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Plaxo, Ryze, Naymz and BizNik - LinkedIn Younger Brothers

Guest post by: Zeke Camusio

Article Overview: The following professional social networking sites are the “younger brothers” to LinkedIn. Don’t overlook these quality networking sites – sign up today and watch your business grow.

Plaxo, Ryze, Naymz and BizNik - LinkedIn Younger Brothers

LinkedIn has become one of the most popular professional social networking sites on the Internet. However, LinkedIn's "younger brothers" sites have been overlooked when it comes to quality business networking. The following sites are free and user-friendly. Reap the benefits from these sites and watch your business grow! • Brand/promote your company to millions of people across the world

• Use it as a recruiting/human resources tool for your company - find new employees or clients

Plaxo makes it easy to connect with both new and established business contacts. Plaxo is similar to other social networking sites but offers unique features such as:

• Pulse - Main dashboard page allows you to see and interact with your contacts. You can post status updates, messages, etc. This is the hub of Plaxo. Suggested friends and your contacts' birthdays are also shown on your Pulse page.

• Share photos, videos, links and reviews with your contacts. You can maintain your own privacy and control what others can and can't see on your page.

• In the Profile section, you can add and share websites that you frequently use (such as Flickr, Digg, YouTube, Twitter, etc.)

• Set up your profile and you decide what to share with others. This is a great marketing tool because you can also add your company name and bio information.

• In the More section, you can sync your address books to your Plaxo account and add your business contacts (you have the option of connecting them as either friend or business contact)

• Add Calendars from Yahoo, Google Mail and Outlook to Plaxo - helps keep you on track during your busy work week! It's also compatible with Mac.

• Set up Pulse and the address book on your mobile phone - network while on the go!

Ryze is a great way to build business contacts and increase company sales.

• Business networking home page

• Re-connect with business contacts/colleagues you already know

• Interact and send personal messages other Ryze members

• Join specialized Networks according to your niche/industry, location and/or interests.

• When you sign up, Ryze sends you links of other business contacts in your geographical area (country, state, etc) to check out.

• Over 500,000 members in 200 countries

• Publicize company events, products and services on Networks

Naymz boasts over million members to help expand your professional networks. If you want to expand your business or career, this dynamic professional social networking platform does it all!

• Exchange ideas, status updates, etc. in "real time"

• Reputation Assessment/RepScore - Asks members to fill out assessment of contacts and score each other - encourages trust and relationship building amongst members (add ONLY quality contacts)

• Network Activity - Sends updates any time your contacts make changes to their profiles, etc.

• Reputation Monitor - Keeps tabs on your reputation. Sends you updates when your name/company name is cited on blogs, websites, social networks, etc.

• Visitor Reporting - Alerts you when someone visits your profile and allows you to see who's interested in you/your company.

BizNik appeals to entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to help each other succeed. Biznik puts business contacts face-to-face with other in the virtual sense.

Biznik's features include:

• Members use their real names and company information - allows for a stronger, reputable online presence

• Join appropriate niche/industry-related groups - allows you to interact and send direct messages to group members

• Write professional articles and share with other members in your industry - position yourself as an expert in your field

• Connect with business contacts specifically in your city (based on geographical locations/regions)

• Add company events to the "Events" Section (cross-promote special events, etc.)

• Biz Talk forums allow you to introduce yourself to other members, ask questions and share your professional experiences.

Related Articles
  How to Promote an Event Online
  Web2.0 Marketing - The A-Z List of the Best Business Social Networking Sites
  Why Participate in Social Networking?
  How to Build On Line Relationships for Success
  Succeed With Social Media

Article Tags: address books, bio information, business contact, business contacts, connec, digg, google, great marketing, mail, marketing tool, mobile phone network, plaxo, profile section, quality business, ryze, social networking sites, status updates, twitter, younger brothers, youtube



Related Forum Posts
Re: Missing information about Facebook - [quote="OmnivoreInk":fk3hbrke]Someone (I throw this out to everyone here, free of charge) should design such a site but aimed strictly at business people. Instead of favorite books, movies, tv shows, etc. list their skills and business interests... [/quote:fk3hbrke] I wasn't overly impressed with Facebook, but I'll look again when I have more time to really take a look. Barbara Have you checked out Ryze.com and LinkedIn.com? They both have some really good features and networking possibilities. Shri
Plaxo - I recently got an invitation to join the social networking site, Plaxo. Does anyone know what it is or if it's any good? Thanks
Re: On Which Social Media Sites Are You Most Active? - I'd be curious to hear how you guys use LinkedIn. I have close to 3,000 connections and never use it. I've been told the secret is to use groups (which I don't) so I'd love to hear how you guys are benefiting from LinkedIn.
Re: Twiiter an sales - [quote="soldlab":1ycb8vnm]I guess though LinkedIn is better for actual leag generation and personal contacts. What do you think?[/quote:1ycb8vnm] I've had a lot more success (thus far) with Twitter than LinkedIn or Facebook.
Re: Social Media Effectively? - Personally, I use social media to build my company brand in order to get awareness of the various franchises I work with. I am active on LinkedIn and Twitter (@DougSchadle), always posting information about the franchise opportunities I work with. I have started discussions and basically just try to get the word out there. Also, I turned one of my clients to social media as well. I work with Doctors Express, the first national urgent care franchise, expanding their franchise base. They are quickly spreading throughout the country and I told the founder to jump on to Twitter and LinkedIn as well. He just started a few weeks ago (Twitter handle @Doctors_Express) and tells me he is loving it. He is posting different medical issues he sees and is tweeting about Doctors Express. He is joining medical groups on LinkedIn and trying to connect to other doctors. So in short, I do think franchises can be very successful with social media, they just have to put in the time to do it.


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