New Do-It-Yourself Service Enables Small Businesses and Organizations to Quickly Create, Manage and Monetize Online Social Networks
Palo Alto, Calif., November 20, 2009 – SocialGO (www.socialgo.com) announced today the official launch of the first platform for creating social networking sites specifically geared toward the needs of small businesses and organizations. For $24.99/month, small business owners and entrepreneurs can harness the power of social media by creating online communities around their businesses with full content/member control, monetization, and customizability.
“While many sites require you to join a larger social network in order to launch your online community, with SocialGO you are the network,” said Dominic Wheatley, co-founder and CEO, SocialGO. “You own and control the data and content, and have complete freedom to customize the site’s design and functionality however you see fit.”
A SocialGO site, which can be seamlessly integrated into your existing site or used to establish an online presence where none exists, enables you to create a loyal, expansive customer base by making your web presence a hub for all things related to your brand, where enthusiasts can share/access information and get insider deals. Additionally, SocialGO sites facilitate an open exchange of information that enables you to keep your finger on the pulse of what your most valued customers are saying.
“Small businesses stand to benefit enormously from social media, but because they lack resources often settle for unprofessional-looking template-based design that requires their members to join a larger network which then bombards them with SPAM,” said Alex Halliday, co-founder, SocialGO. “SocialGO is a business-grade platform that allows them to reap maximum benefits from social media with minimal investment.”
SocialGO features and benefits include:
• All standard social media features including member profiles, forums, activity feeds, RSS feeds, messaging, photo/video sharing, plus features such as video chat
• Total ownership of data/content; complete network control
• Complete customizability, including the ability to tailor every aspect of your site from design to user access
• The ability to 100 percent white-label your site to your brand, completely erasing all evidence of SocialGO and creating a custom-designed appearance
• The ability to monetize your site through sales transactions, subscription fees/dues, advertising and sponsorship, trade fees and donations
• The ability to customize access according to “free” and “premium” memberships, enabling you to charge for features and content
• Do-it-yourself functionality that replaces the need for expensive software and designer fees by making creating/managing your site as easy as purchasing an airline ticket
“With SocialGO we’ve created an online community around our line of organic baby clothing through which we connect meaningfully with our customers around the parenting issues that are mutually important to us, and nurture long-term relationships,” said Hannah Shone, President, Earthlings.
SocialGO – which can be used to build an online community around blogs, forums, or websites – is free to get started, and offers SocialGO Premium for $24.99/month (including access to all features). For business owners who don’t have time, SocialGO will create and manage the site for them for $149.99/month via the Concierge service.
About SocialGO
Founded in 2007, SocialGO enables small-and medium-sized businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to reap the benefits of social media. Recognizing that the needs of the recreational user of social media differ fundamentally from those of the professional, SocialGO’s founders created an offering specifically tailored to the needs of small businesses for monetization, ownership, control and customizability. Though born in the U.K., SocialGO’s North American client base grew rapidly, leading the company to open a Silicon Valley office. For more information, please visit www.socialgo.com.
