SocialGO Blog

From LOL cats to sneeezing pandas, it seems everyone on the internet loves animals. It is a fascination that both adults and children can enjoy and social networks are the best way for them to get together online. While some people have been making accounts on myspace and facebook for their pets,more resourceful animal lovers have come to SocialGO to build networks specifically for pets and their owners.

MyPawPage.com is an excellent example of what can be achieved with SocialGO’s Concierge plan . The professional design team have built a fun and simple site with a user friendly welcome page and a clear explanation of who the site is for, what it does and how to get started. There is also an amusing paw print cursor that lets you leave your mark on the page. My-Pet-Facebook provides a similar network where animal owners can meet and share photos, videos and stories about their pets.

Some animal loving owners offer more specific content, such as on Pets Aloud.co.uk which caters for that ‘nation of animal lovers’, Great Britain.  Then there’s Pooch Date.com, a network exclusivley for Dogs and their devoted owners. It’s a place where they can “meet dogs for puppy play dates, group walks, dog park meets, breeding partners, find a breeder, sell your puppies or find a single dog owner looking for another human companion.” There are animal lovers in every corner of the globe, and many of them are online, if you are looking to create a pet owner’s website, then why not make it a community network with SocialGO?

When the owners of Earthlings started their SocialGO network, they weren’t yet ready to sell their baby clothing products. Even so, they persevered and built a healthy, online community so that when they were ready to sell, they had constant access to a specifically targeted consumer base. “We thought, why not start a community? We can have the ball rolling even before we get our products online,” says Hannah Shone, Co-Owner of Earthlings.

This article from MarketingSherpa.com shows you the seven key strategies of how Earthling owners, Thickpenny and Shone, made the transition from socializing to selling.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31555

Social networking sites have extraordinary potential to be used as arenas for public discussion. Large organisations, like the Big Lottery Fund who award funds from The National Lottery, have seized this opportunity. They have chosen SocialGO as the host for The Big Chat, an initiative to gather input from the public about how lottery funds should be distributed. On 16th March 2010 from 1pm to 3pm, the Chair of Big Lottery Fund, Sir Clive Booth, will be taking part in a live web chat.

Claudio Concha at Big Lottery Fund explains why SocialGO was ideal for the Big Chat, “We were looking for a solution that had the user functionality we required (user registration, live chat, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube feeds) as well as the ability to quickly rebrand the pages to suit our needs, all at a very reasonable cost.” Between now and 16th March you can send in questions for Sir Clive to answer online. “The built in registration / user account functionality and the availability of the chat module have been the greatest benefit to the Big chat and have enabled its rapid development.” He says.

As part of the Big Lottery Fund’s Welsh language Scheme, it was necessary to provide the site both in Welsh and English. They were able to easily enter the translated text in Gaelic on an identical page and then provide language tab links at the top of the page. They say this and other usability functions have made the site’s constuction a highly rewarding, hassle free process. “The ability to both drag and drop modules of pre-built functionality coupled with the flexibility of being able to completely customise the look and feel of the pages by crafting custom CSS code has made developing the site particularly easy.”

SocialGO are proud to be associated with the Big Lottery Fund that has already provided over £2.8 billion of funding for good causes. Why not sign up to Big Chat today and have your say on who should recieve lottery funding in the future.

There are many benefits to having a social network dedicated to a specific area. People moving to or visiting a city are likely to search the Internet for information on local restaurants and nightlife, but a social network has the added benefit of providing not only listings but also local knowledge from members.

This kind of functionality can’t be provided by larger social networks or by normal travel websites. “My friend Matt and I love Facebook,” Says the owner of the Baltimore Social Network, Adam. “It’s really neat that you can connect with all your friends, but it doesn’t really have any unique content about where people live and whats going on there. We thought people would like a site similar to Facebook where they could see whats going on around town; local sports, theatre, etc. They can also post events and groups that are more relevant, since the groups and events will all be in their city.”

