Here’s a presentation I gave during the Yoovolution event Nov 8, 2009.
Enjoy.
Sincerely
George Tran
Author of “The Social Marketing Manifesto”
Success Strategies for Small Businesses using Social Media
www.socialmarketingman.com
www.twitter.com/georgetran
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello George,
I really like your concept a whole lot and see tremendous value. The only question I have is with regards to branding. I already have a membership site on Ning with over 8,000 members and can see how your platform would really allow me the opportunity to create another great network or offer existing members the opportunity to migrate. The only thing is, I don’t see is the ability to totally customize the site and remove the “Create your own private social membership network with e-commerce. YourGuruSpace or Social Sam”.
In my niche, I would be only creating more competition for myself if that stays on the bottom of each page. If I’m gong to pay, I don’t want to have your logo or sales slogan on my site and help with your marketing. In fact, I would be willing to pay a small premium for it’s removal. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
For some people it wouldn’t matter but in certain entrepreneurial niches that’s a deal breaker. Is there some way to totally eliminate the references back to your company? Let me know, I have very interested.
Lee
Thanks for your feedback.
At this time…we have no way to disable that. It’s not as easy as “just take it off”. We have to build a whole new billing package into our upgrade system to accommodate this, and figure out a fair price for this benefit.
On the same note…if you are currently doing this on Ning…your competitors can also easily set up a Ning platform. Furthermore, there’s a whole lot more to the process of building and managing a community than just the technology. You’ve obviously gotten some traction for your message to have a 8000 member. Capitalize on that…make that a source of competitive advantage and barrier to entry…rather than just “if they see that I am using SocialSAM – then they can be a competitor”.