5 Reasons Why Business Blogging is Important

By Matthew Murphy, Marketing Intern, Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center

Publishing content on a blog continues to be more influential than using social media platforms alone. It is similar to putting a human face on your brand which helps to differentiate you from your competition and helps educate prospects and clients.

Here are 5 reasons that show the importance of business blogging:

1. Foundation of All Social Media Activities

A blog allows you to create a place where all of your work is stored. A blog also allows you to build a stronger picture of who you are. It is true that most people will meet you through other places; Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for example, but if they like what they read on these platforms, they will most likely follow you back to your blog and find out more about who you are.

2. Build Your Brand as an Expert

Bloggers don’t focus on themselves. They turn their focus towards publishing educated articles that put their true talents and knowledge on display. Being an expert does not translate into talking about yourself. If this occurs, your efforts will most likely backfire on you. It is well known, that in blogging as in real life, the more you talk about yourself the less people want to follow you.

3. Build Trust

People are becoming more skeptical each day. They are especially skeptical about marketing messages found on the Internet. A blog with consistent, truthful and helpful content will allow you to build strong trust among your followers. Be patient and persevere because the time you put into your blog will outlast the ones who don’t.

4. Exercise Your Creativity

Some might wonder why creativity is so important in the business world, but the answer is quite simple: in virtually any field, the most creative will enjoy the most success. Ultimately, blogging will lead to growth as you begin to learn more about yourself, your audience and the world around you. This will then help lead to further creativity and profitability for your company.

5.  Proven Marketing Strategy

Blogging has been proven to be a successful marketing tool for businesses. It is quite amazing to see that some people would ignore what has worked for so long and instead run off to the latest social media fads. A combination of social media and blogging will be the best option for any type of business.

We hope these five points have helped highlight why blogging can be a very effective marketing strategy for virtually any business. Keep an eye out for two more articles coming on this topic.

Want to Learn How to Get Your Business Blog Started? Download free ebook, “Business Blogging 101” now.

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Creating Your Facebook Business Page Custom URL

By: Bradleigh Wilson

Last week we did a Facebook Marketing Workshop. It went well, we had a lot of interaction and got good feedback – for those of you who missed it, we’re planning another one for mid June 2013. We’ll keep you posted!

One of the topics covered in the presentation was customizing your Facebook Page, and a great way to do this is to create a custom URL (or “username” as Facebook calls it).

WHY

Before we get into how you create your Business Page custom URL we’ll discuss why you should do it, and what it will can do for you (if you’re not interested, just scroll down to the How section).

When you first create your Business Page, Facebook gives you this atrocious looking URL parameter that’s a random combination of about 15 numbers, some forward slashes and your Page Name. Try communicating that to someone at a networking event, or print it on the back of your business card. No one will even try to remember it, and only the most dedicated would take the time to physically type it into their browser. But potential customers? No way.

So when you do create it, make it short enough to be easy to remember, and try to incorporate your brand as well. Most businesses use their name, for example our Facebook Business Page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors. However, sometimes companies use keywords that represent and/or describe their brand, and you can do that too, but try to keep it short.

One last thing to keep in mind: You should use your custom URL to help build a unified social identity for your brand. Keep it consistent across all your social properties.

Note: Once you’ve created your Facebook Business Page custom URL, YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE IT ONCE AND IT IS NON-TRANSFERABLE. Make sure you’ve spelled it correctly and won’t be doing multiple re-branding campaigns in the coming years.

Here are some more Custom URL guidelines from Facebook:

S.E.O. Another reason to create your Business Page URL is for the (free) SEO benefits. Whether you choose your business name or a keyword(s) you identify with your business, your custom URL parameter will increase your accessibility to your target persona’s. Say, for example, you own an Italian restaurant. I used to work at Pasta Pane in Clifton Park, NY (phenomenal northern-style cuisine, rustic vibe, I highly recommend it). Their Facebook Page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/PastaPane.

That’s totally fine, but for the sake of example, let’s say they used some keywords for their business instead, like “Best” “Albany” “Italian” “Bistro.” They would probably come up with something way better, but in our example they could increase their search engine reach to seasonal workers, residents of counties and cities outside Albany, tourists, and anyone else unfamiliar with the area searching for the best Italian bistro in Albany on Google, Bing, etc. Of course it would come down to the service, wait time, quality of food, atmosphere, and a bunch of other things to prove it (of which I have no doubt they would), but in the very least it would increase their chances of getting found on search in the first place.