Matt and Adam have plans to expand the concept and build similar sites for other locations. “We are planning to roll out similar sites for all major cities in the US by next year and then go international.” These resourceful entrepreneurs have plenty of time to consider expansion because as concierge customers, they have a personal account manager who takes care of designing, building and setting up their network. “The concierge program is great!” Adam exclaims. “Matt and I both have full time jobs, kids and wives. We are techies and could of done it ourselves but it would have taken away from the time required to market the sites. In retrospect, I think we made a great decision and we look forward to making about 100 sites with SocialGO.”

Localised networks are an excellent way of providing unique content for your members. The geographically specific membership also makes advertising space on the network more valuable to local businesses, who are guaranteed to reach their target market. You can have the concierge design team build a SocialGO network for your home town in a matter of weeks. “We picked SocialGO because we thought this was the best platform out there, and they do things quickly. We are very pleased with Social Go, and have already recommended it to our associates.”

The Student Balkan Rally is an ambitious project, enabling young people to embark on a life changing journey across Europe, from England to Macedonia. Students who take part get to party for two weeks while experiencing the historic sites of Europe and meeting new friends along the way. What better way for the participants to keep tabs on their fellow team members and rivals than with a social network? “We wanted a platform that enables people to meet up and arrange events themselves whilst also allowing the owner to post events too.” Explains the site owner, James.

Although an annual event, the site is a permanent fixture. Members can stay in touch with people they met on previous rallies or learn more about next year’s rally. The site functions both as a promotional tool, an organisational tool and as a vital means of communications for the rally participants, spread out across the continent. James has benefited as much from the standard features of SocialGO as he has from the additional features available from the Widget Store. “Members needed to be able to create their own teams so we used the groups for this by just changing the group tab to teams. It’s also important to us that members are able to upload their photos and videos as they go along.” He continues. “We got the chat room widget because it’s free and makes it easier for members to keep in touch. We also bought the Foot Doctor widget so navigation became that little bit easier for users.”

The network has a large flash banner of relevant images and bold titles, and the design is minimal and well-composed. This makes it easy to navigate and less likely to confuse the user. In addition to the Foot Doctor, James also purchased the Tab Doctor widget, which he says “Made the whole network look a lot more tidy and professional.” There is a large calendar clock, counting the minutes until the next rally and creating a sense of immediate urgency that adds to the exciting nature of the network.

A site as professional as this looks very difficult to create, but owner James assures us this was not the case. “It was easy to build, we had help from the Concierge team with it - this was particularly useful when starting out as we had limited knowledge of the system… it didn’t take long to get to grips with it though.”

We at SocialGO hope that James, and all the participants of the 2010 Balkan Rally, have an unforgettable adventure.

“SocialGO have come round all the problems that people were having with Ning. And today, they are heading fast to make Ning outdated. In most of the cases, they out do Ning.” From “Ning or SocialGO?” by Shouvik Mukherjee, associatedcontent.com, March 04, 2010

“SocialGO…is building in extra tools to make a true profit center out of social media …you not only get all the typical social networking features…but also e-commerce tools so you can sell to them…you can white-label the site so it looks like you built it without any help from SocialGO.” From “SocialGO Monetizes Social Networking for Biz” by Eric Griffith, PC Magazine, December 4, 2009

“[SocialGO] will make consumers more interested in what you have to sell because they get to become a part of it…If you don’t have the time or resources to build your own website, let SocialGo do it for you.” From “Build a Social Network for Your Small Business” by Linda Roeder, About.com, November 17, 2009.

“SocialGO’s social networking sites let businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs…[create] online communities with full content and member control, monetization, and customization features.” From “SocialGO Rustles Up $800,000” by Amy Tierney, TMCnet, January 19, 2010.

“SocialGO is surprisingly easy to install into your own website….the data and the loyalty belong to you…if you and your website leave SocialGO….take your users with you. SocialGO will not spam your users…asking them to join other sites in its network.” Scott McGrew, NBC’s Tech Now, December 12, 2009.

