If you use Google Hangouts to connect with others in your circles on Google Plus, it’s possible you’re getting only a fraction of the benefit you should be.
Social networking trainer Andy Nathan shares a secret weapon that lets you use the networking potential of Google Plus in ways you probably haven’t thought about.
The secret weapon is called the Google Hangouts On Air Community. It is a group on Google Plus of about 8,000 members who are constantly posting new upcoming hangouts. The hangouts are on a variety of topics. Some of these will doubtless be in your industry.
Nathan suggests two main ways to use this community for your benefit. First, use it to find upcoming Hangouts you can attend. Information given in these hangouts can be great. But the opportunity to engage on screen with others in your market or leaders in your industry can be even more important.
Try to get there early, Nathan advises, since the first people in a Hangout are more likely to get an opportunity to participate onscreen.
In a recent post on Web Designer Depot he explains:
“For users with free accounts, the first nine people can be on video; for hosts with pro accounts that goes up to the first fifteen people. Everyone else can only interact with the Hangout via the chat or watch on YouTube. This is still worth doing, but the bigger benefit lies in joining a group of people to talk with on the video Hangout.”
You may have an opportunity to talk with thought leaders and even come away with enough for an interview. And, of course, there’s an opportunity to connect and demonstrate your knowledge as a thought leader and influencer, too.
The other way to use this popular community is to post some of your own upcoming Hangouts there. Nathan explains how to use Google Hangouts on Air to create these events. He writes:
“This might surprise you, but with the technology available with Google’s HoA through YouTube, you can embed a video on your website and turn your hangout into a live webinar. We actually tested this during a recent hangout and everything went very smoothly.”
Inviting others to your webinars and other Hangouts using the Google Hangouts On Air Community may open your events up to a whole new audience. Some of these people may become future contacts (or even customers), too.
Image: Google
Great idea. I know how easy it was to get in touch with thought leaders in my industry during the early days of Twitter and this sounds like a similarly great way to reach the pioneers of Google+.
This is a great idea… assuming that your business has enough vendors and/or potential customers who utilize Google+ hangouts. Unfortunately, we are one of the few environmental remediation service companies who have an active Google+ presence.
Andy Nathan
Thanks for your great insights into my post on Google Hangouts! That is awesome!