Periscope, the live streaming app which was acquired by Twitter, gave mobile live broadcasting the initial push. Meerkat also offered similar feature but Periscope was quick to surge ahead and attract a large number of users and brands. All of a sudden everyone was becoming a news reporter, travel blogger, broadcaster and what not. However the initial attention did wear off soon and the number of active users started going south.

Facebook borrowed the live video feature from Periscope and now Periscope is trying to hit back with some new features. The first feature that they have added is ‘sketch’. As teenagers would tell you, this feature is inspired by the similar feature in Snapchat. You can simply tap the screen, select ‘sketch’ and start doodling on the screen. So at this point, it appears that the social platforms are picking pages from the success story of other social platforms.

https://twitter.com/periscopeco/status/725452090244521984

https://twitter.com/periscopeco/status/725454938923491329

Previously Periscope changed the layout of the app to make it easier for users to discover streams. Now they have also introduced viewer graphs for broadcasters (iOS) so that they can see how many people watched the stream and how many watched the replays. This is something both users and brands would be interested in.

In other news, China now has an answer to Periscope and the app is called Yizhibo. Periscope is banned in mainland China and it will be interesting to see how this one fits in the tightly controlled social ecosystem.

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With the growing number of young travellers, it is becoming increasingly important for brands to market specifically to them. To be more visible to these travellers, they are leveraging newer platforms that play host to more such users. Snapchat is one app that is much loved by young travellers and has come a long way since its inception in 2011. It has more than 100 million daily active users sharing over 8,000 snaps per second. Thanks to the high rate of usage and a visual approach, it is catching up fast in travel industry.

Users are leveraging the app to share their travel experiences. Similar to apps like Periscope, the shared moments are mostly unrefined and without the validation from social network in form of likes. The ‘Our Story’ feature can be nicely used to broadcast major events and activities. Travel brands like Conde Nast Traveler, Marriott International and Matador Network are actively using Snapchat. Of course there are some limitations for brands at this moment and it might not be the right fit in marketing strategy of all travel brands but it is a platform that can’t be ignored.

Here are some tips if you are planning to integrate Snapchat into your marketing strategy:

#1- Create urgency

The stories on Snapchat expire after 24 hours. While some might see it as a downside as the content isn’t available for long, it can be a great way to send out discount deals or host flash sales. Once the audience starts to build up, this can be a great way to create a sense of urgency and in turn drive up the number of transactions. It will also boost your Snapchat community over time.

#2- Be quirky

This one goes without saying. As the audience are younger, you can go off your conventional serious tone and choose to be a little cheeky, of course if the character of your brand allows. Some humour will make sure that your audience remember you for long. Also don’t forget to use a mix of photos and videos. It has been observed that shorter videos engage more audience so try to keep them as short as you can.

#3- Share mega events

Similar to Periscope, your audience at Snapchat won’t mind a slightly shaky video or unprocessed photos. You can use it as an ‘in the moment’ platform and share updates from your events. This will keep the audience hooked for live updates from your brand.

#4- Go behind the scene

You can use Snapchat to give your audience a tour in the everyday life of your employees. This can also be done with the introduction of a face for your brand. Ireland’s Airline company Aer Lingus can be a good example. They have used Snapchat to take audience onboard inaugural flights and give sneak peek into the life of their employees.

#5- Use influencers

Travel brands often join hands with influencers for activities like fam trips and meetups. If it is the same story with your brand, you can use it as an opportunity to boost your Snapchat following. A string of snaps can be used to create interesting travel stories through your brand account attracting more audience. Account takeovers are also a good option to leverage the influencers’ audience.

If you are looking to connect with more young travellers, Snapchat is one platform that you shouldn’t leave out of the equation. A large fraction of the audience is under 35 years of age and uses the app frequently.

Do you use Snapchat for promoting your brand? What tips would you like to add to the list. Join the discussions on travel marketing and get inputs from the topic experts here.

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After letting the celebrities and journalists enjoy the Periscope rival for a while, Facebook is now testing the live streaming feature for average users on iOS in US. While Periscope opens up your video stream to the whole world, the live stream on Facebook will be available for your friends to watch. Also unlike Periscope, your Live broadcasts are saved and remain visible on your timeline.