For those of you wondering why I chose “Albany” as a keyword example instead of “Clifton Park” for reasons that should be obvious from an SEO standpoint (it’s a suburb of Albany, high concentration of competitors in Albany, Albany is the capital of NYS, etc).

S.E.O. NOTE: This is a whole different article, but there are several other ways to take advantage of your Facebook Business Page for SEO benefits. Some things to note are your Page Name (think of it as an SEO Title) and the Short About Description and/or Company Info (the info visible on your company page without clicking through to the long description – think of this as the Meta Description). Custom Tabs can be useful as well, particularly the Notes Tab. I’ll be sure to write more on this soon.

HOW

So, when can you create your custom URL? Right now. Facebook used to require 25 Likes to qualify, but now you can create your custom URL right after you’ve verified your Page.

Keep in mind that once your Page reaches 200 Likes, Facebook no longer will allow you to change the name on the Page. If your Page name and custom URL are the same, and you are counting on them being the same for branding consistency across your social properties, then some planning may be the prudent thing to do.

The process is simple:

1. Log in to Facebook and go to your Business Page

2. In the Admin Panel (very top) select “Edit Page” and in the drop-down box select “Update Public Info”

3. This brings you to a you basic information page, which allows you to edit the information about your business that is visible to the public. The fourth heading down reads “Username:” and looks like this:

4. Select “Change username” underlined above

5. This brings you to a page with this little window:

6. If you manage more than one page, select the page you wish to edit the user name for.

7. Another field pops up, prompting you to enter the username you wish to use

8. Click “Check Availability”

9. If the username is available, then you’ve just successfully set up your Facebook Business Page Custom URL. Should you need to change your URL, simply repeat this same process, or visit http://www.facebook.com/username. Remember that you may only change your username once.

*If the username you’d like isn’t available, there is very little you can do, other than choose a different one. Here’s a FAQ Article from Facebook on Troubleshooting this issue.

If you’ve been on Facebook for some time now, this is probably old news, but to those who are new and or still getting acquainted with the billion-user strong social network, we hope this was of some value to you.

Have questions? Need help setting up your Facebook Business Page? Let us know, we’re here to help.

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Contact Information:

Bradleigh Wilson, Marketing Manager
Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center, LLC
Phone: 518.441.2579
Email: bwilson@endorphinadvisors.com
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/bradleighwilson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bradleigh.wilson
Google+: gplusid.com/bradleighwilson
Twitter: @bd29wils

Endorphin Advisors

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-advisors

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors

Twitter: www.twitter.com/TechValley_BC

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The Constant Contact-Formstack Integration Pt. II: Adding, Removing, and Customizing the Form Fields and Field Options You Never Knew Were There!

By: Bradleigh Wilson

Today we’ll look at the Form Builder in your free Formstack account, customizing form fields, and some form best practices to increase form submission rate.

By now you should have gone through the form building process in Constant Contact and created your free Formstack account (see Part 1). Perhaps you got a chance to log in at www.Formstack.com to see what the features and capabilities are like, as well as the abundant limitations in functionality and branding.

Yes, that’s definitely frustrating seeing the, “This plan does not give you access …” message, and I’ll tell you right now, there is no way to choose a different theme or create your own without purchasing a plan from Formstack.

Luckily I’ve got two big ways to get around this lack of theme branding, but I’m going to save them for the next article. I’m trying to share these tips in a way that matches up with the order of the form building process, and the branding tips don’t come until after we’ve set up the mechanics of the form. That’s what we’ll focus on today.

Not to confuse, but I use two different forms in the images below. One form is entitled EBC Email Updates, and I actually use this form to link to in blog articles, and the other is just a demo form I created to exemplify things I didn’t use in the EBC Email Updates form.

Adding, Removing, and Customizing the Form Fields and Field Options You Never Knew Where There!

1) Go to the “Forms” tab and hover your cursor over the form you created in Constant Contact and select “Build”:

2) This brings you to the form builder:

Peruse the form field options on the left hand side of the page (full list to the left). To add a field to your form, drag and drop it wherever you’d like. Click once on any field you add to bring up the customization options.

