Rpitch2U

Making Sense of the Social Web for Business

2009-11-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce my involvement in a new project called, 'Social Webinars' - which is comprised of a group of social media experts who have come together to offer a series of web demonstrations designed to provide insight into using social media to promote a business. Throughout the month of December I will be facilitating a variety of webinars across a number of subjects including:

How To Email Market Effectively
How To Use Social Networks to Market a Business
How To Use Live Streaming Video To Promote a Business
How To Leverage Facebook to Market a Business
How Social Media Can Help Your SEO
How to Facilitate Your Own Webinar
And More...

What I really like about the webinars is their lack of 'fluff' and how much practical information is offered within a short amount of time (typically less than 45 minutes). Also, the cost to attend each webinar is competitively priced at only $20 per event. To put this pricing in perspective, I've seen webinars of this caliber (or less) offered for as much as $300+ per event.

The team at Social Webinars plans to offer at least 15 webinars each month - with the first series of webinars beginning next month (December 3rd to be exact). Additionally, Social Webinars has created a certification process that will certify anyone who successfully attends a minium of 5 events. Certified experts are provided with a customized certification badge and a listing in the 'expert' directory on the website.

For more information about signing up for an upcoming webinar visit: http://www.socialwebinars.com

Bill

New 'How To' Webinars

2009-11-10T09:00:00.001-08:00

With the launch of a new website, we've been working tirelessly behind the scenes to enhance all of our support and training videos and documentation. In fact, just last week we began promoting a new series of 'How To Use Fast Pitch!' Webinars. These webinars are designed to teach you everything you need to know about using Fast Pitch! to make connections and promote your business. The webinars are offered at various times and pack a ton of information into a 45 minute online presentation.

To learn more about the upcoming webinars visit:

http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/learn_webinars.cfm

For those of you who may have attended a 'How To' Webinar in the past, you'll want to re-visit these events. The navigation, and dissemination of content across the network has changed significantly and will be explained in great detail.

In the coming weeks you will also begin to see a series of new 'How To' training videos and presentations from our staff added to the network... in addition to an updated Fast Pitch! User Manual and Pocket Guide.

Best of all...

All of this is FREE!

Bill

It's Great to Be (a) LIVE...

2009-10-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

The new Fast Pitch! is up!

Take a look: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/

In fact, we're sending out announcements to all of our members as we speak - giving them the opportunity to be the first to experience the new look and feel of the site, as well as some of the enhancements we've made to our industry leading networking and marketing features.

Here's a brief look at what we've done so far (with more to come!):

More Dynamic Profile
Better Integration with Social Media
Ability to Send Messages to your Entire Network
Improved Match-Making
Ability to Create a Watch List for Hot Leads
Send Direct Mail to Your Network
Simple to Use Interface
Enahnced Search Capabilities

One of the first things you'll notice is just how easy it is to navigate the network. In short, we've reduced the number of clicks it takes to get things done. Whether you're updating your profile, looking for ideal people to network with, chat live, send email newsletters, or post and share content... you're most likely only one click away!

For those of you who are uncomfortable with change... we will be offering a series of 'How To' webinars in the coming weeks to help everyone become more familiar with how to maximize your time on the network and how it can help you grow your business. Keep an eye out for those dates and times.

In the meantime, login and 'kick the tires'... Update your profile, make a few connections, add some content about your business and more. Start making your 'pitch' to the world... faster than ever!

Bill

It's The Final Countdown...

2009-10-19T07:52:00.001-07:00

For those of you who read my post from a few weeks ago (A Sneak Peak...), you'll be happy to know that our development team is in the final stages of officially launching the new and improved Fast Pitch! - which will add even more new networking and marketing features than we originally anticipated.

The process of updating our layout and functionality have spawned a host of new ideas that will lead to a more meaningful networking experience with a host of tools designed to help you manage the way you communicate to your network and the overall network at-large. In short, the slight delay is well worth the wait...

Thanks to everyone for your patience. Now... let the countdown begin...

Bill

Hot Off The Press!

2009-10-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, many of you have received a gift in your mailbox courtesy of Fast Pitch! That gift, for those of you who may not have received one just yet, is a 50+ page Fast Pitch! Pocket Guide. The Pocket Guide is a clear, concise paperback book designed to educate our users on using social media to market their business more effectively.

The idea for the Fast Pitch! Pocket Guide came about for two primary reasons:

1. We're the first social network in the world to do it.
Ask yourself, when is the last time an Internet company took the time to send you something tangible (and of value), while asking nothing in return? My guess is never.

2. We're giving our users an alternative way to learn about social media.
Call me old-fashioned but, there's still something about reading an actual book that has it's appeal. Having the ability to flip through pages on my own terms without being bombarded by millions of pixels is actually becoming more of an attractive option these days. My guess is our typical user (average age 40), shares that same feeling.

As of today, over 5,000 Pocket Guides have been mailed out to some of our more recent and active users. Additionally, we're partnering with speakers, and business organizations who are interested in using the Pocket Guides at upcoming events.

