Investment portfolios.



Airline seats.



Chocolate fudge cakes.



What do these three things have in common with the size of your online network? Big is good, bigger is better, and biggest is where you want to be.



As marketers, we have stuff to do, and failing to reach our objectives is not an option. Our brands and businesses require us to make things happen. Customers, sales, revenues… it’s up to us. Having large online social networks gives us the juice we need to make things happen.



Over the past few months, I have seen a surprising number of articles attempting to convince me that whether I’m a B2B or a B2C marketer, the focus for my portfolio of friend, follower, and connection-based online networks should be “engagement.” Hogwash.



Size matters. Size gives you power. Size gives you control. Size gives you leverage.



Everyone is an expert in something, but no one is an expert in everything. One of the reasons to be active on social media is to learn how to use cutting-edge and proven marketing strategies and tactics. If you follow one marketing professor on Twitter, you learn his/her approaches. How much better if you follow all of the top marketing professors on Twitter in the areas of B2B marketing, B2C marketing, public relations, corporate branding, and marketing research? The larger your network, the smarter you can be.



In the concept of six degrees of separation, all of us are, at most, six steps away from any other person. This is the heart of LinkedIn’s business model. If I have one connection on LinkedIn, I’m two degrees away from everyone my connection knows. Whether I need to buy or sell, I have a personal introduction to everyone in my connection’s network. As a marketer whose livelihood depends on your ability to get things done, would you rather have one connection on LinkedIn or 1,000?



What if you had a large mailing list of people who want to receive your communications because they’re interested in what you have to say? Each of your messages can reach more target customers. The larger your online network, the more people you can sell, real-time, 24×7×365.



As marketers, part of our value is to persuade our target audience to take action. If you’re Ashton Kutcher and develop the largest online network, you’re not just in the media, you are the media. You can directly broadcast to your five million-plus member audience anytime. That’s marketing. You want each and every one of your communications to command a level of credibility so high that other media outlets are forced to report on them.



As my boss likes to say, “Your message can only go as far as the size of your network.” Besides, as any five year old will loudly and unashamedly tell you when you’re standing in line with him at the bakery, “Who wouldn’t want the biggest chocolate fudge cake?”



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Additional Reading



“It all starts with having the largest possible audience.”

-Dan Zarrella, Hierarchy of Contagiousness



“Marketers must connect on social networks with people they don’t know, namely their customers.”

-Charlene Li, Groundswell



“I have always admired the way successful entrepreneurs put themselves in a position to ‘get luck’ by developing relationships with relevant people and taking advantage of promising opportunities.”

-Jeff Bussgang, Mastering the VC Game



We, SocialGrow’s three co-founders, wanted to share with you our perspectives on an exciting and productive week.



Ken’s take (Ken is SocialGrow’s CMO):


“As a new company, you of course want as many potential users of your product to know about, and get excited about it. From the marketing perspective, participating was a great way for us to share with people who use online social networks that our new software automating the process of adding new connections to their networks is under development. Our participation allowed us to tap into the exciting new features of Windows 7, while reminding people who use Macs, Linux, and older versions of Windows that SocialGrow will work for them, too, just as it will on their iPhones, BlackBerries, Android phones, and other mobile phones which can access the internet. In short, our participation in Incubation Week was not only a great opportunity for our company to make our new product even better by leveraging Windows 7’s key features, but an opportunity to further share our story with people who otherwise might not have heard about us.”



Charbel’s take (Charbel is SocialGrow’s CTO):


“The Windows 7 development training at Microsoft was an incredible learning experience. We spent time on Windows 7’s key features, including: federated search, jump lists, accelerators, multi-touch support, and taskbar management as well as developing with SilverLight. SocialGrow users running WIndows 7 will be able to send an invitation to connect with someone simply by highlighting their e-mail address. Having the opportunity to work side-by-side with the very same software architects and developers who support Microsoft’s biggest enterprise customers enabled us to achieve unthinkable results in just a few days’ (and nights’!) time.”



Marsh’s take (Marsh is SocialGrow’s President):


“My expectation going into Microsoft BizSpark Incubation Week for Windows 7 was that we would have a few hours on the first day with a Microsoft advisor to help us architect the SocialGrow software to take advantage of Windows 7’s new features, who would then check in on our progress over the remainder of the week. I had no idea that our “advisor” would be one of Microsoft’s premier enterprise software architects, Rich Crane. Not only did Rich code our product alongside Charbel until one in the morning two nights in a row, but he also brought in two additional Microsoft software architects to do the same! Add in the Proteans offshore development team who coded around the clock, and it was an amazing team effort. I want to thank Rich and the MTC’s incredibly generous architects, developers, staff, and of course Microsoft itself for giving SocialGrow such an incredible jump start with our application development effort. And yes, my inner geek loved Silverlight’s cool-front end, just wait till you see it!”



Sign up now to receive SocialGrow’s blog updates via RSS and to follow SocialGrow on Twitter. Follow our story as we develop and roll out the first release of SocialGrow’s web and mobile phone software application to help you grow your professional and personal connections — faster and easier — on your online social networks.

Boston’s Largest Network of Technology Investors, named after the city’s historic public meeting grounds, CommonAngels is a group of 75 leading private investors and several dozen limited partners in two co-investment funds. They have rich expertise in over 58 specific sectors and finance the region’s most innovative high-tech ventures with a focus on capital efficiency: Series A rounds of $500K-$5M with total capital less than $20M.



- Marsh (President)

Let us know which logos you love, which logos you hate, and which logos just make you scratch your head.



99designs is a disruptive startup which connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design.



Read what the media  has to say about about them.



- Ken (CMO)

In advance of the launch of our new company’s website, and, as you can see, in advance of our even having a logo, welcome to the SocialGrow™ company blog!



SocialGrow™ helps individuals and organizations around the world realize the benefits of social networks.



SocialGrow’s flagship product, the SocialGrow™ Web and Mobile Phone Software Application, enables people of all technical levels to quickly and easily grow their professional and/or personal online social networks. The SocialGrow™ Web and Mobile Phone Software Application also enables both small and large social networks around the world to rapidly grow their memberships.



SocialGrow’s Consulting division, SocialGrow™ Consulting, researches, analyzes, and makes recommendations on social networking strategies.



SocialGrow’s Professional Services division, SocialGrow™ Professional Services, manages social networks.



SocialGrow’s vision is to realize the human side of what our technology enables — new connections between people that might not have otherwise happened. Finding a new job after a year of unemployment. Finding the love of your life after a break-up that left you thinking you’d never meet anyone. Finding a huge customer when you didn’t know whether your business would survive. Each new connection truly has the potential to be life-changing. Our application enables growth, not just the number of people one has in their multiple online networks, but the value received from the richness of having a large, diverse network.



SocialGrow™ was founded in 2009 by industry veterans Marsh Sutherland, Ken Herron, and Charbel Elkhoury.