How to quickly set up your Google Home, Home Mini, or Nest Hub
Did you recently buy a Google Home, Home Mini, Home Max, Nest Hub, Nest Mini, or Nest Hub Max? It’s time to set up your brand new smart speaker or smart display. These devices can do a whole lot, from playing music to reading the weather to controlling your smart home devices — and all you need to do to get the attention of Google Assistant is to say “OK, Google” or “Hey, Google.” We break down how to set up your Google Home, so you can get started with all the things this product can do.
1. Plug it in
To get started, first plug your Google Home device into the wall. There is no power button on the Google Home, so as long as it’s plugged into an outlet, it’s automatically on. Wait a few minutes for it to light up, and it will then begin looking for your phone to set up a connection. Keep your phone on hand, so you’ll know when the two are ready to be synced.
2. Download the Google Home app
Whether you use an iPhone or Android, you can find the Google Home app in the App Store or on Google Play. When prompted, agree to turn on location permissions, as this makes it easier for the device to report accurate local weather, let you know the nearest Walgreens, etc. Be sure your smartphone is connected to your home Wi-Fi, as this is how the Google Home will be able to access your network information.
3. Sign in with Google and sync your device
To use a Google Home device, you’ll need a Google account. If you already have a Gmail address, that’s perfect — go ahead and enter that. If you don’t already have one, head over to gmail.com on your laptop or smartphone to create a new account.
When you are logged in, open up your Google Home app and give it a moment to get its bearings. Usually, at this point, the Google Home app will say something like, “New device detected” or “Set up device.” Select this notification to begin. If you do not see the notification, select the plus sign on the Home screen and choose Set up device to give the app a kick-start.
A series of numbers will show up on the screen of both your Hub and on your phone, and these numbers should match. Select Yes to verify that these numbers match and that you’re connecting the right device. Choose which room the device will be in, and you are ready to connect.
If necessary, you may also be asked to input your physical address for the device if you have not already done so. Be sure to set the location of your Google Home device, as you’ll need this for things like local weather reports, traffic conditions, and commute times.
Greg Mombert/Digital Trends 4. Customize and connect accounts
Google Home will now ask you about several different connections you can make on your devices to ensure it works with your current services. Here’s what you will need to make decisions about:
Voice Match: Voice match can recognize your voice and distinguish it from several other voices. This is a great feature if multiple people in the home will be using the Google device and have their own Google accounts. However, it does mean that Google will be collecting additional information about you, so some people may want to pass.
Music services: Your devices can connect to services like Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and more. Connect any music services you use so your Home/Nest device can play.
Video services: If you have a Google device that has a display, like the Nest Hub, you should also connect any video services you have. Supported video services include Netflix, CW, CBS, HBO Now, Hulu, Flex, YouTube, Viki, Crackle, Red Bull, Starz, and Google Play Movies and TV.
Google Duo: Some Google devices have the ability to make phone calls or video calls. Home will ask if you want to set this service up via Google Duo.
Google Photos: If you have a device with a display, Home will ask you if you want to connect your Google Photos account so it can show slideshows of your photos. This gives your device an added use, and even if you don’t use Google Photos, you can choose to connect to general pictures from Google’s art gallery instead. Other customization options are also available.
When finished, Google will give you a chance to review all your choices, and then offer a tutorial that shows you general information about how the device works. If you are offered this tutorial, it’s smart to take the chance to learn more! Afterward, you can do as you please with the smart device, but we’re going to talk about several other customization options that users may want to spend time going through.
5. Set up your preferences 
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
To fully personalize your Google Home device, tap the menu button on the left-hand side of the app, then tap Account Preferences. This will take you to a bunch of optional features that Google Assistant offers, so you can make the device uniquely yours based on what suits your lifestyle. If you go under Settings > More settings > Assistant, you can change your assistant’s language or add an additional language.
By tapping on News and then Customize, you can select which news sources you’d like the Google Home to pull from when reading you the news. Whether you’re an NPR junkie, NBC News follower, or Fox News fan, you’ll be able to change the sources at your convenience. If you say “OK, Google, listen to the news,” your Google Home device will then give you a news report that’s customized to your preferences.