If you haven't received your Free Fast Pitch! Pocket Guide or would like to request Multiple Pocket Guides CLICK HERE >>

If you are an advertiser and have an interest in gaining additional exposure to Fast Pitch! members by advertising in the Pocket Guide CLICK HERE >>

Best,

Bill

A Sneak Peak...

2009-09-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Over the past three years, despite all of the features we have added to Fast Pitch!, we've been reluctant to make any major changes to the overall user experience. Part of the reason has been the fear of alienating some of our most loyal members who have become so famliar with how to navigate our network. The downside to not making changes however, is a fragmented user experience that has the potential to confuse many of our newest members who are coming to us with certain expectations. In recent weeks, it's become obvious to many of us here at Fast Pitch! that now is the time to make some changes and 'raise the bar' for ourselves and the overall industry.

Our development team has been working around the clock in recent days to overhaul the entire network in order to bring add more (and new) technology to Fast Pitch! The hope is that the overall user experience becomes more intuitive and effective for our members. Without getting into details about how we plan to do this... I can say, I'm excited about what has been developed so far. After talking briefly with my dev team this morning, many of you can expect to see some major changes in the coming days.

Stay Tuned.

Bill

Approaching 1,000 Fans on Facebook.

2009-09-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

We launched a Facebook Fan Page for Fast Pitch! a few weeks ago. Within a few weeks we've already had almost 1,000 members become Fans. In fact, at the time of writing this, we're sitting on 999! Become Fan #1,000 and win a one-year Platinum Membership valued at $168 per year.

Quick... Add yourself! http://www.facebook.com/fastpitchnetworking

Currently, we are using the Fan Page to highlight some (not all) of our latest Platinum Members who join Fast Pitch! on a daily basis. Being featured on this Fan Page is a great way to make an introduction to the Fast Pitch! community and bring your business instant exposure. In fact, your featured listing is also posted on our Twitter page which currently has about 7,000 Followers and growing.

Note: in order to be considered for a listing on our Fan Page Wall you must become a Platinum Member, complete your profile AND have a professional headshot.

On a completely separate note... We've been working overtime these past few weeks and plan to unveil some new features, etc. We're excited.

Stay Tuned!

Bill

UPDATE: That didn't take long (less than 1 minute after this blog post)!
Congratulations Mike Grandelli of Rose & Womble Realty in Virginia Beach, VA for becoming the 1,000th Fan! Mike just won an annual Platinum Membership to Fast Pitch!

Help us reach our goal of 2,000 Fans before September 30th. Spread the Word!

Fast Pitch! Turned 3!

2009-08-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Happy belated birthday Fast Pitch!

I woke up this morning in cold sweats realizing that we forgot to celebrate our 3rd birthday in June. Funny thing is, nobody here at the office managed to remember it either.

This reminds me of that 80's movie Sixteen Candles where everyone forgets Molly Ringwald's 16th birthday because they are preocupied with her sisters wedding. In our case it's been a series of summer events happening in our own office that led to the distraction.

Fast Pitch! is the anchor tenant of the new HuB Incubator here in Sarasota, FL. The HuB is a destination for entrepreneurs, artists and professionals to connect and share ideas.
Founded by a group of entrepreneurs the goal of The HuB is to bring a new energy to the creative-class here locally to help transform our city socially, economically and politically.

Over the past three months, The HuB and Fast Pitch! have been involved in launching a new music festival (Vinyl Music Festival), two events aimed at promoting local artists (s/ART/q), the launch of three new technology companies, an exciting new amateur basketball league (Gulf Coast ABA), and a series of non-profit initiatives as well. All this, combined with the continued growth of Fast Pitch! and the demands placed on all of us to service hundreds of thousands of professionals worldwide (we've seen our new member growth continue to increase despite the summer months and a lagging economy)... and I think I understand why the birthday came and went.

In 10 more months, we'll be turning 4! Something tells me it will be here before we know it...

Bill

Virtual Tradeshows... Coming to a City Near You!

2009-07-09T13:55:00.001-07:00

Over a year ago we launched our popular Live Chat feature to give our members the ability to have real-time conversations with other members. Up until recently however, the feature has been somewhat void of structure causing some chat requests to go unnoticed or simply ignored oftentimes due to a perceived lack of relevance by the recipient of the message.

In an effort to create more context for our members we've now created individual event pages (Virtual Tradeshows) based around fifteen larger metropolitan areas where Fast Pitch! has a significant following (view a sample here). The goal is to have Fast Pitch members login at a specified day and time with the primary intent of networking with everyone else logging into the event page (not too dissimilar from an in-person tradeshow). All of these initial events are scheduled at various times on July 29th and can be found in our events section.

