© Viadeo - Janvier 2009© Viadeo - Janvier 2009

professional networking, working

How we turned a French startup into a global professional social network

Peter Crosby

icebreaker…

…don’t worry, no hugging or talking to iphone wielding strangers involved…

Make a note of one of these:

text: +44 7624 806 527

smartphone: http://poll4.com

twitter: @poll

Poll#1

Poll#2

Poll#3

a word about viadeo

7 million+ members worldwide

50,000 connections made daily

over 1 million profile views a day

another word about viadeo

70% of members outside France

#1 PSN in China (tianji.com)

1 in 3 use viadeo once a month

started life as 20

French entrepreneurs

meeting in a

restaurant (…very

French…)

VC funded by aggregator, ventech & AGF

…but going international was the big challenge

…in the beginning

being French

…and the challenger

the perils of leaving it all to Google …and if only we all spoke English (or French!)

hierarchies, matrices & something in between

…building a multilingual team (if only we all spoke the same flippin’ language…)

some pitfalls…

be local

be different

don’t get carried away with volume

get the language right first time

structure it right

think about transversal language skills

get local partners

some stuff we’ve learnt

segment & personalise

build multiple communities

target advertising

make social media your CRM

create an app (or several)

always: engage, build & amplify

remember: reputation, time & money

using social media

…doing it for our partners…

who cares about viadeo?

how did ebay germany get it right?

demography, behaviour, geography,

segmentation

what’s the story?

don’t just acquire - animate

applying the lessons to hospitality hub

connect

thank you (…et merci)

email: pcrosby@viadeoteam.com

twitter: @petercrosby