Google+ is the sleeping giant of social networks. With close to 300 million active users, the effects on SEO are more important than ever. Adding to the fact that a hangout can be made with anyone around the world or be transmitted live, this is rapidly becoming an essential tool for modern businesses.
The good news is that organizations don´t have to invest millions in order to offer an interactive experience. Google+ Hangouts can take care of all this for you.
What is Google+ Hangouts?
Google+ Hangouts is a multiplatform application that combines instant messaging, voice calls and Google video calls.
With Google+ Hangouts, you can establish a conversation with another person (1-to-1), initiate a group chat with up to 100 people, or establish voice calls or video calls with up to 25 people, for an unlimited time.
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Features and Functions
Unlike several other video chat services, Google Hangouts (available for Android, iOS or as a web application) offers features, communities and accessibility options making it useful for conversations, especially in the business field.
This is not a minor detail, since Google+ Hangouts, was initially created to maintain conversations with friends and family, it has changed its focus to productivity and enterprise solutions, giving way to Duo and Allo, which are the new Google applications for personal use.
Before we get into the use of Google+ Hangouts for your business, here is a quick summary of some of Google+ Hangouts features you should be familiar with:
- Share a screen: this feature allows everyone on a call to see your computer screen. This becomes a huge tool so you can share presentations, show images or teach how to use software.
- Chat: not all the communications on Hangouts have to take place with a voice or video call. There are also instant messaging available both for private Hangouts and live Hangouts. You can also save the text and use it at a later time.
- Integrations: by being under the wing of Google, Hangouts is linked to other Google products such as Calendar, Drive, YouTube, Google+, Presentations and more.
- Security: all the communications used in Hangouts are encrypted and offer peace of mind when you have a confidential business or a personal online discussion.
- Invitations to external users: those users who do not have a Google+ account or those who don´t have the application can participate in Google Hangouts, all you need to do is send them an invitation to their email address.
Live Hangouts with YouTube
The calls made with Hangouts can be private, or can be transmitted live to a limited audience thanks to YouTube Live (who implemented the feature of ex Hangouts on Air).
Google Live Hangouts offers a much larger service, where you can transmit or have a conversation with anyone who is sharing a transmission link. People can interact with live On Air transmissions by using text questions.
Once you have finished with your hangout, it automatically turns into a draft on your YouTube account, where you can edit before you publish it. If you want to record your private hangout sessions, you need to use Camtasia or ScreenFlow.
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How do I use Hangouts?
There are many ways to use Google+ Hangouts for your business. Here are some ideas you can try:
1. Videoconferences
With Google+ Hangouts, you can establish videoconferences with up to 25 people, this is ideal to connect with your remote employees, contractors, suppliers or other people that you work with outside your office. This increases the compromise of everyone in the meeting since they can see facial expressions and gestures of all the attendees.
In addition, hangouts can be used for weekly meetings, brainstorming sessions, consulting, training and much more.
2. Recruitment and employer branding
Do you have a human resource consulting agency or you find yourself looking for talent? Don´t limit yourself to publishing available vacancies. Establishing a hangout session for potential candidates gives them the opportunity to know more about the work they will be doing and what you are offering, the selection process and some useful suggestions.
This is a great opportunity and at the same time, you can explain to them about the organizational culture and (especially from a mobile device) offer them a virtual tour around the facilities.
You can even use Google+ Hangouts to interview your candidates. This is useful especially if you have remote employees that need to be part of the interviewing process, or if you are hiring remote employees and you don´t want them to travel to your office.
3. Webinars
Many webinar platforms are expensive, and if you only do a few, it can be difficult to justify the cost. In addition, webinar platforms base their price on the number of spectators. But with a live hangout, your visibility is limited.
Establishing a Live Hangout allows you to use your webcam, share your screen or see other live YouTube videos with a limited number of spectators. You can also tape and save live hangouts on your YouTube channel.
However, the difference between webinar software and Google+ Hangouts is that you are not able to capture the emails from your attendees. For this, there is a plan B: one option is to create a simple opt-in for your email list on your webinar landing page and send them a webinar link before it begins.
