There’s no question that the internet is a powerful and effective resource for promoting your business and attracting leads. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and various community forums have taken the internet by storm. There are definite advantages to having the ability to reach virtually unlimited people via the reach of the internet. There are distinct disadvantages as well.
When you meet people using a computerized social network, you have limited access to information about those individuals. There is a risk that not everyone is who they present themselves to be. There is also the limitation of real time interaction. Granted, there are chat rooms, instant messengers, skype and program specific chat capabilities. This is only useful if the people you want to communicate with happen to be on line at the same time you are. If they aren’t, you can tweet them, write on their wall or leave them a written message. There’s no guarantee they will respond to your message assuming they ever get it to begin with.
Not to give up on electronic socializing entirely, but there is an additional community that can offer some of the benefits of computerized social networking and eliminate some of the shortcomings. The interesting thing is that this particular group begins on the internet, but takes their socializing to a whole other level.
Meetup, hosted at meetup.com, offers a wide range of opportunities for people to come together and share their ideas or interests in person. It’s free to sign up, although there is a nominal fee if you decide to administer your own meetup group. Once you set up your account, you can search for an unlimited number of topics that you would like to participate in group discussions about. You can request email notifications as the groups you’ve targeted create new meetups, schedule new meetings or host special events. If you don’t find a group that fits your agenda you can start a new one yourself. Each group determines what fees if any will be associated with being a member. Actual meetings are hosted on site at a physical location and participants who attend can interact with each other in a live setting.
Some examples of local meetup groups in this area are: Business Success Forum, geared for entrepreneurs and small business owners; Madison Web Design & Development Meetup; and The Madison International Travel Meetup Group. Anyone can start a meetup group in their particular locale, and the list of countries that participants can search for groups in is quite extensive.
Take a break from the computer, after you’ve registered with Meetup.com and joined your interest groups of course. Experience the old fashioned social networking style, greet your friends and associates with a handshake and a smile instead of just a tweet.
Cheers to your success!
Laura Sorensen
http://www.mlm-travel-ventures-business.com
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