7th Annual Orange County Chamber ‘Mega’ Business Expo/Mixer Event Set For March 24, 2010 at OC Fair & Event Center

Networking Event Of The Season – Orange County’s Largest Mixer® VII Unites Local Businesses, City Chambers, Business Groups

Considered by many as the most heralded business mixer/expo of the year, Orange County’s Largest Mixer® VII returns to Orange County to set the standard for all other networking events to follow.

“Now in its 7th successful year, the Mixer has grown to represent a powerful meeting of Orange County area chambers of commerce and local businesses representing hundreds of industries and companies in Southern California,” said Dave Linden, producer of Orange County’s Largest Mixer®. “Each year, as the event grows, I take the most pleasure out of the fact that we have created a forum for chambers and members of the business community to come together for a productive evening of meeting new contacts – that’s where I conceived these events to be and I think we have succeeded.”

Scheduled for Wednesday, March 24, 2010 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the event will be held at the OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. A $20 admission fee gives attendees the opportunity to view more than 300 exhibitors and network with thousands of local “influentials” on the cutting edge of Orange County’s business elite. In total, the 2009 event drew more than 3000 participants. Designed to be part expo and part business social event, Orange County’s Largest Mixer® accomplishes both by providing an “open feel” on the exhibitor floor along with conversational areas for casual one-on-one discussions with existing contacts or building new relationships.

“I have attended Orange County’s Largest Mixer® since the beginning and each year I gain new prospects for membership, as well as new friends in the business community,” commented Linda Martin, Vice President of Membership for the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce. “Also, above the social aspect, this event has put me in contact with other local chamber executives, and for that fact alone, the event is invaluable.”

For a complete list of exhibitors and sponsors, please visit http://www.ocmixer.com or call 949-338-8338 for further information.

Twitter, just like any other Social Networking site, is largely used by people from across the globe. The more people who follow your tweets, the greater your chances are of reaching potential customers. Your followers, however, are somewhat pre-qualified; if they are not interested in what they see in your tweets, they will quickly un-follow you.

So, the question is, how do you most effectively communicate with your audience? SocialOomph makes it easy by offering tools that automatically respond to your Twitter followers and schedule tweets for future dates or times. Along with those features, SocialOomph also includes;Twitter ~Keyword Tracking
~Set up what’s known as an auto-DM (When you get a new follower, SocialOomph automatically     sends them a DM which you previously wrote)
~Automatically follows those who follow you, and un-follows anyone who un-follows you
~Finds you new followers while eliminating spammers in the results
~Includes an integrated console to manage more than one Twitter account

The Disadvantages of using SocialOomph

Before you type socialoomph into your browser, there are a few things you should know first; for one, you do not get all of the features listed above unless you sign up for a professional account. When you first sign up, they will offer you a week’s free trial, which includes all of the professional features listed above, and then they will ask you for a subscription fee. If you do not pay the subscription fee, you can still use SocialOomph, but on the basic package they offer. The professional package is pretty pricey, but if you use Twitter for Marketing purposes, it could well be a worthwhile investment. You should also be aware that SocialOomph recently changed their policy due to Twitter claiming that repeating tweets are a breach of the site’s Terms of Service. Duplicated content is considered spam, basically. This means that using the same URL in different tweets is considered spam.

All in all, SocialOomph is a very effective way to help save you time and maximise the effectiveness of your Twitter Marketing. It’s up to you to decide; go have a look.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_M_Williams

To see how Welcome Express can help you in the social media arena, click HERE

The Value of Effective Networking

Networking is about building good relationships in a more formalized way. The key to being an effective networker is to see a relationships’ progression as more of a slow burn, rather than walking into a group and seeing who is instantly available to sell your products or services to.

The key to effective networking is to see what you can do for the other person. The most effective networkers are the people who are genuinely on the lookout for their fellow group members. By establishing how you can help the other person, without looking for anything in return, enables your fellow networkers to feel confident about your integrity. The person who is generous in this way will stay in people’s minds as someone to be trusted and valued.

Having follow-up emails and meetings with associated service providers after networking meetings are useful to maintain the continuity. These meetings can be relatively short, say an hour in length, but are a good way for business people to discover if there are ways that they can support each other. This is often a win/win situation as one person gets some business and the other is able to offer a more comprehensive service to their clients, and so appear more professional.

Staying in peoples’ minds means that it is important to attend meetings regularly. Some network groups require a membership commitment and this entails an annual subscription fee. Other groups are more informal and allow people to visit as and when they choose, paying an attendance fee for each visit. If you are a member of a group it is important to maintain the continuity of your presence. It strengthens the group dynamics and it also enables you to be seen as someone who is committed to your business and the group as a whole.

Also, some networking groups have web sites that allow members to contribute their articles or join forums and discussion groups. All these are opportunities to introduce yourself, spread the word, and establish yourself as someone who is experienced and knowledgeable in your field. This enables other networkers and potential clients to understand more about what you do. It is a further way to reinforce the relationship and peoples’ confidence levels in you and your skills. It is the way to give you an edge, something for potential customers to see as making you special from the competition, a reason to choose you.

Asking for warm leads is important. If someone does have a recommendation for you, ensure that the potential client knows who you are and is expecting your call. Maybe even arrange a meeting where you are able to be introduced properly. This strengthens the confidence that the potential client has in you. After all, we all our more positive about buying from someone who comes warmly recommended.

All it takes are one or two really good leads to make all the effort worthwhile. These could be the leads that really set your business on its feet and sustain it over many years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Leigh