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I’d like to share with you a story about one of our customers – Generation Smile.
They have recently gone through quite a period of change! They’ve changed their name, their branding, and their website! To help create awareness about these big changes, they have turned to marketing channels such as social media and email.
They initially tried to do an email effort on their own; however, the results were a bit less than they had hoped. However, rather than giving up on email as an effective channel, they turned to the team here at Grow Socially for some help!
How We Helped
With over five hundred customer email addresses on file, we created a new email for them. During the creation process, we had the following goals in mind:
- Reward Generation Smile’s customers
- Convey Generation Smile’s value of family and community
- Create awareness of their Facebook Page
- Encourage recipients to “Like” the Facebook Page and engage with it
- Encourage participation in a contest – the prize was “win a night out” from Generation Smile.
- Create awareness of their name change — and explain why they did it.
- Create awareness of Generation Smile;s new website and social media presence.
Yes, there were a lot of goals! But all parties felt that they could be tied nice together if the email was laid out properly.
The email that we created for them contained prominent calls-to-action, clear messages, and used images in the appropriate places. We linked the corresponding text and images to their websites and social media profiles, in order to make it very easy for the recipients to click-through.
A/B Testing and the Subject Line
Of course, we reognized that the content in the Body of the email is only one component. We also focused on the Subject Line.
We used the A/B Split testing technique to try to determine would Subject Line would be most effective in regards to creating engagement.
- Test A: Sent to 50 people with the subject line “Thank You from the Generation Smile Team”
- Test B: Sent to 50 people with a subject line of “Let Generation Smile Treat Your Family to a Night Out!”
Though both had very good open rates of 53% (A) and 49% (B), Test B generated more clicks to the Facebook page than Test B. Based on these results, the remaining contacts on their list were sent the email blast with subject line B – “Let Generation Smile Treat Your Family to a Night Out!”. The final email had an amazing 44.76% open rate!
The email blast absolutely helped to achieve the desired results for Generation Smile. This included a rise in Facebook fans, a number of interactions on their Facebook wall (required to be entered into the giveaway), and their largest spike in website traffic to date.
Could We Help You?
If you’re interested in learning more about how Grow Socially can help your current marketing efforts, please contact us.
There is no doubt that content is a very important part of a company’s marketing efforts. But how can you use content successfully to actually bring in leads and sales, as opposed to just website traffic? We have some tips that we’d love to share. They center around how to create a strategy for your content marketing efforts. Here are four tips to help you in your business.
1) Define What You Should Talk About: This step is huge! Many people know that they need to be on social networks, but they stop themselves in their own tracks if they cannot easily answer this question: “What should I talk about?” Thus, you must take the time to analyze the topics and keywords that you should be using in your social media efforts.
To define that list, you should certainly consider your audience. What pain points do they have? What information could you share that would help them solve problems?
Also, you should make a list of the key benefits that your products and services provide. While you do not want all of your content to be extremely sales-y, you should certainly use social media to discuss topics around the benefits that your company offers.
2) Create Compelling Content in Multiple Formats:Technology has made it easier than ever before for people to create and publish online content. But that doesn’t mean that we should skimp on marketing fundamentals during that process.
When creating content, we need to consider if it will have an impact on our audience. We also want to question whether people will want to share our content with others.
We also need to create content in multiple formats. Some people love to write; others love to step in front of a camera. Well, individuals in our target audience also have preferences! They may prefer to consume content in one channel over another.
Thus, we must be willing to devote resources to producing content in a variety of formats in order to truly maximize the reach of our message.
3) Freely Share in the Appropriate Channels: It can be overwhelming to look at the growing number of social networks available to us. However, we must avoid taking a blanket approach to sharing the same piece of content in the same way across every social network that we have access to.
We must recognize that each network is unique — this could be true in regard to feature, function, frequency, tone, etc. In order to properly demonstrate respect for each network’s audience, we must be willing to tailor our participation efforts accordingly.
4) Be Consistent: Social networking efforts can be fun — but they also require energy and time. If you are going to start using social networks to reach business objectives, you must commit to executing consistent efforts!
Make sure that you are willing to prioritize the steps of creating and sharing content on social networks appropriately.
