Savvy content marketers are turning to Google Plus Hangouts to engage their customers and boost their SEO rankings.
Google Plus Hangouts is a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and group chats. While somewhat similar to Skype, FaceTime and Facebook Video Chat. Google Plus Hangouts focuses more on “face-to-face-to-face” group interaction as opposed to one-on-one video chats, and utilizes sophisticated technology to seamlessly switch the focus to the person currently chatting.
This is a nice alternative to businesses looking to save money! First of all, it’s a free service. While many businesses use webinars, they can be expensive!
You can also stream your Google Plus Hangouts to YouTube. Videos always rank higher in searches and hangouts on air jump very quickly to the first page of Google which helps your SEO.
The hangouts are easy to do! Here’s how you can set up a Google Plus Hangout:
1. Sign into Google Plus: You will need a Google account, such as the one you use for Gmail. Google+ is a social networking site that is designed for Google account holders.
2. Find the Hangout Frame: The Hangouts are located on the right-hand side of the Google Plus page.
3. Create a New Hangout: Click the “+ New Hangout” field at the top of the Hangouts list. The list will change to a list of your contacts and Google+ circles. Check the box next to any people that you want to add to the Hangout.
4. Choose your Hangout format. You are given the option to start either a video or a text Hangout. You can turn a text chat into a video chat at any time.
Video chats do not require that both users have a camera. You can video chat with a camera on one end and a microphone on the other, or just camera and text. You can also share pictures and emoticons if you choose to use the text version.
Have you ever used Google Plus Hangouts? How did it go?