Meetup.com = Local Marketing

There are so many Web tools and sites to help you market yourself locally that it can make your head spin. The best ones are easy to understand and use, like Meetup.com. For those of you who are looking for simple, inexpensive ways to reach your target customers, Meetup could be just the thing for you.

Meetup is social networking site (one of the originals in fact) that makes it really easy to create a group around a particular interest, attract members who share that interest and hold events to meet group members offline. I use it for the East Bay SEO Meetup and it has been a great way for me to meet other people in my area who are interested in SEO, both SEO experts and potential clients.

So how can the Realtor in Pleasanton take advantage of Meetup? Check out the East Bay Real Estate Investment Meetup. This group looks like it was started by a local real estate pro and it has several other pros in the group. By holding regular meetings this group is likely to attract potential local real estate investors who want to get the inside scoop from the pros. You could do the same thing with almost any profession.

At our SEO meetup last night I met Bill Ayers who runs the San Francisco Webeneurs Meetup, which he uses as a way to meet potential customers for his business consulting practice. According to Bill, he generates a substantial portion of his new clients from Meetup and the cost of customer acquisition is minimal.

Of course you don’t need to start a meetup that is strictly business. If you have a passion for roller derby then start one about that. You may find that a lot of fellow derby enthusiasts might be interested in your services once they get to know you.

Starting and organizing meetups can be a time consuming process but I think it is one that could really pay off for smart local marketers.