Unbeknownst to most of you, we tested the Virtual Tradeshow event concept a few months ago (May and June) here locally (Tampa Bay). For each event, we created a customized Live Chat page which featured only those members from around the Bay Area who RSVP'd to the event and logged in to Fast Pitch! that morning. Both events proved to be quite successful. Here are some interesting statistics we were able to capture:

April 29, 2009
Total Attendees = 102
Highest # Concurrent Conversations = 71
Average # Concurrent Conversations = 34

May 28, 2009
Total Attendees = 87
Highest # Concurrent Conversations = 58
Average # Concurrent Conversations = 26

The advantages to these Virtual Tradeshow events compared to in-person networking events are pretty obvious: 1) Less Time 2) No Driving 3) No Event Fee 4) No Traffic 5) No Gas Expense 6) No Parking Fees 7) No Marketing Expenses, 8) No Need to Leave the Office, and so on...

Initially, these events will last about one-hour and will be FREE to all Fast Pitch! members. Additionally, each event page will provide unique visibility for sponsoring companies who wish to promote themselves in a variety of ways including: banner advertising, a live streaming video header with chat functionality, pre-recorded videos and more. For a short demonstration about what it means to sponsor these Virtual Tradeshow events, email us at: info@fastpitchnetworking.comor call 888-327-8025.

For more information about all of the upcoming events on July 29th visit: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/events

To watch a short video tutorial on how to take part in a Virtual Tradeshow visit: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/flash/popup_livechat.cfm

Bill

Putting Twitter Into Context

2009-06-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Twitter, the micro-blogging platform that allows you to update your status and tell people what you are doing at a moment in time, is all the rave these days. Millions of people are setting up 'profiles' and blurting out announcements to anyone who will listen. In fact, the Twitter platform has witnessed the largest growth in traffic of any Internet property in recent months due to the simplicity of the concept... and mainstream media coverage.

As with most social media tools, Twitter in its current form seems to offer large companies the best opportunity for marketing by allowing them to leverage their existing customers (fans, viewers, etc.) to drive word of mouth. In some cases, these larger companies are also using Twitter as customer support to diffuse negative situations as they arise.

On a micro level, Twitter may offer a similar opportunity for smaller businesses who are looking for an inexpensive way to market virally as well. The difference however, is that most smaller businesses lack the marketing budget to attract a qualified following. In fact...

The average Twitter account has less than 10 Followers.

Fast Pitch! hopes to change all that. Much like with our Blog Promotion feature, we recently launched a Twitter Directory promoting our members business related Tweets. In fact, in just a few short days, over 1,000 Fast Pitch! members have already linked their Twitter accounts to their Fast Pitch! Profiles, quite possibly making the Fast Pitch! Twitter Directory...

one of the largest 'Twitter for Business' applications on the Internet!

What makes our Twitter integration feature so powerful is that it puts your Twitter account into context by helping to drive a business audience to Follow your updates. These are people with real spending power who can act on your messages. Additionally, our Twitter Directory essentially filters much of the 'noise' happening on Twitter.com by allowing you to search for Tweets in a business context.

Linking your Twitter account is dead simple. Enter your Twitter login credentials into Fast Pitch! and hit 'Save'. Once completed, all of your future Tweets will automatically populate your profile and our Twitter Directory. Additionally, other Fast Pitch! members are only one click away from being able to Follow your account. Lastly, any status update you add to Fast Pitch! will automatically be added to your Twitter feed... proving once again, Fast Pitch! is a one-stop-shop for business networking and marketing!

Finally, for those members who are interested in maximizing the Fast Pitch! audience to grow their Twitter Following, we offer a Twitter Inbox Promotion for $25. With this inbox promotion we will send your Twitter Account to the inbox of our most active 50,000 members encouraging them to Follow you.

For more information visit: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/twitter/twitter_link.cfm

You can't Tweet that!

Bill

Don't forget to Follow Us >>

Freemium?

2009-05-28T12:05:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, the Fast Pitch! business model is different than most social networks who rely almost entirely on advertisers to support their operations. In fact, advertising on our network (although quite effective for the few advertisers we've decided to work with) accounts for less than .001% of our annual sales.

Instead, we have decided to run our business as a 'Freemium' business, which gives our users a free account to get started... and the option to upgrade to a higher level of service for a monthly fee. Since launching in July 2006, we've stayed the course and refused to give in to the notion that people will not pay to belong to an online network. Despite pressure from hundreds of 'fly by night' ad supported, free networks popping up everyday, our Freemium model has continued to be successful. Here's a few reasons why:

Paid membership levels create a HEIRARCHY within the community - Paid members have the largest footprint across the network by virtue of a higher ranking across all searches and the ability to make the most connections and grow their network. Combined, these two factors bring more attention to the paid members who eventually become viewed by the network as experts. Over time, members with such an elevated status are presented with more opportunities... and obviously more business.

We Offer VALUE. Quite frankly, we offer a better product that helps you grow your network, market your business... and best of all... saves you money! In many cases, we've commoditized other services you may be paying for a la carte from third-party vendors. For example, to post a press release on other PR websites it can cost as much as $300 per press release... whereas, for as little as $7 per month Fast Pitch! members can post an unlimited number of press releases each month... and do many things with that press release that are not possible without a network (i.e. audience).

