Group Members International Enterprise Hosted Social Networking Community Platforms

Meet Your Profit Goals

Group Members consulting team assists our clients in meeting revenue and profitability objectives. Your social networking community should be a profit center, not a profit drain.

 Choose from any combination of the following revenue producing models.

1. Subscription based revenue model
2. Advertising based revenue model
3. Membership based revenue model
4. Sponsorship based revenue model
5. Private Funding/Donation based revenue model
6. Supplemental Revenue Generators

The GMI team will work with you to help you generate revenue to cover operation costs and make a profit.

Subscription Model

1. Basic site use is free, pay for premium features
2. Flat fee for all site features
3. Basic fee for standard features, higher fee for premium features

Discussion:

• Sites use a tiered subscription model.
• Each tier affords the user more interoperability and functionality.
• Needs to be implemented from the beginning, cannot be added or changed to at a later date.

Once the community platform is presented for free the users will have to be convinced by the client of the value of the services.

• This model has a low break even point based on number of users and provides for high profitability.
• Site income increases in direct correlation to its membership base.
• This provides for ongoing residual income as the subscription is renewable yearly.
• Also included in the model is a member affiliate program.

This is a viral marketing tool for the members to encourage their friends and family to join and be rewarded with a revenue incentive for everyone that joins the site using the members unique tracking URL.

Advertising Model (Actual fees are for illustration only)

1. Site use is free and advertising supported
2. Site is free with advertising; Pay $20.00 per year to have advertising removed

Discussion:

• This is the original social networking model.
• It has failed but is still used as it has always been done.
• This model does not cover the costs of operations of the site.
• Recently several large companies have revamped their revenue models and added usage fees.

Unfortunately, the advertising model has failed. Social networking sites are now in a search for alternatives to cover their operation costs as venture capital has dried up.

Membership Model

This is a hybrid of the subscription model. Users pay a membership fee (subscription fee) but receive “Value Added Propositions”. In this case the Value Added could consist of the following. Instead of joining a website, they join an organization and receive benefits for their membership. The benefits include, but are not limited to:

Discussion:

• access to the community website
• access to exclusive articles written by the organizations leaders
• a monthly or quarterly print magazine
• participation in exclusive polls and surveys
• a membership card
• a presence within that organization with the ability to blog, participate in forums, and create websites with video and sound to express their views and support the views of others, to further the cause of the organization.
• discounts on advertiser products that support the views of the organization
• news alerts via RSS feeds and email blasts
• discounts and VIP treatment at regional and national rallies and events
• discounts on specially selected branded apparel
• The “call to action”, regular price is $99.00. Special introductory price for “Charter Members” is only $20.00 per year. Offer ends on ________2007

This model could be used in conjunction with the sponsorship model.

Sponsorships Model

Sponsors supportive of the concept/cause pay for a presence on the social network and access to the social networks membership. Advertisers became sponsors and instead of placing ads, created micro sites within the network.

The goal should not be messaging customers, but rather should be building relationships from the first moment of a delightful experience that will make people's lives easier, better and richer.

The best way to engage them on social networks was, the report said, to make use of branded viral elements and to form personal relationships as “friends”, much like “how bands promote themselves on sites like MySpace”.

Discussion:

• Create micro site with functionality of the platform
• Site includes video
• Sponsor can connect with site members in a two way communication.
• Site include analytics such as polls and surveys
• Sponsors can collect opt-in emails for contact with site members
• Sponsor creates a group that members can join
• Sponsors create a profile page
• Sponsors can distribute exclusive coupons and special offers

Private Funding (Donations) Model

The social network is supported by private funding or donations until the revenue model selected generate enough revenue to cover operating costs and ultimately a profit for the founders. This model must not be used to delay selection of a revenue model.

Discussion:

• This is a popular WEB2.0 model.
• There is no expectation of revenue initially until the selected revenue model generates enough revenue based on user participation. In the interim the site is supported by private funding or donations.

Supplement Revenue Generators

GroupMembersInternational have integrated special revenue modules into the platform. Among these generators are;

A white label, branded in your name Branding and Identity Engine. Users can purchase t-shirts, bags and apperral with yours and their designs.

Social Shopping has a new twist. Members can shop on your own branded shopping comparison engine. Unlike other social shopping experiences, members of your site can shop in groups and share their experiences, rates, wish lists and receive monthly special offers.

Also available is an affiliate program so your members can be compensated for growing your site membership by inviting their friends to join your community.

When you have thousands of members in your community and they all want to be found first on a member or group search, the only way is to charge for it. Premium upgrades for top rankings are also integrated into your community.

The platform also includes a classified ads, or member marketplace function. we suggest that you charge for premium placement.
 

Many sites decide to get up and running and then try to implement a revenue model only when they have a following. The end result was a failure of which the site had to be sold or bailed out at a loss by another company. In the case of Meetups.com, no revenue model was implemented until the site had several million users.

• Funding had “dried up”.
• Advertising was tried and failed.
• Two years later the owners implemented a subscription model.
• The result was a loss of over 80% of their members.

Lesson Learned:

The revenue model needs to be implemented from the beginning. Because the use of the site was free for several years, the efforts to change to a subscription model were resisted by the users and they left for another site.