Business Owners; Do You Know About OPEN Forum By American Express?

The award-winning OPEN Forum By American Express site is "A community designed to help you grow your business." If you're a business owner, an executive, or a middle manager, and want to network and collaborate with like-minded people, I encourage you to spend some time on this American Express-owned website…

In 2008, I was asked to contribute articles on franchising, and I've been doing so ever since. Little did I know that the OPEN Forum By American Express website was going to win awards like;

• 2009 WEBAWARD For Outstanding Achievement in Web Development

• 2010 North American Effie Award in the category of Financial Services – Cards

• 2009 Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference (DPAC) Awards

– Best Branded Social Media Community
– Best Branded Website
– Best Digital Branding Campaign
– Best in Show, 2009

• B2B Twitterer of the Year – Runner-Up, National/International

• Promo 2010 Interactive Marketing Awards – Second Place, Internet-Based Loyalty Marketing

• BtoB 2010 Social Media Marketing Awards – First Place, Integrated Social Media Campaign (Non-Tech)

• Brandweek 2010 Reggie Awards – Gold, B2B Campaign

• minOnline Best of the Web Awards – Finalist, Custom Website (winner TBA)

I've already told you that I contribute original articles regularly to OPEN Forum, on the topic of franchising. As much as I love the world of franchising, it's only one of the many business topics that are written about and discussed on OPEN Forum.

Not only have I had the privilege to write some original content there, but I get to do it right next to some pretty amazing business experts, including some I've been able to spend time with, face to face. Experts like;

Guy Kawasaki– Guy used to work for someone besides himself. You may have heard his ex-bosses name bounced around a little, because he happens to head up a little cutting edge technology company called Apple. Guy writes a lot of articles for OPEN Forum. One more thing. He wants to show all of us How To Change The World.

Anita Campbell– Anita is the CEO of Small Business Trends, a top small business site. (Disclosure; I happen to be Anita's Community Promotions Director, and the "Franchise Expert In Residence" for Small Business Trends.) Anita is considered to be one of the most influential small business experts in the country, and her numerous articles are widely read.

John Battelle– John's an entrepreneur, journalist, professor, and author who has founded or co-founded scores of online, conference, magazine, and other media businesses, including Federated Media, which has helped OPEN Forum by American Express be as successful as it is. John's articles are thought-provoking, to say the least.

---

---

Chris Brogan– Chris works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies. But, he's really known for being a social media rockstar. Warning; Chris's articles may get you to nod your head up and down as your reading them.

Rohit Bhargava– Rohit is a marketing speaker, author, blogger and founding member of the 360 Digital Influence team at Ogilvy, a marketing agency. He's also an author, and writes the Influential Marketing blog, considered to be one of thee top marketing blogs in the world. (Plus, he's a nice guy.) His articles are strong.

John Jantsch-John is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing. His Duct Tape Marketing Blog is loaded with great content. John's original articles on OPEN Forum are worth bookmarking.

***************************************************************************************************

Are you going to stop by the OPEN Forum? We hope so. There's a lot to share.