Sep
3
My Private Classroom Opens to Public
Filed Under Announcements, News, Personal Development and Success, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging | 22 Comments
I’m working on an in-depth business article, but I decided to take a breather to make an important announcement.
Free Social Media Marketing Training
Until now access to the leeding edge Web 2.0 social media training at My Private Classroom for Marketers has been restricted to private membership. Today that has changed. My Private Classroom is now open to all absolutely free.
To access the site simply sign in at MyPrivateClassroom.com and indicate that Larry Brauner sent you. It’s that simple.
My Private Classroom is a regular Ning social networking site, and you can add me there as a friend just as you would at other social networking sites.
You will learn online social networking strategy, video marketing, blogging, social bookmarking, personal development and much more.
Head over to MyPrivateClassroom.com now. Say that Larry Brauner sent you, and I’ll see you there.
Don’t miss any posts. Subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail.
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Aug
15
Ning Social Networking Sites
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging, communication | 23 Comments
When Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini started their work on the Ning social network back in 2004, online social networking was still pretty much a teen thing. True there were marketers like yours truly making a home on Ryze and other business networking sites, but we were the exception rather than the rule.
Ning once completed would allow people to create and manage their own miniature MySpace-like social networking sites.
Ning’s founders probably envisioned a platform on which families and circles of friends would stay in close contact through their very own private social networking site. However, since launching 18 months ago, Ning has found its way into the business world as well as many other sectors of society.
You can start your own plain vanilla Ning social network for free, or for a fee you can exercise greater control over your site and add lots of bells and whistles.
Examples of Ning Social Networking Sites
In Web lifeline for the troops, the Naperville Sun writes that two local men, Ed Domain and Josh Lowe, launched Troop Space, a Ning-based networking site for the brave men and women of the United States Military. Troop Space “is geared toward US troops, their families and anyone who wants to become more personally connected to the military”.
Jim at medXcentral started his Ning community to network “the medical and health care universe” and to “stimulate great achievements and forward motion towards resolving many issues faced by the medical industry today”.
Diane Hochman built the online headquarters for My Private Classroom on the Ning foundation. I joined My Private Classroom several months ago to learn more about social media and to introduce free and low-cost marketing methods to network and direct marketers.
You can now participate in Diane’s social marketing training program for free. Read My Private Classroom Opens to Public for details.
What I Like About Ning Sites
From a user’s point of view here are some of my favorite Ning features:
- When you make a friend at one Ning site and you each belong to another Ning site, you’re connected at the other site too.
- You can browse friends and friends-of-friends and so forth to see what other Ning networks people belong to. In this way you can discover new and relevant places to network. While many Ning sites are private, there seem to be just as many sites that are open to the public. You can also browse Ning’s list of popular social networks.
- You can broadcast a message to all of your friends at any given site. Be careful not to abuse this privelege. Spamming is not effective, and network administrators will typically not tolerate it. This broadcasting feature has allowed me to attract readers to my blog and gain new subscribers.
- In some Ning networks you can also broadcast messages to fellow members of groups you join. This feature encourages spam and is therefore disabled on many Ning sites.
- You can customize your page’s theme and embed videos and widgets just as you might on MySpace and many other social networking sites.
- Much of your profile content can be taken from an existing site and easily reused when joining a new site.
And What I Don’t Like
Here are some of my least favorite Ning features:
- Most sites have very small memberships that are just a little too cozy for marketers like me building their lists.
- A very high percentage of profiles are abandoned, so you can end up with lots of unaccepted friend requests. At some point you may need to delete some friend requests in order to remain eligible to make new requests.
- Very many sites are not much more than recruiting pipelines and sales funnels for the sites’ owners. I find this aspect of Ning annoying, but I tolerate it. For this reason I’m slow to invite friends and business connections to join me on new Ning sites. I want to wait and see if the site is a safe enough place to bring them.
Show and Tell Opportuinity
You can find some of the many social networking sites to which I belong featured on my blog’s sidebar.
Do you have favorite Ning social networking sites? Have you started your own Ning social network? Do you have an interesting story to tell?
Feel free to comment and share with us.
Keep in mind that I’m responsible for the quality of my blog and legally responsible for its content. I therefore reserve the right to edit any comment as I see fit.
Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail using the form at the top of the home page sidebar.
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Jul
20
My Online Social Networking Strategy
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 12 Comments
How I Use Social Networking Sites
I wouldn’t start a blog called Online Social Networking if I didn’t like social networking sites.
Let’s look at the many ways that I use social networking sites to meet my business networking objectives.
Casting a Wide Net
I join a wide range of social networking sites. I know that even if I will not be active at a particular social site, the profile I set up there will add to my online presence. So if I like the site, I’ll become part of the community. If I don’t, there’s no harm. My profile will remain there as long as the site continues to operate.
