Launching a new business is a very very time consuming task! But if it were easy, everyone would be doing it, right?
In my last post -- in mid-June, I said I would be sharing my experiences in launching a new business on a shoestring budget -- taking the suggestions from David Meerman Scott's book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, among other things.
As I was exploring how to engage with social media and how it might help get the word out about Genoo, I already had a profile at LinkedIn, and I created one at Facebook, where everyone said I should also be. I began to see that people in my network were in different LinkedIn groups, so I joined some of those as well, to see what that would afford in terms of converations. I did the same at Facebook.
LinkedIn's group functionality currently isn't anything more than the logo for the group that you can display with your profile. I thought maybe there'd be a way to post a question at LinkedIn and then distribute to members of the group -- particularly if it's a question that the expertise of the group could most likely address. But they don't have that capability -- and when I inquired, the answer I got back was pure business that wouldn't give me any indication of whether they even appreciated the suggestion or question.
Facebook just has group functionality that works for group members to collaborate with one another -- ask questions, post things, etc.
I started to get curious about the group functionality, so I created the B2B Online Marketing group at LinkedIn and Facebook. I'd always wanted to get B2B Online Marketers together to discuss issues and learn from each other's experiences -- so I thought this might be a good group to create.
I did this in March. Today, the LinkedIn group has almost 300 members. The Facebook group has 9. I invited everyone who fit that sort of profile to join both of the groups -- and the LinkedIn group has just grown by leaps and bounds.
LinkedIn gives you the ability to identify a URL for the group -- so at first, I found some discussion forum software and created a little community for LinkedIn group members to ask and participate with each other -- but that got really minimal participation. So when Genoo launched, I created a microsite with a Genoo account, had a designer provide a header graphic, footer graphic, color and font suggestions, and then put together a site for the group that would have an agenda, and aggregate articles on a particular subject each month. It took me about 2 weeks to put that site together at Genoo. It's located at www.b2bonlinemarketingpros.com.
Then, I exported the group members from LinkedIn, and imported them to my lead database at the Genoo account, and put together the first newsletter for the group, and sent it out. Response was pretty good in terms of click throughs, etc. And since that site has been the URL for the group out at LinkedIn, we've gotten about 10+ people a week expressing interest -- which is great.
I actually look at the profiles of everyone who requests to join the group, and it's amazing the membership and what they do for their companies. I have not excluded anyone, including competitors, from joining the group -- because I would love and relish the dialog and sharing of what works for B2B Online Marketing -- and be able to have a place where B2B Online Marketers can go to easily reference what's available. And that is what this site is -- a true microsite, sponsored by Genoo, for that particular segment.
I've asked folks to contribute articles, etc., for the topics we'll be putting together, and I've had a few people send me links and things -- but by and large -- very little participation or discussion has occurred to-date. So we'll continue to bring together valuable content for this group, and see where it leads, but it's a great venue for communicating. Since I can measure response and interest in different topics as people respond to the newsletters, with Genoo's tools I will even be able to target specific content to folks in the group who appear more interested in different subject matter, which may also be an expansion of this site and the way we let people know about the content available there.
I mean, isn't one of the goals of content marketing and the "new" marketing in general, providing people with content that is relevant to them? Having tools integrated with the microsite for email marketing and lead nurturing that tracks interest and response so we can do this sort of targeting will make it fun (and easy) to see how that might evolve at this site, and whether that changes how people interact -- I'll keep you posted.
The Facebook group hasn't really done much of anything to-date. There are only 9 members in it. My experience with Facebook has been really fun with all of my friends -- but not as effective as my LinkedIn experience from a professional level.
For sure, participating in the social media takes time and effort. It's a constant generation of conversation and networking. For businesses, I think it's important to weigh the time/cost of that effort to the gain you expect to receive from it, and plan or budget accordingly. If I allowed it to, it could easily take my entire week to do a credible job on these platforms.
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