Dear Evoites,

Over the last few weeks as new members have joined and we've opened up group creation to everybody, I've received several emails asking about the benefits of creating a group.  So, I thought I would write down the main reasons in my mind why creating a group is a great idea:

1. The groups pages become their own marketing machine.
   • As you are active in your group, the entire community is notified in the activity stream.  Additionally, email notifications go out automatically to your group members as you post bulletins, discussions, photos, videos, etc.  To capitalize on this feature, group owners should be active in the community, make friends, and invite their friends to join their group.  The more members in your group, the more emails will go out on your behalf.
2. The groups pages get a lot of attention from search engines.
   • AudioEvo.org is very search engine friendly.  We've gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that each time there is an activity in a group, that the search engines are made aware of it.  This is another great reason why it's important to not only have a group page, but to use it each and every time you have a piece of news you want to "get out there."
3. Personal relationships... i.e.: "I know someone on the inside."
   
   • One of the most valuable benefits for me to being a member of AudioEvo.org is the people I've met.  Now every time I go to a show I literally know hundreds of people from all parts of the high end audio industry.  But beyond this is the feeling that I know people who are insiders.  For example, I own Wilson Audio loudspeakers.  It means something to me personally that I know several of the Wilson crew through AudioEvo.org.  If I have a question about my speakers, I can always send them a PM and always get a quick answer.

If you have any questions on this subject, please feel free to respond to this discussion.  I'll do my best to give you my two cents, as I'm sure other long-standing members of the community will.

Sincerely,

Gavin Fish
http://audioevo.org/gavn8r