Depending on the selected field you can edit the label, number of characters that can be used, whether it’s required or not, number of options and option text, and for forms with radio buttons, selected lists, checkboxes, and/or number fields, you can use conditional logic.

Now you can begin to see how the Formstack integration may have some value after all. Use the credit card field for payment and donations, use the description field to provide explanation, allow applicants to upload resumes (or what have you) with file upload, collect signatures, and use long or short answer to allow the viewer to input custom information. Use the section tool to separate portions of the form as you wish. You can collect as much or as little information as you’d like, or toggle the required* option off to let those filling out the form decide.

Depending on your information needs, you can customize the form fields pretty much any way you’d like. Change the field order by simply drag-dropping them where you’d like. You can separate portions of you form by using the “Section” field, which just create blank space.

The reasons why you would use each type of form field are pretty self explanatory, so I won’t go into much detail about that.

Quick Tip: To have users answer with pre-selected options (of your choice) use radio buttons, checklist, or a select list. Using a select list will keep your forms appearance short, as it takes up less room than radio buttons or check boxes. As you will see below, the appearance of form length has a very important effect on submission rate.

*Be sure to explore the Field Options of radio buttons, checklist, and select list, as they allow you to customize the options and add other functionality to the field. For example, the Checklist field allows you to use separate values, add “other” as an option, and /or use a “Check all” option (see the Checklist field options window below). The select list has the least functionality out of all three, but I highly recommend you use it if you can.

Checklist Field Options

A short form is a good form: You want to create as little friction as possible on the form to increase submission rate. Only require the necessary information needs and don’t go too crazy with the available form fields. In the next section I’ll show you how to switch the location of your form labels to increase submission percentage. But first another quick tip.

Quick Tip: Need to ask a custom question that requires a custom answer or perhaps some explanation? I did. Here’s how:

Drag/Drop the “Long Answer” field to where you want it on your form, then type the question you’d like in the field label. Try to limit verbiage to keep your form looking clean. I wanted to learn more about the types of content viewers would like to learn about, or what types of problems they needed help with:

You’ll notice the text in the green circle at the bottom of the form (image below). I chose to give a brief explanation of how we use the information recorded in the field above. The long answer field wasn’t required, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, so I try to let those filling out the form know that with a brief explanation. I chose only to require email, name, and phone in my form. That was the tradeoff I and my mentor deemed acceptable in order to increase submission rate.

To insert a description field in your form, drag/drop the “Aa Description Area” field from the field options on the left to where you think it makes the most sense. Type in your custom message and save. You might also consider using a “Aa Description Area” field to write a custom welcome and/or thank you message at the beginning or end of your form as well.

3) To create the illusion of a shorter form, you’ll want to move the field labels from the top of the field to the side. Go to the “Form Extras” Tab.

On the left hand side, the first option is Layout. In that option select “Left” next to Label Positioning.

Notice the difference in the perceived form length:

The form on the left is 25% shorter yet collects the same amount of information. Also, using labels on the top centers the picture. We’ll cover inserting a picture with HTML in next weeks article. Should you want to make your form with multiple columns, you can do this in Layout as well.

That’s about it for today. I hope that the information shared above is sufficient enough to get you going in building your form, setting up and organizing the fields, and will help you understand the associated mechanics and strategy. Obviously I can’t explain every single form field, but once you go into the field options, a lot of it is self explanatory.

For those of you interested in making order forms for donations and/or payment, these features are in another part of the form building process and will be explained in a later article  

In the next article I’ll share some tips on getting around theme restrictions to brand your form. If you have questions between now and then, email me or give me a call. I’ll help the best I can.

Want access to the next article in the series before anyone else? Join our email list! And, yes that is a form created with the free Formstack integration. Check it out to see what the process will be like for users on your website, not to mention the great information in our email updates!

Contact Information:

Bradleigh Wilson, Marketing Manager
Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center, LLC
Phone: 518.441.2579
Email: bwilson@endorphinadvisors.com
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/bradleighwilson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bradleigh.wilson
Google+: gplusid.com/bradleighwilson
Twitter: @bd29wils

Endorphin Advisors

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-advisors

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors

Twitter: www.twitter.com/TechValley_BC

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The Constant Contact-Formstack Integration: What You Need to Know and How to Get Past the Limitations, Part I

By: Bradleigh Wilson

Not too long ago, I wrote a two-part article about the mechanics of lead generation with inbound marketing. A crucial element of the process is using forms to capture leads. A great tool you can use to build embeddable forms for your website is Formstack. Normally Formstack charges monthly for their service, $14.99 is they’re most affordable option, however if you use Constant Contact, you’re in luck.