6. Change what Google Assistant calls you
If you scroll down in the app to Personal Info, you’ll see a spot that lets you change your nickname, and you can even teach Google Assistant to pronounce it correctly. So whether you want the voice assistant to call you “Ma’am,” “Governor,” or “Mary Poppins,” your wish is your Google Home device’s command.
7. Start talking to Google
Once your Google Home is all set up, it’s time to start using the little guy. There are thousands of questions you can ask Google. Need some inspiration? Give the upper-left-hand menu button a tap, and select “What can you do?” The app will give you some suggestions. For example, if you need to change the volume of the music, say “OK, Google, volume — ” and then say a number between 1 and 10. It’s time to start chatting away with your new voice assistant!
8. Add compatible smart home products
Google Home devices are compatible with more than 30,000 smart home products. In the app, tap on Home Control to add a new device. Be sure that these smart home devices are all on the same Wi-Fi network, otherwise, you won’t be able to control them from the Google Home. Once all the devices are set up, you’ll be able to say “OK Google, dim the lights,” and your Philips Hue bulbs will adjust themselves to your requested setting. Check out our picks for the best Google Home-compatible devices.
Editors' RecommendationsStarting a Digital Marketing Agency – First Steps to Take
“An intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart.” – Nepolean Hill.
You might have read many blogs or books before landing on this article, but you’re still searching for a ‘simple reason’ to start your digital marketing agency. Guess what? You’re in the right place. This article will guide you on how to launch your digital marketing agency with ease. There are just a few basic principles that you must understand and adhere to, and this patience and persistence will lead you to the road to your hassle-free entrepreneurial journey.
How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency in 2020
Starting your digital marketing agency can be a daunting task for individuals who have just taken the first steps into their entrepreneurial journey, however, it is no rocket science. It is a journey that requires you to have the right resources in the right place at the right time. If you can pull off the execution of this journey appropriately, you can conveniently build an agency that generates a healthy stream of revenue.
You must understand that it all begins with having a little faith in yourself. With a realistic business vision, along with the right planning and resources, your new digital agency business can thrive and succeed beyond expectations. This article will provide you a thorough understanding of how to start a digital marketing agency with actionable advice from industry experts. Let’s take a look!
#1 Create Connections and Gather Experience
According to Tim Ferriss, “Your network is your net-worth”. I love this statement, simply because this universal truth will never fade away or lose its value.
Moreover, in his book “Never Eat Alone”, Keith Ferrazzi mentions the need to build valuable relationships before you even need them. Therefore, to start a digital marketing agency, you must reach out to relevant people and build relationships before you can provide them value with your services.
You can build relationships by answering queries on forums like Quora or Reddit. Be ready to help someone you see being penalized on social media. These conversations will help you build quality leads for your business.
Take your time to think about all the industries you wish to work with. Spend some time to find out where your target audience remains active, and reach out to people you’d like to work with. Don’t try to sell your services right away, just look for means to offer value or connect with potential leads. Once you’re connected with a sizeable number of people, start taking small side jobs for them and build your credibility along the way.
Building relationships today in a digital space is valuable. It can bring you potential referrals down the road. Being a facilitator instead of a digital marketing agency initially ensures few expenses as you’re working in your comfort zone. This helps in transition towards becoming a one-man agency is much easier than starting a business directly from scratch.
If you can manage to run a profitable side hustle through mutual connections or by simply networking yourself, it will allow you to get the necessary experience required to build and maintain agency-level client relationships. At the end of the day, all your business needs is a happy customer.
#2 Setting up a Digital Marketing Agency
Once you’ve built quality connections as a facilitator , it’s time for you to set up your digital marketing agency and further grow yourself as a business. Take heed from Moonshots by Google executives. The team helps individuals and businesses setting up aspirational business goals and achieve them to take the company to new heights of success. .
#1 Smart Goals
One of the most fundamental requirements of starting any business – a digital agency in no exception – is that you must set up SMART business goals. Your business goals must be Specific, Measurable, Aspirational, Realistic and Time-bound. Here’s what you should know about setting up SMART business goals:
Setting up SMART business goals will assist you in the long term. l. It works at all business levels and can help you scale your newly established business in the right direction.
