Survey Legend

Updates for Marketplace Hubs! How to Build a World Class Following on Land Surveyors United

Posted by Justin Farrow on July 7, 2020 at 11:17am in Community Announcements, Surveyor Apps, New Features
Updates for Marketplace Hubs! How to Build a World Class Following on Land Surveyors United

Almost 6 months ago, I had a vision.  That vision was to devise a way to extend the same experience that my Dad (who sold and supported Land Surveying Equipment) had when we first began building Land Surveyors United. Over the course of about 9 months he went from a struggling local survey supply company to a global company serving land surveyors around the world during the worst period of economic recession 2007-2008.  That experience changed everything for him and now that same experience of building a community around your Products and Services is now available to Vendors inside the community.   We've removed all of the ads and distractions from the site in order to place focus on our Marketplace Hubs.  Now that Dad has moved on to that big jobsite in the sky, I want to help you build the same type of experience...he would want that.

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Building a following takes just minutes per week.  Don't worry, it certainly won't take you 14 years to build your following because thousands of land surveyors have already been UNITED inside the community- so all you need to do is tap into that target audience. In fact, most of our Marketplace Hubs already have at least 30 or more followers even though they are only a couple of months old.   However, building a following doesn't happen automatically.    Although most of the hard work has already been done for you (ie. cultivating a community of close to 17,000 land surveyors), it is up to you to get the followers to your hub - with a little help from us of course.  You can gain followers every week by simply posting regular updates to your Hub's Forum, sharing photos and videos of your operation and products and reaching out to your followers inside the community. You should run your Marketplace Hub just like your business, welcoming new members when they join your hub because they are most likely your new potential customers.   The Hub Developers Hub has many tips and tricks for ways to use your hub to get the attention your products deserve.

 

For Vendors Who Already Have a Marketplace Hub

There are several Marketplace Hubs with a lot of followers, yet the Vendors are not regularly posting updates. In fact, I see quite a few that have questions and comments from members that have never been replied to.    If you are the vendor in charge of these hubs, you are missing out on potentially a lot of money as well as followers. 

Here are a few ways that you can make your Marketplace Hub take off:

- Post a link to your Hub from Your Website (Reciprocal Linking will get you authoritative traffic)

- Treat your hub like a Support Forum for your company and draw in new customers by supporting the products and services you sell

- Post at least one special deal for LSU members inside your forum every week (this attracts new followers to your hub)

- When you post a link to your hub, add  =join to the end of the URL (example: https://landsurveyorsunited.com/hubs/hubs=join )

- Share photos of your products in action or demonstrate a service you provide in a video

- Post photos of events or conferences that you attend where your products are on showcase

- Use the description area for photos and videos that you upload to embed payment buttons and embed documentation and or stories about your products.

- Ask questions to your followers and see what they are interested in seeing more of

- Keep an eye on your "Members" page inside your hub.  Connect with those who follow you.

- Post Manuals and Guides for how to use the products that you sell and why they are important

- Add an events page to your Hub and schedule some live streams or webinars for Members to attend

- You can also automate post to your Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin through your Hub by using RSSGround to send a post to other profiles everytime you post to your Forum, Photos, Videos, Events, etc.

- Craft a top notch About Us page for your Hub and tell your followers about your company history and your committment to supporting what you sell to surveyors.

- Add a Podcast page to your hub and host a weekly podcast interviewing your customers

- Remember this:  when you post, you are not only addressing those surveyors who are already following your Hub, you are also talking to potential customers who will see your post and follow your hub.  Posts that offer something special for Land Surveyors United members will always be cross- promoted by us to our Facebook Page (55k followers), our Twitter and our Linkedin Groups.

- Create a Flow of information that never stops by posting to your hub often.  You will organically attract new followers over time.

For Vendors Who Want a Marketplace Hub

Forget banner ads!  How about a dynamic living Hub community where you can sell your products and services for a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for expensive banner ads.  In fact, you won't even be charged until your hub begins to see traction and customers! 

In other words, we are officially reversing the traditional Banner Ad Model.  If you are tired of throwing your money away on banner ads or print advertising hoping for clicks or calls, this is the solution for you.  We'll set up your Hub, brand it according to your website or preferences and import your social media profiles for you.  All you need to do is be ready to learn something new, willing to answer questions about your products from customers and followers and share new deals and specials with the community a few times per month. Marketplace Hubs can also have a dedicated mobile app built for helping you quickly post to your Hub while making shopping on the go much simpler for land surveyors in the field.  Contact Justin with any questions you might have.

