New Social Network Launched Exclusively For Marketers

“There hasn't been a dedicated social media network for the world's hundred million marketers until now” claimed Ron Young, founder and CEO of Shocase, when he previewed the new platform for me recently. “We believe that the trend for vertical social networks is inevitable. ” Shocase recently launched as a place where marketers can exhibit their work, educate themselves with the latest industry news and network with one another. Some large ad agencies and client-side marketers are already on the network.

Jake Sorofman, chief of research at Gartner for Marketing Leaders, concurs on the trend for specialized social networks. “There’s a role for domain-specific professional communities, but largely as a complement to LinkedIn . Think supplement, not supplant. This is particularly true for professions in which nomenclature, information taxonomies and rules of engagement are nonstandard. Designed for the military, RallyPoint is an example of a community that has capitalized on this need for more specialization in this domain. Marketing has more mainstream overlap, but freelancers, in particularly, may appreciate richer ways to promote their professional achievements.”

Shocase is based around a digital portfolio where one can easily present samples of their work experience, regardless of medium. According to Young, users are expected to be agency professionals, client-side marketers and communications students. The platform also allows for connecting and communicating with colleagues in a way that Young believes creates a policing mechanism for the work presented on the showcase. “If I show you a piece of work that I've done and I list twelve collaborators on a marketing campaign, you see the graphic of people who did the animation, people who did the strategy and the things I really did.”

The messaging feature is already being used to communicate within established membership organizations. A local advertising club found that 20% of its members’ emails become inaccurate each year and began to use Shocase as their preferred member communications platform. Its assumption is that even if someone changes jobs (and emails), they will always stay connected to their portfolio.

While the company isn’t making its membership numbers public, Young asserts that his company’s first 90 days grow is on par with LinkedIn’s early growth. Only time will tell if it becomes the new professional hub for marketers.