Question

Topic: Our Forum

Networking

Posted by ReadCopy on 8/27/2004 at 3:40 AM ET 500 Points
I think many of us use external networking systems to help us in business, and many of us know people within these forums, but is it about time we started to make this network a little more formal ?

Should MP have a networking section ? So we can easily be directed to people that can help us, and build a wider Marketing Community, I am sure that it would attract more members too!
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by ReadCopy on 8/27/2004 at 9:22 AM Author
    I think we are half way there with this forum, I guess we just need to formalise the relationships between us all, and understand what we all do.

    I am in two networks, and their marketing support is poor, I think we have a real opportunity here.
  • Posted by bobhogg on 8/27/2004 at 9:30 AM Accepted
    Andrew..

    In principle, I agree with you, although I appreciate Vevolution's comment about achieving financial returns.

    I am registerd on a number of the so-called networking sites, but find them generally to be too "in-your-face" and not specific enough to the contacts I want to make - i.e. other marketers. That's what I like about MP, and especially KHE, so a networking development built on MP foundations would be a very positive step in my view.

    Bob

    P.S. I see you're a member of the CIM in the UK - wouldn't it be good if they set something like this up for their membership?!
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 8/27/2004 at 9:35 AM Author
    Bob, the CIM used to run a forum (probably still do), but it was rubbish, no-one ever used it, it was poor to navigate, text was too small. In short a really bad experience. Then I found this place, and its great.
  • Posted by bobhogg on 8/27/2004 at 9:44 AM Accepted
    Andrew...

    Yes, CIM do still run that "forum", but I agree with all your comments on it!

    Bob
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 8/27/2004 at 9:54 AM Author
    KJMurray, I wasn't necessarily thinking of an online chat system, but generally networking sites have three core aims:

    a. connecting business people to share knowledge
    b. share contacts
    c. and to share transactions (whether that be as a customer or supplier or to find a job)

    This place scores well on a) and a little on c), just missing that 'linking' or 'networking' part!
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 8/27/2004 at 2:30 PM Accepted
    Andrew, some of this is being addressed offline in Val's KHE Insiders group. When she finishes unpacking, maybe she can put you on the list so you can review the discussion threads. A "project board" is one of the hot items.

    In the interim, I posted a question not long ago called "Who's for hire here?" You can click the link to my profile page and find it on the list of my asked questions. Hope you check it out!

    - Shelley

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 8/27/2004 at 2:39 PM Accepted
    Interesting thought. There would be challenges.

    - One is what Vevolution said - there are many sites out there and none have figured out how to make them work (to make money, to really facilitate networking, etc.).

    - second is that much of networking requires face to face contact, which this online site would not provide. Ryze has off-line hapy hours, which does some of this, but the other sites I am on (Linkedin and Orkut) don't.

    Some of what you bring up would be solved just by MP providing a way to search on all users AND more users actually filling in profiles. I think most people are Ok about being approached off of MP for non-commercial purposes if you find them on MP.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 8/28/2004 at 2:44 AM Accepted
    I'd be interested to hear what others experiences have been like with online networking.

    I'm on LinkedIn, and it's great for outbound contact - finding someone specific, but it doesn't generate a many inbound contacts to me, for whatever reason. I think two over eight months, both of whom wanted me to employ them.

    I was on eCademy, and I know people who think it's lovely, but I found their list was used to spam me. I got contacts from people selling various MLM products - around 5 per day - I was on it a week before I asked for my membership to be completely deleted. I joined Ryze, and the spam factor was around double that of eCademy. And it didn't matter how I set my preferences either. I was on sixdegrees.com, but I think that's folded (ominous?)

    I'm not sure what might stop us networking here on KHE, apart from the referral infrastructure and contact software functionality. I guess if more people filled in their bios, it would be possible to use the profile info to make contact with someone.

    Conversely, if you wanted to attract working-lead-type contacts, what's stopping someone asking the question "Anyone need a strategic planning workshop run in (say) Sydney or Melbourne during September? Anyone need a telecommunications marketing project run out of UK over next three months?

    Your thoughts?

    ChrisB
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 8/29/2004 at 9:26 PM Accepted
    Virago

    You've identified part of the problem when you say "I would just set up a simple automatic email message to interested people to visit the question on the forum"...

    How do you tell who would be interested? I am interested in Strategy. So I select to receive an alert for a Strategy posting. But if potential network contact recipients haven't selected any preferences (and lots of people have a very sketchy, or empty bio, so you can guess about how extensively they have selected preferences for alerts) - so how would you know to contact them?

    Jose04 said perhaps it's too much to expect a full-blown bio to be posted. Why? If a professional wants contact, they should expect to provide some details when they hang out their shingle, shouldn't they? Seems reasonable to me, and most active KHE participants have some details in their bio...

    What other networking options are available elsewhere, other than those already mentioned?

BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Our Forum)