 

Visit Vendor Marketplace Presentation

Request a Vendor Hub to be set up for your company

Marketplace Hubs Now Have Dedicated Apps

We have now made it easier than ever to quickly add content to your Marketplace hub by developing individually branded Mobile Apps for your hubs.  Your app will make it super simple to add posts, upload photos and videos to the Hub from anywhere, on the Fly!

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To get your Marketplace Hub App all you need to do is 2 things:

1) Send us your request for your Hub to be set up and we will build both the Hub and the App for you.

2) Schedule a short video call with the Land Surveyors United team about all of the cool things you can do with your hub!

We are excited to add your company to our Marketplace and look forward to hearing from you!  Once your Vendor hub is set up we'll send you an email to follow the Hub.  We'll then make you admin of the hub and you'll be able to completely control the backend and all of the pages inside the hub.  Pretty cool huh!

 

Reach out.. contact me with any questions! 

Justin

 

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Monthly Giveaway Information

 

Important Information about Your Member Number and Raffle Number

Listen instead of reading, if you like.

Your Land Surveyors United account is now associated with a Member #. Your Member # will now become your Giveaway # for an entire year, when you elevate the status of your account as a sustaining member. Your member number is based on the order in which you joined us. It's good to know your Member # for many reasons but most importantly because it will sting if we draw your # during the monthly raffle drawing and you didn't know you won. Remember it, because you will have at least 12 chances to win the monthly Raffle, via live stream on the last day of every month, as owner of it. Remember it because we need you to tell us your Member # at check out when you subscribe to Basic Membership or higher on Land Surveyors United Community. Remember it because it might be the Golden Ticket in one of those 12 monthly raffle drawings every year. Remember it because you will need your Member Drawing Number to claim the monthly Drawing Prize, if your number is drawn. Remember it because it now literally saves you money anytime you mention your Member number while doing business with any of our community Smarketplace Vendors. Only those Sustaining Members who have upgraded to Basic Membership or higher are eligable to win the monthly Drawing Prize.
Before moving to the next section, Use this search engine to find your Membership number for Monthly Membership Drawing . Learn more about benefits of membership on Land Surveyors United.Add the upcoming Drawing Drawing Events to your calendar because you have an entire year of drawing prizes to look forward to. If you cannot afford membership, we may possibily be able to match you with a sponsor. In order to avoid restricted access to members only resources, courses, apps and tools, you must Tell Us Your Member Number here so that we can try to help you. Note: We update the member numbers on the 15th of the month and the day before the last day of the month (day before any drawing). If you joined recently, check back on the 16th or after the first as we assign new numbers every two weeks and the day before a drawing.

Frequently Asked Questions Drawing and Membership

 Your Land Surveyors United account is now associated with a Member #. Your Member # will now become your Drawing # for an entire year, when you elevate the status of your account as a sustaining member. Your member number is based on the order in which you joined us. It's good to know your Member # for many reasons but most importantly because it will sting if we draw your # during the monthly drawing drawing and you didn't know you won. Remember it, because you will have at least 12 chances to win the monthly Drawing, via live stream on the last day of every month, as owner of it. Remember it because we need you to tell us your Member # at check out when you subscribe to Basic Membership or higher on Land Surveyors United Community. Remember it because it might be the Golden Ticket in one of those 12 monthly drawing drawings every year. Remember it because you will need your Member Drawing Number to claim the monthly Drawing Prize, if your number is drawn. Remember it because it now literally saves you money anytime you mention your Member number while doing business with any of our community Smarketplace Vendors. Only those Sustaining Members who have upgraded to Basic Membership or higher are eligable to win the monthly Drawing Prize.
Before moving to the next section, Use this search engine to find your Membership number for Monthly Membership Drawing . Learn more about benefits of membership on Land Surveyors United.Add the upcoming Drawing Drawing Events to your calendar because you have an entire year of drawing prizes to look forward to. If you cannot afford membership, we may possibily be able to match you with a sponsor. In order to avoid restricted access to members only resources, courses, apps and tools, you must Tell Us Your Member Number here so that we can try to help you. Note: We update the member numbers on the 15th of the month and the day before the last day of the month (day before any drawing). If you joined recently, check back on the 16th or after the first as we assign new numbers every two weeks and the day before a drawing.