Moving Forward
There are certainly other items that need to be considered when developing a content marketing strategy for social networks. However, those 4 are certainly among the most important.
I hope that you find these tips helpful!
It’s a new year! If you were able to take some time on Monday to reflect on 2011, I hope you enjoyed it.
My Monday wasn’t spent at an over-capacity gym; rather, it was spent watching the movie “Office Space”. A prime way to bring in the New Year, I believe.
But, mixing this movie with my New Year’s Resolution Spirit, I started thinking about business-related resolutions. What can I do to make this year better than last year? How can I help our company improve? How can I find more enjoyment in the 2,000+ hours of work that I have ahead of me?
Well, I’ve given those questions some thought. Here are my 12 business-related goals for 2012.
- Write one blog post a week.
- Read at least one article a day.
- Don’t let tasks pile up.
- Clearly communicate my ideas and listen for constructive feedback.
- Share what I believe is inspiring — to inspire others.
- Go outside of my comfort zone; whether it is design, programming, or something else.
- Offer to take on something outside of my skill level; Learn about it and conquer it.
- Push myself to get in front of the video camera more often.
- Keep my desk clean.
- Drink water instead of soda.
- Create more documentation so that I can easily share instructions and best practices with others.
- Get more involved in up-and-coming social networks.
I’m looking forward to seeing how these goals help shape my 2012!
I’d love to hear what you think. Send a Tweet to the Grow Socially account to share some of your 2012 resolutions.
Twitter has certainly been in the news since its latest redesign. They made changes to both their web and mobile versions. In addition to some design & layout changes, they released a variety of enhancements that will have an effect on the way that companies can use the social network.
Here are a few things you should know:
Your Timeline and Profile
If you’re visiting the site through your browser, you’ll notice there is a new look and feel for the application. Your timeline is now featured on a larger portion of the page. Also, your “Compose a Tweet” section is smaller; it expands only when it’s clicked on.
Top Bar Navigation
You will also notice that the top bar has been simplified. The links there are now Home, Connect, and Discover.
Connect brings you to what recently was a tab on your homepage called “interactions”. Twitter has separated the Connect/Interactions to its own page where you can now see who has been interacting with you and who your followers are connecting with.
Discover allows you to check out top stories and trending topics. You can also look at who your followers are following and retweeting. There is also a section that displays people that you may be interested in following.
Viewing Photos & Videos
Photos and videos are now easier than ever to view within your Twitter stream. Rather than having to view them on a separate site, they will now expand right below the tweet.
Twitter for Business Branding
Twitter has also started rolling out a branding feature for businesses. Some major companies (including JetBlue, Coca-Cola, Twitter, Pepsi, Staples) have already been switched over. The new features allow for for a 90 x 835 image banner below their profile.
There is also a feature that lets brands control what tweet is displayed at the top of their profile page. Most likely, this should be a tweet that includes a video or image.
We are definitely fans of Twitter’s recent changes! If you have any questions about you can benefit from them, please let us know.
After 7,113 votes were cast (22% more than the 2010 election) for 79 nominees by 4,656 people (each voter could choose up to three nominees) our very own CEO John Foley, Jr. and interlinkONE’s VP of Sales Karen Sheehey DeWolfe both made the “Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management” List.
Susan Campanale, VP of Marketing for the SLMA said, “These people are recognized by their peers as power players in the pursuit of ROI for marketing lead generation.”
Congratulations to both John and Karen!
The full list of 50 winners is available for viewing on the SLMA site. The SLMA served as the independent tabulator of votes and does not endorse the services of those listed. Voters were only allowed to vote for up to three people. Only SLMA members were allowed to nominate people to the nominees list. Non-members and members cast one ballot with up to three non-duplicated votes.
UPDATE: Voting for the 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management ends November 30th! If you haven’t voted yet Click here to cast your vote today!
Our CEO John Foley, Jr. has been nominated for this year’s 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management by the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA).
Each voter is allowed to submit one entry; each entry can contain up to three nominees. If you do vote, we’d love for you to consider John and interlinkONE’s VP of Sales Karen Sheehey!
The top 50 nominees receiving votes will be listed on the SLMA site on December 5.
The Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management will be listed on the SLMA site in order of the highest votes received. Regardless of who wins, everyone nominated is a prominent individual in the circle of people who create wealth for their companies and clients through the better management of sales inquiries.
Click here to cast your vote today!
We’ve been waiting for a little while, but Google+ has now officially rolled out a Pages feature.
Many businesses are diving right in by creating Pages for their company, their products, brand, and more. Of course, many of us are learning what features are currently available (and what’s not!) as we go along.
We are compiling tips, tricks, and a list of questions and answers that we have compiled over the past couple of days. We will be sharing that information with you in forthcoming blog posts.
In the meantime, please feel free to check out Grow Socially’s own Google+ Page!
We’d greatly appreciate it if you added it to one of your Circles.
Make sure to keep an eye out here on the Blog as we’ll be sharing information to help you utilize Google+ Pages to its full potential.
It’s that time of year again!
Voting is now open for the 2011 B2B Twitterer of the Year Awards! Last year, our CEO John Foley, Jr. was runner up in the B2B Boss Tweet Personality category.
This year, we hope to make him #1!
The only way we can do that though is with your help.
How Do I Vote?
If you’re a fan of John and his Twitter activity, it will only take 30 seconds to cast your vote. Here’s how:
- Visit www.B2BTOTY.com — you can cast your vote right from the home page
- All you need to do in the entry text box is fill in his Twitter Username – JohnFoleyJr, choose the B2B Boss Tweet Personality Category, and explain why you’re voting for him in 3-5 words.
We would greatly appreciate your support! Thank you for considering John when you cast your vote!
We are quite excited to announce that we’ll be attending and participating in the Print Delivers Boston event on October 26th.
Our CEO John Foley, Jr. will be delivering a presentation on the following topic – Integrating Print in a Multi-Channel World.
Here is a description of what John will be covering:
What role does print play in today’s marketing landscape? John will demonstrate ways that companies can effectively integrate print with channels such as social media, mobile, and the web. He will provide practical applications and case studies on how marketers can effectively leverage new technologies to improve the effectiveness of their printed materials.
If you are interested in attending to hear John speak, as well as other big name companies including the US Postal Service, Xerox, Heidelberg, and more click here for details.
If you are un able to attend make sure to follow @JohnFoleyJr, @GrowSocially, or @interlinkONE on Twitter to hear snippets of the presentation as well as updates on future events.
Does your company have a LinkedIn Company Page? If so, you may want to pay attention to a feature that was announced recently.
LinkedIn’s latest enhancement allows administrators of Company Profiles to share updated statues from their page. Their status updates will then appear on the LinkedIn stream for anyone that follows their company.
This new feature can certainly be used by companies to share relevant information with their audience. It can help them to stay “top-of-mind” as their customers and prospects look through recent LinkedIn Network Activity.
Most importantly, this feature should help to create more opportunities for engagement and interaction. Company followers are able to comment, like, and share the postings.
LinkedIn posted this information about the new feature on their website:
“Company Status Updates are posts made by the company to share anything from company news to product releases to promotions to relevant industry articles. Company posts can be seen on the company’s Overview tab by any LinkedIn member. Anyone who follows the company will see the posts directly on their homepage. All LinkedIn members have the ability to view posts, click on embedded links or view videos. They can also comment, like, or share a post.”
-LinkedIn (http://learn.linkedin.com/company-pages/#updates)
Check out the video below to see how your company can begin utilizing this feature today:
How To Get Started
To start utilizing this feature you’ll have to follow a few steps. If you’re an admin, login and make your way over to your company page. Once there you’ll want to click on “Admin Tools” and then “Edit”
Next, you will have to choose who is an admin of your page.
To use this feature, you must currently choose the “Designated users” option. Simply begin to type in names of people that you are connected to that you would like to have Admin access.
Each Admin that is added will be sent an email notification.
Contact Us For An Audit
FROM THE BLOG
A Few Thoughts on GM and Facebook Advertisting || Read More
May 17, 2012
Come See us at LabelExpo in September! || Read More
May 14, 2012
Arkansas Society of Association Executives || Read More
May 13, 2012
