Empowering connections: City Girl Network’s blueprint for business in the Social Network 2.0 era
7th March 2024
Author EditorPosted on Categories Business
Belong where you are. Four poignant words at the very heart of the City Girl Network’s Mission for the last eight years. Four words that, even if you’re not one of the 125,000 City Girls within our nationwide community, are likely part of your own social mission too.
For those new to the City Girl Network, it was sparked by a beach walk along Hove Promenade in 2016. I moved to Brighton as a graduate in 2015, with the dream of building my adult life in the city. But within months, I felt profoundly lost and disconnected from the city. One day, I took a walk along the seafront and saw a girl who looked just like me staring out to sea, and found myself wondering if she felt as lonely as I did. It was in that moment that I decided to create ‘Brighton Girl’, a community for women to connect, inspire and empower each other.
The reaction was incredible. Within months we had a volunteer team hosting events and writing content, with thousands joining our Brighton Girl Facebook Group (now at 31,000 members). By the end of 2016, we expanded to two more cities, and the City Girl Network was born. I left my marketing career in January 2017 to focus on growing the business.
Over the last eight years, the City Girl Network has grown to 18 communities, including Worthing and Rural Sussex, and we’ve recently built a professional network called the City Girl Creatives for members working across the creative economy.
Our impact to this point has been helping over 125,000 women across 18 UK communities to find friends, business connections, jobs, housemates, travel companions, businesses, campaigns and charities to support, as well as things to do in their local community and beyond. We have also helped thousands of women to break free from vulnerable situations, including domestic and sexual violence, and exploitation.
We have found belonging in the lives of over 125,000 City Girls; as have our advertising partners.
The power of the City Girl Network is deep rooted in its ability to live as vibrantly offline as it does online. Thousands of City Girls start their morning by offering advice and recommendations on our social networks, to go to work at a job found through our network. They discuss the latest conversations in their office, and ask their City Girl Community for the best corporate lawyer to go to for their new project. As well as dress, nail, brow and lash recommendations for their next City Girl Party.
68.7% of consumers prefer to purchase from brands that they interact with in an online community. Imagine how much higher that number is for brands who are fully immersed into a community like ours.
Hundreds of business owners have planted the seed for their business idea within their City Girl Network, and found their customers and suppliers through our recommendations. They’ve attended City Girl Approved training, found their next hire through us, and their property and employment lawyers, too.
Fewer than 10% of CEOs at UK FTSE 350 companies are female, but as the City Girl Network grows, that number will too.
This synergy between digital conversations and real-life outcomes underpins the growth trajectory of community-led businesses in the 2020s. This space isn’t just about engaging conversations or digital interfaces; it’s about crafting Social Network 2.0 — a realm where meaningful interactions reflect the richness of human behavior and relationships.
People over profit. Profit led by people
The essence of our success lies in our commitment to blending these spaces, serving as a model for how businesses can adapt, thrive, and genuinely connect in today’s hybrid world. It’s a space where digital engagement translates into real-world influence, embodying the practical application of social networks evolving to meet human needs for interaction, support, and community.
Where Social Network 1.0 was about creating Parasocial Relationships, Social Network 2.0 is about creating Actual Relationships and offering multi-dimensional opportunities to connect with customers.
The tech, operations and marketing approach for our ambitious, high-scale product launching over the next 18 months are all underpinned by the Social Network 2.0 model. With our recent launch of the City Girl Creatives for example, we have encapsulated the multi-hyphenate and hybrid nature of the creative economy in a way that is unique from other networks – capturing a range of data points to grow an impactful community.
Whilst this piece champions the Social Network 2.0 approach for growing impact and profit, it’s important to highlight its synergy with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of #InspireInclusion. Both require acknowledgement of the complex, multifaceted nature of being human, and the integral importance of each person resonating with four simple words: belonging where they are.