Is Your Business Using Google Hangouts?

5 Reasons Your Business Should Start Using Google Hangouts

Google is quickly becoming rather infamous for launching new programs and then casting them aside whenever the mood changes. Bye-bye Google Wave, Google Buzz and now Google Reader. (I’m still ticked about that one!)… Despite many predictions of a similar fate for Google+, Google Hangouts, their latest wonder-app, may just save the collective Google bacon.

Google Hangouts – So what is it exactly?

The short version is that Google Hangouts are a good way to connect with other people via a live video chat, one that can be recorded and utilized in various platforms and in many ways. Joined at the hip to your Google account, a hangout is very easy to launch, and it has a goldmine of interesting features for marketers. You can host a hangout with up to ten other people, and many others can watch live at your YouTube channel, Google page, or your own web page. Google records the entire affair, and delivers a YouTube URL to you after you’re done, that you can then use in your marketing.

Marketing with Google Hangouts

There are tons of ways to integrate Google Hangouts into your marketing. Here are 10 ways people are finding effective.

• Webinars – Tired of expensive GoToWebinar fees? Now you have a free alternative!
• Conferences – Easy to setup teleconferencing makes a Hangout a no-brainer for sharing a conference experience.
• Meetings – Hold virtual meetings in an informal, yet immediate venue.
• Product Launches – An innovative way to create positive buzz on launch day. (Or before!)
• Interviews – Capture interviews with others on the fly with Google Hangouts!
• Product Demos – Show people what you’ve got, live and in person!
• Virtual Press Conferences – Help make your press releases go viral!
• Live Streaming Events – Want your own weekly live TV show? Many marketers are now using Google Hangouts for just this purpose.
• Q & A with Customers – Find out what your customers want and need easily. Great trust builder!
• Podcast from your Hangout – Making a Podcast to share through iTunes is yet another way to share your content.

If you’re not using Google Hangouts as an element in your marketing mix, you’re totally losing out on a great opportunity to engage with your audience in a more intimate, immediate way.