Using Google Plus Hangouts for your business is a no brainer! For years business owners have been using the rising Social Media sites – Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and Skype to increase their online presence. These social networking sites have helped savvy businesses to grow their businesses and brands through online interaction and video sharing.

1. Connect With Your Customers on Google+ Hangouts

Marketing is not just about bringing in new customers; it’s about retaining the old ones. With Google Hangouts you can keep them up-to-date on new products, a new service, and enhancements to their current service. You can show them ways to save money, and introduce them to all your products. You can also allow them to get to know you on a more personal level, and learn to trust you even more.

2. Hold Private Consulting Sessions on Google+ Hangouts

How convenient would it be to stay in your office and still speak face-to-face with your client? Being able to hold a private consultation with clients who are a distance away, and have them interact with you as if they were in the same room – that’s what Google Hangouts can do for you.

When working on a long-term project you can stay in touch with your clients, and work out any kinks as you go along. They can see you and your expressions, and trust you are dealing with them in an open manner. Clients like to look you in the eye when speaking to you – “reading you” so to speak. A hangout offers you that opportunity.

3. Conduct Team Meetings Online via a Google Hangout

Let’s face it, conference calls leave a lot to be desired. There can be distractions, which results in miscommunication and lack of focus. Telecommuters, or those working at a different location, will feel more a part of team if they are able to participate face-to-face, in real time. This enhances communication, and allows them to not be included, but engage in the discussion.

Think what it would be like to mastermind or work on a presentation together, instead of relying on instant messages, emails and phone calls. This saves travel expenses, but also saves valuable time and misunderstandings.

4. Hold a Press Conference with Google Hangouts

You don’t have to have a publicist, be super star, or even be a big corporation to hold a press conference. You can have a small, limited audience, and allow them to ask questions about you or your product. If you have a big announcement, why not get the message out? With Hangouts you can announce to the world your new CEO, new employee, a promotion, an award, or the release of a new product or website.

Grammy-winner Taylor Swift hosted a Google Hangouts live chat press conference to announce the release of her new single. When her recording was released on iTunes, it soared to the top of the charts faster than any other in history!

5. Put on a Webinar with Google+ Hangouts

If you have always wanted to share your expertise or products, and make them available to a larger market, Google Hangouts is the way to go. You can create a webinar, where people can ask questions and interact. You can put participants in silent mode as you make your presentation, and then open up for questions, add others to help with the presentation, and even add photos to your presentation. Google records Hangouts, and you can stream it immediately to YouTube, share it with select people, or archive and edit as you wish.

Best of all, it comes as no financial risk. Previously, webinars were expensive to put on. Not with Hangouts! It is free, and simple to use. No need for a lot of technical knowledge. Google has a free video chat plug-in they prompt you to download and install with your first Hangout. There’s no need to sync up with your recording hardware, and it’s easy. It takes about 30 seconds to install. This lets you use video in Hangouts, Gmail, iGoogle, another social network owned by Google.

Google Plus Enhances Your Web Presence

Not only will you be visible to more future and current clients using Google+, which will increase your website traffic, but Google likes to have their products used and shared, so although they don’t actually come out and say it, if you were to use Google+ Hangouts to promote your website you will most probably see other benefits, including an increase in search page rankings.

WOW! 5 Ways to Use Google Hangouts for My Business by @BizSpotlighTV on #RocksDigital
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How have you been using Google+ and other online social networking sites to increase your web presence?

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Marketing and social media forecasters are proclaiming this is “The Year of Google Plus” and “Google Hangouts;” Google’s newest video chat service is taking us to the new frontier. Experts say Facebook is the social media for PERSONAL interaction, while Google Plus Hangouts is the media for BUSINESS, but it extends far beyond just business.

Just like the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook, one is more social than personal, but both, if used correctly, can benefit you in all areas of communication.

Social media is changing the way businesses market our products and how we personally communicate with our friends and family. It is not only the WAVE of the future, it’s a TSUNAMI, and it’s here to stay. Anyone who is not on board now had better learn to swim.

Marketing gurus now understand that the old, tried-and-true methods of advertising are not holding the client’s interest. It’s not the same as it once was. A prime example of that is the folding, and near extinction, of newspapers as a source of news, as well as advertising. Video is the rising star. While you still need to have a strong message, you have to add the personal touch as well in order to connect with your market.

Communication is so important in all phases of our life. Hangouts definitely improves the ability to communicate. Social media has added that personal touch, giving your potential clients a chance to see your business behind the scenes—up close and personal.

If the customer gets to know you, and like you, they will trust you. It’s a very basic human concept. The days of the corporate office and large, faceless corporations are long gone, making way for one-on-one communication. It affords you the opportunity to keep in touch and reconnect with your current clientele, letting them get to know you as more than just a company that wants to make a sale.

What is Google Hangouts?

Google has made a number of moves to encourage people to use Google+ and has tied in several applications to enhance the overall experience. One of those applications is Google Hangouts, a type of online group meeting using webcams, a combination of instant messaging and video chatrooms, where all the participants can see and hear each other. It’s a video conference and webinar all rolled into one.

How does Google Hangouts work?

Users can hold live chat conversations with up to 10 users (15 if you have a Google+ premium account). Hangouts can be accessed online through Gmail or Google+ websites on your computer, or through Android and iPhone mobile devices.

With Hangouts, you can hold group presentations online and it will automatically record and stream them through your YouTube account, or archive them for later access. You can produce live broadcasts directly from your website, YouTube channel, and/or Google+ profile with just a few clicks of your mouse or stylus. Even better, you can save your recorded Hangout videos and post them on your site. You can even edit them, and archive them for future reference rather than streaming them.

If you are more interested in small, intimate chats you may be interested in straight Google Hangouts.

Why Business Owners Should Use Google Hangouts

The real thrill for a business actually comes when you use Hangouts on Air, which lets you record your videos, have others interact in the chats, and then lets the general public see them through a livestream through YouTube.

Photos can be shared during the conversations through a private Google+ album, and users are now able to use color emoji (emotional) symbols in their messages.

Best of all, Hangouts won’t dip deeper into your budget. It is absolutely FREE. If you wanted to offer webinars, this is a no-cost way to do it!

Videos are becoming increasingly useful, and cost effective, in marketing. The small business owner should be taking advantage of this growing trend immediately to increase their presence and brand recognition without breaking their bank.

Yes, there are other chatroom platforms, but none have the advantages of Google Hangouts, and the seamless integration of your videos with your social media.

Google+ Hangouts is a great tool for business owners! Read why by @BizSpotlighTV on #RocksDigital
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How To Get Started with Google Plus Hangouts

1. Hangouts requires that you have Google Chrome installed.
2. You can install the Google Plus Hangouts plug-in in just a few seconds. It’s free.
3. You start by introducing yourself and filling out a profile, making sure to add some bragging rights. This will aid Google+ in helping to find you friends, family and people interested in the same things across all of Google.
4. You then add friends and family to your circle, so you can engage by making a comment, or adding a +1. You can join communities, follow your favorite artists, or have a long-distance party with all your friends and family.

With Hangouts, the person conducting the meeting is in the larger view on the screen, and participants are minimized, but visible, until they speak. There is a chatroom for additional participants, and you are able to mute them during your presentation, or allow them to chime in as well. You can also block individuals you do not want to participate.

What else would you like to learn about Google Plus? Are using Google Hangouts? Share your successes and what you have learned below.

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