Ten New Virtual Communities I Just Discovered!

Yes, it's been a while since my last post. I am going to remedy that by posting once a week to Virtual Woman's Day. In fact, I thought it would be fun to share the top ten new virtual communities I find online each week and share them here.  As if we don't have enough social networks to be involved in, I am going to give you ten more to check out.  Hey you may just find one or two that really resonate with you. This week I am focusing on niche social networks.  These are different from the Facebooks and LinkedIns of the world because they are not for everybody. They have a specific purpose and interest to those who join and participate.

 So here goes:

LifeBrixx.com (networking based on your hobbies) lets you find people to network with based upon common interests such as hobbies. Wit LifeBrixx.com you can visually list your interests, goals, hobbies and see what other people like before you connect with them.

Dogosaur.com the social site for dogs and their owners. Want to improve your dog's life? Looking to adopt a dog or puppy?

GoFlying.co is the niche social network for aviators and all things aviation. Share photos, videos and more. Have something to trade? GoFlying.co is the place to do it! GoFlying.co is a social media website with free classifieds, Calendars, news, weather & more!

HangChillPary.com is a social app for people who want to be social. With HangChillParty.com you can let your friends know you are free to hang out, go out and have some fun.

Intellitrest.com is the social community for those who pursue intellectual interests such as archaeology, poetry, history, astronomy, art and more. Share your knowledge and trivia, express your intellectual opinions and discuss your interests with fellow intellects. Add them as peers and follow their intellectual activity.

Sqoot.com is an easy way to get your friends together to do the things you want to do. Want to go rock climbing? Let Sqoot.com know? Want to hang glide? Tell Sqoot.com. Visit a volcano in Hawaii?With Sqoot.com you are sure to find someone who want to do the same thing!

PedalRoom.com is the social site for bicycles and cyclists! They're committed to turning into the primary place for cyclists worldwide to find bikes and connect with each other virtually and in person!

MisoTrendy.com helps you find the most popular places around any location. MisoTrendy.com uses trending data from foursquare and shows currently checked-in users, tips and mayorships from the most popular venues in real-time. 

Bumped.in is a community for people on the move. Make the most of your trip or daily commute by connecting with the people en-route with you.

RealtyJoin.com is the social network for realtors, real estate investors, agents, brokers and all folks involved in real estate in one way or another. RealtyJoin.com helps real estate investors, service providers, and other professionals find relevant opportunities and connect with the people they need. RealtyJoin.com is designed to help investors and vendors find more business opportunities, share information, and make more money.

What's your favorite niche social network? Please share below. Would love to hear more from you.

And have a super day... to your success Virtually and In Person!

Heidi

 

Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Debbie Weil, author of “The Corporate Blogging Book” about how to use Social Media to Grow Your Business.

Debbie was an engaging, interesting speaker with a wealth of information. In her interview, Debbie answered questions about the definition (and misnomers) and future of social media, as well as what tools are hot today.

She talked about who is effectively using social media in business giving great examples such as Dell’s success on Twitter and how they can directly relate $1 million dollars in revenue to their guy Richard@dell and how he has effectively engaged twitter fans to drive business. Debbie talked about Southwest Airline blog ~ Nuts about Southwest, how Jet Blue uses Twitter to notify their followers of flight updates, changes, cancellations and delays.

Debbie gave several tips including the importance of our Digital Footprint and how we must be providing useful content if we want to reach and engage our circles. She also talked about how blogs are now replacing traditional websites and actually becoming websites using blogging platforms.

Debbie gave some great resources including books to read and shared her own free ebook ~ 7 tips to Write a Great Blog, which you can access at www.DebbieWeil.com.

To listen to Debbie’s interview, visit: http://www.redheadmarketingblog.com/audio/DebbieWeilSocialMedia.mp3.

To learn more about Debbie, visit her website: www.DebbieWeil.com.

To join us for our next interview (Wednesday January 21 at 11 AM EST), Mind Your Multicultural Manners with Lisa Fanin, send me an email at heidi(at)wecai.org with Mind Your Manners in the subject line and you will receive instructions on how to attend this free event.

