With all the press about Social Media, I've not seem much written about using Ning sites in your social marketing campaign. The estimable Larry Brauner has a great post on the topic at:
http://online-social-networking.com/introduction-to-using-ning-sites
Here's the post:
Introduction to Using Ning Sites
Larry Brauner
June 26, 2009
I’ve written quite a few articles about the Ning family of social networking sites focusing primarily on social marketing and business networking concepts.
In this article I address every type of Ning user.
By using Ning sites, not only can you transact business, you can also make new friends, discuss special interests, and promote favorite causes. You can network with people all over the world from the comfort and privacy of your home, any time of day or night.
I cannot cover every possible contingency, so feel free to ask questions below in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Before looking at what you should do on Ning sites, I must explain one thing that you should never do on Ning or on any other social network.
Thou Shalt Not Spam
Last September, I slammed the practice of spamming in How Do You Like Your SPAM? If you’re not sure what spam is, please invest a few minutes to read through that article.
Spamming is something that you should never do on Ning or anywhere else. You’re spamming on Ning if you push unwanted advertising, commercial or otherwise, on other people by using:
* private or instant messages
* profile or blog comments
* forum or discussion posts or comments
* site, group, event, page or comment sharing
* something I haven’t dreamed of listing here
Be considerate of your fellow site members at all times. If you want to advertise, use only your page’s profile and blog, and watch for my upcoming piece, Promoting Yourself on Ning.
Uploading Your Photo
When you join your very first Ning site, you need to upload your photo. While you can theoretically skip this step, a picture makes your site page friendlier and more credible.
If for some reason you believe that you cannot use your photo — or a family photo — then find another image to upload in its place. Avoid using the dreaded default image, since it implies a lack of seriousness on your part.
Creating Your Profile
Although volumes could be written on this subject alone, here are ten suggestions to help guide you:
1. Get clear about who you are and what you represent.
2. Study other people’s profiles. What do you like about them? Dislike?
3. Know how you want to portray yourself on each Ning site.
4. Express yourself in an accurate, friendly and interesting manner.
5. Write in the first person. Avoid bad grammar, misspellings, overused clichés, exaggeration, distasteful slang, etc. Learn to write well — or find somebody who will help you.
6. Include links to your relevant websites or blogs.
7. Fill in the details each site requests as best you can. If the site doesn’t ask for enough, use your page’s Text Box to present additional information and links.
8. Revise your profile often, as you re-invent yourself or gain clarity.
9. Ask others for their opinions and listen carefully.
10. Don’t wait to get started. As Mike Litman taught me: “You don’t have to get it right. You just have to get it going.”
Making Connections
Once you have set up your page, you’re ready to invite people to be “friends” and accept friendship offers from other people.
I know that you’re not naive enough to believe that you can make friends with the click of a mouse, so I must explain to you what it means to be friends on Ning.
Please read the following very carefully:
When you make friends on Ning, you are each giving the other explicit permission to communicate directly using private messaging and Ning’s content sharing features.
E-mail messages will inevitably arrive in your inbox. Some will be spam and others not.
Ask yourself whether you’d mind receiving direct messages from a person. If yes, be friends. If not, pass. However, don’t be too cautious, since you always have the option to remove a so-called friend who has turned out to be problematic.
Communicating One-on-One
When you meet a new person offline, you communicate cautiously at first. You make small talk. Gradually you reveal details about yourselves, and a relationship develops. Approach online communication in the same way.
Be genuinely interested and ask questions to give your new friend an opportunity to open up to you. Reciprocate appropriately as you go along.
Use a profile comment or two to get a conversation going, and then switch to private messaging if and when it seems right. Don’t force anything. It’s better to take your time.
Communicating with the Community
In my opinion, the best way to communicate with all members at one time is by writing blog articles within the Ning site.
If you don’t know how to write, you’ll learn. This is a great way to get practice before starting a stand alone blog on Blogger.com or your own hosting account. Your writing will improve as you do more and more of it.
Write about topics that are important to you. Create a desire within your readers to return and read subsequent blogs. If your articles are helpful, the site creator may feature them, and that will help you to gain readers.
In Promoting Yourself on Ning, I’ll teach you how to promote your blog articles.
Inviting Friends
Social networking sites need new members to grow and thrive. All members share the responsibility for bringing in new members.
Use the Invite feature to send a short invitation to people whom you know. In the comments area of the invitation, say briefly why you like the site. If everybody participates in this process, everybody benefits from the new faces on the site.
Now It’s Your Turn
