In previous articles you have read a lot about the official launch of ZaaBiz in India last week. The huge response in the media is actually based on hard work, everyone who has experience in working with a group of media representatives knows what we are talking about.

We think that this is the right time to say a big thank you to Blue Lotus Communications team in Chennai under the guidance of Ajay for helping us make www.zaabiz.com so well known in Indian’s press community. Many of them can be found in our Group on ZaaBiz called ‘Public Relations India‘. Next week we’ll approach the media in another city in India, as this country hosts such a vast variety of print and online media, that we had to split the news up in two press conferences.

Our PR team in Chennai

So far we have had 20 different articles launched and a whole series of interviews in print and TV are still outstanding. Three cheers to Ajay and the team in Chennai, especially as we celebrate Independence Day in India today.

ZaaBiz is receiving lots of attention in India’s media scene, after launching its platform in Chennai on the 12th of August. Some of the articles can be found on: The Hindu, Financial Chronicle, The new Indian Express, rediff.com and many others. Find some excerpts here of what Chennai’s media scene has to say:

“The online portal’s CEO and Founder Michael Brecht said after launching the portal it that it is a business networking portal, mainly created to empower businesses.

“Since the official launch of the website at Australia in November 2007, we have 100,000 members and intend to increase it to one million members over the next six months” Brecht said.

Through the networking commenced from Australia, already 60 per cent of its members hail from India, he added.

“Most of our revenues today come from online advertisements, premium members of the group (who need to pay Rs 350 per month as subscription) and from sponsors”, he said.

One the reasons on why the website has been launched in India after Australia, he said the country has a substantial number of English speaking persons and huge business potential.”

We couldn’t have said it any better.

On August 12, 2008 we have officially launched our networking platform. Please find below the press release which went out to the local media and was discussed with about 20 journalists at a media roundtable in Chennai:

ZaaBiz PR roundtable in Chennai

Networking has been around since the dawn of civilization, but new technology has brought it into the internet age. Companies and individuals have realized that networks can be created, traversed, searched and analyzed for unlimited and unknown benefits. A roundtable discussing the need for understanding networking patterns in India saw the launch of ZaaBiz, a business networking portal created to empower businesses.

Addressing to the media Mr. Michael Brecht, CEO & Founder, ZaaBiz.com said, “through ZaaBiz we intend to provide the Indian communities with a credible business networking platform that connects people and facilitates quick solutions to complex problems. A unique platform ZaaBiz offers an innovative way to market and promote brands. India has one of the highest numbers of networkers and almost half the members on the platform are Indians. ZaaBiz has entered the Indian market because we see a great opportunity, the challenge however is to bring out the true efficacies and benefits of our platform which can then be optimized to achieve greater benefits”.

Speaking at the event, Mr. T R Gopalan, Regional Director, Indo German Chamber of Commerce, said, “Networking today is an industry that has become a fiber of our being as far as accessing information is concerned. Businesses depend on Networking to garner better efficacies and find the right fit. Business networking is fast catching up among serious networkers who are looking to leverage these platforms to seek and provide jobs, to gain better access to solutions and solution providers and to gain an edge over competitors”.

With the launch of ZaaBiz India is now becoming a hub for networking and there are a lot of sites which will be waiting to tap its true potential. This discussion has thrown up some interesting facts about the need for networking and the networking patterns of Indians. Observing these patterns Mr. Michael Brecht added “Our perception is that Indians are the best networkers and the ones who use networks most efficiently.

Our members on ZaaBiz have started to participate in what the world today knows as Web 2.0. But what is Web 2.0 and how can you and your business make the best out of it? A generic definition of Web 2.0 states that it is the active participation of users on the web. This simply means that online users can become active on those websites providing the functionalities for it.

The web has plenty of offerings for the private and business users: there are social networking platforms, video and photo sharing sites, blogs, widgets, some of them are directly aimed at people with plenty of IT skills, some of them are focused on a specific age group and some of them for your everyday usage.

Here on ZaaBiz we like to keep things simple. We provide a platform for business professionals who like to network to find a new employee or a new employer, a new customer or a new client. Business networking is free advertising. There’s no better way to promote your business for free than on a business networking site!

Whether you are based in India, you are an Indian living abroad or you are a professional who tries to get in contact with a business in India, ZaaBiz is your platform to do it. We are empowering business networks across Asia Pacific, join in if you haven’t done it yet.