For those of you who don’t know, Constant Contact is an online marketing platform that specializes primarily in Email Marketing, but also provides event marketing, Facebook social campaigns, and an online survey service, all with fantastic social media integration.

Click here for more information about Constant Contact’ products or contact us with any questions.

Formstack has integrated with Constant Contact’s API to allow account holders to build forms for free. However, as with any free version of a product, you’re only getting a taste of what Formstack offers paying customers. I’ve done some reading on the matter and there are mixed opinions. Some see it as making things simpler for small businesses with limited resources, while others see the limitations as too restrictive and would almost rather not have it at all.

I’m not writing today to agree or disagree with either point of view, but to let you know about a few things I found when going through the form-building process in Constant Contact. In the coming weeks I will be releasing a series of articles in which I will reveal to you how I got around some of the limitations of the free Formstack integration.

I think you will be surprised at what you can do once you get into your Formstack Account. The form-building process you go through in Constant Contact is actually quite misleading. For information on the Formstack integration and a step-by-step process to setting up your form, click here.

The types of forms available in the free application are: Order Forms, Donation Forms, Contact Forms, Contest Forms, Volunteer Registration Forms, and Job Application Forms. However, as you will see in the articles to come in this series, you can customize these forms to fit your specific needs.

Some reasons why you might want to take advantage of this free application: Ability to insert forms into your website and/or emails, collect payments and donations in PayPal, view information on form clicks and views in your Constant Contact reports and submission data in your Formstack account dashboard, and build your email list by sending submission information back to your Constant Contact account. You designate which fields are required, and which list you’d like the submission data to go to. There are no limits on the amount of time a form can be used for, or number of submissions per form.

In the way of collecting information, there are actually very few limitations; however when it comes to branding and customization, the limitations are great. That is the trade-off.

But…

The tips I have for you will help to get around these restrictions and customize the design of your form as much as possible. Not all of the items below are “limitations,” per say, but rather things I found to be not readily evident in the form building and publishing process. We’re all very busy, so rather than have you waste all the time I did figuring these things out, I’d like to pass on what I found.

In the articles to come you can expect tips on:

• The different types of form fields available and how you can use and adjust them to fit your informational needs, whatever they may be
• Customizing the form mechanics and functionality of your form
• Optimizing your form to reach maximum submission rate
• How to ask custom questions that require unique answers
• Including custom messages
• Branding the look and text of the forms Submit Button
• How to insert your logo or other images into your form
• Integrating a confirmation message without being able to send confirmation emails
• Setting up email notification to multiple personnel in your organization
• Setting up and editing Constant Contact list designations and data categories for submit data
• Setting up PayPal and/or Google Checkout
• Using discount codes and tax rules
• Setting up error notification emails
• Setting up form analytics
• Integrating social sharing buttons and pre-populating a message to be shared
• Using a Formstack-hosted form
• Creating a webpage for your Form in WordPress, and how you should use it
• How to install the Formstack WordPress plugin for social use (and directions on how to install Formstack on other Content Management Systems).

I’m envisioning about 4-5 articles in the series, which will cover all of the items above and more. I’ve used edited screenshots, video tutorials, step-by-step instructions, and included several actionable tips to help you in the articles I’ve written thus far. It is my hope that you can read through each article and have all the information you need to create the best possible form within the restrictions of the free account. However, if you do have questions, feel free to email me or give me a call and I’ll do my best to help you out.

So the next thing for you to do is log into your Constant Contact Account, go to the Contacts tab, select “Sign-Up Tools,” and to follow the process mentioned earlier to start building your form.

Once you get to the last step of the process in the link above, input your email and phone number. This will allow you to get into the free Formstack account automatically created for you. After you’ve clicked “Generate Code,” you will get an email with your log in info, the HTML code for your form and a link to the form you created. Save this email. You’re going to edit the form, but it’s always good to have a back up.

Want access to the next article in the series before anyone else? Join our email list! And, yes that is one of the forms I created with the free Formstack integration. Check it out to see what the process will be like for users on your website, not to mention the great information in our email updates!