#2 Digital Marketing Agency Services
A full-scale digital marketing agency acts as a one-stop-shop for its clients offering various online marketing and advertising services. Moreover, many digital marketing agencies also deliver integrated strategies that incorporate different services. In most cases, a full-scale digital marketing agency offers the following services:
Depending on the agency’s expertise, experience, and resources, it may provide any to all services that usually demand a niche-specific work. Regardless, the cost of a full-service digital marketing agency varies substantially and depends on different factors such as:
For example, if your client wants SEO and PPC services only, you’ll probably charge lower service fees as compared to the business that is using your SEO, content marketing, PPC, and social media advertising services. The service charges of any digital marketing agency must vary from client-to-client. In simpler terms, you must quote your prices as per the time and effort you have to put in for any particular service.
#3 Business Model
By now you must know what business model will prove to be beneficial for your digital marketing agency. The services you provide and how you charge your clients is a critical part of efficiently managing a digital agency business. You can generate invoices for your customers and clients using the following criteria:
#1 Hourly
Many agencies prefer billing their clients on an hourly basis. They run one-on-one sessions with their clients over the phone as well as in person, which makes the hourly billing model an ideal solution.
Nonetheless, fluctuations in working hours for different clients are common. The volume and urgency of tasks varies from client to client. Some tasks may take longer than usual. Therefore, it becomes difficult to explain to clients that you had spent “x” number of hours on “y” number of tasks in a week so that’s how you’re going to bill them. Unless you’re providing one-on-one sessions as a part of your services, I would recommend you to stay away from the hourly billing model.
Recommended For You Webcast, March 5th: How AI Can Find Opportunities and Shorten Your Sales CyclesRegister Now #2 Flat Retainer
The flat retainer is by far one of the simplest pricing models. You assess how much work and time any particular client demands and you both agree on a flat monthly fee. The client knows precisely how much your services will cost the business. If you’ve fulfilled their expectations, they’ll have no problem paying for your services.
The downside to this pricing model becomes visible when you have a client who scales explosively over time. Your work will continue to increase and your monthly service charges will remain constant as per the agreement. Therefore, it’s a wise practice to set up a quarterly or semi-annual contract that guarantees renegotiation once the contractual period is over.
#3 Commission-based
Many digital marketing agencies use the commission-based billing model as an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Essentially, with this pricing model, you only get paid when the client makes money from a sale.
This may sound enticing initially, because you wish to build the trust factor with your client. You do everything in your power to help them become successful. However, many business owners who have not-so-good experience working with digital marketing agencies, often bring up the fact that they were paying loads of money only to have little to no Return on Investment (RoI).
The major downside to this billing model is the fact that your service charges heavily rely on your client’s product being sold. Therefore, in my opinion, ecommerce or clients – who sell products directly like a retail outlet – is an ideal persona for this billing model. It will allow you to assess the number of sales you’ve driven and charge the client accordingly. Do remember, , if your client has a significant margin of profit, this pricing model makes sense. Otherwise, , you will not fare well enough to continue working with this pricing model.
#3 Set Web Presence: Setup your website and social media pages
When it comes to amplifying the online presence of a digital marketing agency, it demands an on-point business strategy and dedication especially in terms of time.
Developing a professional business website is the most important part of creating an online presence. Focus on using the same name for your business and domain. You may face trouble finding available domain names, therefore, shortlist a few business names beforehand.
Your business website must showcase clear information about the digital services you offer. Apart from that, it must have an “About Us” page as well as a “Contact Us” page for the convenience of your visitors. Moreover, avoid using large media files as they will not only slow down your website but will also affect your customers’ experience.
You can always build your website if you have the technical skills, however, hiring a professional web developer is a preferred choice by many. You should not take any risk when it comes to creating your business website. Therefore, outsourcing from a professional will allow you to build a responsive website within a limited budget.
Once your website is up and running, focus on establishing your online presence on social media platforms. For example, you can leverage Linkedin to identify potential prospects who are looking for digital marketers and offer your services to them.
