I originally met Melanie Notkin (@SavvyAuntie) online through Twitter. The former Montrealer, now living in New York, was beginning to Plant Seeds to generate awareness and interest in SavvyAuntie.com (site, blog), the new community for aunts that she was about to launch. Mostly, through, she was participating in online social networks to meet people and create real relationships that would lead people back to her site.

Now a few months post launch, Melanie recently posted a presentation to SlideShare that, in truth, is a case study for the Planting Seeds concept. (RSS readers please click through.)

After seeing the presentation, I immediately asked her to answer a few questions for this site.

Here’s that interview:

Planting Seeds: Tell us a little bit about Savvy Auntie and what a PANK is.

Melanie Notkin: SavvyAuntie.com is the first online community for PANKs -Professional Aunts, No Kids - the other 50% of American women who are not moms, but children are central in their lives, be they nieces, nephews, cousins or friends’ kids. So whether you’re an ABR (Aunt by Relation) and ABC (Aunt by Choice) and LDA (Long Distance Auntie), great aunt or godmother, this is the destination for you.

SavvyAuntie.com is like a parenting site for the non-mom, so she can learn everything she needs to know to be a wonderful aunt, find great activities, discover the hottest gift ideas and connect with other Savvy Aunties just like her.

PS: In just over two months, your company has seen significant growth. Can you talk about the $0 Advertising plan that fueled this growth?

MN: I don’t know if it was so much a ‘plan’ as it was the only strategy I had. I am completely self-funded and I don’t have a budget for advertising. That’s where social media came into play. By being active on Twitter, Facebook, my business blog, and other social media platforms, I was able to generate buzz around the launch of my site with people who believed in me and my company.

PS: If you were to give advice to a people responsible for building a brand, personal or corporate, what would be the top thing you’d tell them?

MN: Be authentic and find your voice. Connect with others. Brands are about trust and reliability. Think of yourself like a trustworthy, reliable friend to your consumers, and they’ll stay with you, through the good and the bad.

PS: How would you sell the potential of Planting Seeds online?

•Build it and they will come” is a nice idea, but it’s not generally the reality. You could have the most brilliant idea that solves the needs of millions of people (like a community for aunts, for example), but if no one knows it exists, they’re not coming. Sure, you could build momentum after the site launches, but it will take months. Why not create buzz while you’re building it? If you reach out to the community to help you plant the seeds for the business you are building, they will feel ownership on the fate of your success. And when the time comes for the site to launch, they will be your front line evangelists, blogging about it, tweeting about it, talking about it.

I began really connecting with people through social media almost a year before I launched the site. I networked with people in real life - attending social media events, lunches and breakfasts. I kept up the relationships through social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo and Facebook. About four months before I launched, I got super active on Twitter and began cultivating authentic relationships with people I admired and who I could learn from. I posted updates about my company and its progress on Facebook and Twitter. Then about three months before launch, I published my first blog post, revealing my dreams, details of how I built my business, and how incredibly nervous I was the night before I launched.

Hundreds of people knew that I was launching on July 9th. They Tweeted about it. They blogged about it. The reported on it. They told their friends. They celebrated with me. They launched with me.

I built it. They came. But the key was, they knew the address and couldn’t wait to see it complete. I guess they felt like they had helped plant the seeds and they wanted to see how my garden was blossoming. Lucky for me, the relationships I developed are completely authentic and I am now helping others in the same way. It’s a wonderful way to give back.

Off to buy a watering can…..

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If you have have any questions for Melanie or any thoughts on Savvy Auntie or the approach that’s been taken to market, leave your thoughts below. We’ll both be around to field your questions!

Tags: Melanie Notkin, Montreal, PANKS, Planting Seeds, Planting Seeds online, Savvy Auntie, SavvyAuntie.com, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networks, Twitter