How to Use Google Hangouts on Air (Effectively) For Your Business

Google Hangouts provide marketers with a great opportunity to grab the attention of their customers, build brand imagery, engage with their social media audience and also connect with influential people in their field.

I have conducted Google Hangout sessions for multiple clients and have learned how to achieve above mentioned goals! (Exclamation mark). I am sharing some of tips which can help you to use Google Hangout for effective promotion of your business online. 

Quick Tips to Host Google Hangouts on Air

Make sure that whatever you are set to discuss on Google Hangouts with your audience is relevant for your audience. This will pull attention, attendance and the views. Let the content be relevant to your brand image and what it stands for as it connects to the audience.

Relevant Speakers

Be sure that the speaker is speaking in line to your brand image, and he or she is not sabotaging its image. Choose a speaker who is knowledgeable. Find out what your speaker’s forte is, and search information about him. He/she is the representative of your brand and will have an association with your brand. Review her LinkedIn and Facebook profile if he/she doesn’t have an account in either of the social networking sites; the possibility is that he/she is not fit for your activity. Be a bit smart and have fun researching about what he/she tweets, their ideas, and involvement on social media. Is he/she active enough to be added on your panel? He/she must have spoken somewhere, so search for their videos.

Find out:

• If the speaker have used your product?
• Do they hold influential position in the market place?
• Does their personal branding fit your brand image?
• Is their expertise relevant to the topic you are discussing in Hangout?
• Are they active in social media?
• What position do they hold in their company?

Prepare the Background For the Discussion

Before you set into the conversation prepare your speaker by giving a set of questions, preferably a week ago. This way the speaker is prepared on the topic with answers, content that is relevant and fits in the time slot given. Let the speakers know what kind of audience you are expecting. This will let them prepare their points according to the taste and interest of the audience, so that your hangout is not bore to the audience and a sheer waste of time. Relevant content pulls audience attention. Remember, the one-liners in the advertisements, the punchlines? What is it that pulls the audience? Those few words cater and appeal to the emotions of the audience and are relevant to their life.

Promote Your Hangout

The number of people who attend your Hangout will be less if you don’t promote it enough. Create a promotional blog post, a hashtag, and share it on social media. Even if it’s hosted on Google+ you can promote the panel on other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. People will keep sharing about your discussion on Google Hangout and the announcement will spread to a wider audience.

Avoid Mishap: Be Dead Sure How to Host a Google Hangout

Know how to host Google Hangout on air; be sure about how you got to do it, otherwise a mishap at the last moment can spoil things for your brand. With people waiting for your discussion and the entire effort ending with a technical glitch, this is not good for your brand image. Google hangouts broadcast on YouTube and Google+ simultaneously.

Promote Google Hangouts Internally

Google hangouts are great not only for your customers but also for your employees. As your customers or audience express their opinion and use jargons, you get an insight into their life, taste, preferences, choices and what they expect from you. Let your employees also know a bit more about the audience and pull in more audience.

Follow Up After Its Done

The live event is over, so you think your job is over? No it isn’t. Create a blogpost that is a follow up for the event. Sum up all the important points that were discussed. Thank your speakers for throwing light on the topic by sending an email or an e-card. You might need their expertise again. Build relations with them and customers. Assess your success and things that went wrong. This will keep you prepared for your next hangout.

Your first hangout isn’t going to be perfect; with every new Google Hangout added to your experience you will only improve. I’m sure you will have your own ideas and experiences on conducting one, come share your ideas with us. Share this article on social media too, an open world with an open exchange of knowledge is the key to success in today’s knowledge based world.