Contact Information:

Bradleigh Wilson, Marketing Manager
Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center, LLC
Phone: 518.441.2579
Email: bwilson@endorphinadvisors.com
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/bradleighwilson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bradleigh.wilson
Google+: gplusid.com/bradleighwilson
Twitter: @bd29wils

Endorphin Advisors

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-advisors

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors

Twitter: www.twitter.com/TechValley_BC

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Your Current Customers Grow Your Business

Acquiring new customers takes time, money, energy and effort.

Here are some interesting facts to consider when planning your marketing strategy and budget:

1. It takes seven (7) touches, on average, for a sale to occur.
2. More than three-quarters of all sales are made after the fifth “no.”
3. It’s 6-7 times more expensive to gain a new customer than to retain an existing customer.

Why is this? There are a number of reasons why making a sale to a new customer is more difficult than selling to an existing customer. Many of these come down to timing and trust.

That potential customer right in front of you may be in the market for what you are selling, but may not buy from you, right now, for a variety of reasons that don’t have anything to do with you, your company, your product or your sales pitch:

1. You may have caught the customer in the middle of something else important that is taking up all her attention.
2. The customer may not have the budget right now.
3. The customer is evaluating options, and may even like your offer, but has not made a purchase decision at this moment.
4. The customer still has supply of usable product that they are waiting to exhaust before they re-order.
5. The customer has heard of your company but would like time to research your company (or ask around to see if she can find anyone that has used you or your product).

We can go on and on with reasons why a customer is not ready to buy from you right now. The point is, many of the reasons have nothing to do with you and are simply a matter of timing. Your customer’s timing, not yours.

What does this tell you? You have to keep at it, stay in front of customers, continue to remind them why your particular product or service meets their needs, and be patient.

This should also reinforce the fact that you should continue to keep in touch with all of your current, and past, customers. They are a great source of referrals and new business for you.

A consistent, efficient marketing strategy that includes sharing regular news and information via social media, email, direct mail, phone calls will go a long way to keeping you top-of-mind, and in front of your customers, when it comes time to buy what you have to offer.

Want a little help creating and implementing an effective marketing strategy? Learn how Endorphin Advisors can help you.

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3 Ways Your Business Can Successfully Use “Like-Gating” on Facebook

By Matthew Murphy, Marketing Intern, Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center

If you are trying to grow your business’ Facebook fan base, then asking people to “Like” your page in exchange for exclusive content or offers can be a great way to create Facebook Fans. This is referred to as “like-gating.”

Like-gating is a strategy where a business offers exclusive content or a special offer in exchange for a Facebook user “liking” their page. It’s done by driving people to a special landing page on your Facebook page where they are encouraged to like your page. This is the “gate” page.

Once they like your page, a new page (with the offer or download) is revealed to them. This is the “reveal” page.

Click here for short video on creating Facebook campaigns using Social Campaigns from Constant Contact

A “Like” is valuable because when someone “likes” your page, they will see your posts in their newsfeed. You can offer numerous things such as, a coupon, a recipe, a white-paper, a special video, or a sweepstakes entry. The key is to provide value to potential fans so they won’t mind giving you value back in the form of a “like”.

Here are 3 Ways to Successfully Use “Like-Gating”:

1. Facebook Contest

We all know that a Facebook competition is an effective way to grow fans. Facebook contests attract people for several reasons and page owners need to learn to take advantage of this by installing a fan gate. This will push fans to “Like” your page before they can participate in a contest.

2. Exclusive Offers

Another great way to use your like gate is by pairing it with exclusive offers and promotions. This can be used to boost your interaction with non-fans as it attracts users who want to claim the offer. Because all they need to do to qualify for the offer is to click the like button, most users would not even think twice before liking your page.

3. Exclusive Content

When it comes to social media management, content is still number one. What better way to tempt your audience than to giveaway exclusive content? It can be content in various forms, including ebooks, video, MP3 files or any other items that can be easily downloaded.

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Top 5 Facebook Marketing Mistakes

By Matthew Murphy, Marketing Intern, Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center

Facebook marketing is on the rise among businesses, but many small businesses still struggle to master some of the basics. By avoiding these 5 common mistakes, you can make your Facebook page more useful to your customers (both existing and new ones), and more beneficial for your business.

