Even though I manage the largest LinkedIn group of social media marketing professionals with over 40,000 members, I decided to create a Groupsite to have greater control of our branding, positioning and members. Additionally, Groupsite offered a host of group-centric collaboration and sharing features that simply aren't available in our LinkedIn group.
When promoting the switch, I crafted the following email message in a blast to the members of my LinkedIn group:
"LinkedIn is great but it does have limitations, especially for all of us involved in social media marketing. We are all about networking and sharing and the sister website to this group, http://SocialMediopolis.com
, offers a lot of functions and advantages to help your professional career. Here are some of the very cool features:
- POST AND SHARE ALL KINDS OF FILES, presentations, photos, videos and more.
- SHARED CALENDAR allows you to post your own events, trade shows, parties, anything you want other members to know about.
- CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONAL BLOG - it's as easy as typing, and you share it instantly with members, or promote it anywhere you want. Everything is maintained and hosted right on SocialMediopolis.com.
- PRIVACY PROTECTED PERSONAL PROFILES - only members have access to your profile, and only to the degree you choose. These profiles are NOT indexed by search engines.
- GET ADDITIONAL EXPOSURE for your discussions and links through search engine optimization.
- FREE LIVE ADVICE! Yes, I personally provide actual live advice by phone and email, by appointment. If I can't help, I will network and find someone who can. Please keep in mind that my expertise is limited to advertising, marketing, customer acquisition and social media, not finance, technology or support issues. (And I'm terrible at giving advice about romance, too.)
New features and functions will be added in the future as a part of www.Groupsite.com continuous product developments. You'll be at the forefront of all the news and announcements in our industry that are important to you.
Again, it's all free. Join today and invite your colleagues and business associates to join as well - simply go to
http://www.SocialMediopolis.com
and register. I look forward to networking with you."
Cheers,
Mike Crosson
Moderator and Publisher
I continue to be a fan of LinkedIn for connecting all of your dots (members), but I have discovered that the way to make something happen with them after they've been connected is best accomplished through a Groupsite.
