The next wave of social sharing technology has arrived – we now have the opportunity to share the workplace experience with colleagues and prospective talent in real time with Periscope, an accessible live video streaming application.
If you have ever struggled to articulate the energy of your workplace or describe what makes your culture unique, Periscope offers a medium to “teleport” talent to your offices briefly in order to showcase your authentic employer brand like never before. We think it’s a pretty exciting development in social.
Does the idea of live-streaming directly from your office make you a little nervous? It wasn’t very long ago that leaders were hesitant to jump on Twitter with their brand, yet the results of social media on corporate and employer brand awareness speak for themselves. Read on to learn more about how you can use Periscope effectively within your organization.
What is Periscope?
Periscope aims to help users “explore the world through someone else’s eyes” and use live video to “take you someplace and show you around”. The application enables a user to broadcast live video streams of their surroundings directly to their audience via phone or tablet. You start by sharing a link to your live stream or by inviting specific viewers. As Twitter is Periscope’s parent company, an alert can also be generated to Twitter followers. Then you can capture and broadcast your raw video footage while viewers interact using comments or likes.
Since its release in March 2015, the user base has grown to over 10 million people (it took Twitter and Facebook over two years to do that!). Although official demographic data has yet to be released, estimates show that most of these users are millennials, making it a valuable tool to connect with this key market. Organizations already invested in building a strong following on Twitter can easily reach their existing audience and encourage engagement with Periscope content.
Periscope for Communicating Employer Brand
Live streaming an event or experience isn’t new – Periscope simply offers a more accessible medium to do so. Companies like Apple have been live-streaming product launches or major announcements for years in order to build excitement, create urgency and encourage discussion amongst a broader audience.
Hootsuite has been one of the first employers to use Periscope to market the employee experience – interested talent can tune into a livestream to meet employees, tour the offices around the world and connect with senior leaders.
Authenticity and transparency is critical when building and communicating your employer brand. Offering a live, unedited look into the employee experience is a powerful way to show off your unique qualities and differentiate against competitors. It also demonstrates trust and confidence in your employer brand. Here are a few ways you can use Periscope and incorporate the live streaming medium incorporate into your Social Media calendar:
A Day in the Life – highlight a specific part of the company, or a unique role you may be looking to fill, and ask employees to share a little about their day to day experience or share what they value most about their work experience.
Company Events – Are you having a company-wide volunteer day? Holiday celebration? Consider streaming a few key moments during the event. Share the organizational dynamic and culture that takes place outside of the office and more formal work duties.
The Office Tour – Employer brand is reflected in your physical office-space. Share the less accessible parts of your office once you get past Reception – individual work areas, the lunch room etc. through a live stream. Give employees the opportunity to share their favorite aspect of the workspace.
We think Periscope is a great tool for employer brand strategy. Use it to communicate your employee value proposition internally and to give external talent a candid view of the company.
About Blu Ivy Group
Blu Ivy Group is a leading employer branding and employee engagement consultancy that aligns your organization with contemporary workplace paradigms. Our mission is to help client’s build award-winning people practices, inspire extraordinary employee engagement, and cultivate unique and desirable workplaces. We provide integrated solutions in employer brand and engagement research, strategic consulting, employer brand integration, creative and talent communications.
Blu Ivy Group is a trusted partner to many of North America’s most respected employer brands. For more information, visit us online at bluivygroup.com or contact us at info@bluivygroup.com