Posts by Martin Lieberman

The Internet’s Gone Crazy for Pictures, and Other Hot Topics

March 16, 2012 By Martin Lieberman 2 Comments

You didn’t have to be looking all that hard to notice that the biggest trend in online content these days is visual content.

From infographics to photos, and on sites like Facebook, Instagram, and yes, Pinterest, all anyone wants to do right now is take, create, and share pictures and illustrations.

To capitalize on this, tools like Visual.ly are now making it even easier for people to create infographics, and Pinterest has redesigned its profile pages to help its users make better use of the site.

That’s just one of the week’s hot topics. We were also buzzing about changes to Google’s algorithm that will favor good content over search engine optimization, and new stats about why people are unfriending each other — not to mention what a share, “Like,” follow, and tweet are worth.

So let’s get right to it. Here are the week’s hot topics. [Read more...]

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Are Your Deals Ready to Get Social?

March 15, 2012 By Martin Lieberman 4 Comments

The decision to run a special deal for your customers is not an easy one for many businesses to make.

After all, why would you discount your products and services when your customers are already willing to pay full price?

But that’s missing the point.

One of the best reasons to run a deal is to get your customers talking about it, and better yet, sharing your deal with their friends on social media.

When your customers promote your business to their friends, they’re helping you reach new customers, and giving you an added, implied endorsement. It’s the kind of endorsement that doesn’t just create new customers. It creates new loyal customers, ones that won’t just take advantage of the deal, but will be more likely to come back again and again.

You just have to add the not-so-secret ingredient that makes every deal more successful: social media. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: ,

Congratulations to Our 2011 All Star Winners!

March 15, 2012 By Martin Lieberman 36 Comments

Hollywood has the Oscars.

The National Football League has the Super Bowl.

And Major League Baseball has the World Series.

So how do the best of the best small business marketers get recognized? With a Constant Contact All Star Award!

Every year, we recognize the small business and nonprofit organizations that have gone above and beyond with their marketing efforts, and have found great success.

We’ve just selected the top performers for 2011, so why don’t we open the envelopes and announce the winners! [Read more...]

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6 Ways to Create Content Your Readers Will Share

March 11, 2012 By Martin Lieberman 28 Comments

The holy grail of social media is not “Likes” or follows, but shares.

And retweets, too.

After all, a “Like” or follow is specific to one person. A share or retweet gets you exposed to even more people.

How many? Well, if you consider that the average Facebook user has more than 245 friends (according to a recent Pew Research Center study), then sharing can help you reach as many as 31,170 people. That’s a lot of new prospects.

So how do you create content that people will share? Here are 6 tips: [Read more...]

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People Spend More Time Microwaving a Potato than on Google+, and Other Hot Topics

March 2, 2012 By Blaise Lucey 6 Comments

If you’re having a baked potato for dinner (or breakfast, if you’re one of those people), then you know that microwaving it to perfection can take five minutes or more.

Well, if you’re an average user of Google+, you can log on and off while making your potato, and still have time to spare.

A new report says that people who use the social network generally spend less time on it than it takes to microwave a potato.

Meanwhile, Facebook is ramping up efforts to become a social media marketing powerhouse, with its introduction of Timeline for brand Pages, its offering of premium advertisements to marketers, and real-time analytics from Facebook Insights.

We discuss this and more in the week’s news roundup!

[Read more...]

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Getting 3,000 Guests with a $4,000 Marketing Budget

March 2, 2012 By Blaise Lucey 1 Comment

In 2009, John Rife decided to start hosting a festival that would put the spotlight on local food in Winter Park, Fla.

It was kind of an ambitious goal – John already had a full-time job and just $4,000 for marketing.

Still, he was determined to create a festival that would give Florida farmers, restaurateurs, gardeners, and other food suppliers some exposure, and hopefully build a community event in the process.

“I basically had four tomato plants growing in the window when I thought of it,” John says, “But I really wanted a way to promote all of the farmers in Florida.”

[Read more...]

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Managing Your Time Is the Key to Successful Social Media Marketing

March 2, 2012 By Martin Lieberman 9 Comments

Guest blog post by Jamie Self, Constant Contact’s Social Campaign Sales Team Leader

Social media marketing is a great tool that all small businesses and organizations can use to stay competitive and grow.

One of the biggest barriers to small businesses using such a powerful tool is time.

But while small businesses are incredibly time starved, social media does not have to be the big time-suck most think it is.

The most common questions about social media marketing

Last week, I attended multiple events in San Francisco as part of the worldwide celebration of Social Media Week. The two questions I heard over and over were “How should I manage the time I can allocate to social media marketing?” and “What should I use to help make sure my time spent is worth it for me?”

People generally want to control their time dedicated to social media, but they are scared and unsure of how to do so. I sat in an array of panels and keynotes, and there were some great ideas and some worthy advice presented that can help businesses and organizations take control of their time and get the most out of their investment in social media. [Read more...]

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3 Mobile Apps that Will Help You Stay Organized

March 1, 2012 By Heidi Tobias 2 Comments

With so many low cost or free tools available, small businesses have a competitive advantage that I have never seen before.

A large puzzle piece of this advantage comes from the adoption of mobile technologies. Mobile enables a small business owner to work when and where they want.

Today, when small business owners are asked about mobile and their business, 96% of them say they rely on mobile technology to run their business, and 75% of them say it gives them a significant competitive advantage.

As this rapid adoption has occurred, I’ve witnessed a massive growth of apps aimed at the small business marketplace. Some of these really can save you time and money, and keep you productive even when you’re on the go.

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be sharing a collection of top apps that either I love or small business owners I’ve spoken with I say they cannot live without.

Let’s start with ones that keep you more organized. [Read more...]

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Tapping the Power of Images with New Tools for Small Business

March 1, 2012 By Dave Berard 4 Comments

Last weekend, I attended the Photo Hack Day 2 hackathon.

What’s a hackathon? It’s an event where entrepreneurial developers (or “hackers”) gather together to do collaborative computer programming, and hopefully walk away with brand new programs or applications.

The weekend was full of amazing technology and great developers, and it was a lot of fun.

My goal was to learn as much as I could about where the world of online photos is going and how small businesses and nonprofits can benefit from these advances. [Read more...]

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It’s Time to Stand Up to the Schoolyard Bully

March 1, 2012 By Dave Gilbertson 3 Comments

Harry Potter is a guy who’s easy to root for.

He’s blessed with special gifts and is always on the side of good.

I feel the same way about small businesses. They are the good guys, they are the ones worth fighting for, and they are the ones that drive our communities forward.

Why, then, has the Voldemort of the daily deal industry descended on local merchants nationwide, forcing many of them out of business?

In the Harry Potter books, Voldemort is known as “he who shall not be named.” Daily deals burst onto the scene in the last couple years and worked great for some savvy businesses, but proved disastrous for many. If you’ve followed the destruction wrought on many businesses running deals without control over the terms, you’ll see why we often call the market leader “they who shall not be named.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , ,
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