• 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 of their member’s updates and feedback
• More to come…

Contact us Sales (at) ShareOnce (dot) com if your group would like to join the following groups in our Cornerstone Partners Program. You receive first-look, first-feedback access to ShareOnce.com along with inclusion in the ShareOnce marketing program, VIP passes to ShareOnce events, and advertising credits on ShareOnce.com.

James – founder and CEO
ShareOnce.com – Do more business with the people you know.

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 account – LinkedIn is a free HR/networking channel that puts you on the HR and business identity “map” so people can do some level of credentialing of you before they hire you for a job or contract. It’s become the de facto standard for professional business profiles so you really should have one. http://linkedin.com

3) Get a ShareOnce account – ShareOnce is a free business networking tool to help you maximize your marketing and networking results while also saving time. With one ShareOnce update, you can update all of your business networking groups, all of your connected networking channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), and be seen wherever your business networking groups (e.g. chambers, alumni chapters, associations) have chosen to promote their members (e.g. their website, blog, RSS feed, group Twitter account, etc.).

That’s it. Do it today so you can get off to a great start in 2010.

If you would like help getting started, join us for our weekly ShareOnce New Member conference call. Starting January 5, 2010, we will host a free one hour call-in every Tuesday at 1:00pm CST for our new members. We will answer business networking questions and help you set up your Twitter, LinkedIn and ShareOnce accounts. You can attend as many calls as you’d like and feel free to invite others to join in.

To receive an invite, simply sign up for a free account by clicking “Create an Account” here. We’ll immediately send you instructions if you want to get started on your own. At 8am CST on the Tuesday morning of the conference call, we will send you a reminder for the conference call and the call-in instructions and password.

Happy New Year!

James

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 a lot more) and building brand (his and the companies he associates with).

What about you and your business? How do you use new media? Are you blurring the lines between between business and social? How are you positioned today and the next 1, 5, 10, 20 years?

Lets take the line between business and social networking … using Facebook as an example, take my poll and lets find out where you draw the line.

We aren’t blurring the line at ShareOnce — it’s all business (well, mostly) across the real-time web. If you are in business, join a business networking group on ShareOnce or add your business networking group (chamber, association, networking group, alumni chapter) to the mix. It is FREE and it saves you time in business networking, maximizes your visibility and allows you to take your business network with you so it’s there when and where you need it!

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 an add-on to ShareOnce platformabout 2 hours ago from web

Looks like this on Twitter.com/NextReferral:

RT @JamesWeddle @AlvinBrown we really need to bld a referral capture process for @ShareOnce and deploy it as an add-on to ShareOnce platform

…and like this on ShareOnce.com/NextReferral:

nextreferral: @AlvinBrown we really need to bld a referral capture process for @ShareOnce and deploy it as an add-on to ShareOnce platform  General Update posted on Oct 20 at 04:25AM

From ShareOnce, you can create the same outcome by simply entering an update you would like to share with your group. Again, if you’ve connected your Twitter page to ShareOnce, select the Twitter checkbox under the “Share an update” box and your update will appear automatically on ShareOnce, in all ShareOnce RSS and HTML feeds, on your personal Twitter page, and as a RT on your group’s Twitter account. The only difference will be the update, as seen on ShareOnce, will be entered from your personal ShareOnce profile, not the group’s.

This is a great time saver and greatly enhances your visibility…the whole point of ShareOnce.

Note: I’ll blog later this week on how to update Facebook from ShareOnce and how to update multiple business networking groups with a single ShareOnce update.

Visit ShareOnce.com for more information or add/find/join a group at ShareOnce.com/groups.

Cheers,

James

Social networking services are web-based online communities that enable people to interact with each other via an online forum. These networks are often specialized and based on various associations such as universities, hobbies, and business interests. So what does this mean for business networking groups, such as a Chamber of Commerce, Industry Associations or any professional networking group? It means that group leaders need to embrace this shift and provide their members a social networking platform that facilitates member communication and interaction – beyond the monthly happy hour mixer. Business networking groups need a networking platform that transforms network connections into meaningful conversations. Business networking group members ultimately want to leverage their business network in order to generate leads, find and provide referrals, find talent, promote events, or simply ask for help.

ShareOnce is focused on making this transformation simple for business networking groups. Just today we announced the redesign of ShareOnce (read more), and how we make the onboarding process for business networking groups easy – so easy that it can be accomplished in as little as 90 seconds. Just think, you can transform your business networking group in less time than it takes to make a microwave meal!

If you own or lead a business networking group you should not ignore the social networking communication shift. To engage your members, and attract new ones, you need to continuously add value and facilitate member communication and participation. What are you doing to embrace this shift? What is keeping you from transforming your business networking group?

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 going on but that’ll get you started.

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 up)

When you combine “free” and “easy” there’s a lot to be excited about. In essence, even if you have no budget, you can still grow your business. That means increasing your number of prospects and leads. It means meeting more people and forming more relationships. It means making more money, helping more people, and delivering more value. Bam!

However, before you get too excited, there is one HUGE PROBLEM. This is something that virtually everyone ignores. I’m going to explain that problem in a minute. First, I want to tell you a secret…

The “secret” is that these tools are fueled by content. Putting it another way, if you want to market your business or organization with a blog you need content. If you want to use articles, you have to write them. Furthermore, if you want serious results you need fantastic content.You have to invest.

So, the truth is that most content isn’t really free. In other words, if you want great content you have to write your own blog entries or articles. Or, you have to hire writers. So, “free” isn’t really “free” when you pull back the covers.

