Social Media Strategy - JenniferVanGrove.com

Dan Caplan from MyCityFaces.com sent me the following email pitch. I wasn’t impressed at first glance, but when I started to think about the purpose of the site—self-promotion—I thought it was at least an interesting enough idea to put out there for your feedback. Read the email (there’s a lot of unnecessary marketing jargon to sift through), check out the site, and let me and/or Dan know what you think.

–

Jennifer,

I have been reading your blog and I really enjoy your articles, and that is why I am writing you. We have recently launched a self marketing webesite that is free for users in the sales and service industry.

Have you ever needed that perfect some one for a certain job and didn’t know where to start looking for them? You may ask around, but if no one can refer you to someone then you usually end up opening up the phonebook or going online, you end up just looking at lists and lists of businesses. How do you choose that Insurance guy or that Realtor? Throw darts at your computer? Choose a cool sounding name? This is where MyCityFaces.com comes in!

MyCityFaces.com is a service industry networking and advertising site allowing people to post profiles for free, offering products they sell or a service they perform by including photos, videos, contact info and an about me section. It also allows consumers to go to their local city, choose a category, and peruse the profiles and find someone that is qualified and understands their wants and desires.

MyCityFaces.com was started out of the need for everyday people to advertise themselves in a personable and professional manner, and for others to find the right person for everyday needs. To help, we’ve built the premier Web service for bringing people together…Face to Face!

This fresh approach has not been over done, chewed up and spit out!. We are not another business networking site or a traditional directory site, we are the must “have a profile” self advertising site on the Internet today! Think of us as LinkedIn meets Myspace. We feel the service industry is often ignored and people resort to advertising themselves on social networking sites, which is not the most professional medium, and often obscures that line between business and personal. On MyCityFaces.com people can in a respectable and classy adult way, have a profile, tell about what they do, recommend others on the site and post photos, coupons, and videos. Think of it as an Internet billboard and an electronic business card. MyCityFaces.com will replace the “other” sites as the premier service industry advertising site!

Today there are tens of thousands of people in any city in any given occupation, we bring a personable side to finding that Handy Man, or that new Hairstylists. Finally a way to test drive before you call!

MyCityFaces.com is for the individual people to advertise themselves, we focus on the people that make up a business first! You can go to the site and find a hairstylists that fits your needs and you can learn a little about them before you schedule that appt. You can see what there qualifications are or just find out if you are going to see eye to eye with them. What if you are the conservative type or want a funky style you would get a lot of info from their profile. Also how many times have you found that perfect stylists only to find out they left the salon and you have no way of contacting them, and since the salon they were just at wont tell you where they went you can now return to their updated profile. They can keep a profile on mycityfaces.com and just update it with the new salons name. The same goes with any service.

By creating a profile with photos of you, your product, your place of business, and offering coupons, discounts, an about me section and even video, you become a real person to someone looking for your service. It’s more than just a name on an ever growing list.

While we are new to the San Diego market, I think your readers would benefit highly from this free self advertising platform in this challenging economy.

Check out http://phoenix.mycityfaces.com for an example city.


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  • http://www.sophistechate.com Lisa Brewster

    I spent a few minutes browsing the site, and the social media reductionist in me doesn't see a need for a service industry profiling site. Profiles are not a destination, they are an extension into a network to encourage users to check out your blog / website / home base / whatever. Sufficient networks already exist (Yelp, LinkedIn), and I don't see MyCityFaces changing Internet search behavior en masse to look for service people on their site instead of Googling “San Diego $industry.”

  • http://www.jennifervangrove.com Jennifer Van Grove

    Lisa, for the most part I completely agree with you. It begs the question, though, since those of us who sell services make it point to promote ourselves via our own web properties, why would we want to ignore another site that might bring in new business? Of course I haven't created a profile and I don't intend to, but I'd hate to not be considered for a job just because the person looking for a contractor wasn't looking on the sites that I already engage with.

  • ryankuder

    I agree with Lisa. There's lots of places to put a profile. For professionals, it's all about how you use that profile. I'm just not getting the value proposition. Not only that, but I can't get over that with all the frames and the black and the models in the masthead it feels more like a MySpace dating site with industry categories. Maybe add some animated gifs and autoplay some Gloria Estefan music?

  • http://www.jennifervangrove.com Jennifer Van Grove

    I too was completely turned off by the dating site look and feel. A site for professionals should look professional.

  • http://MyCityFaces.com Dan Caplan

    Check out the Phoenix area city page to give you a better idea. It's about having a classy and professional looking profile to advertise yourself only if you are in the service and sales industry. We focus on the people that make up a business first. It's for the rest of us that linkedin isn't a fit for or about the many review sites(Yelp). Many of the current business directory sites do not have a personable feel, this site brings a face to the name.
    Most of the current sites at the beginning didn't have much of a chance until people thought outside the box and found that there isn't many sites for the average joe that are still professionals in their own right to advertise themselves to the masses. You would be surprised to find out how many people have no Internet presence and rely on their employer to bring them customers. This site is about being proactive and doing your own self marketing to attract business off your strong points.

    Maybe it will take off maybe it wont but the response has been nothing but positive and it never hurts to do a little self promoting.

  • faryl

    I have to be honest, I really want to be kind and follow the “if you have nothing nice to say . . .” advice, but I feel it would be unkind to not provide feedback that could help Dan's site grow.