Another example is our email marketing service (3Step Contact) which as part of a $7 per month membership our memebrs receive a full-featured email marketing tool that allows you to create, send and track email newsletters to your existing contacts. For a similar service, many people spend $25 - $200 per month with third-party platforms.

Membership creates ACCOUNTABILITY. People who pay even a nominal amount of money for a service are more likely to use it. Overtime, more paying members creates a more vibrant network which generates a higher response rate for everyone on the network... which leads to a larger, tighter network, and so on. The converse of this is a very large network with millions of inactive profiles and no paying members with no accountability, where messaging among members falls on deaf ears (Twitter anyone?)

Since the summer of 2006, we've stayed true to this Freemium philosophy as the number of paid members on our network continues to grow every month since we launched. Our Freemium model has been so successful that we have turned away countless numbers of advertisers whose product or service had little relevance to our community. In other words,

if your product is not business-related and does not help our members save money and become more efficient, do not bother contacting us about advertising

On that note... It's probably time for us to plug a few of our newest advertisers. I strongly encourage you to check each of them out.

FreshBooks (which by the way, currently graces the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine - congratulations guys) offers some killer software to help small businesses manage all of their invoicing. FreshBooks has built an automated system that will print and mail invoices to all of your customers. Great for freelancers, small businesses, and service professionals.

GotVMail (now Grasshopper) offers entrepreneurs a professional messaging service complete with vanity numbers, multiple voiceboxes, voicemail routing (cellphone, email, etc.), all of which helps many small companies appear larger than they are.

Phonevite uses innovative software that allows you to send out thousands of calls to your clients (or prospective clients) within seconds. Upload your phone lists, create a voice message, define your delivery day and time and press 'Go'...

Vertical Response is an email marketing platform that allows you to Create, Send and Track email campaigns (newsletters, announcements, etc.). VR seems to have a better open rate than other services and provides an excellent interface for reporting.

Bill

Answers 2.0

2009-05-15T04:10:00.001-07:00

Last night we completely overhauled our Forums feature and re-launched it as Fast Pitch! Answers. It's something we've talked about doing for about a year... but have continued to put on the back burner until we came up with a way to add a more valuable 'twist' to what the market (and other networks) already offer. We think we've come up with the, well... Answer.

One of the things that has always made Fast Pitch! unique is our layer of intelligence that leverages our users content to make reccomendations about who should be connecting to whom. For example, on our profile our users have the ability to tell the world who they are trying to connect to (ideal customers, ideal partners, etc). Our system uses that information to make an educated recommendation to each member about who they should be connecting to. This maximizes each users time on the network when looking to make new connections.

Similarly, our new Answers feature allows our users to ask business-related questions on the network to capitalize on the collective intelligence of the entire community in order to make more educated decisions involving topics such as technology, finance, law, marketing & sales and more.

What takes our Answers feature to the next level is (once again) our ability to leverage the information found on profiles across the entire network to make recommendations about who might provide you with an Answer... faster. To accomplish this, the network leverages information found on each profile such as location, industry type, company position and more. More importantly, the network examines all of the Tags (Keywords) found on the profiles and within the question being asked. The more Tags added by members... and the more specific the Tags... the more exact the matches will be.

Another really powerful feature is our members ability to see which recommended professionals are online at the very moment the question is being asked. This allows the person asking the question to possibly find an answer in real-time. Or, the person posting the question can take a more passive approach and wait to receive email alerts from Fast Pitch! each time a question gets answered.

Additionally, our algorithm (ranking system) gives our paid subscribers additional visibility by ranking their profiles higher than non-members throughout the section. Ultimately the community will also have the ability to determine which Platinum Members are providing the best Answers overtime through our rating system... which will highlight those members as 'Experts' throughout the system.

For now, every member can ask and answer a question. To gain more visibility within the recommendation box it's a good idea to become a member... and obviously the more time you take answering questions, the more visibility you will receive throughout this section of the network.

To begin leveraging the intelligence of the Fast Pitch! community and/or showcasing your expertise, visit: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/forums2

If you have questions... well... visit Answers!

Bill

Fast Pitch! Featured in the Bible

2009-05-14T09:03:00.001-07:00

The Social Networking Bible that is...

Yesterday, a UPS driver showed up at our office with a package from publishing company John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Inside the package was a book titled, "The Social Media Bible" which consists of over 800 pages of 'Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success'. In short, the book is an amazing compilation of everything happening in the world of social media and social networking.

Nine months earlier...

I received a call from a gentleman named Lon Safko requesting to interview me for a 'little' project he was working on involving social media. Despite having never heard of Lon, I agreed to the interview. My initial understanding was that he was creating a poor man's 'Social Media for Dummies' type of book, complete with transcribed interviews highlighting various 'experts' within the social media industry. I was to be one of those 'experts'.

