Since I entered the world of Marketing and online surveys, I have always dreamed of doing focus groups more frequently, however, these groups always exceed the budget and scope, and that is when I ask myself:
How successful would some of my campaigns or product launches be if I had been able to interact with target customers in person? If I had been able to conduct proper market research ?
Have you ever considered using Google Hangouts as a focus group tool ? I guess not. Here is my quick guide to creating a focus group in Google Hangouts.
Get started with Google Hangouts On Air: You'll need to have a Google+ profile in order to run a Google Hangout On Air.
Schedule your Hangout on Air, you may want to keep it “private,” here’s how to do that:
Start a private Hangout on air
Go to Hangouts on Air
Click Broadcast a Hangout on Air .
Enter the name and description of your broadcast.
Choose to start Now or Later .
In the “Audience” box, delete Public .
Then type the names of the people or circles you want to invite to the qatar phone number Hangout On Air, or click Add more people to browse the list of names.
Click Share . This will automatically share the link with only the people you chose to invite to the event.
Once you create a private Hangout on Air, you cannot change the settings to share the event to public or vice versa. However, you can share the Hangout on Air with more people by clicking Invite More from the event page or by directly sharing the event address or video.
You can also get a transcript of your Hangout: To get a transcript of your Hangout, all you need to do is go to your private Hangout video on YouTube and click on the transcript icon.
How to get started using Hangouts as a focus group tool
Now that you know how to mechanically use Hangouts as an online focus group tool, I'll show you how to put that strategy to work for your market research needs.
Recruiting participants using circles
To use Hangouts as a focus group tool, you will need to start by working on creating your circles and tracking the audience you intend to invite to your focus group online. Tip: Make sure to start a few months in advance as there is a limit to the number of people you can add to your circles and any overcrowding of people in your circle will “bring a curse” to your profile and limit the number of people you can easily invite to participate in your Hangouts.
Create a Hangout event and invite your participants
The next step is to create an event for your Hangout. You’ll want to schedule a date and time in the future and then you can invite your circles and/or specific individuals. Like most events, only about 20% of the people who say they’re going to attend your Hangout on Air actually show up. If it’s a private Hangout, you’ll want to make sure you have solid candidates who will be your “guests.”