Your Google Plus Hangout Show – What You Need to Know
Just because Google Plus has made Hangouts on Air so accessible to the public, doesn’t mean everyone should have a show. A lot of preparation will go a long way when planning your show.
Step 1: Who is your market?
This seems to be the hardest exercise for most business owners. You need to get away from “everyone” and “Females 35+ with a college degree” and start thinking, “small service based business owners that service a local area and have no social media presence”
Step 2: What is your message?
Why are you considering this show? Is your purpose to provide a place for people to be exposed to industry experts? Will you be sharing your expertise? Is it meant to be a fun place for people to gather and talk about a topic not related to your business? Will you be instructing people on learning a new skill?
Step 3: Live or Taped
Just because Google offers live broadcasting ability, it doesn’t mean you have to promote it as such. There are benefits to using either method. Many people will tape later in the evening, polish up the tape and post it in the morning.
Step 4: Ads or No Ads
Once your hangout is uploaded to YouTube, if you account is in good standing, you can place ads before, during and even over your video. Remember who your audience is. If you are selling to B2B, most people will get annoyed by the placement of the ads not only for the waste of time, but the fact that they know you will be profiting from your attempt to help them. On the other hand, if you have sponsors for your show, you will want to include an ad for them before, during and after the show.
Step 5: Editorial Calendar
Get a list of topics and guests scheduled way in advance. You will surprised how grateful you will be when you have that part lined up and you are not scrambling for a guest each week or month. This will also enable you to announce the topic of your next show during the closing of your current show.
Step 6: Script!
This can come in many different forms. Some people script each word they will say, some have a rough outline, and some have segments. However you plan to script your show, make sure you spend some time planning how the show will run.
Step 7: Equipment, Connection, Audio and Lighting
Google Hangouts on Air will take a lot out of your computer. It launches a tv truck inside your computer for goodness sake! Make sure that your computer meets the system requirements listed by Google. Check the quality of your webcam and your audio. You can get decent professional level microphones for under $100 these days. People will forgive a bad picture before they forgive poor audio. Don’t count lighting out yet! You do not need professional grade lighting, more importantly, it needs to be equal on both sides. I use two floor lamps from the Wal Mart dorm section. Each lamp was $8 and the already have a frosty lamp shade.
Step 8: Background
When most people set up their desks, they are not thinking about what it looks like behind them. You can start a hangout by yourself and see what your environment looks like. Be wary of licensed material. Make sure it is clean and free of clutter, but also doesn’t make you look like you are in a bare room.
Step 9: Practice
If you have watched a video show and thought, “wow that looks easy, I could totally do that”, you watched someone good at what they do. You need to practice before you launch your first show. This can be done by entering a hangout by yourself, or getting friends to help out.
Step 10: Promote
Determine what channels you will be promoting your show and get a system down. Most likely you will have a consistent show day and time. Find partners to help you promote the show and always remind your guests to share and talk about it.
Latest posts by Nikol Murphy (see all)
- Take Your Google Plus Show to the Next Level - February 21, 2014
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