At the time, I remember Lon doing an outstanding job with the interview. His ability to convey a genuine interest in my responses made for a thought-provoking conversation that gave me the freedom to offer additional insights that went way beyond the originial question.

Fast-Forward nine months, 40 interviews and thousands of hours of writing later... The Social Media Bible is now a reality. Boy was my perception way off... It's 'Social Media for Dummies' on steroids.

Now that I've seen the finished product, I can't thank Lon enough for including Fast Pitch! in the project. It's truly an honor to be one of only 11 other social networks Lon and his team profiled throughout the 800 pages of information. Additionally, I'm personally appreciative for the opportunity to be one of 40 'Experts' featured alongside some 'heavy hitters' in the industry including: Vint Cerf (Founding Father of the Inernet), Jimmy Wales (Founder, Wikipedia), Biz Stone (Founder, Twitter), Robert Scoble, and others...

It's also great to see Fast Pitch! take center stage alongside billion dollar media darlings like Facebook, Myspace and Bebo.

For anyone interested in learning more about this evolving, fast-paced industry, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of the book online or at your local Barnes and Noble or Borders. The book is incredibly thorough, very well-organized and loaded with tips and tactics everyone in business should be aware of. Your ROI on your investment in this book (it's only $29.95) is guaranteed to be high.

Oh... and be sure to check out the 12 pages featuring Fast Pitch!

Bill

A Virtual Success

2009-04-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we held the first LOCAL Virtual Tradeshow Event on Fast Pitch! as business people from around the Tampa Bay area (specifically Sarasota, FL) were provided with a custom tradeshow link that showcased only local members. The idea for the event was to create some structure around the popular Virtual Tradeshow feature by encouraging people to login at a specified day and time... and to really focus on making connections locally. Prior to this, the Virtual Tradeshow feature has been somewhat of a 'free for all' as people login all hours of the day from all over the world without a specific agenda.

By all accounts, the first localized event was a big success as over 100 people logged in to the customized Sarasota, FL Virtual Tradeshow page between 9:30 - 10:30 AM. At one point, there were over 70 concurrent conversations happening at once. Some power networkers later informed me that they had up to 5 conversations at the same time Try doing that at an in-person tradeshow! When it was all said and done...

We estimated that nearly 500 conversations took place in 1 hour

As most of you know, the intent of our Virtual Tradeshow feature is to give our users a more instantaneous way to communicate (i.e. network) with one another. Each members' profile serves as their 'tradeshow booth' by allowing other members the ability to quickly learn about what they have to offer. In many respects, a completed Fast Pitch! profile is a far more effective marketing piece than anything that might be placed on a traditional tradeshow table. Especially if the profile includes social media such as video, podcasts, press releases, blog articles, photos, and more...

Once someone has reviewed your profile and has an interest in communicating, they can initiate a CHAT using Instant Message or Two-Way Video (assuming they have a camera and microphone installed). Oftentimes, the initial conversation serves as an easy introduction which can ultimately lead to an in-person meeting in the future.

The advantages to the Virtual Tradeshow should be obvious: 1) Less Time 2) No Driving 3) No Event Fee 4) No Traffic 5) No Gas Expense 6) No Parking Fees 7) No Marketing Expenses, 8) No Need to Leave the Office, and so on...

Needless to say, we'll be organizing additional Local Virtual Tradeshows in the coming months in select test markets where Fast Pitch! has significant market penetration to ensure a quality turnout. In the meantime, make yourself more familiar with the power of the Virtual Tradeshow feature here: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/my_chat.cfm

Stay Tuned...

Bill

Awesome Turnout!

2009-04-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Each month we like to host a free 'How To Use Fast Pitch!' webinar designed to help our members become more educated on the ins and outs of using Fast Pitch! The 30-minute demonstration walks everyone through navigating the site, popular features, best online networking practices, and more.

Over the past year we have facilitated about twenty of these webinars which on average, are attended by anywhere from 20 - 50 people at a time.

Yesterday, we tripled our average with a turnout of 100+ attendees!

By all accounts the webinar was a huge success as evidenced by the numerous comments we received via email following the event (below) and the large percentage of attendees who upgraded their membership shortly after the webinar.

To view upcoming webinars visit our 'How To' page: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/howto.cfm

Testimonials:

"The webinar was very worthwhile and eye opening. I look forward to reaping all of the benefits you described. Thanks!" - Barry Roberts, Speaker (Pennsylvania, USA)
"The webinar was very informative and I plan to use more of the features in the near future." - Holly Littlefield, Teltronics (Florida, USA)
"Thank you for a very insightful webinar. Very well done. It was informative and not boring which is unusual." - Donald Haines, Safety Video Warehouse (California)
"Today’s webinar was one of best I’ve sat through: clear, concise, highly relevant. The volume and technology were seamless." -Kathy Cabrera, Carabiner Communications (California, USA)
"Amazing webinar. I've been a member of Fast Pitch! for six months and was amazed at how much I did not know." -Pepe Mesones - Sun Trust Bank (Florida, USA)
"I enjoyed the event. Very well done. One of the best, actually." -Darcie Davis, Zephyr Strategy, Inc. (Virginia, USA)
"I have signed up with Fast Pitch! because of the presentation. I have also recommended friends and colleges to do the same." -Chris Wachowiak, Gemini Sun Records (California, USA)
"I really did not fully understand all of the features prior to the webinar. 30 minutes later I upgraded my membership. This was a great seminar." -Tricia Hoekwater, Ease and Grace Consulting (California, USA)
"Thank you for all the information. Boy it blew my mind. This account will never be cancelled." -Marge Carter, Carters Global (North Carolina, USA)

Good Luck!

