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Typically, there’s an anonymous relationship between the landlord and their tenants. And for the most part, both sides like to keep it that way.
This is because many relationships are built on problems, like: the heat doesn’t work, the rent is late, the toilet is backed up, the rent is still late.
These are the types of incidents, from both sides, where a reason to converse occurs, a chance to meet on the battlefield.
At Groupable, we don’t think the relationship between lessor and lessee needs to be adversarial. We think there’s opportunity to remove discord and create accord, to live in respectful harmony. And it starts with a click.
As the owner/manager of a particular plot of real estate with tenants from various walks of life, interests and passions, you have a valuable socio-economic neighborhood - a group. And this group talks amongst themselves, shares thoughts, and can form consensus. These residents, bound together under one roof, are a powerful and influential bloc. And there are sponsors out there, locally and nationally, who would love to reach them.
So, imagine registering, for free, the Kathyrn Commons apartment dwellers onto the Groupable platform. Imagine a sponsor finding this group and donating to the tenants something as generous as laundry detergent or coupons to local eateries.
Imagine a few months later more gifts show up at the doorstep because your community has responded to the sponsors and brands. Some group members may have told their friends about these products or services. They may have even blogged or tweeted about their experiences.
In the sponsors’ eyes, these recipients have gone from “Dear Occupant” to a real person, a real demographic, a way to expand, measure and monitor the social network.
Your group has become really valuable.
And tenants become more grateful for living in such a wonderful environment that affords them access to these little gifts in life. Your inhabitants hum with happiness. Tolerance breaks out everywhere. And it’s all because you, the landlord, organized them into a sponsorable community on Groupable.
This is not a dream. It’s not a fictional wish list. It’s a way to build your village and go from slumlord to funlord.
Everyday new groups are signing up and getting connected. Will yours be next?
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What’s the greatest common denominator that everyone needs and can agree upon?
It’s probably as, or even, more important than love or money.
How about food? Yep, we need the stuff everyday for sustenance, warmth, and vitality. Can’t live without it. And the vast majority of us need to go to some type of market to gather it - unless, of course, you like to eat all your meals at a restaurant, which just means someone else went out to get the food ingredients for you.
Food is one of the most social elements we humans have with one another. A holiday meal, a backyard barbecue, making a family recipe from scratch. It’s all about food and bonding.
So think about how well social media and social nourishment go together. Think about how food markets (supermarkets, farmer’s markets, green markets, mom-and-pop convenience stores) can utilize this channel to reach their local buying public, build relationships and loyalty, and establish conversations in the market.
How well does your local food provider reach out to you through social media? Would you like to see them do more, hear your thoughts on the types of foods you want locally, sponsor your activities? The list goes on …
Let us know your thoughts. And let us know who in the food industry you think we should contact on this subject so they can be part of the Groupable community.
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How many groups are you in? How many Facebook, LinkedIn, MeetUp or ad-hoc entities vie for your attention? The groups that I belong to are filled with dedicated, passionate lovers of something (in my case it’s technology, entrepreneurship and Northern Italian cooking). They’re hard core. This is just the type of passion that sponsors want to recruit to help spread the message of their product or service. Once such sponsor is Harper Studio (Harper Collins).
With a stable of great books by authors who really are leading the charge for the passionate, 
the Groupable connection was a logical one. Pair passionate experts with groups of passionate people. Head cheerleader for “Passion” and how to cash in on it, is Harper Studio author and social media oenophilist, Gary Vaynerchuk. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
. We’re teaming up with the Harper Studio folks to offer some innovative programs with groups like yours - including having Gary himself come speak for an hour to your humble little gathering, in exchange for buying a minimum number of books. With his speaking fees skyrocketing, here’s your chance to harness the power of the masses and buy books for the club and organize an event around it. Check out the other promotions. You must be a registered groupable group to participate.
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Groupable group
We are getting lots of responses, most of them great, to our ‘we’ll contact a sponsor for you’ program. Yes, we’ve made some sponsorship matches, but as expected it takes longer than we’d all like and at many large companies where we don’t have contacts, there are a few layers of beauracracy to wade through. Groupable as a concept is very well received. We’re getting furthest, fastest with ideas for sponsorship that lay out both sides of the equation very succinctly. We get this, you get that. Update your profiles to make sure that your custom sponsorships reflect your understanding of the sponsors’ needs.
Keep the ideas coming !!
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Thanks to our friends at Mashable, we had our best 24hr. group sign-up period. As of this morning at 9am, we had 112 new groups sign up since Thursday. That nearly doubles our best previous one day total. The groups range from awesome non-profits to cheerleading groups to blogging moms. When we originally imagined bringing sponsorship to the masses, this was part of the dream. Even MORE exciting, were the number of sponsors that signed up, eager to find passionate groups to sponsor and help use their influence to spread their message.
Typically, there’s an anonymous relationship between the landlord and their tenants. And for the most part, both sides like to keep it that way.