How Do You Promote Your Network?

[Phil Williams]

I'd be really keen to find out how you promote your networks, especially those of you who have thousands of members.

1) Do you pay for advertising on Facebook and Google ads and other places? Which other places?

2) Or do you simply use Twitter, Facebook and other social media to find your target audience?

3) Or do you use both?

4) Which method/site brings in the most members for you?

[Adina]

I made flyers and cards too, but I made them for my members to distribure. I run a social network for owners of labradoodle & goldendoodle dogs and doodle owners (like me =)) love to get together, love to spot other doodle owners, etc....so they are happy to distribute cards/flyers at grooming shops, vets, etc because it's a win-win situation. They get to meet others with a similar interest and plan play dates and share a very useful site. I'm seeing more and more members join who found out about the site because they ran into a member at the dog park or PetSmart or such places. I can't say that word of mouth is a huge part of our growth, but it does help =)

[Leo]

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. I have to say that I have been very surprised with twitter response to jump start a network.

[WALTER H. STEINLAUF]

We have a FB presence, but really do not get that much action from there. Of course, our Network is more of a non-profit, specific social and medical advocacy initiative. So, that is not very "sexy" to most people. We are not concerned with that ~~~

I believe it is critically important for the Network Creator to fine tune your network KEYWORDS so that the search engines and "spiders" can find and index you. This is imperative. Try some search terms on Google, Yahoo and others and see what comes up. If you are not ranking, you have some homework to do.

[Becca]

It's very interesting to read about where everyone is getting their traffic. Sometimes I worry that my site isn't being fully optimized from an SEO perspective because I have a wordpress blog that gets hardly traffic but google seems to have no problem finding it. On the flip side, my six-month-old Ning network is much more active but it doesn't seem as Google friendly. I know that inbound links play a big part of it and I've just gotten some big ones thanks to some local news that has gotten some major news pickup.

Right now, here are my four biggest traffic sources:

Direct - 40%
Twitter - 20%
Facebook - 8%
Google - 7%

I also use Mail Chimp (bcz it's free) to send monthly discussion recap to my members. It seems to work pretty well. Hardly anyone unsubscribes and we have a 50% open rate (according to Mail Chimp the average is 15%).

One thing that I'm finding is that by using Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to the site, you also run the risk of fragmenting the conversation. In my ideal world, everyone would be going back to the Website to leave comments, but some comment back to me on Twitter and others leave their comments on our Fan page. In the end I suppose it doesn't matter as long as people are reading the content on the Website, but it's definitely a challenge.

ClarkP, I love the idea of re-inviting people who haven't joined. I will be trying that ASAP.

[Janettee McCrary]

I usually use Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, plus I also send invites from the network, then follow up with an email or IM to the person I invited (for friends/family, as two of these are alumni networks so I generally know the people I invite). I also blog and sometimes I get traffic from my blog (Blogger has a main blog section where my blog apparently comes up frequently, as I get a lot of traffic from it). I have a business and posted links to my networks on my website as sample websites I've created (I build websites for people without the knowledge, for about $10-$20 since I'm not terribly advanced and basically it's just for my time.) Also, for one of my alumni networks I have posted the link to my network on the school's wikipedia page, so any time someone sees that I usually get traffic:)

I use Feedjit to determine where my traffic comes from. My Feedjit Feed is rather long so I'll just post a link for anyone interested in seeing where my traffic comes from.

For The Human Touch: Here is the Feedjit Feed.
For Wags To Whiskers: Here is the Feedjit Feed.
For NWCHSAlumni: Here is the Feedjit Feed.
For CvilleHS: Here is the Feedjit Feed.

I seem to get a lot of traffic from Creators, thanks:) Now not all of these visits translate into members, but it gives me a good idea of what referral sources are the best:)

[Barnmice]

I have over 6000 members and many thousands of visitors and pages viewed each month. I don't pay for ads. I use social media, traditional PR and media outlets, personal and business relationships, strategic partnerships and a whole lot more. My background is PR and I have never relied on paid ads for my clients so I wasn't going to go that route for my own site.

[Tim]

It's also worth considering creating a YouTube channel for your network, and customise it so that it has an appropriate look and feel. Make sure your profile links back to your network, and add some suitable text about it.

You can subscribe to other YouTube users who upload content that's relevant to your network, and if you use YouTube videos on your network, "favourite" them as you add them. If you have members who have YouTube accounts, you can make them your friends.

It also helps if you have a promotional video for your network. I've used One True Media in the past to create a slideshow, but more recently, I've signed up for a trial account with animoto. I've also put these on my network's Facebook Fan Page, and usually add the latest video as a link if I'm posting elsewhere on Facebook about something to do with my main network, the Gay Travellers Network.

[mr phira chuon]

hello my add do not show up at all i have a problem with adsence saying that the application is wrong or screwed up so all i have now is codes can some please help me with this i want pictures and banners not links and codes ive tried everything from html to adding it over and over again i dont know what to do pleeease help here is my website http://weareblessedandunderuniversallaw.com please join as well as i dont have much members pease and many blessings mr phira chuon 

[mr phira chuon]

hello my adds do not show up at all i have a problem with adsence saying that the application is wrong or screwed up so all i have now is codes can some please help me with this i want pictures and banners not links and codes ive tried everything from html to adding it over and over again i dont know what to do pleeease help here is my website http://weareblessedandunderuniversallaw.com please join as well as i dont have much members pease and many blessings mr phira chuon 

[mr phira chuon]

dear fiends, i would like to introduce my self as Mr Phira chuon founder and creator of we are blessed and under universal law i am writing with great compassion and full sincerity on this subject mental illness as you may not know but 1 in 5 people suffers from a mental disorder of some kind within there lives.
That in reality is a shocking statistic knowing your sons daughters or friend will develop this illness that's why i am trying to lower the number through spirituality this may sound crazy but 4 people have been getting better with my website i started it because im the 1 in 5 i suffer from an illness to but found that the mental health system just drugs you up and kicks you out the door offering little or no help whatsoever this is where i step in and take people that suffers from mental illness spend time with them take them to sky high and have coffee but unfortunately my own funds is being drained i have one sponsor atm a medical company that just goes to show how much they believe this will work and at the moment i have 47 members not a lot to get attention but i really don't care my heart is with helping these people who gets judged and neglected but the sponsor ship is only limited and only with website hosting not funds or real donations as i have done all of this on my own with no help exept for god i hope you will be my next sponsor and look forward to hearing from you god bless you and may you find peace and prosperity here is the link to the website http://www.weareblessedandunderuniversallaw.com so you can look at the blogs be sure to join free and add me as friends to see the whole website god bless mr phira chuon.