Another option (after the live webinar is finished) is to upload the video to YouTube and mark it as private. This gives you the opportunity to share exclusive content only with the people who registered on your list.
4. Question and answer session
Want to turn hangouts into an opportunity to interact with your audience? Organize informative question and answer sessions with people in your company or industry leaders.
Find topics that relate to your products or services (or frequently asked questions from your potential clients) and create a question and answer session with them. You can provide an expert or a panel of experts to answer questions from individuals who sent them in before the event or during a live text chat.
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5. Interviews with industry leaders
Interviews generate good content and are easy to create on Google+ Hangouts. You can record the interview between yourself and your guests and share it later with your followers after some editions have passed. Or, you can organize a live interview and provide an area for questions at the end.
The New York Times interviewed with Google+ Hangouts different US Athletes during the London 2012 Olympic games in the series “Hanging with the Olympics”. Instead of just discussing main events, the NYT also invited guests to send their questions to athletes. This excellent move increased heavily the rate of participation.
5 Steps to Generate Successful Google+ Hangouts
Regardless of the use you give Google+ Hangouts; there is a series of steps I recommend you follow to get the most out of Hangouts:
1. Set up a Google event
Create an event on Google Calendar and add a rich keyword description on your event next to the topic and participation details making sure you create tags for them. In addition, recommend your Hangout participants to be in a quiet area, preferably with earphones in order to eliminate possible echoes during the transmission. Any exterior noise is easily recorded and can disrupt the audience.
Should you want to create a live Hangout, make sure you mark the “On Air Event” button, so you can transmit live and record it on YouTube. If you forget this small step, it can cause complications with your Hangout in the future.
2. Promote your event
If your Hangouts require the intervention of just a few participants, all you need to do is invite them with an email. But if you want to create a live Hangout for a massive audience, you can broadcast it (several days ahead of time) through social networks (on your profile and groups), forums, newsletter, ads, blogposts… The possibilities are endless.
Of course, the tactics you use to promote your event depends on your objective, who your target is and what actions you want them to make as they “attend” your event. Concentrate your efforts on where your target audience is and nowhere else. In addition, make sure you make their task easy.
3. Hangout Day
Send a reminder from the event page to all the participants and invite them a few minutes before the event, then check the sound, your Internet connection, and the camera angles. Try out the options of sharing a screen with Hangouts so you can easily change between the camera and the screen whenever necessary.
To add a plus to your conversations, use Hangout Toolbox. This extension has great functions such as the volume control, comment follow up and the creation of plaques (or lower third) to identify each guest.
Take into consideration that if you execute a Hangout from your company´s Google+ page, the applications on Toolbox won´t work. In this case, it´s best that a moderator begins the Hangout from the company page by silencing and deactivating the screen so the chat can be supervised as well as the questions that are made through the Google+ chat function.
4. During the Hangout
Maintain casual and to the point conversations but let it flow if an unforeseen topic comes up during the event. Have fun with your guests and let their personalities and experiences dictate where the conversation goes.
5. After the Hangout
If the Hangout is live, it should be available a few minutes after it´s finished in your YouTube Video Manager. Here you have the opportunity to include a description, keywords or even be able to edit the video.
Remember that you must have a verified YouTube channel in order to upload videos lasting more than 15 minutes. The majority of hangouts are executed in more time than that.
If the recording is in your personal account, you can edit whatever is necessary and upload it to your business YouTube account so you can later release the link in a Google event. Once it´s public, you can share the URL of your new video or embed the code anywhere so you can increase your audience after the Hangout.
Conclusion
Since this is a Google product, Hangouts is an excellent alternative to generate content and obtain visibility in your search engines. At the same time, you generate a stronger link with your audience and you position your brand as an authority in its field.
Remember that people buy brands and people they know, like and confide in. Hangout is a terrific opportunity for individuals to get to know you face to face. And the best thing is that you obtain immediate feedback to improve their experience.
Have you ever organized a Hangout for your company? Would you like to share a suggestion? Please join the conversation in the comments section.