Being an entrepreneur myself, I’ve always wanted to build a community where people can share ideas and build strong relationships. Back in May, I started to organize a group by the name of NY Entrepreneurs Business Network (A.K.A NYEBN). Essentially, I’d call it a Meetup group since it’s built on the Meetup platform. If you are not familiar with Meetup, I’d highly recommend you check out a previous post – Top 20 Meetup Groups for Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Technology Enthusiasts. I have to admit, I really had a great run with this group over the course of past four months. Organizing what’s probably known as the fastest growing Meetup group, here I would like to share 9 tips that have contributed to the initial success with this group.
1. Host Interesting Meetings
Meetup.com is essentially another Web 2.0 company which allows its groups to organize people online and conduct meetings offline. I am often asked what’s the best way to promote a group. My answer always goes something like this – “Let it go viral!” Viral marketing (A.K.A Word of mouth marketing on steroid) has its own virtues and efficiencies. Host the best and most interesting meetings, and let your members talk about it and spread the words for you.
2. Have a Variety of Events
People like options and variety. As a rule of thumb, I tend to not organize just one type of event. For example, last month, we had both networking events and seminars/workshops, both in the morning and in the evening. Next month, we are going to participate in a trade show. The purpose of hosting a variety of events is to attract a diverse group of people who have different interests and preferences.
3. Choose Different Locations
This principle goes along well with the last one. It is uncommon for me to use the same venue more than twice, unless it’s a venue that receives sizzling hot reviews from my members (more on this later). Generally speaking, people like to network or have breakfast meetings in new locations. Take NYEBN for example, we have had networking/seminar events on rooftops, on the cruise, in bars and restaurants, in bookstores, and soon in banks.
4. Listen Carefully
Review on NYEBN's Rooftop Event
Remember, your members are the ones who have control on the group, not you. Therefore, always have their best interests in mind. As a Web 2.0 company, Meetup lets your members rate your past events from a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being “Awesome“! Typically, when a particular event is over, I would hear different voices and reviews. Particularly keep an eye out for those negative reviews, which tend to tell you where and how you can improve your future events.
5. Don’t Be Greedy
I’ve seen countless Meetup groups fail at their initial launch phases because the organizers tried to monetize their groups right from the beginning. This is a big no-no because unless people in your groups really see the value you offer, they are not willing to pay for something they are uncertain of. I tend to choose the opposite approach instead when it comes to this subject. My strategies are covered in brevity as follows:
- No membership fees required to join the group;
- Most networking events are free unless I have overhead to cover;
- I always negotiate for the best drink special prices if the networking events take place in a bar;
- Avoid to charge high-premium at all for the seminar/workshop events.
6. Be There for Them
If you have a Meetup group with more than 500 members, chances are you start to get busy. Nowadays I get email requests anywhere from 20-50, not mention to the Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter messages. I try to answer them all. Trust me, you don’t want to be ignorant with those messages. If you are not there for them, they don’t care to be around you. So be responsive. Besides, you always have the option to hire a virtual assistant to help you if things are getting really crazy for you.
7. Link Them Up
In a previous post about how to increase your Twitter presence, I offered a tip headlined “Link Them Up.” According to that post, “Since social networking sites are a dime a dozen nowadays, why not spread your Meetup links across different sites to drastically increase its public exposure?“ The 6 resources I currently highly leverage my effort on are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Profile, my blog, and of course, my business cards for offline promotions. Refer to my previous post for more details (Tip #3).
8. Focus on Only One Group
Unless you really have broad interests in different fields, I would recommend you start no more than two groups, with most your effort targeting one group only. Organizing a group and promoting events at the same time is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of dedication. Initially, I started three groups: NYEBN, WS13 Viral Marketing Group, NYCPDM Group. As you see, most of my focus now is on NYEBN as we already have 1,300 members now. So don’t get distracted. Leverage your effort on the main group(s) first and benefits will come!
9. Have Fun
My last tip of the day: take ownership but not hold all the control. Most importantly, be yourself and have fun. Eventually, your group is a true reflection of you and your magnetic personality. People join your groups because they love to surround themselves with you. So be fun, have fun, and learn to enjoy the interacting experience with them!
Conclusion
With NY Entrepreneurs Business Network, I really have big visions and I believe we are onto something remarkable. So if you are a business owner or if you enjoy networking and learning, feel free to check us out. You don’t need to be physically close in order to join as we are a global community. Let me know whether or not I left any good tips unmentioned. If you like what you see, don’t forget to drop us a line below. If you have a group or like to organize one, how would you like to organize your group?
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