Consider the social networking site Yahoo 360°. If you Google me, this networking site will appear in the top search results. Sometimes it will even show up in the top position on the first page of results. Yet, this is a social networking site I rarely visit. It’s not my cup of tea.
When you Google me, you’ll find page after page of results that are me. What happens when people Google you?
Joining a bunch of social networking sites should jump start your web presence. It’ll give you some Google juice. Why not join some of my favorite social networking sites featured on my blog’s sidebar? As a plus, in most cases we’ll automatically be connected as “friends”.
Building Large Targeted Lists
When I like a social networking site, I settle in and become part of the community.
A winning strategy on nearly every social networking site is to build a large targeted list of friends or contacts, generally the larger the better. Thousands are better than hundreds.
For some sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Yuwie there are friend adders, but I don’t like to use them. I prefer the personal touch, and I don’t want to risk losing my profile for suspected spamming. I spend a modest amount of time each day requesting new friends on each of my favorite social networking sites.
There are two ways that I target my requests.
On sites that allow profile browsing by specific demographics such as age, gender, geographic location, marital status, and parental status, I browse to find people to add.
On sites that have groups or clubs I browse the groups that are likely to attract the people I’m looking for.
I tend to accept nearly all add requests from others. I reject blatant spammers, men masquerading as women in order to attract favorable attention, and crazies.
Networking and Attraction Marketing
Social networking sites are meant for online social networking and not for advertising or spamming. They’re a great place to get to know people. You get to know people by asking them questions.
Please visit or revisit my earlier post, Social Networking vs. Advertising, for a full explanation of this absolutely crucial concept.
Social networking sites are also great from attraction marketing. Be the type of person you want to attract, and that person will be attracted to you.
Videos of you presenting useful information or explaining an important idea, not making a sales pitch, can showcase you as the knowledgeable leader you are.
Blogging is a big part of my branding strategy, so when I network online, I invite people to visit my blog, read, comment and register or subscribe. And many do.
I invite people I like on one social networking site to connect with me on another site. I don’t want to lose track of them if the first site closes down or if one of us happens to have his or her profile deleted. And yes, many do… connect that is.
At Direct Matches, I invite people to visit my profile page where I have a subscription form, and people can sign up for my training newsletter. And again, many do.
Every time people go along with my request, they’re opting in another time to our relationship. It’s sort of like dating.
Branding Yourself
Social networking sites, video sites and blogs are great for personal branding. In fact, your whole online presence can serve as a branding mechanism.
Craft your personal branding strategy and develop a web presence that is consistent with your strategy.
Being Consistent and Following Through
Possibly the most important online social networking strategy is to be consistent and follow through, not to expect instant results.
First you need to build your list, and then you need to gain credibility with the people on it.
When I’ve tried to push things, people sensed it. When I’ve been patient, people have often come to me, and what could be better than that?
Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail using the form at the top of the home page sidebar.
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Jul
20
Business Week Regrets Missing Web 2.0 Social Media Trend
Filed Under News, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, blogging | 1 Comment
Business Week in their June 2, 2008 cover story, Beyond Blogs, confessed that three years earlier when they wrote, Blogs Will Change Your Business, they completely missed the larger Web 2.0 social media trend that was emerging.
Business Networking Sites
While blogs have indeed transformed business, politics and publishing, online social networking at social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Linked In have impacted an even greater cross-section of businesses and people.
Many businesses have created their own in-house social networking sites to encourage and support staff collaboration.
Social Media Sites
YouTube, a site where regular people post their videos, has challenged the dominance of television in the entertainment and news industries.
Wikipedia, an encyclopedia developed and maintained by users, and wikis in general, have revolutionized the way people work together and share information.
Twitter, a micro-blogging site, lets people and businesses communicate in 140-character chunks called “tweets”.
Read the full article to better understand social media’s impact on marketing, management and collaboration in business today.
Time’s 2006 Person of the Year
One footnote: Time Magazine in their December 2006 cover story, Time’s Person of the Year: You, communicates the full impact and significance of our collective online collaboration called Web 2.0.
Don’t miss any posts. Register, it’s easy, or subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also subscribe by e-mail using the form at the top of the home page sidebar.
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Mar
24
Social Networking vs. Advertising
Filed Under Favorite Posts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, Social Media and Social Networking Sites | 8 Comments
I just made my first video, a replay of my August 8, 2007 conference call.
It’s too long to upload to YouTube, so I uploaded it to Google. I learned how to make the video in My Private Classroom for Marketers.
It’s all about offline and online social networking, and about how networking differs from advertising. Hope you like it!
I recommend looking and listening, especially if you’ve ever used Direct Matches or any of the other social networking sites. Without further ado, here’s my video.
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