An operational Facebook business page will allow your brand to enjoy more visibility. Similarly, you must also showcase your brand portfolio on Instagram as it is one of the best social media platforms to showcase an arsenal of visuals.
Alternatively, you can also visit freelancing websites such as Fiverr or Upwork to grab additional opportunities for your newly established digital marketing agency.
#4 Hire the right team
According to Neil Patel, “If you want to build an all-star digital marketing team, then you search out the most talented individuals, convince them that you’re exactly where they should be, and bring them on board. After that, it’s just a matter of keeping them happy.”
Building the right team is as important as building a strong clientele. If you do not have the right people in the right place, your business will suffer big time. . If your team is unable to fulfill the expectations of your clients, they won’t think twice before joining hands with the competitors.
Your digital marketing team must possess these top 10 digital marketing skills if you wish to scale your agency beyond expectations and conquer 2020:
Always remember, no matter how skilled your team members are, , they don’t have enough hours in the day to get everything done. . Therefore, you must focus on building a small but effective team that can help you accomplish your business goals by delivering quality projects every time.
Execute and Hit Hard!
Starting a digital marketing agency with little to no experience doesn’t have to be bothering process for interested and keen individuals. Managing a digital marketing agency has its ups and downs, however, establishing your business is a dramatic life event and you must treat it as such.
Begin your journey as an individual facilitator. . Adapt the required skills and build strong customer relationships before you board the agency bandwagon. To successfully run a digital marketing agency, you must understand that thorough and concrete planning is essential.
You must also remember the long-term vision of your business at all times. You must clearly know what you want out of your digital marketing agency. Identify potential clients and reach out to them to offer help.
Author: Arsalan Sajid
Arsalan, a Digital Marketer by profession, works as a Digital Agencies Community Manager at Cloudways. He loves all things entrepreneurial and wakes up every day with the desire to enable the dreams of aspiring entrepreneurs through his work!… View full profile ›
A comprehensive guide to influencer marketing
30-second summary:
Companies are competing for consumers’ attention everywhere they go: When they commute to work, kick back and watch videos on YouTube, or scroll through Facebook before going to bed.
Amidst all this noise, brands need to be smarter than ever before if they’re to win consumers’ trust.
To further muddy the waters, consumers are increasingly turned off by classical forms of advertising; indeed, many have even gone as far as saying that classical advertising is ‘dead’.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Social media is revolutionizing the way that brands interact with their customers–offering not only new platforms, but also a myriad of new ways in which brands can advertise their products.
Gone are the days of sticking up an advert in the classified section of a local newspaper; nowadays, companies can access a truly global audience in just a few simple clicks.
Influencer marketing is rapidly becoming one of the best ways to do this. In fact, the influencer marketing industry is now purported to be worth a whopping $5-10 billion.
So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at exactly what it entails.
The ‘what’ of influencer marketing
In a nutshell, influencer marketing is the practice of brands partnering up with influencers–people on social media with large, dedicated followings–to promote their products.
It works so well because influencers are deemed as experts in their core niche. For instance, somebody who provides beauty tips on social media will be trusted by their followers to give good advice on which products are best.
By running influencer marketing campaigns, brands can subtly advertise their products in a way that doesn’t turn consumers off.
Instead of saying “look at how great we are”, they get someone whose opinion is trusted (and is viewed as an independent third party) to say “look at how great this product is”.
What do you do when adverts come on television? You change the channel or get up and go do something else for a few minutes. How about when they come up on YouTube? You mutter under your breath and wait until it says “Skip Ad”.
Nobody likes the feeling that they’re being sold to–this is why the concept of the “advertorial” (long-form adverts that are written like pieces of editorial content) has been so successful for a number of decades.
Influencer marketing is the new advertorial. In a social media-driven society where all eyes are on those at the top, where we all want to know the secret tips and tricks to becoming a success, we’re only too happy to find out the products they know, love, and rely upon.
Or at least, what they say they rely upon.
When it comes down to it, influencer marketing basically boils down to a simple series of assumptions:
Old-school adverts just don’t cut it anymore. A 2018 study by Marketing Week found that 71% of consumers prefer pull advertising (advertising channels they seek out themselves, like online reviews, a friend’s recommendation, or an influencer’s recommendations) to classical push advertising (banner ads, direct mail, billboards, etc.).