1. Broadcasting

The number one most common mistake for businesses on Facebook is broadcasting. You need to provide fans with relevant content and engage with them on a continual basis.  Facebook is all about authenticity, so if your company is not being authentic with customers in a way that feels genuine, your customers will see right through it. So first and foremost, forget about how Facebook will make you money, and put your focus towards interacting with your customers firsthand.

2. Not Investing Adequate Time

Another common mistake is underestimating the amount of time a successful Facebook strategy takes to be successful. Don’t be the business that “sets it and forgets it.” It’s not just fan growth that will suffer from this approach; you could quite possibly hurt your relationships with existing fans, particularly customers who have come to always expect a timely response to their posts.

3. Being Boring or Predictable

Some business owners forget the fact that Facebook is a social place where people share things they find funny, interesting or useful with their friends. Think about the kinds of content your fans would actually want to share when planning your posts. Your main goal is to mix it up. The moment you become predictable, boring or annoying, your fans will begin to hide/ignore you from their feeds.

4. Failing to Learn About Facebook Mechanics and Tools

Many businesses do not take advantage of all the tools Facebook can offer. The ‘Info’ tab is rarely utilized for example, and very few businesses create a custom welcome page. Also, Facebook’s built-in analytics system is often overlooked, and with it the opportunity to analyze post-performance to see what types of content are grabbing the most attention from your audience.

5. Violating Facebook’s Terms

It is crucial to know the rules of Facebook, something that many businesses tend to not know.  Some build a community on a personal page instead of a proper Facebook Page. Others fail to abide by Facebook’s rules around running contests. Also, don’t even think about “tagging” people who are in an image without their permission. To avoid these common mistakes, take some time to learn about the rules of Facebook. Rules can be found on the actual website itself, or even other helpful Facebook “how to” web-sites.

By paying attention to these common mistakes, you can easily improve your Facebook marketing.

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Constant Contact Venue Partner Program

Isn’t It Time You Filled Your Venue with MORE Potential Customers?

Now with Constant Contact’s new Venue Partner Program, it’s easier than ever to fill your venue with savvy business owners right in your neck of the woods.

Here’s How it Works:

1. Host a Constant Contact seminar at your location. The seminar will be run by a highly-trained Authorized Local Expert with topics such as Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing.
2. Provide your space at no cost. Refreshments are up to you, but not necessary.
3. Provide your logo and the URL for your venue and we’ll promote your location to our contacts in your area.
4. There is no charge for qualified venues to participate in this program! We are looking for event space that hold anywhere from 20-150+ attendees.

What You Get:

(If selected for our Venue Program)

1. We’ll promote your venue to thousands of Constant Contact customers in your area.
2. You will have the opportunity to give a short talk about your venue at the beginning of our seminar.
3. You can distribute flyers, brochures, coupons, etc. about your business to all of our seminar attendees.
4. You can even invite your existing customers to our free event.

How to Get Started:

Tell us a little bit about your location. If your venue is a good fit for the program, we will contact you with further details!

Constant Contact Venue Partner Program Questionnaire:

1. Venue Name.
2. Venue Website URL.
3. Venue Street Address.
4. City.
5. State.
6. Postal Code.
7. Contact Person Name.
8. Contact Person Telephone Number.
9. Contact Person Email Address.
10. Do you have free parking?
11. What days is your venue available for presentations?
12. What hours is your venue available for presentations?
13. Please select all applicable items available at your venue? (Tables & Chairs, Projector, Microphone, Internet Access (for the presenter, not the attendees),
14. Do you have a screen or blank wall that can be used for PowerPoint presentations?
15. How many people can your venue accommodate classroom style? (less than 25, 25–50, 50–75, 75–100, 100–125, over 125).
16. Do you have an email list of your own customers/clients who can be invited to Constant Contact presentations?

 Interested in the Constant Contact Venue Partner Program? Contact Us Today!

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5 Steps to Improve Engagement and Interaction on Your Facebook Page

By Matthew Murphy, Marketing Intern, Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center

Tweet

Having trouble interacting with your Facebook audience? Here are 5 simple ways you can better grab your audience’s attention. The key to successful Facebook Page marketing is to get your target audience to notice your posts, interact with your brand and to take action.

