Google+ has the Hangouts feature that is very underutilized in my opinion. In a previous post we discussed how to actually create and run a hangout. And, in another post, we gave some examples of ways to use Hangouts for your Business. Below are some more suggestions for using Hangouts to improve your business.
A “Lunch and Learn” of the 21st Century
Remember the old “Lunch and Learn” meetings you had in your company? People would either pack a lunch, or else the company would spring for a couple of pizzas, and share expertise that otherwise would not have been possible in the normal course of daily business. Why not take this old model and give it a new twist? Whether you use it as an internal educational meeting, or else an informal client/prospect meeting to learn more about a specific facet of your solution, this lunch-time hangout allows busy executives time to be exposed to your product or service, which avoiding the sacrifice of their precious commodity – time.
Ask the Experts
Your company often has access to industry experts (authors, speakers, third-party vendors, etc) who may not be easily accessible to your clients. Create a live interview where guests can join and ask these hard-to-reach people the tough questions they have always wanted to ask, but until this time did not have the opportunity to ask.
Meet and Greet potential customers
Hangouts allow for you to create small groups of clients to meet one another, network and share their experiences. You are the connection between many of your clients, many of whom have needs for each other’s services. Why not give them an avenue to meet one another and possibly gain intellectually and financially from this connection?
Digital Roundtables
Similar to roundtable discussions that are generally only found at trade shows, use your Hangout to allow clients to gather over a topic or challenge that is shared by the group. You serve as moderator for the group to keep everyone on topic, but allow the participants to organically move the discussion.
Webinar and Event Preview
Have you ever thought about attending an event or webinar, but wish you could preview the content before registering? Why not use a Hangout to do just that for your clients? Take 5-10 minutes to give participants a “sneak peek” of what the event or webinar will contain. You may also want to get feedback from the participants which can influence the content of your future event.
Product or Service Focus Group
Are you considering expansion of your product or service offerings, but not sure what the feedback would be from your clients? Why not ask them before you jump into development? Use your Hangout to test ideas, product images, functionality and more. You can share your screen and even show files from your Google docs folder.
All these solutions can be combined with live recording and archiving on your YouTube channel for ongoing assets for your brand. Additionally, content can be turned into blog posts and social media messaging, re-purposing content to the various streams and therefore increasing your content “equity”.
