Google Hangout For Business : [ Tip Tuesday ] ; Finetech Consultancy

Google Hangouts for business can be a great asset to a company of any size. Hangouts allows you to easily connect with employees, business colleagues, and clients using calls and videos, making it convenient for those who travel or work from home. It also gives you the flexibility of connecting from virtually any device. You can share files as you chat via Google Drive, stream live broadcasts and offer webinars, hold staff meetings, and more.

Here are the most notable features and benefits of using Google Hangouts that can help you decide if it will work for your business.






                          

Making Yourself Accessible 


Using Google Hangouts to connect with customers is a great marketing strategy, because your customers will view your business as accessible and caring about customer satisfaction. You can hold weekly or monthly question and answer sessions and invite customers to chat about concerns, suggestions, or any other type of feedback. This tactic not only appeals to customers, but allows you to receive immediate interactions, which can help you develop your future marketing and sales strategy. You can also use it as a networking tool to connect with colleagues and potential business partners.


Announcements and webinars 

Now you can host an interactive press conference to get the word out. Many companies also choose to establish a webinar series as part of their content marketing plan. You and your employees can share your expertise about a variety of topics in your field. With Google Hangouts On Air, you can do this live streaming directly from your business’s website, broadcast it to the public, or upload automatically to your YouTube account. You don’t have to download any software; just install the Google plugin the first time you use it, which is quick and easy.




Staff Meetings

Google Hangouts for business is an easy way to get all your staff members together for quick meetings, and it doesn’t matter if they’re in the office or working from a coffee shop that day. Hangouts works well with Android devices, desktops and laptops, has an app specifically for Apple, and also works right from your Gmail account.

The video calling feature allows you to hold conference calls with important clients when you’re traveling so you can conduct business from anywhere. As the administrator, you can decide who has access to Hangouts by inviting certain people or groups, or you can enable it for your whole domain. Google gives you the option for a free 30-day business trial, which can help if you’re still undecided about whether or not Google Hangouts is right for your company. View Google’s support section for a checklist of what to consider before investing in Hangouts. These include: making sure you know what editions of Google Apps are supported, what makes a ‘domain,’ what an Admin is able to see and control, and how it works with other Google Apps and features.

Google Hangouts for business is an overall great way to connect with your client base and help build your small business.



Tips For A Successful Google Hangout

Preparation is important, particularly if you are inviting speakers from outside of your business, and who may be accessing the Hangout remotely. Check everyone is clear on the date, time, and topic, and they have suitable equipment for reasonable quality video and audio. It's worth preparing a loose script or agenda which outlines topics and discussion points to keep things broadly on track and to allow speakers more time to prepare answers. Make sure everything is in line with your overall objective, whether that's awareness, sales, engagement etc.
It also allows you time to test your own set-up, and run through the process for setting up the Hangout. You can download the Hangouts Apps for iOS , Android  or Chrome. It's also worth checking your own audio and video quality.
One big mistake tends to be excessive echo, often from the choice of location. The other is not investing time in decent lighting, which can really affect the quality of your production. It doesn't have to be expensive to grab a couple of fairly bright lights which can make a big difference. Finally check you're sitting or standing in a comfortable position which allows you to run the chat effectively, but doesn't leave you slumped or being shot from below .
Give yourself time to promote the fact a Hangout is happening, ideally at least a couple of weeks. Use whichever channels you prefer, and use the time to also engage with your community by asking for questions and topics – you'll not only have a more interested audience, but you might discover important questions about your product or business which you wouldn't have answered otherwise.
When you go live, you may need someone to monitor the social feeds separately from hosting/interviewing, unless you're confident about multitasking. Make sure you speak clearly, don't be afraid to keep guests on topic, and try to be genuinely enthusiastic as video and film will reduce the effect to make you less full of life than you'd expect.
Finally make sure you spend time ensuring that your recording, or clips from it, are published in all the relevant locations and are optimized for people to find them. That includes titles, descriptions and links on YouTube, adding it to your website with a transcript if possible, and on other social networks.

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