Likes UP: Free Webinar with Mari Smith on Facebook 2012 on January 31, Google+ Hangout with President Obama on January 30

Webinars are a ninja trick many smart marketers employ share knowledge, create rapport, encourage engagement and sell products and services.

Webinars also are great to answer questions and provide a platform to communicate in a way that can seem like it is one-to-one when it is actually one –to-many.

Webinars have limitations so for someone with presidential power, like Barack Obama, you can use livestream to connect to your constituents.  On January 30th, +Barack Obama will participate in a live streamed special interview over a Google+ Hangout from the White House by answering questions that were submitted on YouTube. The YouTube community will vote on questions, which can be submitted through January 28th. In fact, +The White House joined G+ mid-January 2012.

The following day, Mari Smith will be hosting a webinar on the subject Facebook 2012.   Mari starts out with  the comment “It’s an election year in the United States. A leap year. An Olympic year… I do believe 2012 will be a landmark year for sure – the biggest and best year ever for connecting and monetizing your business through Social Media.”

But you don’t have to be a president to livestream and you don’t have to use the structure of a webinar if you just want immediate connection without a specific format or agenda. You can create your own hangout on G+.  When you do, you can see that you are LIVE and “on air” with the camera icon and text “LIVE” under your profile image.  Google Hangouts are for the president and the regular guy and gal as well.  Google hangouts can be completely random or planned.

Even though Google is pretty fantastic remember it was created by humans and this message reminds us…

Join me on Google Plus and let’s start a G+ hangout

#LikesUP for G+