And in an increasingly competitive marketplace, attention is king. It’s so hard to cut through the noise; those who can are worth their weight in gold.
This is where influencer marketing comes in. There are a couple of reasons why influencers attract so much attention; firstly, they might be great sources of information; secondly, their talent or success might give people something to aspire to.
Whatever the cause, they’re looked up to–and therefore, they’re often widely trusted. As a result, influencer marketing acts as a form of social proof. If you see someone you admire and respect promoting a product on Instagram, you’re likely to believe in its quality.
After all, why would they–experts in their area–promote something that didn’t live up to the hype?
No matter how old we are, we’re always looking to defer to people who we trust–people who are deemed to be highly knowledgeable in a certain area (like accountants, doctors, and school teachers).
Influencer marketing relies on this same concept. Their followers assume they are knowledgeable about a certain area, so this makes them a trusted source of information.
In fact, influencer marketing has been around in various forms for a while now. Back in the 1760s, Josiah Wedgewod–often acclaimed as the “father of modern marketing”–courted endorsements from high-status individuals and was eventually appointed as the Queen’s potter.
Capitalizing on this recognition from the most trusted individual in the land, sales for his “Queen Ware” tea sets subsequently went through the roof.
In 1946, there was the famous “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” campaign, whilst Nike’s long and fruitful partnership with Michael Jordan convinced millions of youngsters that they too could dunk just like ‘MJ’.
There’s a reason that influencer marketing has been around for so long: It works.
But despite its longevity, influencer marketing is arguably more effective nowadays than it’s ever been before. Celebrity endorsements are great, and they certainly have their value–but if they come in the form of a classical advert, many consumers might still lose interest when it pops up.
Back in 2010, a reported 86% of television viewers actively skipped adverts by changing the channel–given the rise of advert-free services like Netflix in the years since, it’s likely that this has only increased.
Indeed, the tables have turned to such an extent that major networks like NBC and Fox are currently reducing the amount of commercial time in their shows.
But this drop-off in consumer interest isn’t the case when it comes to influencer marketing. Despite The Advertising Standards Agency clamping down on influencers passing off paid-for promotions as their own views, research shows that sponsored content receives just as much engagement as non-sponsored content.
When browsing through Instagram, Facebook, or whatever platform it may be, sponsored “ads” are carefully weaved into the general experience. Consumers simply focus on the content itself before (if ever) realizing that it’s basically an advert.
If they like what they see and engage with it anyway, they might not even care that they’re being sold to. And that’s the beauty of influencer marketing.
What’s the ROI of influencer marketing?
Sure, this all sounds great–but marketing is defined by return on investment. Your new billboard might be incredibly visually appealing but if it’s not bringing in any revenue, it’s not providing any real value.
So let’s explore just how influencer marketing performs when it comes to ROI.
First off, it’s worth noting that proving the ROI of your influencer marketing campaigns isn’t exactly an easy task. You might be able to analyze how many people directly click through from one influencer’s advert and purchase there and then, but the modern consumer journey is increasingly fragmented.
This means that in all likelihood, leads might click onto your website, browse through your products, lapse for a short while, before eventually converting and becoming customers. Amidst all this to-ing and fro-ing, it can be difficult to accurately assess the effect of your influencer’s initial advert on their eventual decision to purchase.
One effective method of influencer marketing attribution is to accompany each campaign with its own discount code. Sure, this means you’ll be selling your products at a cut-rate price, but this has two potential benefits; firstly, people love getting things at a reduced price; secondly, you’ll be able to efficiently track every influencer-influenced sale that takes place.
If you’re looking for an in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of influencer marketing campaigns, check out this great post by mediakix.
Okay so once you’re actually able to calculate the ROI, how does influencer marekting perform when compared to other marketing strategies?
Source: Sprout Social, Inc.
According to one study featuring 258 influencers, influencer marketing had an ROI which was 11 times higher than banner ads (a classical digital marketing strategy). Of course, this is just one isolated study and so needs to be taken with a pinch of salt–however, the results are certainly promising.
