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Business Communities: A Closer Look
| Guest post by: Marian Banker |
Article Overview: You are likely a participant in a number of business communities; some informal, some formal and some personal. Take a look at these three types and determine how you can make the most of each.
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Free Download - Two Steps to a Winning Strategy By Marian Banker |
Business Communities: A Closer Look
One of the phenomena I've observed in producing and hosting the Small Business Summit over the past 5 years is the business community that has built up around this activity. In addition to attendees we have a number of loyal sponsors who have come back year after year to support our efforts and take advantage of the growing small business community interested in business and technology.
At the Summit you get to reconnect with old friends and have the opportunity to make new ones. We have heard time after time that great new business connections are made at the Summit each year. That's the bottom line value of the Summit. I hope you will join me at this year's Summit and experience what I'm talking about.
The Summit is an example of an Informal community; people in a variety of tech and other businesses who come together annually to be updated on technology for small business, make new connections and reconnect with old friends. In this year's afternoon Summit panel you'll be hearing from three ladies who have built business communities, "Building Community: Three Successful Women Share Their Stories".
As I see it there are three types of business communities:
Informal - There is no structure. You come together with others for a variety of business-related purposes. You often see the same people at different events and you begin to gain a level of recognition by your sheer frequency of presence. If you participate in a visible way, your recognition and reputation will grow quickly. Social networks are an informal community.
Formal - These are communities organized for specific purposes, industries, connections and more. The value for most small businesses is being able to use these communities as connections for information, resources, education, networking and growing their business. Here you have the opportunity to contribute in a more structured way. You can serve on committees, help at events, organize programs, etc.
Personal - Then there is your own personal business community; those you do business with, look to for expertise, obtain services and resources from. The more you make yourself available to the members of your community the faster your connections will grow.
Chances are you are a member of all three. For any community of which you are a part, it's good to know why you are involved. Then participate at the right level to fulfill your intent.
And what they say is true; you do get out of your community what you put into it. Participation at an appropriate level for you is where you will get the most value.
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Article Tags: business communities, business community, participant
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About the Author: Marian Banker RSS for Marian's articles - Visit Marian's website Marian is co-producer and host of the annual Small Business Summit 2006-2009, an all-day conference that brings together small business owners and technology providers. She is creator of the "Business Success System", a step-by-step process with tools, text and a virtual classroom atmosphere. Since 1995, has coached Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Executives in transition to become business leaders. Emphasis is on what it takes to lead a business to success. Holds a Masters in Business Administration and has over 25 years experience as senior executive, consultant, entrepreneur, educator, mentor and coach. Founded Prime Strategies in 1996 to provide the small business community with coaching, consulting and training in business leadership, translated into plain English for the typical small business owner. Click here to visit Marian's website   Warning Signs Checklist Partner Questionnaire |
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My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Social media
- [quote="jacksonp":38eoggxw][quote="terriz":38eoggxw]
What Twitter tool are you using that provides those features?
I use Hootsuite, TweetDeck, and recently added TweetMiner to manage day-to-day tweeting, scheduled tweets, etc.[/quote:38eoggxw]
I am sharing the tools which I use.These are the latest tools.
twi.bz: Better Name-Dropping in Shortened URLs
localtweeps: Make Twitter More Relevant by Bringing it Closer to Home
tweefind: Twitter Search Un-Democratized[/quote:38eoggxw]
Thanks for sharing those!
Exclusive: Interview with Results
- Hi Forum Members,
I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles).
As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business.
This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business.
I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months.
At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews.
I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum.
If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM.
Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: HOw to market a B2B consulting company
- [quote="zohahunt77":428owzbi]Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me the difference between B2B and B2C. I don’t know about b2b marketing but I have done marketing so know things about it. I will suggest you to take online services which will spread your business all over web network. Online marketing is the best way to market any business.[/quote:428owzbi]
B2B = Business to Business - You are marketing to other businesses.
B2C = Business to Consumer - You are marketing to consumers.
Re: What makes a good online review?
- Hi Kevin,
True that the net is inundated with information, but there are flaws too, like you are not always sure as to whether the information provided is authentic or not. Therefore many organizations have set standards maybe of their own or laid down by Authorities. But for the common man, there is always a chance of falling in the trap.
When I search for some product on the internet, there are two options for me (and I believe for most of us). When we are into purchase of a product, we are mostly after a specific brand. In such a case, any review does not matter. But for the other products (when Brand Name isn't that important), I generally take into account the reviews. I consider both - Expert Reviews and Consumer reviews. But many a times, they don't publish negative comments of products. So I do a search on Google or other search engines for related content to know more about the product and generally prefer to read Forums, Online Communities and Blogs (in that order) to decide on the purchase.
Regards,
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