Google Groups!

This is cool!

I just used Google Groups to create a club for participants who came to the Ideal Career workshop we give in Montreal.

Whether you're a careerist or business person, Google Groups is great to keep your people in the loop. As owner of the club, you can decide whether members can post or not. All messages sent to clubname@googlegroups.com are automatically sent to all members.

Of course, mailing lists have existed for a long time. The only thing new is that Google makes it so easy to create a mailing list, and keep everyone informed.

This is great because it's part of a bigger trend in business that I call "social marketing."

Social marketing can be used to advance your career, or to increase sales for your business.

The key (or success secret) is to avoid selling, which turns people off, and to focus on being useful by sharing relevant, useful, usable and practical information through mailing lists like Google Groups.