Case Study: Business Networking on Facebook

 It is no secret that people are using Facebook for business networking and I wanted to share my own success stories and exactly what I did. I joined Facebook in June 2007 and to date I have managed to accomplish the following:

-Introduced to a venture capital firm

-Received an introduction to an angel investor who is now an advisor

- Invited to moderate a young entrepreneur group

- Interviewed for a book by an Inc. Magazine Contributing Editor about Gen-Y entrepreneurs

- Interviewed about effectively using Facebook to network

- Paid speaking engagement at Boston College to present to the Entrepreneur Society

- A feature on CollegeMogul.com

 Many entrepreneurs work hard to achieve the above and Facebook made it much easier than in the past. My strategy on Facebook was very clear from day one:

- Present a professional image

- Find relevant groups e.g. Young Entrepreneurs

- Introduce myself, my business and participate - ask questions, answer questions, share knowledge

-Promote our story

Social networks are tools that can be used for many different things, you simply have to choose what you want to accomplish on them. The “groups” feature allows you to find groups related to terms you search for and I looked for web, business and entrepreneur groups, then evaluated each group based on how many members, how active and the topics being covered. It is very easy to spot the progressive groups by looking at what is on the discussion board.

 How did I accomplish each item listed in my success list?

 VC Firm Introduction

This came about from my participation in the Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs group. A guy in Miami, Jason Baptiste, contacted me and invited me to his monthly networking event, NextMiami, that allows entrepreneurs and investors mingle. We attended the event and were introduced to the person responsbile for the technology and web investments at the VC Firm. We spoke for 45 minutes and asked to follow-up and take a look at our executive summary because they had recently invested US$3 million in a site similar to ours but focused on the Hispanic demographic.

 Angel Investor Introduction

The VC we had sent our executive summary to and had a conference call with said we were a little early-stage but he wanted us to meet an angel investor that could help get us to the next level. He sent the executive summary and an introduction via email, the angel investor replied 8 minutes later to arrange a meeting in person. We now meet every month and have gotten amazing advice to help grow our venture.

 Invitation to moderate young entrepreneur group

One of the groups I joined was the Young Entrepreneurs Network group and I became very active. The group membership comes from a diverse set of countries but many are from the USA. Based on my questions, answers and level of activity, the administrator asked me to become an official moderator and contributor to the group. Visibility among mainstream US entrepreneurs was important for me and so I accepted.

 Gen-Y book interview with a Inc. Magazine Contributing Editor

The admin of the Young Entrepreneurs Network group contacted me to say that she had recommended me for an interview for a book about Gen-Y entrepreneurs being written by a contributing editor of Inc. Magazine. The writer then got in touch with me and we arranged an interview time. The interview went even better than I expected because she and her husband are big Reggae fans. The book is slated for publication in 2009 and I hope our story gets in there (not guaranteed).

She is now a good friend and invited me to a private group for all the entrepreneurs she interviewed for the book, allowing all of us to network with each other and share stories or advice. She also asked me to introduce her to more young entrepreneurs and I provided recommendations for 2 of them that she eventually came back and said were great stories.

 Interviewed about networking effectively on Facebook

This interview came about thanks to an introduction to Mari Smith through Scott Bradley, the President of the Boston College Entrepreneurship Society. I had connected with him a month earlier on Facebook through the Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs group and after I saw that she had interviewed him, I reached out to her with an outline of what I had accomplished through Facebook to date. Check out the interview here.

 Paid speaking engagement

We have presented at a few universities but none have been paid. I connected with Scott Bradley in July and he was so impressed with our story, especially our mistakes, that asked us to come to Boston College to present that Fall semester. The Entrepreneurship Society covered our expenses (travel and accomodations) as well as provided an appearance fee. The event went very well and we posted the videos on the web. Check out resulting article in the school paper here and the videos here.

Feature on CollegeMogul.com

CollegeMogul is “a blog and online resource for college entrepreneurship” that also reviews “new and existing companies led by students and young entrepreneurs.” They were recently added to Guy Kawasaki’s latest venture, Alltop.com, as a source for “Startup” news.

Even though we are no longer in college, we landed the feature for two reasons: We started the first version while in college and we had presented at a college. One of the co-founders of the CollegeMogul attended the Boston College presentation and was very impressed. We developed a great relationship and he decided to write about Realvibez not long after launching this venture (he has another venture working on). You can RealVibez: The Caribbean MTV.

I hope that my stories have provided detailed examples and explanations of how we have used Facebook and how you can leverage it, or other social networking sites, in a way that benefits your business.

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