Google’s proprietary feature ‘hangouts’ is powerful, free and a great asset to businesses using Google Plus. Let’s discuss what it is and how you can use it.
What is Google Hangout?
Google Hangout is an online video conference which can host up to nine individuals. The hangout can be public, where anyone can join in, or invitation only. All participants must have a Google Plus account. The fun and features continue with the ability to create and share documents (powered by Google Docs) during your hang out.
This can be useful for businesses in holding public ‘Q&A’ conferences, ‘Tech Support’ sessions (which are particularly effective when you use the Share Screen feature so you can see your hangout attendee’s computer screen), ‘DIY Projects’ or even internal activities like ‘team meetings’.
This is an excellent tool to get personal and social with you user base in a one on one or small group fashion.
What is Google Hangout on Air?
For something more like a ‘television broadcast’ there is Hangout on Air, which accommodates an unlimited (yes, that’s right) audience, giving you a tremendous of reach capability.
It gets better. Not only can you broadcast to an unlimited audience, but as soon as you are finished your broadcast it is automatically recorded as a drift video and uploaded to your Youtube account to await for your editing and approval.
The possibilities with this are endless. The obvious application would be a weekly show of which the content is only limited by your imagination. Other uses could include webinars, press conferences, etc.
Of course the scope of your Hangout on Air would depend on how many people had you in their circle and were interested in your Google Plus page. Therefore it behooves you to build a solid user base in order to make the most out of this feature.
What’s Next?
The fruits of Google Plus don’t end with hangouts. Stay tuned for next weeks article where we explore Google Chat and how you can use it for your business.
0 responses