How to find a venue in Europe with social media sites
by Marieke Hensel on May 22, 2009
I was interviewed by Elaine Pofeldt from One+, a meeting planner magazine. She was writing an article on how to utilize social networking websites to find suitable venues in Europe. It was in the February 2009 issue of One+:
ONCE YOU’VE BUILT a presence on the sites with the biggest worldwide presence, you may find that local networks can add depth to your networking. If your goal is to connect with professionals in Europe, popular sites such as U.K.-based Ecademy, Xing in Germany or Hyves in the Netherlands can be good resources. Targeting an Asian audience? In Japan, Mixi is the most popular.
“Facebook has a lot of equivalents in other countries,” said Marieke Hensel, founder of Branding Personality, who started out in Internet marketing in the Netherlands and now runs her business in Los Angeles. “Usually people who are into social networking use their local languages instead of going to Facebook.”
Unlike LinkedIn, which many professionals use to stay connected to those they already know, the culture of some sites fosters meetings between professionals who don’t already know each other, Hensel says.
“Ecademy, for instance, is about connecting with people worldwide and making new, random connections,” she said.
One of her clients recently asked her how to find an event location in Copenhagen. She suggested he contact the “country leader” on Ecademy for Denmark, who directed him to local sites that he included in a proposal now under review.
“She hosts events and knows exactly which places are available,” Hensel said.