According to their product managers, this has been added to make your friends and family feel like they are in the moment with you. While Periscope and Meerkat were quick to gain popularity, the interest of masses faded away quickly. Facebook might bring back the trend by catering to a slightly different set of audience. Travellers will love to share their adventures with friends and family more than strangers and this might give the Live Video feature a push. The fact that videos are archived might result into more people adopting it.

They have also added a new sharing format called ‘Collages’ that travellers are surely going to love. Collages are group of photos and videos that they can share on their Facebook wall. The feature can be found under the upload a photo option and Facebook will offer the option to pick multiple media files. As you scroll through the Collage, the videos will autoplay. This will allow people to create interesting collages of their trips or special events and showcase them in one place.

In a bid to stay useful to relevant audience, Facebook is quickly adapting and opening up to new media formats. We recently saw them introduce 360 degree videos and soon we might see even more options for sharing. This will help them stay strong against other fast growing platforms like Snapchat.

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There is no question about the immense value Periscope provides to all travel & destination marketers. In our editorial story, we had highlighted how Lonely Planet is leveraging the platform with its #LPScope project. There has been a growing demand from all consumers about the need to shoot Periscope videos in landscape mode. Finally the viewers can now hold their phones either in portrait or landscape.

A landscape mode is particularly very handy in Periscope broadcasts for all destination marketers. The beauty of a beach or a mountain becomes more enhanced in a landscape mode. Just like this beach shown above, the view becomes wider and there’s a lot more that your viewers can see. Hopefully the new landscape mode should limit camera movement requests from your viewers for better views.

This latest update applies to the Android and the iOS versions.

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Live streaming app Periscope is gaining popularity at an astounding pace and in just over 4 months after launch, they have now grown to over 10 million accounts. Not only that, they are also seeing 40 years of video watched per day, which is a huge number indeed.

Sometime back we had touched few of the possible ways travel marketers can use Periscope. While destinations & travel brands are keenly exploring this goldmine, the creators i.e. those who share their live streams need to learn some simple tips & tricks in-order create a better Periscope experience.

Credits: Periscope Press Assets

Lonely Planet’s travel writer Cristian Bonetto has been travelling across Singapore and sharing the beautiful views of the country via Periscope and Twitter. You can follow the #LPinSingapore and #LPScope hashtag stream on Twitter to learn more about his journey. While Lonely Planet has been active on Periscope for quite sometime, we simply loved how Cristian has been using it to take travel enthusiasts and followers on a virtual tour of the destination.

If you are a destination marketer or into travel industry marketing, these simple tips will help you to prepare before you go live on Periscope for the first time.

Learnings from #LPScope

#1 Always start your stream by introducing yourself through the front camera before you switch views. Your viewers would appreciate it when they see the actual voice behind the camera.

Lonely Planet’s travel writer Cristian Bonetto ‏introducing himself on Periscope during his TreeTop Walk jungle trek.

#2 Take your time and don’t rush while introducing the place or point of interest to keep your viewers hooked to the stream. Instead of just talking about what you are seeing, tell a little bit about the location, add some history to it and what makes it a must visit. The same goes for the video as well. Don’t move your camera too fast as it would make your video a little shaky.

Cristian’s soothing voice and his calm narration behind the camera added more fun to the Periscope videos.

#3 Usually most Periscope videos attract a lot of comments from viewers. That’s the real fun of this application as you can interact with followers in realtime and respond to their queries. While one certainly can’t answer all the questions, filter out what’s interesting to you or would potentially appeal to a wider audience. For instance, many times they would want you to pan the camera to give a larger view. By doing this, you will also invite more comments from others.

When on Periscope, be ready for all types of questions which are not just destination specific Cristian was happy to answer questions about humidity, his country of origin etc.

#4 Generally you would have many viewers joining in between the stream and they won’t relate to what’s happening on the screen. It is always a good idea to re-introduce your POI (point of interest) or the activity for the benefit of those who have joined late.

#5 Towards the end of your stream, wrap-it up by switching over the front camera to say good bye to all your viewers and thank them for viewing your stream.