Here are five tips to help you generate action from your audience:

1. Keep Your Updates Short

Research has repeatedly shown that the longer a post is, the less attention it will receive. Research shows that 100 characters or less seems to be the best option. Also, don’t be afraid to include a photo with a few short phrases to go along with it.

2. Don’t Use URL Shorteners

A recent study by Buddy Media found that attention rates were three times higher for Facebook posts that use a full-length URL, rather than a link generated by a URL shortener such as bit.ly. A shortened URL does not indicate what type of website you’re taking them to, which is a turn off to most mobile users.

3. Post at Times Ideal for Your Fans

Recent data shows that the optimal time to post on Facebook is between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm, when Facebook traffic is at its highest. Links posted between 1 and 4 pm get the highest click-through rates, with Wednesday at 3:00 pm being the best time to post all week. Another thing to consider is the TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) factor. When Friday rolls around, most people turn to Facebook to escape work, and find out what is happening around them for the weekend.

4. Use the Right Words for Higher Engagement

What you say on Facebook always matters. Certain words grab more attention, while others will leave your post dead in the water. Action keywords like “post,” “comment,” “take,” “submit,” “like” or “tell us” seem to be the most effective. Keywords such as “winner,” “win,” “winning” and “events” will make fans excited rather than feeling like they’re being sold to.

5. Ask Questions

Asking a question is a great way to get more comments, but not all questions are created equal. How and where you ask a question is vital. Questions placed at the end of a post increased engagement by 15% over questions placed at the beginning. “Where,” “when” and “should” drive the highest engagement rates, with “would” generating the most likes.

Facebook can be a powerful platform to reach and engage with your audience. But, with so many people and companies vying for people’s attention on Facebook, it can be difficult to generate the attention and action needed to be successful marketing on Facebook (or any other social media platform).

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Email Marketing Strategy and Tips with Constant Contact: Archiving Your Emails and Creating an Archive Homepage

By: Bradleigh Wilson, Marketing Manager

The ability to archive your emails is a powerful addition to your email marketing strategy from both an SEO and a content marketing perspective. Constant Contact’s Email Archive feature gives you the ability to create a fully customizable, branded archive homepage to hold your past emails.

Creating the Archive homepage is very similar to creating an email in Constant Contact, and possibly even a little simpler! At the end of this article you will find some helpful links including a video tutorial of setting up your Email Archive.

Click here for more information on Constant Contact.

All archived emails appear as links on your Archive Homepage. Each archived email is viewable as a web page. All emails on this Archive are indexed by search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.), and can be found in search results on those search engines.

You can easily add a link to your Email Archive web page to your website or social media platforms, sharing your content in another way to your audience. This way, people can read your past emails and be more likely to sign up for your emails!

You can archive any email you have ever sent, and any future emails. During the scheduling process for your emails, there is a box which you can click to automatically archive the email upon sending. In addition to your email updates, newsletters, etc, you may also archive survey invitations, event invitations, and event emails to registrants, should you be using those services.

Once you’ve archived an email, Constant Contact automatically generates a URL for each email. You can use links to send people to specific emails.

Constant Contact also includes social share links to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many more social media sites, so you can easily share your past emails (or your Email Archive web page) via your social media platforms.

Sharing archived emails is a great way to drive traffic to your website and build your mailing list with lead capture forms incorporated with your content.

The archiving feature on Constant Contact costs $5/month. From the SEO benefits to lead generation potential, developing and promoting your Email Archive is essential to a productive email marketing strategy. You can add the email archive feature at any time, in the “My Account” section of your account.

Helpful Links:

Video Tutorial Detailing How to Set Up You’re Fully Customizable Email Archive

Activating the Email Archive Feature

Email Archive FAQ’s

We hope this article will help you get a handle on Constant Contact and your email marketing campaigns.

If you have any questions, or would like help with your email or online marketing, please contact us at your convenience.

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Contact Information:

Bradleigh Wilson, Marketing Manager
Endorphin Advisors & Endorphin Business Center, LLC
Phone: 518.441.2579
Email: bwilson@endorphinadvisors.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bradleighwilson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bradleigh.wilson
Google+: gplusid.com/bradleighwilson
Twitter: @bd29wils

Endorphin Advisors

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-advisors

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinAdvisors

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ebunaes

Endorphin Business Center

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/endorphin-business-center-llc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EndorphinBusinessCenter

Google+ http://www.gplus.to/EndorphinBusinessCenter

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