Michael Stelzner of The Social Media Examiner-Blogworld 2011

A couple weeks ago I challenged a few of my social media friends to see if they had any questions for some of the top dogs in the Social Media Realm.  Those experts being Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner.

Last week we presented Mari Smith’s Interview and questions.

If you missed it, click here.

This week we present you with part 2 of our Blogworld experts questions.

The questions came through and here is what Michael had to say about it.

The first question for Michael:

From Joshua Zamora, the ZamuraiBlogger.com.  He asks:

“With so many Social Media Platforms how do you know which ones to focus the most time on?”

Michael :

“The question is your audience, who is your audience?  You have to determine who that is.  Are they a business to business or b to c?   You have to find out where they are hanging out.  LinkedIn might be the appropriate platform if you are targeting businesses.  Facebook might be , twitter might be.  But there are really 4 major platforms.  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Google Plus. And of course some people consider YouTube a platform as well.

Amongst those, really Facebook is the biggest one.  I would suggest if you are just starting out, you can’t really lose with Facebook.”

Me:

“Facebook is the place to start”

Michael:

“Begin to get a good understand of where your audience is.  You can ask them.  “Where do you hang out? “  And then of course target your efforts. ”

Me:

“Do you think there is a big difference between Facebook and Google Plus in terms of an audience?  Because I think some people are worried that targeting too many social media platforms waters down interaction. ”

Michael:

“Absolutely.  Right now Facebook has everyone.  It has your grandmother. It is very family oriented.  Where Google plus has a much more techie, tech savvy crowd.”

Me:

“Because it is early on?”

Michael:

“Yes Exactly and everyone who got their early invitations were tech savvy people.  It will change over time but right now that’s the difference. ”

Me:

“Ok.  Let me go to the next question.”

This question is from Carol Dodsley.  She asks:

“Do you think Google+ will ever be as big as Facebook or as influential in a businesses online presence? Which would you focus more time building?”

Michael:

“Well first of all Google Plus is going to be absolutely essential.  Here is why.
Do you use Google Search? Google Maps?  Google Docs?  You probably use YouTube.  And we forget that that is owned by Google.   So the fact is that Google has integrated (Blogger.com is another one) GOOGLE PLUS across every single one of it’s properties.  How about Android, anyone ever heard of that?

So it is going to be a platform to contend with.
And right now they do not support business, but maybe by the time this video comes out they will, they’re very close to releasing some new stuff for businesses so I would suggest people keep an eye on Social Media Examiner because we are going to track it very closely.  But I think there is going to be good opportunity for business.”

Me:

“I am excited about the API, when that finally comes out.”

Michael:

“Absolutely”

Me:

“I am a YouTube marketer so I was very excited to know about Google Plus early on and it’s impact on Social Search.  YouTube search algorithms and SEO with YouTube has totally changed now that Google Plus is here.”

Michael:

“And we should also say Google and Facebook are now kind of in a good war for us consumers because they are one upping each other and they keep coming up with new features and functions.

Facebook is not going away, Google Plus isn’t going away.  It’s good, there are 2 dominant players in the industry.”

Me:

“SO we should just enjoy it.”

Michael:

“WE should enjoy it and as business people we should embrace it.”

Me:

“Well Michael thank you very much.  And everyone- Launch , Michael’s new book is now available.”

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In Launch, Michael Stelzner reveals a formula that made him a millionaire during the  Great Recession

He calls it the Elevation Principle: great content plus other people minus marketing messages equals growth.

I highly recommend this book.  My biggest hint to you is that everything can be duplicated.

Michael was able to duplicate the success he received from his White Page business into The Social Media Examiner, which in turn, made him millions.

His book proves that success is not an accident but a method that requires the commitment to the opportunity.

For more information on Michael’s book Launch CLICK HERE.

Thanks very much to Michael Stelzner and the Social Media Examiner for continuing to provide awesome, fresh and in real time social media news.

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Since this interview Google Plus “Business Pages” opened it’s doors!

Categories of Business Pages:

•    Local Business or Places
•    Product or Brand
•    Company, Institution, and Organization
•    Arts, Entertainment or Sports
•    Other

Youtube and Google Plus:

Google plus has recently placed a YouTube tab in the corner of ones Google Plus profile.  You simply hover your mouse over the tab and enter what you are searching for in the YouTube.

It will then show you top searches for your video while staying in the Google plus platform.  You can also then share the video to your circles.

It is helpful to mention that Google Plus also has an option to group watch YouTube videos in Google hangouts.

While we are on the subject of YouTube integration into social media sites, let’s take a moment to discuss LinkedIn and YouTube integration.

A great method for adding in Video into your LinkedIn profile is through the Google Document feature.  Not many people know that you can do this. ( Most are talking about YouTube integration with LinkedIn Business Profiles )

Google docs has what is called a presentation function that LinkedIn has integrated into one of its many applications.

Within this platform you can create a presentation (similar to Power Point although not as versatile).  This presentation function can also be edited by multiple users.  

There is a feature inside the presentation function that allows you to insert a YouTube video.

From there you can choose a video from YouTube by doing a simple search in the search bar.

After adding in your selected video you will see it on the front of your LinkedIn profile.

Next week we are going to  continue on with the more Youtube integration into the various social media sites.

For more advanced tips on Video Marketing go to http://www.youtuberevealed.com