We hope this simple primer helps you to kickstart your first Periscope campaign. Do share your experience and tips after the first one

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Periscope, the live streaming app by Twitter is causing bit of a stir all over the globe. It has acquired an impressive number of users already and is receiving love from brands & celebrities alike. Skyscanner recently chose this platform to do a campaign which was received well by the masses. We downloaded the app, broadcasted some weird streams from around our office and discussed on what this platform holds for the travel industry.

My day started with a beautiful view from someone’s balcony in turkey, then I watched U2 perform live in California, some supercars on the streets of Dubai, travelled in a subway to some place I don’t remember the name of and then finally watched a British guy play ‘Sweet child of mine’ on his guitar. I would have explored more but then I ran out of battery on my phone.

(Image: Twitter’s Periscope App by quintanomedia/ CC BY 2.0)

There has been lot of buzz around this new app called Periscope. Five days after its launch, Skyscanner got around two dozen travel bloggers from around the world on-board for the #24hPeriscope campaign showcasing the best their respective cities have to offer. Not only were they taking the viewers for a tour around the cities but were also receiving (and following) suggestions from viewers.

Down in Taiwan, tech blogger Sascha Pallenberg has been using the Periscope app to create awareness about Taiwan as a travel destination. His periscope streams have been fairly popular with viewers expressing great interest in knowing more about the destination.

Popular Techblogger Sascha Pallenberg conducted a fun evening walk on the streets of Taiwnan via Periscope. The walk turned out to be quite a popular one!

So what is this app anyway?

Periscope allows the user to live broadcast a video stream to his or her followers (and non followers too if they choose to). The viewers can interact with the broadcaster by typing in comments or tapping on the screen to like the stream.

Any platform that depends on high volume of visuals can be a great tool for travel industry. Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube accounts of travel brands like Lonely Planet, Disney World Resorts and Travel Channel are good example of the potential these platforms hold. With Periscope entering the picture, brands might have to consider the option of reallocating their resources on social media because this platform is growing really fast. It managed to attract 1 million in the first 10 days (Source: Mashable) and those were the initial days when Android users were left out.

We have seen many video streaming services in the past like Twitch and Ustream among others, some of them caught up well, some even failed to get noticed. The reason apps like Snapchat, Meerkat and Periscope are suddenly getting everyone’s attention is because these services rely on mobile phones. Sitting back in a chair while talking live to your audience is a different thing and taking them around for a walk in your local street market is an entirely different experience. The possibilities are endless and as the content is shared live, there is no post processing to deter people who aren’t good with it.

What is in it for the brands?

Obviously after playing around with the app, we got back to business. What could be the possible use cases of this new platform, and more importantly, what the travel industry can get out of it? Skyscanner has already demonstrated that the platform holds potential and with the use of good content and some spontaneity, can yield good results.

At this moment the Periscope app has minor issues. It is hard to discover streams, there are no filters for language and you either get notifications for all people you follow or for none of them. But these are minor issues that they will iron out going forward.

You can always find someone broadcasting interesting content on Periscope

Periscope in more of an ‘in the moment’ platform. People can comment during the stream and send out hearts. Brands have been hosting Twitter chats and Google Hangout sessions. Now they can invite people to join them on Periscope and send out questions via comments.

Destination marketers can join hands with travellers or video bloggers to give their audience Periscope tours of the attractions. Of course we haven’t seen many examples of brands doing the same yet but someone surely will. #24hPeriscope was something of this sort and earned Skyscanner many well deserved hearts.

Browsing through the streams, I found someone providing cooking lessons over Periscope. This is something restaurants and hotels can do. Take people for a tour into their kitchen, showcase the preparation of cuisines or maybe show off the skills of their bartender.

Forget its use by brands. Hotels are a safer bet compared to vacations rentals and many people are sceptical about booking with Airbnb and similar platforms and many of them complain that what you see in pictures is very different from what you get in reality. Airbnb hosts can use Periscope to showcase their property to boost travellers’ confidence to book.

The platform is still at nascent stage and we are yet to see how far it can go. It does have limitations for instance, you can’t embed a periscope stream on a website and the video is only available for limited number of hours. The creative brains of travel marketers will surely come up with innovative uses of Periscope. We are keeping an eye out for them for some inspiration. If your brand is doing a campaign on Periscope, do let us know. We would love to tell our readers about it.

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