A few members wrote in because they were unable to find their member number.

I managed to not only fix this, i went ahead and updated all of the new members in the community so now everyone in the network up to yesterday 5PM EST should now be in the system and you can find your member number more easily.   I streamlined the process a bit on the Memberships/Drawing page.  When you find your Member Number, please make a note of it as it will never change from this point forward.  You will want to have an easy way to reference your Member Number on the last day of every month as it will be your chance at winning the entire Drawing Prize for the Month.

Note:  From this point forward, new member numbers will be added to the system on the 15th and last day of the month.   So if you joined the community after the 1st or 15th, your member number will be retrievable on the 16th or on the day before any scheduled drawing drawing.

When I upgrade my membership, does that qualify me only for the month that I upgrade?

No.  You get at least 12 chances to win... All levels of membership apply to your member number for the entire year beginning when you upgrade your account.  In other words, if you upgrade as a Basic Member, you get 1 Drawing Number Per Month for 12 months.  So you have 12 tickets with different prizes available every month.  For example, for $50/yr you might win a Total Station or a GPS package or a software suite.  The most important thing is what you also get with your membership such as access to private sections of the community, access to all of the deals and rewards of the Smarketplace, in addition to the upcoming Survey Education Courses and App coming in early February.

Ok, So how many chances to win the drawing do I actually get when I upgrade?

For Basic Membership - 12 Tickets 1 per month.

Best suited for individual member

For Futurist Membership - 24 Tickets  2 per month

Best for those who can sponsor a member who cannot afford membership

For Masterclass - 60 Tickets  5 per month

Best for Member + 4 sponsored members with extra perks for purchaser

For Big Boss - 240 Tickets  20 per month

Best for company owner and sponsorship of employees with major business perks..

If I purchase a Futurist Membership or higher, do I have to give my extra drawing tickets to those I sponsor?

By sponsoring another surveyor who cannot afford membership, you have the choice of either giving your sponsored member the drawing ticket or keep it for yourself.  By sponsoring another member you double  or triple increase your chances of winning but it is up to you as to whether or not to keep the extra drawing ticket or give it to them.   Once you are matched with a member to sponsor you will be given a short bio about who you sponsored with information such as how long they have been surveying, where they are located and most importantly, their Member Number, which you will essentially become owner for purposes of the drawing.

Paypal Does not work as a Payment Method in my Location

Thank you for this feedback.  Today I have added the ability to purchase your drawing tickets using Cash App and I am working on Stripe and other integrations.   If you have a preferred payment method that you would like for me to try adding, please tell us here.

Absolutely! Helping a fellowSurveyor who cannot afford membership pushes everyone forward. Reward yourself for your gesture, if you like. For example,You'll get 2 drawing tickets per month as a Futurist or higher and it is your choice to either keep their drawing ticket or give it to the member you sponsor. As a Futurist, you essentially become the owner/steward of the Member/Drawing number associated with the member you sponsor. You will also be given a choice between 3 members to sponsor based on their relationship and experience in land surveying. As a sponsor you will be providing access to all of the educational tools, resources and knowledgebase for a member who otherwise would only have restricted access.

If I purchase a Futurist Membership or higher, do I have to give my extra drawing tickets to those I sponsor?

By sponsoring another surveyor who cannot afford membership, you have the choice of either giving your sponsored member the drawing ticket or keep it for yourself.  By sponsoring another member you double  or triple increase your chances of winning but it is up to you as to whether or not to keep the extra drawing ticket or give it to them.   Once you are matched with a member to sponsor you will be given a short bio about who you sponsored with information such as how long they have been surveying, where they are located and most importantly, their Member Number, which you will essentially become owner for purposes of the drawing.

Paypal Does not work as a Payment Method in my Location

Thank you for this feedback.  Today I have added the ability to purchase your drawing tickets using Cash App and I am working on Stripe and other integrations.   If you have a preferred payment method that you would like for me to try adding, please tell us here.

Paypal Does not work as a Payment Method in my Location

Thank you for this feedback.  Today I have added the ability to purchase your drawing tickets using Cash App and I am working on Stripe and other integrations.   If you have a preferred payment method that you would like for me to try adding, please tell us here.

