Stay tuned for the release of the following product features in April-June:

• Group plans – Ability of the group owner/manager to manage their group’s sponsorship and ad campaigns
• Enhanced Group Manager Dashboard – Making this dashboard more accessible and including marketing/promotional functions in the dashboard
• Member Directory Widget – Ability of the group owner/manager to display member profiles and updates on the group’s website or blog automatically; will also allow for sponsorship and ad placement
• Facebook Connect – Ability of ShareOnce members to share their updates directly on their Facebook page
• More content control – Ability of group owner/manager to better manage the distribution … Continue Reading
  

I’m advising a friend in Tucson who is starting his own business networking group centered around sports and entertainment. I just posted a short list of action items I would do if I was starting a group. You can see my post on Tumblr here about it.  If you’re interested in learning more about my friend’s group, you can follow him here as he goes about creating it.

The economy is showing signs of life and here are 3 things I highly recommend you do to get off to a great start in 2010:
1) Get a Twitter account – Twitter is a free networking/marketing channel that gives you access and visibility to people and information in real-time. It has become a catch-all information hub so you’ll need to be wise about how you implement Twitter in your daily business life. But, seriously, don’t let the funny name throw you off — get a Twitter account if you don’t already have one. http://twitter.com

2) Get a LinkedIn … Continue Reading

I read a great post on FastCompany about Ashton Kutcher and his use of new media.  What other celebrity is as closely tied to new/digital/social media as he is? Bodes well for his career the next 20-30 years, don’t you think?

To me, he is blurring the lines between business and social with his use of new media. While I find his commercials and on-screen persona to be fun and entertaining and I am completely amazed with his prolific and open use of Twitter, I also recognize it’s a business — he’s selling cameras (and … Continue Reading

If you use ShareOnce, you can update your business networking group — your local chamber, trade or industry association, alumni chapter or networking group – from Twitter or from ShareOnce.

From Twitter, simply re-Tweet a post you would like to share with your group. If you’ve connected your Twitter page to ShareOnce via the “Connections” feature on ShareOnce, your group’s Twitter account will recognize you and RT your post on Twitter and post that update on ShareOnce…automatically.
Example:

A Tweet (update) posted on Twitter.com/JamesWeddle:

@NextReferral @AlvinBrown we really need to bld a referral capture process for @ShareOnce and deploy it as … Continue Reading

Social Networking is all the buzz -  it is a communication shift that cannot be ignored by business networking groups. Businesses are turning to social media to establish a presence, create awareness and stay in touch with their target audience. In fact, more than 600,000 small businesses (SBs, or companies with up to 99 employees) in the United States will deploy integrated social networking services in the next 12 months—up from about 300,000 currently, according to the latest … Continue Reading

ShareOnce isn’t some giant, faceless organization. We’re not robots. We’re not drones. We’re real people with real personalities. We also know how to have fun and kick butt.

As a quick sidebar, I’ve got to admit that it’s pretty awesome being part of the team that has put together the one tool for all of your business networking. We make it possible for your group to communicate in real-time everywhere they connect.

Let me show you how to find ShareOnce online…

• ShareOnce Home Page
• ShareOnce Blog
• ShareOnce on Twitter
• ShareOnce on Facebook
• ShareOnce on YouTube

Of course there is a lot more … Continue Reading

Just a couple of days ago James Weddle talked about the Five Things You Can Do to Grow Your Business. As James pointed out, all of these tools are FREE. That’s awesome, but what really got me fired up was that some of these free online marketing tools are easy to use and some are not!

But, before I get ahead of myself, here’s the summary of that article:

• Socialize (i.e., set up accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
• Start a blog and start writing
• Write articles for other people
• Exploit apps, tools, and plugins
• Use ShareOnce (i.e, join your group or set it … Continue Reading
  

Social Networking Primer: Five Things You Can Do To Grow Your Business

By James Weddle, Founder, ShareOnce.com

The world of business networking has changed drastically just in the past few years. While in-person networking gatherings and local advertising still play a significant role in successfully promoting your business, it’s become increasingly critical for small businesses to leverage social networking and media sites on the Internet to successfully promote your business, announce events and promotions, capture and share leads and referrals, and hire.

Continue Reading

Okay, I’m not a jerk or least not “The Jerk” but I still love the scene from the movie when the new phone books arrive.

To paraphrase the movie scene, “The new newsletter is here! The new newsletter is here!” Take a quick peek.

James

As we transition ShareOnce.com from a bootstrapped (or should that be cash-strapped) startup to a revenue-earning concern, I want to celebrate the little successes – and the big ones, of course.

So here’s what we accomplished this week at ShareOnce:

• We got to pitch to two “friends of VC’s”. They provided great feedback about our pitch, positioning, etc. I’ll leave it to James to name names in the comments section, if he’s so inclined.
• At some point this week we surpassed 124 active members. I know, that’s not a lot. But even Twitter started in the double digits!

I know we have … Continue Reading

So welcome to the ShareOnce blog.

Who are we? Just a small group of Austin-based entrepreneurs who want to make business networking and promotion easier, faster, and more efficient.

We’re focused on providing business groups with a tool to provide their members that lets the group managers communicate effectively with their group, lets group members communicate with each other, and provides groups, members and outside advertisers with a platform to market and advertise.

We’ve been working on ShareOnce.com since April of 2009. Since then, we’ve actually launched the product with 20 groups. And we’re (as we say in Texas) … Continue Reading