And on that same day at 1pm J. B. Glossinger will be talking about ViralKungFu: Is your business in the game? The future of Internet Marketing. J.B. is the founder of MorningCoach.com, an online community that has quickly blossomed into the world's largest personal development Website. From Argentina to Zimbabwe, loyal listeners in more than 80 countries tune in daily to hear his podcast, skyrocketing it to the top spot on iTunes Health. In addition to his work on MorningCoach.com, J.B. also founded the innovative media-marketing firm ViralKungFu, Inc., a company specializing in social and traditional media. JB is a personal development coach, a well-regarded keynote speaker and the author of Get Out Of Neutral. He has an MBA and a PhD in Metaphysics. You can no longer rely only on your traditional marketing plan. The Internet continues to explode with new and proven methods to target your market. If you want to continue to attract and retain customers, you need to have an effective Internet marketing strategy. During this interview, J. B will show you how to lay a strong foundation for your Internet marketing plan and more.

JB’s session is $27 to register. To join us for his session, go to this link and sign up PAYPAL. Once you do, participant instructions will be sent.

Everyone who registers for J.B’s Viral Kung Fu will receive a link to his session afterwards.

20 Characteristics of a Good RYZE Leader (or any social Networking Forum Leader)

"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly."
Jim Rohn

A forum, network or any organization for that matter is only as good as the leader’s commitment to it. The number one goal of the leader should be to create the right environment for its members to succeed. That’s not to say that the network leader should not get anything out of the exchange. Quite the contrary! Although most network leaders start a network or forum for the purpose of “networking” and sharing his or her own expertise with a “captive” audience, there are also other reasons such as to learn how and to practice leading, to sharpen their own skills, to gain knowledge and to make friends.

As a leader of many organizations and most recently a new RYZE network leader (Her Mastermind Network), I have observed the leaders of more than 100 forums, and found the most active forums are those run by men and women with common traits and skills. Here’s a list of 20 characteristics the best leaders share (in no particular order):

1. Good leaders clearly define the purpose of the network.

2. Good leaders set a course of action that reinforces the purpose – it could be with a specific agenda or daily topic calendar or it could be with a list of guidelines that support the purpose.

3. Good leaders never tell or ask others to do something that they do not or would not do themselves.

4. Good leaders don’t have to have the last word in a conversation (thread).

5. Good leaders treat others like they want to be treated. One of my favorite sayings is “you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” and it’s evident on many of the boards.

6. Good leaders know it’s not just about them. It’s about all of them! They allow others to appropriately promote themselves – such as on a specific day.

7. Good leaders recruit other leaders to help (co-moderators or topic facilitators), which increases participation and gives others the opportunity to shine.

8. Good leaders recognize involvement by thanking members for posting, sharing their own expertise or asking good questions.

9. Good leaders ask for feedback, surveying the members to find out what they need from the forum. If there is a common or recurring request, the leader will take action to comply with the request.

10. Good leaders stop by members home page and say hi, or PM them once in a while.

11. Good leaders welcome and introduce new members publicly. It is amazing how much excitement this simple act will generate among other members.

12. Good leaders find and share resources.

13. Good leaders encourage interaction among members by asking thought-provoking questions.

14. Good leaders don’t have too many rules.

15. Good leaders are positive and optimistic – they use positive words to express themselves.

16. Good leaders never admonish members publicly; they “PM” the member who may need to be set straight.

17. Good leaders acknowledge others publicly – after all, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs the number one thing people need (after all our needs for survival are met) is that of recognition.

18. Good leaders will remove toxic members – a little controversy can be good especially when it encourages dialogue among members, however, too much of it can become toxic and off-putting to members. If this happens frequently the good people will leave.

19. Good leaders invite members to talk about themselves – that includes what they do professionally as well as their personal lives. True networking cannot take place until people get to know, like and trust one another.

20. Good leaders say thank you, often.

One of my favorite quotes is by Lao Tsu (Taoist philosopher that lived more than 3,000 years ago) - “The Leader's role is ultimately to help people learn to lead themselves.”

Lead on...

Heidi

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO TheWECAINetwork™ - “Helping Women Do Business on and off the WEB™”

EdenFlorist - "NO Reason is the BEST Reason to Send Flowers!

Be sure to check out the Women’s Writing & Publishing Summit taking place Online July 19-21st, 2007

17 TIPS to Get the Most Out of RYZE Social Networking

"The pros, the champions, the ones who are determined to succeed (and you're one of them), do the little things right, consistently." Bob Burg

I have been a member of RYZE Social Networking Site since January 2004 and in that time have participated in more than 60 networks. Some of those I am still a member of and some of them I have left for a variety of reasons. What I would like to share with you today are ways to get the most out of your membership in this Network (or any Social Networking site for that matter) – to truly make the time you spend there worthwhile. So here are a few things I have learned in the past 3.5 years. Please feel free to share your ideas as well.