I am a Student or Retired Surveyor who cannot afford Membership

IMPORTANT:  If you are not making money as a land surveyor, we have you covered, but you need to let us know.   If you do not let us know, we will not be able to remove the restricted access from your account and therefore you will only be seeing 20% of what Land Surveyors United Community has to offer you.  There is a place inside the memberships page for you to explicitly tell us that you are not currently able to afford membership.   By filling out this form, we will be able to match you with an available sponsor.   Once the parties are in communication, it is between you to decide how drawing tickets will be distributed. In other words, your sponsor may choose to keep your drawing number which means they essentially own your Member Number for the year and will have 12 chances to win with your number.  Nevertheless, you will be afforded all of the access and permissions to access restricted areas and resources that a Basic Member will have across the community and all member apps.

Where do the Drawing Prizes come from?

Every month of 2021 and beyond, our community is sponsored by a different Marketplace Vendor who we believe you should reach out to and get to know.  The drawing prizes will all be a showcase of the best of the best offered by these vendors, who have all been hand chosen based on customer service quality, willingness to support what they sell and overall feedback across the community.   Those vendors recieve an entire month of our community support and love in exchange for their sponsorship of our unity for the month.  For example, Safety Apparel is the sponsor of January as it is Safety Month and the high quality safety gear they provide our members saves lives every single day.   We celebrate them. We follow them.  We share what they are doing in the world to make land surveying better and so should you.  At the end of the month, a Major Mega Survey Party Pack of vests, gloves and accessories will be awarded to the winning Drawing Member Number.   It is true that we shall celebrate Safety Apparel every month of the year, but their month to shine in the community is the entire month of January.  In February, Survipod becomes our Sponsor of the month and we will showcase their innovations and will drawing a prize at the end of the month.   

NOTE:  Our 2021 months are starting to fill up quickly and there are presently only 6 months left to claim, so if you would like to be showcased for a month in 2021, please get in touch asap so you do not miss the opportunity to get your products/services in front of thousands of surveyors around the planet who want to test them out, use them, love them, hate them but most importantly, get to know your company/brand better..  

What if I want to purchase the same products showcased in the drawing from the Sponsor of the Month?

You do not need to win the drawing for the month to own the products provided by our sponsors.  In fact, if you contact the sponsor and let them know that you are a Land Surveyors United member, they have all agreed to provide a special member discount for you when purchasing the products they offer.

What if I am not a land surveyor but I have a profile on Land Surveyors United?

If you have a profile on Land Surveyors United and you are not a land surveyor, you must be a special case.  However, I must inform you that our member drawing is for Land Surveyors only.   In other words, if your member number is drawn and you are a) not a land surveyor and/or b) you have not upgraded your membership, we will draw another number.  Only those numbers which coorespond to a member number matching an upgraded membership are eligable to win the drawing prize.

Note: All profiles which are not Land Surveyors, Students, Retired Surveyors, Geoeducators, Seeking Employment, Recruiters or Tech specialists have restricted access and will only be able to see certain sections of the community, apps and resources.   Many sections of the site will only be visible and usable once a member profile has been upgraded.

Share Your Ideas and Suggestions

This is YOUR Community!  Is there something special that you would like for us to add or integrate into the Surveyor Community for you?    Do you have a feature or add-on that you would like for us to develop?

Tell Us What Would Like to See Us Build Next

How Long Has it Been Since you Switched Companies? Our community will soon turn 15 years old and a question that I am getting more and more is "I no longer work at the company that I worked at when I signed up, so I no longer have that email - what do I do?" This is simple, if you remember the password. Although you can no longer access your old email, all you need to do is sign in to the community using it and the password. Once you are inside your account, go into your profile settings and designate a new email. You'll just need to confirm that email and you are all set. If you cannot remember your password and cannot reset it, create a new profile and we will merge your accounts for you. Don't miss out on all of the new exciting things we are doing like monthly drawings, survey education courses and more simply because you can no longer access your old account.
It may be true that you have created 2 profiles in the past 15 years, but the account that you currently use is the account that you upgrade for Basic Membership and as such will be your winning numbers. If we draw the number of your previous account and it has not been activated, yet we see that you have upgraded your current account, you are still eligible to win. As long as one of your accounts is upgraded in good standing, you are eligable to win the prize, if we draw the number associated with your account that you no longer have access to.
We update the member numbers on the 15th of the month and the day before the last day of the month (day before any drawing). If you joined recently, check back on the 16th or after the first as we assign new numbers every two weeks and the day before a drawing.
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