ZaaBiz again was asked to contribute how Indian businesses use social networking sites to either reach out to customers in multiple markets or to manage and communicate with their employees spread out over many timezones.

Award winning journalist Archana Rai from Bangalore interviewed ZaaBiz CEO Michael Brecht recently and integrated quite a few findings in her article, which was published in LiveMint, the online version of the Wall Street Journal in India.

Famous Indian corporates such as Titan Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Nike or Kingfisher Airlines are active participants in the social networking marketplace. Michael focused on the need for platforms to cover the needs of the smaller and medium sized businesses: “While existing business networking sites focus on technology sector networks, we will provide a network that professionals across industry segments and small business owners can leverage,” he was quoted.

And Michael is right: the success of ZaaBiz in India is based on the use of the platform by employees in big companies such as Wipro, HCL, Reliance or Tata, but the platform at the same time is host to many thousand owners of small to medium sized businesses as well. Together these businesses will drive the vast economic growth India will be experiencing in the coming years.

There is an interesting discussion going on in India about whether the current economic cycle and its inherent problems lead advertisement spent to go down. Interestingly PR agencies in India have recently surged in terms of revenues and new clients that signed up with them.

The appointment of Blue Lotus Communications as its PR agency is a rational step for ZaaBiz as it just shows how important the Indian market is for the business networking platform. ZaaBiz CEO Michael was therefore happy to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the use of PR agencies by Indian businesses. This is what Michael said:

“Driving home the point, Michael Brecht, CEO, ZaaBiz, a business net­working site that has signed up Blue Lotus for its public relations exercises in India says, “India is our most im­portant market outside Aus­tralia and we are here to spurt our al­ready significant membership base. I believe that PR would be a much better way to go about making inroads into the Indian market.”" The quote appeared in DNA, a publication focusing on news for Advertisers and PR companies.

ZaaBiz in the media: we are becoming a respected player in the Indian business marketplace!

The following article was published on CIOL.com today, it follows an interview with Michael Brecht last week. Happy reading.

ZaaBiz at Gateway of India with 1-mn hopes
Asia-centric business networking site eyes India to try new revenue mix with sponsorships
Pratima Harigunani

PUNE, INDIA: Business-networking site ZaaBiz Pty Ltd is eyeing the Indian Diaspora to increase its number of members to one million.

According to this Australia-based start-up with focus of SMEs in the APAC region, Indians could constitute 70 per cent of its expected one million members. The rest would come from Down Under.

ZaaBiz also sees strong growth in geographies such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore and Dubai.

“Interestingly enough, we already see over half of our 100,000 members coming from India with the right, safe and promising environment Zaabiz is giving for pure business networking, specially for SMEs,” Michael Brecht, founder of ZaaBiz said.

“Then there are about 20 million Indians living outside the country and keen for such networking that can connect them back to the country,” he added.

The venture, which has a mix of premium membership and advertising as its revenue model, is viable enough to generate revenues to make it profitable by next year.

It is also on its way to leverage a new avenue for revenue. This is a sponsorship model wherein micro-communities on the site can have respective sponsors.

There are 20 sponsors so far and Brecht plans to add more as he visits India in the next few days. The target is to have about 200 sponsors by this calendar year.

“ZaaBiz will look to create a unique business model around its networking platform allowing people to create groups and also allow the groups to be sponsored by corporate thus creating an alternate revenue stream for itself. Most ZaaBiz networkers network for information, jobs and to connect to people; the universe of brands that would want to reach out to such a profile of people is immense and hence ZaaBiz as an advertising platform holds huge potential for advertisers,” Brecht said.

Will ZaaBiz thrive in an arena where established players such as LinkedIn rule the roost?

“LinkedIn is a great American platform and a big global player. But I believe that the business now is happening at the local scale, more so for business segments. We are putting our thrust through relevant content, local focus and environment for Indian members. When we started it 15 months back, nobody was looking seriously at the business segment and local needs in APAC. Asia, and therein India, has shown considerable market growth for us,” he added.

On the OpenID alliance, which is about allowing a user able to use one online identity across multiple sites, Brecht said, “We have been contacted by few players but as of now I don’t see any advantage and thus a bit cautious. If there comes a time, when it makes sense for members we are open to talk.”

German born Brecht, now based in Australia, started ZaaBiz in October 2007 with an aim of building a networking platform to facilitate better business decisions among serious minded business people by bringing them together on the platform.