Bill

Just For Kicks...

2009-04-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

Today I read a blog post about Facebook reaching 200 million users worldwide. As part of the news, Facebook also released a 'heat map' showing their growth across various countries during the past 6 years. The growth rate is impressive to say the least.

The heat map prompted me to run a quick query of our database to illustrate the current geographic breakdown of Fast Pitch! members across the United States (note: about 20% of our members reside outside the U.S. but I was too lazy to run the query globally :). Maybe next time...

Nothing groundbreaking here. As you can see, many of the most populated states are very well represented. California and Florida are neck and neck at #1 and #2 which both lead New York by a few percentage points. Second tier includes Texas, Illinois, Ohio, etc. To be honest, I was excited to see Arizona and Georgia so well represented... while a little surprised to see North Carolina and Missouri trailing others.

If nothing else, this map (illustration) gives our members a better understanding of the scope of our network. Because a majority of our members are small business owners in service oriented industries (probably around 85%), my guess is this is very reflective of the nature of business happening in each of those states.

Needless to say, we have a lot of data about our users and can expand upon this map to include industy types, gender, company size, login frequency, the breadth of networking happening among each member across state lines, and more. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, ff you're doing business in one of the lightly shaded states... Spread the Word!

Good Luck.

Bill

At Least Make Eye Contact

2009-04-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Last week I took a much needed vacation with the family to San Francisco, CA. As it turned out, the O'Reilly / Techweb Web 2.0 Expo was happening on the final day we were in SF, and because we were taking a red-eye back to Florida that evening at 11:00 PM, it gave me a chance to crash the party and spend all morning and afternoon to attend the Expo Hall, listen to Keynote Speakers, and well... network with thousands of people in attendance.

The event seemed very well organized and turnout seemed good given the current economic situation happening around the world (I just read a report that said the tech industry has seen a 45% drop in hiring... Ouch!). As is with the case of most conferences, the speakers were in my opinion average... always talking at 35,000 feet about slick technology, platform interoperability, etc... but never really giving people what they need (i.e. specifics on how to make money). But hey, this is a conference... and most of the people attending are there to get out of the office and have a good time. So, it is what it is.

What was shocking to me... and maybe this is a sign of the times, maybe it's a West Coast thing, maybe it's the tech industry in general (i.e. introverts)... or a combination of... but, during the 'down time' when people had an opportunity to really sell themselves and their company (i.e. NETWORK)... they chose not to. As I walked around trying to network with people it seemed as if almost everyone at the conference had their head down in their laptop, iPhone or Blackberry... Texting, Twittering, Emailing... rarely ever taking the time to look up and make eye contact with other people around them (let alone actually having a conversation). The experience seemed so 'empty'...

I was so taken aback by this that at one time I scanned the lobby just outside of the Expo Hall where there were about 1,000 people sitting at round tables furnished by the conference for the purpose of networking... and I estimated that maybe 10% were having conversations... while the other 90% were in their own world, pecking away. That's 900 people who in my opinion, missed a huge opportunity to put their company and themselves on the map by simply looking up once in awhile and having a conversation or two which could lead to new business.

What was happening on that little LCD screen that was so important that it couldn't wait until later that night or the next day?

Now, I understand that for many, the need to deal with day-to-day operations while out of the office is important (particularly small business owners who are juggling multiple tasks and managing people back at headquarters). I'm one of them! I also understand the instant gratification that comes with communicating using technology... the feeling of accomplishment that comes with firing off email after email... and how it feels when someone wants to connect to you. Heck, my entire business is at the forefront of this. I get it.

But, I also understand that relying almost entirely on technology, social networks, and social media in general to communicate your message and form relationships is a direct path to failure. Nothing can replace human interaction when it comes to being able to explain what you do, answering questions, and most importantly establishing trust. Your goal should be to find a happy medium and combine the use of technology with good old fashioned networking.

Let technology get you to the starting line. Use your personality to get you across the finish line.

In fact, part of the reason why Fast Pitch! has succeeded where thousands of other networks have failed is not so much because of our technology but because of the real-world networking events we did during the years leading up to our tansformation into an online business network. Nearly 10,000 people around the country had interacted with company founders... shook our hands... had conversations, etc... All of which helped us establish trust, which in turned made these same people comfortable with referring us to their friends and so on...

