Periscope is the latest hot social media app that works as a mobile live streaming platform. Periscope makes it easy to spontaneously stream a live video of your opinions and activities via “scopes”. Participants show their support and raise the host’s ratings by screen tapping to generate “heart” icons that float up the side of the screen.

Connected to Twitter, your scopes automatically show up on your newsfeed, so your followers can tweet and re-tweet your broadcasts. This can be a great marketing tool for your online business with the potential to attract lots of new followers. Or not.

As a new online business owner, I am eager to learn from established webpreneurs, especially when it comes to productivity, content marketing, SEO and the like. Watching an expert LIVE and being able to ask questions is perfectly awesome. When it works.

I  have discovered, and continue to follow, some terrific Periscope hosts. I have also watched hosts who may be hurting their business with this powerful platform.

These are some tips I would offer to the cringe-worthy Periscope hosts I watched this week, and to anyone who wants to avoid the same mistakes.

Get ready, get set… scope!

The very first Periscope stream that I participated in was done by a productivity guru who was on Periscope for the first time. She was ready, organized and charming. I got what I came for with no pain. She made me trust in her product. I have happily tweeted and re-tweeted her brand!

You need to have your content organized before you scope about your business or services.

I have watched some scopes that were so poorly planned and executed, they hurt to watch. I admit to tapping out a few pity hearts. I even tuned in a couple more times, waiting for the host to hit her stride, before I disconnected for good.

Treat business-related scopes like a stand-up presentation in a boardroom. You can be less formal, but have some structure to the way you are sharing your information.

Don’t make me suffer through ten or fifteen minutes of your stream of consciousness before getting to the meat of the message. Unless the final payoff is amazingly good stuff, I won’t be back.

Business or Pleasure?

If you are going to use Periscope to market your business, it is probably a good idea to avoid using the same account for sharing personal information. I became a follower for your business advice. I get excited when my phone whistles out a Periscope alert that you are live.

Your morning scope was informative and helped me with my business. The next four scopes that same day were not. I do not need to know that you are grilling chicken, that you need to buy more wine, or that your dog is running loose because your back yard is not fenced.

Repeatedly telling me the interruptions to your broadcast are “keeping it real” is really… annoying. I stopped following you, and will not promote your brand.

Respect Your Audience

When you begin an online business venture, unless your name is already a household word, you will build recognition and followers over time.

More followers is a good thing, but it is just as important to hang on to the fans and followers who show up in the first place. Like they say in the South, “Dance with the one what brung ya.”

When I show up for your scope, I do not mind if you take a few minutes getting your camera situated. I do mind if you look at the number of participants and then announce we will all have to wait to see if more folks join. Then just sit there.

What am I, chopped liver?? Don’t you think I have better things to do than watch you wait for someone else to come along?

Respect the participants who showed up, and give them the best you have. You will be building loyalty to your brand.

Wear Your Business Hat

I joined your Periscope gathering because the description tells me you are sharing information that will help me grow my business, or you provide a product or service that I might want.

If you want me to spend my time or money on you, you have to be trustworthy and professional.

I will start out assuming you are a reliable and capable business person. However, you can quickly lose your credibility with bad Periscope sessions.

Don’t have your fifth-grader participating on the scope to constantly tap out hearts and artificially drive up your ratings. That’s pretty much admitting you don’t think your product can stand on its own. At the very least, it is tacky.

In that same vein, letting your kid make silly and disruptive comments throughout the broadcast is not a positive reflection on you or your business. It is a barrier to your brand message.

It leaves me to wonder what kind of manager didn’t think to otherwise occupy a kid that age for twenty minutes, or couldn’t do a better scheduling job.

Periscope is a great way to connect with other online business owners and can be a terrific loyalty building medium, when done right.

A little advanced planning and consideration for your audience can make Periscope a platform that will help successfully promote your brand.