subject: Use Social Media To Support And Grow Your Favorite Businesses - Their Success Depends On You! [print this page] We all have our favorite subs we like to work with in business. Do you ever bring them together so that they can network, share experiences and mastermind with you to improve your business? That would help them and it would bind you together, forging common goals and loyalty bonds that would stand the test of time. Here's how you do this on social media.
If your favorite vendors are spread across the country, then you will likely have to create a mastermind group virtually. Remember that people will be meeting for the first time and that they will be fascinated by one another while being a little uncomfortable. Some "breaking the ice" conversation starters would be helpful. Limit the amount of time each person gets to introduce themself; it will be good to have sent out the agenda ahead of time so that people have a chance to prepare what they are going to say.
You can create these virtual meetings via
Google+ hangout
Skype Chat
Go To Meeting (a paid service with a free one month trial)
Mikogo. Just to name a few; there are many more.
You can extend the relationship by putting your "team" into a LinkedIn group or a Facebook group to further allow interaction. You could also create a membership site or forum if there were enough topics for discussion and enough content between you to warrant the effort of putting such a thing together.
In real life, you probably have a favorite electrician, plumber, mortgage guy, lawyer, landscaper, etc. Getting these people together once a quarter or even just once a year can be good for their business, and grows their loyalty to you. The social media site you would consider here is Meetup. They have an easy to follow method of setting up an event page. You can set up automatic reminders. The vent page will allow other people to see who's coming; remember to put in the event description what you are hoping everyone will get out of the meetup so that the value of attending is clear and plain.
A more casual invite, less business oriented is Evite.
The sites are less important that the objective of the meetings - which is to help your favorite businesses thrive so that they will be successful and still available for you in the future. If your favorite business goes out of business part of the failure could have been your failure to tell all of your friends about them. The social media sites have impacted commerce in a major way - via referrals. Most folks will research a company online before they invest in a major purchase. Knowing that is most customers' due diligence it is incumbent on you to use social media to do your part with recommendations and referrals for your preferred vendors too.