So, the next time you attend a conference, make sure you look up once in a while... or at least make eye contact. Your next customer might be trying to talk to you.

Good Luck!

Bill

1,000 Twitter Followers and Counting...

2009-03-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago I realized that we had never really made a push to generate a following on Twitter. Although we have given our members the ability to sync all of their Fast Pitch! activity with their existing Twitter account (which is pretty cool)... we have never done much in the way of promoting our own Twitter account. In fact, I'll be honest... we haven't paid much attention to Twitter at all.

Two weeks ago I added a small box on our side navigation that allows our members to Follow Us on Twitter. At the time I think we had about 200 followers - mostly people that I would imagine had stumbled upon our account by chance while searching Twitter.

Yesterday we reached a milestone of sorts, having surpassed the 1,000 Follower mark. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to follow us. Hopefully we can provide everyone with some useful insights into the world social media and a behind the scenes look at what's happening here at Fast Pitch!

If you haven't Followed Us yet, click here to start!

Okay... Now I have to go Tweet this.

Bill

UPDATE (May 18, 2009)

We now have over 3,200 Followers. That's almost 1,500 new followers since March 30th (30 new followers added per day)!

We're Looking for a Few Good Interns

2009-03-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

The team at Fast Pitch! is playing a lead role in the development of a local technology incubator here in Sarasota, FL. The goal of the incubator is to pool together some of the areas best entrepreneurial talent in one location to help drive innovation and ultimately diversify the local economy through success and job creation.

Yesterday we took some initial steps towards making it a reality by securing a large office location near downtown Sarasota in what is called the 'Rosemary District'. As of today, we have 5 technology companies commited to the space, with room for many more (in addition to a variety of walk-in services available to anyone looking for a daily place to 'plug in' - more about that later).

In conjunction with the new space, we (Fast Pitch!) plan to expand on our summer internship program (launched in 2008) to create a more formalized opportunity for entrepreneurial-minded students who have a strong desire to learn more about the startup / technology experience. More than anything, we will be looking for creative self-starter types. Leave your report card at the door :)

Unlike a traditional internship, where you might spend a few months working for one company, the Fast Pitch! internship will guarantee that each intern have the opportunity to be indirectly involved with multiple companies within the incubator - each of whom are at different stages in their business and are involved in a variety of industries including technology, legal, design, multi-media, venture creation, Internet, graphic design and more. In other words, the depth of the Fast Pitch! internship will go well beyond the day to day operations of an online social network.

We will begin reviewing candidates in the coming weeks. To apply, send us a 500 word email explaining to us why this opportunity is right for you (no resumes please). Send to: info@fastpitchnetworking.com

Bill

A Handful of new 'How To' Videos Just Added...

2009-03-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last week we added 5 new 'How To' videos to our tutorial library bringing our total videos to 15. The video tutorials are meant to provide a brief 1-2 minute overview for members to learn how to use specific features on the network including:

Overview of Fast Pitch!
How to Navigate
Why Post Press
How To Post Press
Distributing Press
Create & Embed Video
Search Optimization (SEO)
Importing Your Blog
Distributing Your Blog
Creating and RSS Feed

New Videos...
Why Upgrade?
Virtual Tradeshow
Adding Networks
Email Marketing
How To Use 3Step

In addition to hosting these videos on our 'How To' page, we have scattered them throughout the network on each of the individual Feature page(s). Our hope is that these videos will help you become more familiar with not only HOW to use these features, but more importantly, WHY you should be using them.

Stay tuned as we continue to add more features (and videos) in the coming weeks.

Bill

A Double-Header

2009-02-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'll be training about 100 business professionals on 'How To Use Fast Pitch!' during two separate, one-hour sessions at the Manatee Community College Center for Innovation and Technology in Lakewood Ranch, FL (near Tampa). Similar to our webinar style training, I'll provide a brief overview of social networking and social media as it applies to business, as well as a general discussion about Fast Pitch! and what makes us unique. From there, we will dive right into a demonstration about the Fast Pitch! network including:

Navigation
Creating a Profile
Making Connections
Posting Content
Distributing Content
Increasing Your Internet Footprint
Personal Branding
Benefits of Membership
And More...

The actual demonstration should last about 40 minutes... followed by 20 minutes of Q & A.

The expected turnout is encouraging, given this is our first live traning session here locally. We now expect to offer these events on a monthly basis in conjunction with the Regional Business Resource Center and the Center for Innovation and Technology who will provide us with an incredible venue for teaching.

That being said... We're also now interested in working with professionals in other markets around the world who have an interest in hosting Fast Pitch! training sessions in their respective regions. Beyond offering materials and instruction, we can also assist with marketing your events to ensure good turnout as well as provide deep discounts on membership and various marketing features we offer. Those interested in working with Fast Pitch! should call 888-327-8025

Bill

Event Management

2009-02-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last week we added a new twist to our Event Marketing feature that allows attendees who are Fast Pitch! members to indicate to the event host whether they will be attending an event. Nothing groundbreaking... but a cool feature nevertheless for those of us who promote events and want to have an idea about turnout... as well as potential attendees who might be lured into attending an event by being able to see who else is going. Additionally, the feature sends alerts to the event host each time someone RSVP's... and allows them (as usual) to quickly learn more about the person by viewing their FP profile.

