What is that? Great question! A Google+ Hangout is a video-conference tool powered by Google. If you have a Gmail account you have a Google+ account, you just need to activate it. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Participating in a Hangout lets you see everyone you are talking to on one screen, up to nine people. Why would you want to video-conference instead of doing a conference call?

Here are 3 reasons why:
1. Face recognition: Being able to see who you are talking to helps reinforce the relationship you have with that person, or helps you build a relationship faster. Seeing their face will make it easier to connect with them online in other social networks. This is a great tool to use with clients and prospects.

2. Facial expressions: Being able to see how someone expresses the message they are delivering is much easier on video than it is over the phone. This also helps you in the same way. Isn’t it easier to sell your products in person than it is on the phone?

3. Show you care: When someone asks me to video chat, and actually looks at me the whole time I’m talking, I am impressed. How often do you do a call with a client or friend, and end up multi-tasking by sending emails while you’re on the phone. Your clients deserve your attention, show them.

I recently participated in a Google+ Hangout to share tips for new IFA Attendees with Deb Evans, Lorri Wyndham, and Liz Anderson. You can watch the recording here.

Do you use Video to communicate?

This post originally appeared on the Engage121’s blog but since I am an advocate for Google+ I had to share it here!

Sure you can go ahead and start posting, and sharing content from the “big wigs” in your industry and get a good-size following, but will those people care about your business? Will they become your brand advocates?

How can you build a community that is interested in your business and your industry? There’s no cheat sheet, doing it right takes time but it will be worth it when you’re done. I promise.

1. Create: Create your social channels and brand them to your business. Make sure to use your logo, update your about section to reflect your business, and don’t forget to add your contact information.

2. Search: Find people and businesses in your industry, and your local area to connect with, as well as influencers in your industry, and follow them.

3. Publish: Create relevant content and post it to your networks. Share news from your local area, talk about your new employees, prove that you are an expert in your industry and that you are a resource for your local community.

4. Share: Share content from the people you’ve searched for and followed. This will help you build relationships with them and encourage them to check out your content and hopefully share it with their networks, which will increase your visibility.

5. Engage: Like, and comment on your follower’s posts to show that you value them as a resource. This will help you build a relationship with them and keep them coming back.

6. Monitor: Watch for comments and likes, and thank your community for their engagements.

7. Track: Track your progress to make sure you have a good strategy and are publishing the right type of content. If your number of followers, and mentions (replies, RTs, tags) are not increasing then try switching up your strategy and the content you are publishing to attract a slightly different audience.

What has been the most successful tactic for growing your community?

No I’m not writing a happy hour post, I’m talking about the non-alcoholic version. Be Your Own Brand. I’m usually screaming this from the rooftops and today I’m going to tell you why.

Today my rockstar friend Gini Dietrich wrote about personal branding & growing your business. She shows a side that I can not relate to since I’m not a business owner but if you are I highly suggest you check it out.

In today’s digital world I believe that your personal brand is your portfolio. Your online presence has become your resume.

Here are 3 reasons why you NEED to brand yourself online, B.Y.O.B:

1. What will you take with you?
    If you’re only using your employer’s social networks, such as Twitter, what will you have when you leave there? You wont be taking all of those followers that you’ve acquired over the years, or those relationships you’ve built.

2. How do you represent yourself?
    If you have no personal branding strategy what image is associated with your title, your employer’s logo? Will anyone recognize you once you leave there? Your avatar is the first way people identify you online, it needs to be as recognizable as the Starbucks logo, and provide instant recognition to your followers. A great example is Mari Smith, she uses the same picture everywhere so you can easily identify who she is.

3. How do you build relationships?
    If you have no personal brand what does your Twitter bio say? How do you introduce yourself to people online? You need to have a bio that shows who you are, not just where you work. I once received a tweet that said they loved my tweets because they cover a wide-range of subjects and reflect who I am accurately. Show your passions, hobbies, that’s how you’re successful with social media. As my friend BJ said, Be Human.

So what’s your portfolio look like?

The Facebook team announced on Tuesday that they are taking Facebook to a whole other level, and if you think stalking is easy now, just wait! Let me introduce you to Graph Search. 

Hold on; don’t delete your account yet. I do think that privacy will be the #1 issue once Graph Search launches but according to Mark Zuckerberg you will not be able to search any information that you do not already have access to, which is why I consider Graph Search to be a dream at this point. 

Dreaming:
Facebook showed screenshots of a graph search done for “friends who have visited national parks.” Well that’s great, and I myself would love to search for that, however I know that most of my Facebook friends who have visited national parks have not tagged their photos with that location or checked-in when they were there.  As a result, those friends will not show up in my search results.

Due to this fact, Graph Search will take years to generate the results that Facebook showed on Tuesday. I know that most of my Facebook friends are not the super users that Facebook referred to. They do not fill out their profiles or about sections with details such as education, and employment. They also never check-in to their favorite restaurants on Facebook or tag photos with the location from their recent vacation spot. 

Reality:
It will be a dream come true the day I can type into Facebook search “great restaurants in San Francisco that my friends recommend.” Yes, I can go to Yelp and search for great restaurants in San Francisco and see my friend’s recommendations but I don’t have Yelp friends who live in San Francisco. I barely have any friends on Yelp as it is. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you were going away on vacation/business to Mexico and you could search for restaurants that your closest friends enjoyed while they were there? Especially since they were the ones who recommended you vacation in Mexico. 

Privacy:
My prediction is that Facebook will not be getting enough data from Facebook users to generate the results they demonstrated, so they will open up privacy settings to get more data to achieve these results. History does repeat itself. 
LESSON: Do not share anything on Facebook (online) that you would be embarrassed for your grandma to see. Remember, Google doesn’t forget, and now neither will Facebook!

Are you ready to share your life’s work with Facebook?
 

*Photos and information courtesy of CNET