We’ve all experienced what can only be termed as “social media overwhelm,”and it can feel a bit daunting to add yet another social media app to our repertoires. Periscope, however, is one app you’re not going to want to miss out on!

Periscope is a live video streaming platform that allows you to interact with your audience in real time. If you are a business owner looking to create meaningful relationships with people who might be interested in your products and/or services, you’ll find it well worth you time to put some effort into exploring this new and powerful social media platform.

Periscope allows you to live stream from anywhere while people all over the world pop on, chat to you, and send you colorful streams of hearts to show their appreciation for you content. At first blush, Periscope can be a huge turn-off for those of us who don’t like video or hate being in front of a camera, but in light of the power of “the ‘scope”, even these qualms can be set aside. Getting followers on Periscope can be as simple as doing your first impromptu ‘scope because people on Periscope are there to explore, learn, and satisfy their curiosity. The videos can be shared on Twitter and with your Periscope followers during and after a ‘scope; Periscope videos automatically delete from the app after 24 hours; and even the most popular Periscopers put very little effort into staging their camera appearances. The result is often a highly interactive, raw, real-time, fleeting session amongst yourself, the ‘scoper, and the other members of their audience.

Having these kinds of easy interactions with your audience can translate into real results for you business. Every good business coach out there will tell you that there are three important aspects to developing a dedicated customer. They have to be able to 1) know, 2) like, and 3) trust you. Periscope provides a fast track to achieving all three of those prerogatives in ways that aren’t possible on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

Another great thing about it is that you can re-purpose your ‘scopes by saving them and uploading them to other platforms, so ‘scoping might be a great way for you to easily inject more life into your YouTube channel or If you’re still not convinced that Periscope is your platform of choice, try this:

Download the app from your app store and follow the instructions to either link your Twitter account or create an entirely new Periscope account; search your favorite influencers and follow them; pop on when they’re live and observe how much fun they’re having interacting with you! Periscoping is easy, impactful, and contagious, so give it a try!