I’ll put it yet another way. The huge problem is that creating great content takes time and money, even when the tools are free. It’s for this reason that I care very much about usability. Like you, I really need easy-to-use tools so I can maximize my time investment with these free online marketing tools. I know that I’m going to write a lot and I want the experience to be simple and pleasant.

With all of that in mind, here’s some very good news: We’ve literally spent hundreds of hours making ShareOnce easy to use. We’ve spent thousands of dollars “getting it right” by sitting down with real people, watching them actually use ShareOnce. We’re doing serious, scientific research! The crew here recognizes that usability is the “secret sauce” that makes web sites and web tools easier to use. So, that’s why we’ve invested so much of our time and money to give you an awesome user experience.

Quite frankly, I don’t know how much Facebook and LinkedIn have invested in usability. Based on my personal experience, I sometimes wonder what they are thinking. I certainly have issues using those sites and if you’re like me, you’ve been challenged too.

But I digress… my main points can be summarized this way:

1. Many excellent online marketing tools are “free”
2. But, these tools are powered by content and your time
3. So, these tools must be easy for you to use; don’t settle

Don’t get sucked into the idea that your online marketing tools are 100% free until you consider your plan for creating content. Likewise, never forget that your tools need to be easy to use so you maximize your time investment. Your time is your most valuble asset, even more important than money.

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.

Right now the big social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook (via Facebook “fan pages” for your business or organization), and LinkedIn. But even a personal or business blog has elements of social media, because all the major blogging products and services allow your readers to comment and interact with you and each other.  Basically, each product, service and platform has it is advantages and drawbacks.  So the best thing to do as a small business owner is to cover as many bases as possible.

With that in mind, here are five things you can do right now to get your business seen and heard in the online social media world, and increase your business. These are all free, so cost isn’t a factor to get started.

1. Socialize

Set up your free social networking accounts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Depending on which estimates you believe, for Facebook alone, 300 million people worldwide can’t be wrong! Either way, they are all free and each can help you create and foster relationships for your business.

2. Start a blog

If you don’t want to bother with installing any software on your existing web site, you can set up your blog free at Wordpress.com or Blogger.com.  Then, simply set up your site to redirect the address “blog.yoursite.com” or “yoursite.com/blog” to your off-site blog URL. (You do have a web site today, don’t you?)

If you want to get a bit more in-depth, you can install free, open-source blogging software such as Wordpress on your own site. It’s not that hard; you don’t have to be a programmer to do it. However, making it look like your existing site can be beyond most small business owners. Fortunately, there are plenty of low-cost options for customizing Wordpress. Check out rentacoder.com or elance.com for inexpensive blog customization services.

Once your blog is up and running you can automatically feed it content by integrating your Facebook and Twitter posts with your blog. Alternately, you can do the reverse; i.e., you can write content for your blog, publish it, and have it appear on your Facebook and Twitter feeds.

How does this magic happen? All the social media services and platforms enable you to publish your content via something called “RSS feeds” (RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication). And these platforms and services are two-way: they can both push out and take in feeds.

3. Publicize: Show them what you’ve got!

A really effective way to publicize yourself is to write an article in your area of expertise and submit it to your business network of choice (e.g. your local Chamber of Commerce). Then, post the article on your blog and link to it from your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Make it a practice to write one serious article a month in your area of expertise. Over time, you’ll become known for what you do.

4. Expand your social networking capabilities with apps, tools and plug-ins

Once you’re blogging and publishing articles, you can optimize your social media workflow with browser plug-ins, Facebook apps, Twitter management tools, etc.   There are hundreds of great tools that speed up your online networking and keep you up-to-date with relevant information.

Two of the best add-ons around are:

• Selective Twitter – a Facebook application that allows you to post selected Twitter entries to your Facebook account.
• Bit.ly or other URL shortening services – when you want to share a link, URL shortening services allow you to submit a long link and get a shorter URL that you can share on Twitter or Facebook. Some URL shorteners even allow you to submit directly to your blog or Twitter if you sign up for an account with them.

5. Get down to business

One great way to jump-start your social media strategy is to pick up your free business networking account at ShareOnce.com. Find and join your group on ShareOnce or, if they aren’t there, invite them to set the group up on ShareOnce. It is free for groups and their members and a great way to share and follow up on relevant business opportunities – events, referrals, promotional offers, jobs, etc — across the group.  Simply connect the locations you want to network from to ShareOnce – your Twitter page, your Facebook page, your website or blog — and you will be able to network with your group members anytime, anywhere. We call it “share once, see everywhere.”

Share Once LLC is an Austin-based company that provides business networking services to enterprise customers and networking organizations such as Chambers of Commerce, Alumni groups, Trade/Industry Associations and other business and social networking groups. For more information on how you can leverage your existing business network across the web, social media, and mobile technologies, please visit ShareOnce.com or call (512) 410-0041.

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

James

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 lots of work to do on ShareOnce. And as the product owner and direction-setter for the site, I *personally* have lots of critical-path work to do. But it’s worth it, because I believe in what we’re trying to build for customers – a service that makes communicating and networking easier for business groups, and allows members to promote and grow their businesses.

And now it’s time to go play Wii with my kids. Work-life balance FTW!

-Paul

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) fixin’ to add more soon.

Oh yeah: who am I? I’m Paul Sherman. I’m the product lead for the ShareOnce.com service. I guess you could call me the product manager.

We’d love your feedback – in fact, we’re depending on your feedback – so we’d love to hear how we could make the service better. You can contact me directly at paul “at” ShareOnce.com, comment here on the blog, or use the feedback form if you’re logged in at ShareOnce.com.