BusinessReport.com

When Cindy Bravata, who runs a home-based business as a Juice Plus representative, moved to Baton Rouge from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, she was looking for a way to network with other people who are self-employed. Twenty years ago, this might have posed a challenge. But, in the age of the Internet, it was simply a matter of logging on to Meetup.com and organizing the group herself.

Today, Bravata’s group, the Baton Rouge Business Networking Meetup Group, boasts 41 members and meets an average of once a month at Capital Region restaurants to discuss such things as networking, business promotion strategies, client relations and improving presentation skills.

“It’s a way to come together with a group of people who have the same mission of success that you have,” says Kina O’Neal, assistant organizer of the Meetup.

Bravata’s group is one of three focused on business or professional networking in Baton Rouge. While the number is small compared to that of larger cities—Los Angeles has 443 and New York City 746—observers say the number is sure to grow as the social-networking trend increases.

Indeed, small-business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals continue to represent the largest categories inside Meetup, says Andres Glusman, the vice president of insights and strategies at Meetup Inc.

“Anyone who has ever tried to run a small business or start a business as an entrepreneur knows that it’s really, really hard to run a business,” he says. “And what groups are finding is that it’s beneficial to talk to others who are going through what they’re going through and exchange ideas, leads and share information.”

Launched in 2001, Meetup is a social-networking site that enables people who share common interests to find one another and organize face-to-face meetings at various locations around the world. In addition, Meetup.com allows groups to communicate with members in between meetings.

“The key idea with Meetup is that it basically gives people the power to self-organize into local groups around things that are important to them,” Glusman says.

The variety of Meetup groups that exists today is seemingly endless. There are groups that focus on the environment, politics, parenting, food, wine, movies, hiking, reading, chess, Star Trek, entrepreneurship, real estate, Harry Potter, small business ownership, pets, religion, writing, nursing, health, fitness, fashion, organic gardening and clam chowder [fans of both New England and Manhattan clam chowders are welcome to attend meetings].

For its part, Baton Rouge has 47 Meetup groups that focus on a variety of interests, including a supper club, pug lovers’ group, natural childbirth group, mommy’s day out, tot play group, Spanish language group and the “Louisiana Society of Wiccans.” There’s even a Meetup focused on organizing and running a Meetup.

Of the roughly 60,000 Meetup groups around the globe, 14,000 are business-related, Glusman says. And that number is growing daily. Glusman believes the economic downturn is playing a role in that growth.

“In these tough economic times,” he says, “People don’t want to wait for other people to create solutions for them, so they’re turning to each other and creating solutions for themselves.”

In addition to joining a group to network and sharing business strategies and ideas, Meetup Inc. encourages businesses to reach out to groups that are related to their business and offer to become a “sponsor.” For example, a pet supply business might offer to become a sponsor of a popular pet lovers’ group.

“It’s the same idea as a business offering to sponsor a little-league team,” Glusman says. “It often creates a really strong way for businesses to develop much deeper relationships with people in their neighborhood.”

Sponsors are invited to support local Meetup groups by providing anything from financial support to a place for their group to meet to samples of their products to distribute to members. In return, in addition to other tie-ins, groups can display the sponsor’s logo on their Meetup pages. Meetup Inc. encourages interested sponsors to connect with the Meetups themselves and work out their own terms. If they want to sponsor 50 or more Meetups, they are invited to contact the Meetup headquarters in New York for help.

But, Glusman says, Meetup cautions group organizers to properly vet the potential sponsor’s interest in the group and not allow them to inappropriately contact or spam their membership.

For its part, one of Baton Rouge’s three business-related Meetups has quite a few sponsors. The group is called the Baton Rouge Film, TV, Theatre, and Music Industry Meetup Group, and is actually one of the more established business-related groups.

The group, which started in 2005, has 1,285 members and has held more than 90 meetings, is open to members who are employed in the film, television, theater and music industries. In addition to organizing in person meetings locally, the group, through e-mail blasts and its message board, announces casting calls, crew calls, classes, shows, screenings and openings of new, related businesses. It also posts newspaper articles about what productions are coming to town, what companies are hiring and what government is doing to protect its industries, among other things.

The third Baton Rouge business-related Meetup, the Baton Rouge Real Estate Investor Group, was organized in November 2008. This group, which to date is made up of 68 “aspiring real estate investors,” promotes free training classes. According to its Meetup page, it’s designed for “investors who are already doing deals and those who want to learn how to, as well as realtors, contractors, loan officers and others who provide real estate services.”

GROUP SESSIONS

The types of number of Meetup groups in the Capital Region:

Group--Number of groups

Hobbies--6

Parenting and family--6

Arts and entertainment--5

Social--5

Health and support--4

Business and career--3

Religion and beliefs--3

Communities and lifestyles--2

Politics and activism--2

Cultures and languages--1

Education--1

Internet and technology--1

Pets and animals--1

Sports and recreation--1

Total--47

SOURCE: Meetup.com