A lot went into our latest release, which we launched last week.  Probably more then we should have tried to put into one release.  For all of the effort it took, we could have titled this post “What We Did This Summer…by FYIndOut” and had our first report for the school year done.

First, we want to thank all of the users that have been providing us feedback and patiently waiting for the release.  We hope it’s worth it.  Please continue to shoot us any comments on how we can improve.  As a matter of fact, one of the things we added was this handy-dandy feedback tab in the lower right corner, so go ahead and use it.

Here’s a quick rundown of what went into this release:

• You can now share any research content and business application or service listed on FYIndOut with your network via email, Twitter, and Facebook.  (We’re working on LinkedIn.)
• Both professionals and companies can now create multiple Research folders to organize content and keep them private or share them with others on your public profiles.  Have a list of good SEO articles you always pass on to customers? Now you can organize them and point people to them as part of your FYIndOut Profile.
• We’ve added more professional and networking information to public profiles.  Now you can not only see a person’s current role, company and experience but you can also see reviews and research content that they’ve added to the site.  In addition, you can also connect with them via Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
• Solution providers can now list their office locations and blog feeds as part of their profile.
• We drastically improved the way solution providers can input their content and made it much more efficient.  Thanks for the feedback on this one!
• In addition to the functional points above, you’ll see that we updated our look and design and implemented it across the entire site.  We also did a lot of under-the-hood stuff to clean up our site code and make it more efficient and scalable going forward.

At this point, we’re going to make a push to really get out there and let businesses know the value of FYIndOut so expect the number of solutions, users, and content to grow.  If you know of any companies know the value of social media and can add value, please spread the news. 

As always, thanks for your feedback and support.  Keep it coming!

Information overload

Businesses and individuals alike are feeling the pressure of effectively finding and managing all the information on the web. FYIndOut Research acts as a central location to research and manage information that can help them with their business. Users have the ability to find and submit the business content and vote on how helpful they are. This is more than just your standard social bookmarking as our research includes white papers, case studies, presentations and more submitted by our registered solution providers. Tired of going from company site to company site finding the relevant information? Now you don’t have to.

Here’s how it works

Our Research section is broken into eight categories so that professionals can easily find the information important to them and their business. All of the research content comes from two sources:

1. Professionals like you that want to share information that can help other’s businesses succeed.
2. Any and all content that registered solution providers add to our site, including; white papers, case studies, presentations, videos, blog posts and more.

You can search and submit relevant business news articles, documents, presentations or videos. If other professionals find the content helpful, they can vote for it. If they don’t, they can vote against it which moves it down the list. Only registered users can submit and vote on research, which means only the most helpful information gets displayed. That’s right, instead of guessing whether or not some white paper or case study is helpful or more than just a brochure, now you’ll know.

Research Example

Let’s say you are a manager at XYZ Inc.  Lately you’ve had some trouble effectively strategizing for the downturned economy and are wondering if you should use Social Media to connect with clients? You’ve heard the hype and potential, but are weary of the outcomes and unsure how to set up a winning strategy.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

SUBMIT EXAMPLE  

 

Have a great blog post that can help other professionals? Just find a great presentation on SlideShare?  Go ahead and add them to FYIndOut if you believe they’ll help others.  Here’s how.

 

Step 1

 

 

 

Step 2

Solution Reviews

 Benefits of submitting a review

• Share your knowledge and build your reputation.
• Help other professionals and business owners that need to make the most of their time and money.
• Helpful posts will generate more traffic to your site.
• Hey, it’s good karma.

Benefits of research

• You no longer have to scour the web to find good business information and documents, find the best business information in one place.
• Find out what white papers, case studies, articles, videos, and presentations are actually helpful without sending a vendor your contact information.
• Share content with peers and build strong relationships.
• Interact with professionals by rating articles you deemed helpful or unhelpful.

Connect with us! www.twitter.com/FYIndOut

 

 

 

As companies continue to create and share quality content with customers, prospects, and the like-minded, we recently announced that solution providers can now share their entire range of content media on their site.  The sharing and distribution of presentations has continued to grow among the business community and now solution providers will be able to share that content on FYIndOut along with white papers, case studies, additional links, videos and other marketing collateral. 

 

Companies can now display their SlideShare and Google presentations for their various solutions on FYIndOut without having to download them to multiple sites. 

 

All you have to do is enter the Title, URL, Description, and Tags for the presentation you wish to share and click “Save”.

 

 

When users go through your marketing collateral, they can view the presentations on our site without leaving the site and missing the opportunity to save your solution to their short list. 

 

 

 

 

It’s that easy and efficient.

 

We’re always interested in making sure we provide what you need for your business so please feel free to contact us and give us your suggestions as to how we can make FYIndOut work for you.

 

Thanks.

Today is a big day for Americans.  We swore in a new President and ushered in a new era for the U.S.  We experienced an inauguration unlike any other where people watched the event and shared the experience in real time over multiple platforms like Twitter, Flickr,  and Facebook.  January 20^th will definitely be a point in time remembered throughout the ages.

 

But for our team here at FYIndOut, today will also be a great day to remember because we implemented our new design and went into production!  After a productive beta and a lot of work, we’re finally ready to roll.

 

With FYIndOut, companies will now be able to find and promote business applications and services the same way we do in our consumer lives.  We believe that the process for finding and marketing b-to-b solutions is pretty messed up and highly biased towards those with the largest advertising budget and we’re here to change that.  Our goal is to greatly improve the interaction between buyers and sellers of business applications and services so that both parties can have a more efficient and informed experience. 

 

So if you’re a professional that’s looking for a solution for your business or a great solution provider that can add value, join FYIndOut!  If you’re not sure yet, take our tour to learn more.

 

Thanks and we look forward to working with you!

 

All of Us at FYIndOut

We’ve been so busy coding and redesigning our site that we almost forgot to take the time to thank all of the beta users and business partners that participated in our beta.  The feedback was great and we can’t thank you enough.  We know the information you’ve given us will help to make our site and service that much more valuable when we launch in January. 

 

Some of the input we knew was coming (the site design) and some of it was new to us.  That’s the beauty of getting honest feedback from prospective customers that haven’t lived it night and day for the last year.  Thanks!

 

So what are we doing with the feedback? We’ve prioritized your input into three categories;

• Must Change Now (We’re changing it right now.)
• Future Enhancement (Want to get it done in Q1 and Q2 of ’09.)
• Need More Data  (Need to see how things play out and get more data before taking action.)

In January, you can expect to see;

• Our production site design (much better then our beta)
• Updated pricing based on feedback
• Ability to add your company logo
• A few more things…

Also some stuff that you won’t see like major enhancements to our platform that will allow us to grow and add more efficient ways to bring B2B buyers and sellers together much faster in future releases.

 

Thanks again!