    To start, I don't know if I would have gotten further than that letter. If a service can't convince someone to visit a website with an “elevator pitch”, my guess is the other commenters are correct in saying it's not needed. Dan – I'd come up with three bullets and then a hook to get people to the site.

    That said, I happen to feel that there are people in the service industries that are lacking a place to promote themselves. In fact, I've been working on a similar website service myself – albeit on a smaller scale.

    I'm all for self-promotion, but I think the site needs to be more appealing to people who may be seeking the services the providers are promoting, otherwise you're doing your subscribers an injustice. Ryan's description is pretty dead on. At a minimum. remove the models from the headers and sign up pages. Better yet, design the site so the landing page appeals to the customers, with a button somewhere saying “want your own profile? click here!” or something.

    I'd also get rid of the “sign up FREE!” badge – it implies that people looking for service providers might actually consider paying to look through a directory of them. Again – that belongs on a landing page targeted at service providers.

    I have more suggestions, but don't want to come across as slamming the site in these comments. Dan, feel free to connect with me on twitter (@fearlessblogger) if you'd like me to share more :-)

    Again, not trying to be unkind, but if it were my site, I'd want someone to tell me!

  • http://www.allmightytrader.com/company.php Business marketplace

    Thank for making this valuable information available to the public.

  • http://www.sandiegogaslampandnightlife.com richandcreamy

    I'll be signing up because I'm a profile whore with low standards =P

    Anyone else notice the stock graphics? The blue silhouettes on the white background. I've seen that in SO many networking ads for events.

    I like the theme of putting faces to the area's local businesses. That was a selling point I remember back from my direct mailer days.

  • Luke

    Too many spelling and grammatical errors in the first few paragraphs to let me think it's worth finishing reading the email, let alone visit the site. Fail

  • http://MyCityFaces.com Dan

    We removed the models and put up real people!

  • faryl

    Glad to hear that, Dan! Hopefully the feedback was helpful – I meant it in the friendliest way possible ;-) I'll have to check out the site to see the new changes!

  • http://seoalaminos.com SEOAlaminos

    yeah he has to be, keep up the good post

  • http://friendfeed.com/jbruin Jennifer Van Grove

    I have to be honest, I really want to be kind and follow the “if you have nothing nice to say . . .” advice, but I feel it would be unkind to not provide feedback that could help Dan's site grow.

    To start, I don't know if I would have gotten further than that letter. If a service can't convince someone to visit a website with an “elevator pitch”, my guess is the other commenters may be correct that it's not needed. Dan – I'd come up with three bullets and then a hook to get people to the site.

    I'm all for self-promotion – this site needs to be more appealing to people who may be seeking the services the providers are promoting, otherwise you're doing your subscribers an injustice. Ryan's description is pretty dead on. At a minimum. remove the models! Better yet, design the site so the landing page appeals to the customers, with a tasteful button somewhere saying “want your own profile? click here!” or something.

    I'd also get rid of the “sign up FREE!” badge – it implies that people looking for s

  • http://friendfeed.com/jbruin Jennifer Van Grove

    Check out the Phoenix area city page to give you a better idea. It's about having a classy and professional looking profile to advertise yourself only if you are in the service and sales industry. We focus on the people that make up a business first. It's for the rest of us that linkedin isn't a fit for or about the many review sites(Yelp). Many of the current business directory sites do not have a personable feel, this site brings a face to the name.
    Most of the current sites at the beginning didn't have much of a chance until people thought outside the box and found that there isn't many sites for the average joe that are still professionals in their own right to advertise themselves to the masses. You would be surprised to find out how many people have no Internet presence and rely on their employer to bring them customers. This site is about being proactive and doing your own self marketing to attract business off your strong points.

    Maybe it will take off maybe it wont but the response has be

  • http://friendfeed.com/jbruin Jennifer Van Grove

    Check out the Phoenix area city page to give you a better idea. It's about having a classy and professional looking profile to advertise yourself only if you are in the service and sales industry. We focus on the people that make up a business first. It's for the rest of us that linkedin isn't a fit for or about the many review sites(Yelp). Many of the current business directory sites do not have a personable feel, this site brings a face to the name.
    Most of the current sites at the beginning didn't have much of a chance until people thought outside the box and found that there isn't many sites for the average joe that are still professionals in their own right to advertise themselves to the masses. You would be surprised to find out how many people have no Internet presence and rely on their employer to bring them customers. This site is about being proactive and doing your own self marketing to attract business off your strong points.

    Maybe it will take off maybe it wont but the response has be

  • http://friendfeed.com/jbruin Jennifer Van Grove

    I have to be honest, I really want to be kind and follow the “if you have nothing nice to say . . .” advice, but I feel it would be unkind to not provide feedback that could help Dan's site grow.

    To start, I don't know if I would have gotten further than that letter. If a service can't convince someone to visit a website with an “elevator pitch”, my guess is the other commenters may be correct that it's not needed. Dan – I'd come up with three bullets and then a hook to get people to the site.

    I'm all for self-promotion – this site needs to be more appealing to people who may be seeking the services the providers are promoting, otherwise you're doing your subscribers an injustice. Ryan's description is pretty dead on. At a minimum. remove the models! Better yet, design the site so the landing page appeals to the customers, with a tasteful button somewhere saying “want your own profile? click here!” or something.

    I'd also get rid of the “sign up FREE!” badge – it implies that people looking for s

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