Its services currently range from groups, forums, articles, newsletters, advanced search and powerSearch, finding new business connections and more Web 2.0 applications under development.

While the US market is ruled by heavyweights such as MySpace and Facebook, India has seen considerable heat in this space in the recent past with first-movers like Orkut followed by a slew of players like Fropper and BigAdda.

According to a 2007 score-track by market research firm comScore, Orkut grew by 35 per cent in India in the past one year; followed by MySpace, which grew by 33 per cent, while Facebook came in at third place vis-à-vis the Indian market. MySpace officially launched in India this April.

According to a WatConsult approximate estimate for the Indian market, five years ahead at 2011 at 15 to 2 per cent of the outside of US numbers, the Indian online spend on social networking could be pegged at 150-200 million dollars. That could mean a market leader with 30 per cent share would have revenues close to $50 million.

The copyright of this article is with Cybermedia News in India. Here is the link to the article itself.

Social networking has become a trend over the past months and many employees and business owners have been asking themselves how to participate in this online phenomenon. Networking is all about opening up the communication lines with someone you have just met. You want to let others know about you and your business while also finding out details about them and their business. Online networking expands these contacts thousandfold – exploring the unlimited contact possibilities on the web makes this the perfect marketing opportunity for businesses.

There is always going to be a debate over which one is better: online social networking or online business networking. While social networking platforms such as facebook and myspace present millions of contact possibilities, business networking platforms are much smaller with ZaaBiz being the local market leader here throughout AsiaPac.

So let’s define the differences between the two: online social networking is more of an escape from the business world and a glimpse into the life of the social person outside the professional arena. Chat with friends about the weekend and upcoming events or simply try to connect with old mates. Social networking has a casual feel. Here you find any kind of connection and even the platforms themselves boast about their huge variety of distracting activities. The risk for a business is the proximity to private news and the lack of professional understanding of most of the users.

Online Business networking is just as easy to categorise. It’s an integral part of today’s everyday business and an ever- expanding network of connections. Building up connections starts with useful business contacts that you trust as someone you potentially want to do business with. The different platforms show you to which degree you are connected to a new business contact: ZaaBiz actually is able to visualise the six degrees of separation theory, so each member is connected to everyone on the network at the most by six degrees.

There is a clear business reason to connect and increase your own network/business on a business platform, which makes these environments more valuable if you are strictly aiming for business contacts. There’s no better way to promote your business for free than on a business networking site; find a new employee or a new employer, a new customer or a new client. Business networking is free advertising. It’s essential for every business!

Michael Brecht, founder and CEO of ZaaBiz, states that, “We have found that there is a clear need for small and medium business owners to self promote on a networking platform to enhance their business presence.” Michael’s experience is based on thousands of Indian and also international business owners, who have chosen ZaaBiz and given the feedback that, “Social networks work well too, however that a dedicated business networking site has major advantages, as members can connect quickly and easily to other members, plus they can “see” the six degrees of separation” theory in action.”

The industry is currently finding a trend towards amalgamating face-to-face networking and online networking - the smart business person today spends equal time doing both and actively integrates both networks. Michael calls them the ‘integrated networker’.

This is the first entry on our India Blog for ZaaBiz. And what a great first entry we are able to post as we are extremely happy to announce a major step forward in the history of our young company. With the appointment of a PR agency from Mumbai ZaaBiz is continuing its expansion into India.

“We have been looking for a PR partner in India for quite a while and I have lead a series of discussions with potential agencies while being in India,” says Michael Brecht, CEO and Founder of ZaaBiz. “We are very happy to announce today, that the renowned PR Agency Blue Lotus Communications has signed a PR services agreement with us,” Michael continues. The services agreement includes the representation of ZaaBiz in the media scene in India and other services elements such as the hosting of specific round tables and events for the existing membership base of ZaaBiz in India. “India is our most important market outside Australia and we are here to grow our already significant membership base,” adds Michael. “Indian professionals have started experiencing the enormous power of a networking platform for business people and with the help of Blue Lotus Communications we will spread these news even further.”

Blue Lotus Communications is headquartered in India’s media capital Mumbai and has 9 additional offices across the country. Blue Lotus Communications Director N. Chandramouli explains, that “with ZaaBiz we have taken on board a challenging new client. We will help ZaaBiz’ business networking platform expand further in India, grow its membership base significantly and become an established brand here.”

For more information, please contact us.