Hangouts On Air: Why Your Business Should Be Using Them

What are Hangouts On Air?

As you can see Hangouts on Air are a Google product that allow you to broadcast and interact with people streamed live onto your YouTube account.  When you have finished recording your HOA is that it will automatically upload to your YouTube channel creating new and interesting content for your channel.

Hangouts on Air can be used in many different ways

  • Direct access Q&A with a brand ambassador or celebrity
  • Product launches
  • Webinars

Celebrity and Brand Ambassadors

Many people have been using Twitter chats with celebrities for years, this is like that but much more personal.  You can execute in many ways but successful examples I have seen have included a competition mechanic whereby the winners get have a place in the hangout and speak directly to the celebrity.

There is a chat feature that people can use and add their comments, you can take some of the better comments and inject them into the chat.

Product Launches

One of my favourite campaigns / launches using Hangouts was the launch of Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube. The event was heavily publicised through existing channels but Jamie was smart and used other “food influencers” who also promoted it to their audience.  This resulted in a large live audience.  Participation and engagement was driven by mini competitions during the broadcast.  The Hangout On Air functionality wasn’t

Webinars

You can use slide presentations, as well as live webcam presentations and switch between them.

If you are using Hangouts on Air for professional webinars, there are several plugins and programs that can help like EasyWebinar Plugin, WebinarJam, or Stealth Seminar.  They offer ways to schedule webinars, register participants, and hold them in a virtual ‘waiting room’ before the Hangout begins.

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How to organise a Hangout On Air

Google have introduced many features that make it even easier to organise a Hangout On Air.  You can now use a Google event page to notify and invite people prior to the event.  The event pages are very versatile and allow you to upload all of the information, images and videos you like in the build up to your event.

By scheduling using an event page you can:

  1. Announce and schedule a HOA
  2. Create a trailer video for the event, and you can fully brand and customise the event banner.
  3. Broadcast the Hangout to a wide audience with a single point of information to include in your posts and communications. People don’t have to be following you to join the event page.  It is findable in search and by link. You can invite the public, specific communities, circles and people.
  4. Held atendees be more organised. RSVP’s appear automatically in Google Calendars with automatic 24 hour notifications.
  5. Circle all people who get engage with the Hangout and continue the conversation.

For more info Hangouts On Air