But there’s more. Back in 2016, frozen food retailer Iceland launched a series of influencer-backed videos which saw their approval ratings jump 70% in the space of a year.
So it seems like there’s plenty of promise for influencer marketing, provided you’re able to accurately calculate the ROI of each campaign.
How to create an influencer marketing strategy in 4 simple steps 1) Research
As with any other strategic campaign that you’re running, the first step of your influencer marketing campaign should always be to conduct in-depth research. Firstly, what sort of demographic are you aiming to reach–and which platform does this require you use?
If you’re a corporate B2B organization, it’s probably worthwhile running influencer marketing campaigns on LinkedIn rather than Instagram. If you’re in the video game industry, you’re better off using Twitch rather than any other platform.
This might sound simple enough, but you need to make sure that any campaign you run is going to actually reach your target audience.
Right, now on to step two. Who are the top movers and shakers in your industry? Who is up-and-coming, quickly gaining lots of traction but not yet demanding exorbitant prices for promotions?
Having a variety of industry hard-hitters and relative newbies is a good way to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your budget, and might also be a good way to ensure a wider demographic reach.
2) Strategize (while keeping your budget in mind)
Once you’ve worked out who you’re going to contact, you then need to devise a comprehensive influencer marketing strategy that encompasses everything from the initial influencer outreach all the way through to how long your campaigns are going to run.
What are the overall goals of your influencer marketing campaign? Are you aiming to increase sales, brand awareness, or a bit of both? What would make the campaign a success–and conversely, what would mark it as a failure? You can only truly assess how it’s performed once you have these goals in mind.
Needless to say, how you handle your allocated budget is a core part of your overall influencer marketing strategy. What’s the absolute maximum that you’re willing to pay? How many followers does an influencer need to have to warrant this sort of compensation?
Are you going to leave a bit of wiggle room in case they want to haggle? Who has final sign-off over the budget?
These are critical questions that you need to answer before you begin. It’s easy to get carried away and throw money at huge industry figures, but you need to make sure that you always stick within the confines of your budget and have an overall influencer marketing strategy that you’re sticking to.
3) Begin your outreach campaign
Right, now you can get started with the fun stuff. Once you’ve got a list of appropriate influencers and a solid strategy in mind, you can then begin the process of getting in touch with them.
With micro-influencers (usually defined as those with a few thousand followers), you can probably get away with simply sending them a direct message. However, larger influencers might well have a link on their bio which takes you to an inquiries page.
Whatever their set-up, it’s important that you take this into account–directly messaging a celebrity probably won’t have any sort of effect, and if it does, it’ll probably just annoy them, which will dissuade them from dealing with your brand going forward.
Make sure you keep everyone in your team in the loop during this influencer marketing outreach campaign.
For instance, you might’ve highlighted 20 potential influencers and have a total of $30,000 to spend. The last thing you want to do is to contact everyone at once, promising them $5,000 each, and for them to all come back and agree.
If you do that, you’ll be in hot water with your accounts team.
4) Assess and tweak your influencer marketing campaign
Keep tabs on how your campaign is performing on an ongoing basis, but be sure to wait a short while after it’s ended before coming to any large conclusions.
As previously mentioned, influencer marketing campaigns might not always lead directly to sales–many eventual customers might’ve initially found out about your brand from an influencer campaign, before going through a long and convoluted buying journey prior to converting.
Therefore, prematurely assessing how your campaigns performed might very well lead to skewed results.
You should probably review your influencer marketing campaign’s performance a couple of months after it ended (unless you’re working for a company with a particularly long buying cycle). Once you’ve compared your results to the initial goals you set, you can then begin to tweak your strategy for the next influencer campaign you run.
Perhaps you’re looking to target a younger demographic, or perhaps you find out that your highest-paid influencers had the lowest ROI. Whatever the results, make sure that you appropriately tweak your approach going forward.
Optimizing your marketing strategies is an ongoing process; influencer marketing campaigns are no different.
We hope you found this guide to influencer marketing useful–if you have anything to add or any other questions, please leave a comment below.
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