For now, payments for events will continue to be managed by the event hosts themselves using their own RSVP link that serves as a gateway into their payment option (online credit card, pay at the door, etc...). Ultimately I can forsee a time when Fast Pitch! plays a roll in handling payment for our members... however, until we figure out the best way to manage such a feature we will leave it in the hands of our members.

While I'm on the topic of events... I can't help but reiterate the power of our Event Inbox Promotion Package as a way to drive turnout. For those of you unaware of the package... for $29.95 per event can send an event announcement directly to the Fast Pitch! Inbox of thousands of other members based on geography, inudstry type and more.

For the price, I honestly can't think of a better way to promote an event to increase turnout... especially with people you may not already know. To take advantage of this feature, simply post your event and follow the instructions during the checkout process.

Good Luck!

Bill

Mobile Networking Phase I

2009-02-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

Last week we rolled out our Fast Pitch! application for the Google Android G1 phone. The application has already been pretty well received as hundreds of people have already downloaded Fast Pitch! to their phone. For now, the application serves some basic purposes such as having the ability to quickly access your connections on Fast Pitch! (including their phone number) as well as your Fast Pitch! inbox and a variety of different types of messages from within the Fast Pitch! community. Additionally, you can manage your business related status updates on the go, which can also be tied directly to your Twitter account.

You can find the application in the Google Marketplace (under Applications > Social). Or you can download it directly by visiting http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/android/ on your mobile phone web browser.

Stay tuned as we continue to add more and more functionality to the app.

Good Luck!

Bill

The Votes Are In...

2009-02-04T07:41:00.001-08:00

Today I am excited to announce our Winners for the First Annual Fast Pitch! Business of the Year Awards. Winners were chosen across nine different categories during a 45+ day voting process that began with over 1,000 nominations. Winners were determined by a combination of open voting and our expert panel of judges.

All winners will be prominently featured on the Fast Pitch! homepage at various times throughout the year which will ultimately drive a lot of traffic to their respective businesses. Additionally, a special 'badge' has been added to the upper right corner of each winners profile for added recognition. Lastly, all winners will receive a special plaque in the coming weeks (internally dubbed a 'Willy' by our staff). And the Winners Are...

Business of the Year Five Star Mortgage

Top Green Business CityRyde LLC

Top Startup Company Vertical Insight

Best New Technology samplesecure.com

Best New Product GizmoVideo Hosting

Best Networker Ricardo Randorinho

Top Non-Profit The Apogee Foundation

Top Business Blog Suite Minute

Top Video Leashes and Lovers

Thank you to all of our participants for making the First Annual Fast Pitch! Business of the Year Awards a success. Undoubtedly we'll be adding more to the experience in the coming years, perhaps even one day announcing winners at the Annual Fast Pitch! Conference (coming soon).

Until next year...

Bill

Sarasota Valley?

2009-01-30T07:34:00.001-08:00

This morning I had the privilege of announcing the unveiling of an exciting new project to over 500 of Sarasota County's top business leaders and politicians. The project (called the Regional Business Resource Center of the Florida Gulf Coast) involves a 3-part technology initiative spearheaded by the regions 10 local chambers of commerce and funded by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. The goal of the RBRC is to offer every business in the area unlimited access to a localized, co-branded Fast Pitch! community to encourage local buying and selling.

To say I'm proud of this region for taking these bold steps in bringing Fast Pitch! to the masses is an understatement. The support of the areas top brass coupled with backing from the local media will put Sarasota County on the map as the first metropolitan area of it's size to leverage an existing social networking community to encourage local buying and selling. Simply stated, Sarasota County has the potential to become the most hyper-connected region in the world. The goal in many ways is to make this one of the 'flattest' places to do business by allowing everyone to connect and market their business online without restriction.

Not even Silicon Valley has a vision as bold!

Officially launched this morning, the co-branded online community powered by Fast Pitch! can be found at http://www.energizemybiz.com/. The current URL serves as a local gateway into the much larger Fast Pitch! platform comprised of existing professionals from around the globe who are already actively networking and marketing their business in a variety of ways including virtual tradeshows, press distribution, blog promotion, email marketing and search optimization all built within the package offered to area businesses.

As local businesses login to the RBRC branded community, the experience is localized and relevant to the region and includes local connection recommendations, local press, local events, blog articles, videos and more. As the RBRC continues to integrate content from a variety of resources and business leaders, the ability to communicate to the masses everything from political discussions to economic agendas to public service announcements should also begin to weave itself into the fabric of conversation within the overall network... making the RBRC / Fast Pitch! community the ultimate audience for generating word of mouth.

Sarasota County... where new business opportunities are now only 1 degree away.

Bill