5 Ways Businesses can Use Google Plus Hangouts

The Google plus live video chat function called Hangouts has been with us over a year now and is till date the coolest feature of Google plus. And with the recent addition of Hangouts On Air, which allows you to broadcast and record your Hangout to your YouTube channel, it has only become awesomer.

A Hangout allows up to nine other participants in a video chat who can all see each other and converse simultaneously. Google continues to roll out new features to Hangouts which are making it more useful for video conferences, seminars and other online events. These chat sessions can be marked as either public for all to see and join (up to nine users) or by invitation only.

Users can also connect via any Android or iPhone portable device, though the host must start the session via a laptop or desktop computer.

Features of Google Plus Hangouts:

• Video chat option with up to 9 people
• Screen sharing
• Live broadcast of chat
• Document sharing
• Simultaneous video viewing and chatting
• Session recording

Below are five ways you can use Google Plus Hangouts for your business:

1. Client meeting:

By using Hangouts, you can have easy and free video conferencing with your clients whom you are unable to meet physically. With the screen sharing and document editing feature of hangout, you can do full presentations to your clients.

Google+ has apps for Google Docs and Slideshare which it make it easier for you to collaborate and work remotely.

2. Effective Presentations:

Face to Face presentation with clients is always the best thing, but what if you are unable to do that? Google plus offers you a unique feature to use multiple cameras at a time to the host’s video stream and switch between views.

This will allow the video presenter to be viewed from multiple angles if they are giving a presentation, which in effect makes the entire presentation more engaging and effective.

3. Help Desk:

Live customer service has been around for sometime now. But what if a customer has some technical problem with the gadget and wants to demonstrate his/her problems? Google Plus Hangouts offers a quick solution to it. It is always better to talk face-to-face.

4. Product Demonstrations:

If you are introducing a new product to the customers, you can conduct the product demonstration and live training sessions using Google plus Hangouts. You can also showcase the creative uses of the product.

These sessions on Hangout can be immensely superior to recording and publishing training videos on your website, since doing so in a Hangout will give customers the opportunity to ask questions, and give you the opportunity to answer them in real time.

5. Panel Discussions:

Bringing a group of experts from your niche and having a Google plus live Hangout on topics will definitely interest your viewers and customers. This can be scheduled  as a monthly or a weekly affair. It gives customers a chance to have a close interaction with the brand.