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Social networking is "in" these days as growing numbers of computer users tap the Internet to connect with people who have similar business, professional or personal interests.
Social network sites like MySpace, FriendFeed, Facebook and LinkedIn offer new ways to communicate and share information. "Your professional relationships are key to your professional success," proclaims a promotional page for LinkedIn, an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.
What They Offer
Event planners and others in the golf community from club professionals and resort marketing officers to golfers just looking for a game are getting into social networking. One site, 19thHole.com, bills itself as the "premier online social network for golfers" and offers members "the opportunity to find friends, romance, golf partners and expert advice from industry leaders."
A recently formed group on LinkedIn, the Golf Event Planner Network [full disclosure: This group was started by Golf Event publisher Brad Seybert], is drawing members who plan corporate or charitable golf outings. "We're using it as another way to meet people and tell them about our Golf Academy and some of our programs," says Traci Buch, marketing manager at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga.
"It's a higher-end school so we're looking at young professionals up to retirees," she says. "More and more, the 30-, 40-, 50-somethings are online. They research anything, whether it's a car or a golf school. On LinkedIn you can see what other people are saying about it, you can ask a question, you can recommend it to other people. If there's a question about a golf getaway or corporate outing for employees or clients, we try to answer it just to get our name out there."
Charlie King, director of instruction at the Reynolds Golf Academy, is enthusiastic about LinkedIn. "I picture it leading to more corporate business for the academy. We have custom corporate outings and there will be more of a corporate clientele that will tend to be on LinkedIn that will get to know more about us," he says.
Idea Exchange
Using LinkedIn to plan golf events for her organization is one thing Erika Weingarten Cupples has in mind as manager of events/major gifts officer in the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. office of Women for Women International, a nonprofit group.
"Originally I was just looking for networking sites that I could join that would be a springboard of ideas," says Cupples. "I find that event planning is very specific to the types of events you do. Someone who knows how to do a gala is not necessarily going to know how to do a golf event. I figured the more specific I could get in the groups I joined the easier it would be to do things smarter."
So she joined the Golf Event Planner Network on LinkedIn. "I haven't used it much yet but I also haven't had a golf tournament coming up. They don't do golf events here yet. But every other nonprofit where I have worked has always made a significant portion of its fundraising dollars through a golf tournament. Men still anchor the golf demographic but women are becoming a really big segment of it," Cupples says.
"So we're looking at it for 2009 and with our network group we can reach out and ask for suggestions of vendors and reputable golf courses. That would be really helpful," she says.
Promote and Reconnect
When the 2008 Caps Care Classic charity golf tournament in suburban Virginia raised more than $175,000 for Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and other charities, Children's National used its FaceBook group and Flickr, another web site that stores photographs, to promote the event with photos and video.
"Instead of just issuing a news release about how much money we raised, we wanted to show people it's fun to be involved. It's hard to describe that sometimes in words but with Flickr you show what the experience is like. You see people in action," explains Mark Miller, director of philanthropic marketing and communications for Children's National.
"Our FaceBook group is really going well. It expands our outreach. It's reaching a lot of people. It's about going where the people are," says Miller.
Peter Kinney, sales development manager for Bridgestone Golf, is in another golf group on LinkedIn. "I've already talked to a couple of pro athletes who are in my network who want to team up on some charity things," he says.
"I've reconnected with people I know from different industries and also from the golf industry. It's great; sort of like a MySpace or Facebook for grown-ups. It's social but it's also business. It's easy to communicate with people this way without calling them," Kinney says.
"It's such a great resource for people to collaborate on ideas. That was the idea behind the U.S. Golf Leaders group that we put together," adds Brendon Elliott, head golf professional at Winter Park Country Club, a municipal course in Winter Park, Fla.
"You share ideas, you network on jobs, on new products, whatever. To me, it's an invaluable tool," says Elliott, who adds that he also created pages for his course on MySpace and Facebook.
As social networking grows in popularity and attracts more users in the golf community, it also takes some getting used to. "Even for me in marketing, it's new. For most golf instructors like Charlie King, it's a new frontier. We're taking baby steps at this point. We're trying to figure out how to make the best use of it," says Buch.
"I think it's starting to catch on," says Elliott. "It's in its infancy but I think it's going to be huge," concludes Kinney.
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What social networks have you joined? How have you benefitted? Are you using them to publicize your golf events? E-mail editor April Miller, amiller@golfeventmagazine.com, to share your story. |
Alan Dessoff is an independent journalist in Bethesda, Md. He last wrote about wireless applications for handheld devices in the fall 2008 issue. | 
