a spin-off of tip #2, but hashtags are quickie ways to let a brand or a celeb know you love them-- and if you use a hashtag that's trending, it can gain you more followers, more favorites, and more RTs, which can put your particular tweet on a company or celeb's radar, increasing your chances of a response.

Tip #4. Tweet @ the celeb or brand, and also tweet @ another user, perhaps a well-known one. Good Twitter users retweet and tweet @ other Tweeters, and you are forming connections that, again, can lead to RTs and replies from your main prey... uh, I mean, the big-name company or celebrity you were hoping to reach.

Tip #5. My favorite tip: BE SINCERE! I adore Good Morning America contributor Tory Johnson's book, The Shift, and I let her know that in a couple of tweets that she retweeted and personally responded to:

I honestly didn't tweet her just to get a response, but it was really rewarding to get that little acknowledgement of a personal reply and two RTs from her. 

Tip #6. (Little extra freebie) Don't expect to hear back, but be pleasantly surprised if you do. I've tweeted The Today Show, JLo and Harry Connick, Jr. Still waiting to hear back from them. ;)

Seriously, though, Twitter accounts with tons of followers are far less likely to notice your tweet. Be strategic when you post-- I tweeted Tory Johnson about how much I love her book, and it comes out on paperback in a week. Good promotion for her to time RTs from fans, although I prefer to think she really was touched by my honest admiration. :)

Don't spam, don't be a cray super fan and DO have fun tweeting at your favorite Tweeters. That's the whole point!

Hopefully these tips can get your creative juices flowing, and you can get a response from your favorite celebrity or company! Have you ever been retweeted before like that? Let me know in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading, and good luck,

~Angela~