17 TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF RYZE

#1 Participate! The key to success in networking is allowing others to get to know you. That means responding to posts you have an interest in as well as posting items of interest to women.

2. Ask questions! If you have a challenge, need or concern, use your network to seek guidance. With the number of members in this network, there is certain to be someone who can help you.

3. When you post a new topic, please include a specific topic or brief description in the subject line. That way, only those interested will read and respond. It will also endear you to the members because they will know you care enough about them to not waste their time by making them read items that they have no interest in.

4. The length of the message is not as important as the details necessary to get your point across. Given our limited time, IMHO the best posts are those that "get to the point" early in the conversation. Exceptions are when you are selling something. People ask me all the time how long a sales page should be and I have learned from many experts that it depends. It depends on what you are selling, how much it costs, who you are selling to and a number of other factors. Your message should be as long as it needs to be to "tell the story."

5. If you want to post an article that pertains to a specific topic, please post the first paragraph and a link to read the rest of the article. Also, be sure to give proper attribution to the author of the article, especially if the author is you:).

6. Create a signature line to use with your posts. Something that tells us about you or displays your websites. Give people a reason to click on the links. Hint: when you include the http:// in the URL it makes the link clickable on the page.

7. Say hello to other members of the network by stopping by their RYZE (or other Network) page and signing their guestbook.

8. Be open, listen and read other posts and respond in a positive way. I have seen Negativity MULTIPLY on other boards, leading to hurt feelings and withdrawal (or even banishment) from the boards. My grandmother use to say “You attract more flies with honey than vinegar” words I live by and try to model each and every day.

9. Posting MLM opportunities – I have not problem with MLM opportunities, many of them are worthwhile and have made people very wealthy. However, this board is not the place for recruiting your downline. If you want to share a tip that helps other MLM folks, it is welcome. However anything deemed inappropriate will be quietly removed. RYZE has many other networks devoted to Network Marketers. HER Mastermind Network is for learning, sharing, and connecting with other women.

10. When someone on the network has done something nice for you or provided a great service, feel free to thank them publicly. Let us know who you do business with and help promote one another in a positive and supporting way. You will be a hero in there eyes (and ours).

11. Lurking is encouraged here. Until you feel comfortable getting to know the members and the “attitude” of our network, feel free to lurk. However, if you want to get known quickly, the best way is to jump in with both feet and get involved. It is remarkable how much more you will receive out of your membership once you engage in the conversations.

12. Stay on topic. If the post is about relationships, and you have something to add to the conversation, please do. I have seen people “hijack” conversations by changing the topic in midstream, which can demonstrate to others a lack of respect for the poster. If you want to change the subject, please start a new thread.

13. Introduce yourself. After visiting a lot of members it seems they have very little information about them on their RYZE home page. Which means we don’t know if you are married, single, have children or pets, what your hobbies are, etc. The best way to develop rapport and build a relationship is to share personal tidbits over time about yourself. Feel free to include those tidbits here. Let us know what you do professionally and personally.

14. Get organized and keep track of where you are posting by making a folder to store those valuable responses, and keep track of which networks regularly visit. (Submitted by Susan Anderson)

15. Some networks require you to post in certain threads only. You can save those posts as FAVORITES on your computer and then when it is time to post to that thread you have it as a favorite and don't have to look for that thread when you need it. (Submitted by Kimberly "the Eagle" Motivator)

16. Appreciate diversity. Many of us come from different walks of life--some from different countries and I believe we can all learn something from each other. If we feel uncomfortable branching out and getting to know others because they look different, we may be missing out on a grand opportunity (Submitted by Beverly Mahone)

17. Connecting with people via private message is a good way to network if; you are truly looking to expand your circle, you have something to offer and it is clearly stated in the message. In the book "Never Eat Alone" Keith Ferrazzi makes a point of always telling folks what's in it for them before he EVER asks something of them (except a meeting). He makes the offer almost irresistible by doing research on his prospects to find out what hot buttons they are most likely to respond to. (Thanks to Martin Russell for initiating a conversation resulting in this tip)

I also suggest you check out the Frequently-Asked Questions page on Ryze for more ideas - http://ryze.helpserve.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=view

If you have questions about RYZE that the FAQ page does not answer you can also contact support3@ryze.com and ask them!

Building trust takes a lot more time in an online networking environment. You will see the same people posting week after week and month after month. They do this because they know participating on a regular basis helps the members to get to know them. Be one of them and let the other members get to know, like and trust you!


Wishing you a terrific day... and then some!

RYZE-ON!

Heidi Richards, Founder & CEO - The WECAI Network™