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Iris Dorbian
Winner: Entrepreneur.com and Sprint — Entrepreneur Connect
In August 2008 Entrepreneur Media teamed up with Sprint to launch Entrepreneur Connect, a social network site geared for its b2b audience: entrepreneurs wishing to network with their peers and exchange information and solutions to run their businesses. At the same time, the program also sought to position Sprint as a small business advocate.
Sharing Resources
A key selling point for Entrepreneur Connect is the level of engagement and interaction it offers its target audience. As with the case of other social networks, whose users are bound by common interests and goals, Entrepreneur Connect attracted members by appealing to their special passion points and unmet needs. Users were able to maximize their assets and leverage the social net’s capabilities by performing such tasks as creating business profiles to advertise their credentials; putting their businesses on the map for others to find by location and connections; connecting to service providers, suppliers, advisers and colleagues; and searching for relevant products and services needed to grow their business.
Spreading the Word
To generate buzz for Entrepreneur Connect throughout its community, Entrepreneur Media leveraged cross promotions on its extensions, which included Entrepreneur.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, Entrepreneur magazine and Entrepreneur breakfast seminars and conferences. Popular social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, were also leveraged to get the word out about Entrepreneur Connect to its target audience.
“The foremost challenge [with this initiative] was in building Entrepreneur Connect with a distinct and indispensable value that business owners couldn’t find anywhere else,” says Lucy Gekchyan, marketing communications manager for Entrepreneur Media. “Only then would it be used by entrepreneurs already pressed for time with the management of their companies.”
Another challenge the team wrestled with was making sure all the technologies available for users, such as Google Maps, Twitter, RSS feeds and blogs, would be compatible. “We wanted to design a central community for business owners with unlimited potential, and the key was to ensure Entrepreneur Connect’s scalability for future iterations,” adds Gekchyan. “Scalability translates into viability, and our goal is to make it the one tool that entrepreneurs can’t live without.”
Master of the Game
Since its launch, Entrepreneur Connect has attracted more than 33,000 members. The community has become such a thriving platform, it was recently named the No. 1 social network for entrepreneurs by Mashable – The Social Media Guide. Sprint has been so pleased with the ROI, that it will be continuing and expanding its sponsorship. Right now, phase 2 is under way. The goal will be to add more features that address the evolving needs of small business owners.
Honorable Mentions:
Cisco and BusinessWeek – Business Exchange Partnership: Cisco partnered with BusinessWeek’s new social media Web site, Business Exchange (BX), from September 2008 to July 2009 in efforts to utilize new creative strategies and build brand awareness. With several unique elements such as topic exclusivity on BX, corporate content modules, a live interactive video webcast series, a business innovation widget, a Twitter partnership and a Top of Mind Breakfast, strong brand awareness was generated and impressions across BX, BusinessWeek and Businessweek.mobi exceeded 60 million.
Federated Media – American Express OPEN Forum: With OPENforum.com, American Express OPEN utilized a unique blend of content involving video, blogs, articles, and forums to build brand loyalty, acquire new card members and inspire and enable business growth. Thanks to American Express’s integrated marketing techniques, within just 12 months, the number of registered OPENforum.com users experienced a 317% growth, blog trafficking increased by 650% and strategically placed banners, when clicked, caused users to be 190% more likely to get card approval.
Successful Farming – Farmers for the Future: In an effort to provide young and beginning farmers with the tools they need to succeed in farming, Successful Farming launched Farmers for the Future, a social network for new and young farmers to gather and exchange information on topics ranging from finance to succession planning to new business strategies. Since its November 2008 launch, Farmers for the Future, with sponsorship from DeKalb and the Farm Credit Foundation, boasts over 1,600 active members who post photos, videos, blogs and forum comments.
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