Social Media Spotlight is designed to introduce you to the benefits of social media for your business, with specific examples tailored to the graphic arts industry. This month we’re exploring Meetup.
Why join for business?
Meetup is the world’s largest online local group-finding platform. Meetup groups exist in 196 countries worldwide and the platform harnesses the Internet’s search capabilities, with the power of meeting locally, in-person. This site is a perfect platform for bringing together individuals who have very specific interests and helping them meet face-to-face. Meetup’s mission is to “revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize.”
When you head to www.meetup.com, you have the option to either ‘start a group’ or ‘find a group’. Anyone can start a group that others can search for and join. You can customize the settings as to whether individuals can simply join the group or join with your approval. Conversely, to “find a group” enter in relevant keywords, as well as your city to narrow down your search parameters. Additionally, if you join a group (or even before you commit to joining), you have the option to login via Facebook to see if you already know anyone in a particular Meetup group.
As Clay Shirky identified in his book entitled Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, the founder of Meetup realized that with a growing online population, people didn’t just have to be segmented online by affinity (for example, ink chemistry gurus or trapping enthusiasts) but the power of the web allowed them to be segmented by both affinity and proximity. The Internet opened up the possibility of like-minded individuals finding each other online with the geographical benefits of meeting face-to-face. Shirky also points out that the variety and specificity of the most popular Meetup groups (witches, Star Trek and Radiohead among them), demonstrates that this social networking site’s power lies in its ability to create new, unique groups whose members would have had a difficult time finding each other before Meetup.
It’s important to note that even though this is a great social networking site for business… it’s also not a great social networking site for business. Allow me to explain. Meetup’s Community Guidelines specifically state that Meetup is not the place to promote products or services, seek an audience or promote a webinar or other online meeting. It is, however, a fantastic place to establish like-minded networking groups, form a team to solve common industry-related problems or as a professional development learning platform (more on this in the next section).
Tips for Engaging Prospects & Customers
How do you measure engagement on Meetup? This one is pretty simple. Do group members show up to face-to-face Meetups? This statistic, paired with online membership and activity in your group’s discussion boards can help to determine whether or not you are engaging your group.
As described above, Meetup is not the place to sell your products or services but it is a great platform for bringing together important people around a specific area of interest. Here are three examples of types of groups to engage like-minded individuals in the graphic arts industry.
Networking Groups:
There are lots of Meetup groups dedicated to networking, but perhaps there is a printing networking group waiting to be born. The benefits to connecting through social networks (above and beyond traditional face-to-face networking groups), is the ability to link to other member’s virtual networks, expanding everyone’s reach. Developing a professional relationship both online and offline also allows the relationship to grow and prosper organically over time. If you are already part of a group that meets around a specific topic or you attend an annual conference, identifying your group on Meetup gives you the potential to reach even more group members. The Meetup platform excels for local groups and events.
Collaborative, Team-Based Problem Solving Groups:
What if there was a way to connect with just the right people in the graphic arts industry who all have the same pain points (“…that darn proofing problem!”). Meetup may be just the place to start a group dedicated to solving common problems that plague print shops, from prepress to press to post-press. If teams of people can work collaboratively, problems can be solved faster, with less frustration and within a community providing mutual and future support.
Professional Development Groups:
Why not start a Meetup group that brings together ideas and insights which acts a hub for resource-sharing in our industry? Invite guest speakers to your events to share their expertise relating to a specific theme. We are all lifelong learners, and if we can grow from understanding each other’s successes and failures, we’ll all get ahead. By starting this group, you will not only bring together individuals who are invested in continuous improvement, but establish yourself as a thought leader, too.
On a different (printing-related) note, the Meetup platform allows groups to order customized printed merchandise to promote their Meetup group and further engage their audience. You can order everything from hats to buttons to business cards to promote your group. Again, merging digital with physical seems to be their theme!
A Company Who’s Got It Right
Instead of focusing on a company who has got it right (because Meetup is not the place to promote specific products or services), here’s a Meetup group who’s got it right. Code Meet Print TO is a group that “explores the intersection of text and technology”. The organizer, Tim Middleton, works for BookNet Canada and brings this group of like-minded individuals together above and beyond his day job. This is a great example of how our industry can use the Meetup platform to bring key people together. Their group can be found at www.meetup.com/CMP-TO/ and here’s a summary of what’s included on their Meetup group page:
- “We’re about…” section
- Calendar of upcoming events
- Members page
- BookNet Canada sponsor image and link
- Photos
- Discussions
Glossary
Meetups: Neighbours getting together to learn something, do something, share something.
Organizer Dues: A small fee (between $12-$19 per month) billed to each Meetup group’s organizer and this fee is typically split between group members.
Leadership Teams: A team that most organizers appoint, consisting of Co-Organizers, Assistant Organizers and/or Event Organizer..
Co-Organizer: Can do everything an Organizer can do, including the ability to view and manage transactions in the Money section.
Assistant Organizer: Can help manage members, upload and edit photo albums, oversee the message board, schedule Meetups and more.
Event Organizer: Has more limited control within the group, but can manage the calendar and email members.
(All glossary terms retrieved from www.meetup.com)
Links to Further Resources
To get started, check out Meetup’s Help Centre (help.meetup.com). For free, step-by-step video instructions on getting started with Meetup, check out this link: www.grovo.com/meetup.
