Networking in Nashville

By Glen Gould, Southeast Bureau Chief      Glen's Bio     Email article to a friend

Just say the word "Nashville" and each of us conjures up our image of country music, The Grand Old Opry, and Music Row.  But today, Nashville, TN is a hot-bed of business activity.  A short visit to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce website (www.nashvilleareainfo.com) reveals that this once quaint southern town is now receiving accolades as the go-to city for business.  "Top 100 Places to Live", "Top MBA Employers" (#8), "Best City for Relocating Families" (#2), and Forbes Magazine’s "Best Places for Business and Careers" (#9) name but a few of the national recognition awards this city has received in 2007.

With such recognition, many people are choosing Nashville as the place to grow their business.  But how does one get "plugged in" to the vast social and business networks?

Enter Link to Nashville (www.linktonashville.com), the first on-line B2B social networking platform in Middle Tennessee.  LtN provides an easy-access platform for people to connect with others and is an official LinkedIn Group which ties its members to the vast LinkedIn network.

In May of 2007, Mark Kerrigan (www.onthemarkwriting.com) had met Jay Deragon (www.jayderagon.com/blog) who had asked him to write a press release announcing the launch of LtN.  Since then, Jay had taken Mark under his wing, taught him the benefits of networking and the Relationship Economy.  Jay named Mark the Administrator of LtN in July and he’s been writing a bi-monthly newsletter and posting articles to the site at least once a week.

"We have active members from all over the Eastern US", says Mark as he explains that there are no residency requirements to belong.  It’s free to join LtN and there are several levels which can give one greater presence and impact.  The levels of membership are: Free, Contributor ($50 per year), Sponsor ($100 per year), and Recruiter ($50 per month) which specializes in Human Resource Placement Professionals.

Mark is constantly seeking new and innovative ways to gain exposure for the members of Link to Nashville.  One such idea is "adding friends on Facebook to establish a rapport with them."  His ultimate goal is that they will visit LtN, see the resources and join the network.

Mark adds, "With the emergence of social networks for any interest, we believe that the segmentation will fall into geographical, topical and industry sites.  As such we aim to make Link to Nashville the predominant site for middle Tennessee."

One of Mark’s visions for the site is "to inform visitors and newcomers to the area about things it often takes months or years to learn about the city".  If you wish to know more about Nashville and Link to Nashville, visit www.linktonashville.com or email Mark Kerrigan at mark.kerrigan@onthemarkwriting.com.

 

 

Glen can be reached at GlenG@TheNationalNetworker.com or Post a Comment on TNNW Blog.