“…when PinkNews…wanted to launch a social networking service…I just recommended they use SocialGo.com — a service that lets anyone start their own social network within minutes.” From “Meet Ben Cohen: The 27-year-old teenage millionaire” by Benjamin Cohen, Wired.com.UK, February 9, 2010.

“I first thought [SocialGO] was Ning on steroids but…it was much more user friendly than Ning – and had a lot more going for it…If you’re looking for a robust, integrated and ‘enticing’ social network with excellent customer service SocialGO is a platform worth considering…you not only can create a great social network – you can actually create an entire website around your social network.” From “SocialGo: A Rather Irresistible Social Network Builder” by Nicky Jameson, Nicky Jameson on Copywriting, Marketing Tech and Social Media, February 7, 2010.

“SocialGO has…features that are useful to small business owners who are not tech savvy.” From “Build a Social Networking Site with Ning, SocialGO” by Tasha Cunningham, The Miami Herald, October 5, 2009.

“While creating a social network…is a daunting prospect…it’s actually easier than you might imagine. SocialGO…lets you build and maintain a professional level social network tailored to your own requirements.” From “Interview: SocialGO” by Will Freeman, CasualGaming.biz

“A Rather Irresistible Social Network Builder” - the title of a blog written about SocialGO by Nicky Jameson on February 7th, 2010.

“If you’re looking for a robust, integrated and “enticing” social network, with excellent customer service SocialGo  is a platform worth considering. If there is something that’s not on this social network, they are probably adding it or it’s on the list to be added. I first thought it was Ning on steroids but after trying it out I thought it was a lot more user friendly than Ning – and had a lot more going for it. You can be the judge….”

To read the rest of Nicky’s blog, check out the article here. You can also read other blogs from Nicky here.

Having a social networking site built from scratch is likely to be astronomically expensive. There are a variety of platforms on the market that do most of the work for you, but Gregory, owner of TopNotchTrend.com has learnt that few are as customisable as SocialGO. “We needed a low maintenance platform since we don’t have many staff.” He explains, “It was either this or Ning but SocialGo got the edge because it’s more customizable.”

Gregory’s designers removed all the default css structure and styles then designed the site from scratch. Although many network owners choose to go with the default layout, it’s not too hard to change things, as Gregory reveals, “It’s really simple to tailor the site exactly how you want it.” The design team have done a great job on this new site, creating one of the best landing pages on the platform.

Being able to customise the layout and appearance of the network is not the only benefit that attracted Top Notch Trend to the SocialGO platform. Member levels and member billing were also crucial. “The member billing has by far been the most useful feature.” Gregory continues, “We are able to monetize our website more effectively and more efficiently. Our company does photography work but we discount our premium subscribers on shoots and event photography. We also offer free merchandise to premium members.”

Network owners who buy the GOimport Pro service are able to import up to 2000 contacts directly to their network from a database. Owners can also export membership details to another platform, this is great for owners who may be planning to sell their site. This functionality is made possible by collating membership details in a versatile database for the owner’s benefit. “We are able to create a database of the models on our site since there is a really simple system to export data.” Business owners who are looking for a flexible platform on which to build their online network, need look no further.

The fansite is a significant development in internet history. People naturally come together when they share a passion for something; whether that be an artist, a musician or in this case a football club. Using a social network as a fansite makes perfect sense, it provides all the information and news a normal fansite would but with the added benefit of an interactive community. ‘We R QPR’ has about 800 active members all of whom convene, make friends and share opinions and hundreds of photos related to Queen’s Park Rangers football club on their profile pages and forums. The owner has also purchased the GO chatroom widget, with which multiple users can share their thoughts on the latest match in a live discussion. This kind of feature really strengthens the bonds of an online community, as do others such as video chat and the groups function.

The ‘We R QPR’ network is consistently well branded, the whole site is a wash with the team’s unimistakable blue and white home colours. The network also matches the design of the official QPR site and provides image links to become a member of the official QPR fanclub. This kind of seamless integration looks very professional. Users surf back and forth between the sites without noticing a transition. This is a great example of how an existing fansite can be integrated with an interactive social network for fans.