I just learned recently that people can actually buy hearts on Periscope. I do not recommend this strategy. It’s not a true gauge of your engagement or “expertise”.

Hearts do not equate pure engagement because now people can buy hearts and they can also go back to the replays and leave hearts for themselves. In fact, some top Periscopers have been doing this. Some people want to become instant experts on their topic quickly and have bought hearts to create a quick rise in Periscope’s “Most Loved” categories.

I don’t want to throw stones, but I really think that once you start on this path, it can lead you directly into a trap.

I learned this when I was new and using Facebook ads. Some people I was following said to purchase Facebook ads from people in other countries to quickly accelerate the number of likes I had on my page. This method worked great – I got lots of likes. But it was the wrong thing to do. It did NOT help me in the long run.

The big problem of buying traffic from people that are not necessarily interested in what you are doing and selling, they are not really engaged. While I might have lots of “likes” or followers, but now this page is pretty much dead, because I don’t have the right type of people on the page. You learn what to do and what not to do as you go.

We’ve all been there when we were new and thought we were following good advice, but later find out that it wasn’t so great. We make mistakes. So we correct them and don’t do them again.

If you follow people, it would be wise to check them and see if they what they are teaching. If their info and background is not ethical, be careful about following their advice.

You can see if someone is duping the heart system if you go into their replay for and see multiple accounts that have the same exact number of hearts. If they have several that are the same like that, these hearts are likely purchased.

So in Fullscope.tv, we are not putting a huge focus on the hearts until Periscope has the ability to really get crystal clear in recognizing true hearts given during a scope and those that might be purchased.

In my Fullscope.tv, engagement is measured in several ways. The first is shares, the second is screenshares, the third is comments and the length of time the viewer is in the scope and the fourth is the heart count. We don’t give hearts the priority spot, or the be all and end all. This way engagement is determined in a more consistent and deliberate way.

Casey’s Super Tip: You don’t need to make up results. At the end of the day it will show. If you are struggling to get hearts and engagement, begin with these suggestions below.

1. Don’t Buy Hearts
2. Have a clear and concise Call to Action in your Periscopes. Ask for shares and hearts in your scopes. If people like and resonate with your content, ask them to share and give hearts as you speak that way you’ll be getting quality followers that really enjoy and are learning from you. These viewers are the ones that are most likely to become followers.
3. Don’t “over-share”. Just share what you really really like. If you are constantly sharing other people’s scopes, it will be come annoying. Sharing twenty times a day will likely turn off your followers and they won’t pay attention when you really want to share something good.
4. Fullscope.tv software can show what scopes are showing better engagement, so you can continue along the same types of content or topics that do the best.

Watch the entire Periscope broadcast below: