Success Building A Social Network with Ning.com
About a year ago I used Ning to build an unofficial social network for the athletic programs at my alma mater North Dakota State.
Over the past year, I’ve been impressed with the quickness for which a network can be built utilizing Ning. Over that time, Ning has made several improvements to improve site flexibility. The message board, photos and video functions are first class.
For very little money, I think Ning is a great tool for companies looking to create a branded social media experience. With that said, below are a few tips that might help you if you are looking to build a successful social network using Ning.
Tips Building a Successful Social Network on Ning
- Get your hands on photoshop and create a customized look. A nice clean look will help you increase the number of visitors that are converted to members.
- Buy a vanity URL for your site. For this I recommend using GoDaddy.com. Here’s a link explaining how to do it: http://networkcreators.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=492224:BlogPost:47807
- Before doing any promotion, invite your friends to check it out and share their honest opinion and ideas for improvement.
- Utilize RSS Feeds to pull in content from outside sources. This will help keep your content fresh without doing anything at all.
- Upgrade and make your site completely transparent. This costs about $8 a month and it will help keep your brand at the forefront.
- Visit the Ning Help site for support. If you are having issues, search for a solution in the forums and if you don’t find anything ask a question.
More tips from Ning for creating the perfect social network.
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[...] Allan Woodstrom, who used Ning to build a network for a group at North Dakota State, offers these tips and insights: Success Building A Social Network with Ning.com. [...]