How it worked:

The contest was open for two weeks and we asked submissions be sent in to our generic email address. We posted the pictures to the designated contest board. We then replied to the entrant with the following email.

“Thanks for your entry! Your pin can be found here. The Pin with the most Likes and Re-pins combined will be crowned the winner. We suggest you encourage your friends to Like and Re-pin on your behalf.”

Once the pin was uploaded, we also included a link to the community where the resident resides. By adding the link, once the pin is clicked on, it will forward to the website. The contest had a few goals to accomplish; resident engagement, retention and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If someone searches the name of one of our apartment communities, we want the Pinterest link to show up in Google. The more links you have on the internet with your website, the higher you will appear in search results.

READ MORE: Search Engine Optimization

Want to Learn More?

2 Hour Live Social Media Course – May 26th at 10am EST

What Worked Well:

We had a little over 50 participants in this contest, which I would consider a success. We also got a lot of comments and emails from residents that loved the idea. Below is a graph of web traffic just from Pinterest. The graph includes a few days before the contest, and the days including the contest.

Traffic was high right when the contest started, but it had its ups and downs. While we’re happy with the added the traffic brought, we’ll need to measure traffic in a longer period than two weeks.

We’ll be measuring the effects of the contest for the next several months to measure effectiveness.

The contest also built awareness of our Pinterest account. Keep in mind, you should only join a social network if your audience is there. Don’t rush in if you are unsure if your audience is even using the social network.

What Didn’t Work well:

Repining – We didn’t realize that there was a loop-hole to Pinterest. Although the Pinterest Contest Guidelines suggest to count repins as a voting method, I would not recommend it. There is nothing that prevents a user from repining an image an infinite amount of times. While this really helps us with our SEO, it doesn’t go over well with traditional Pinterest users.

Taking advantage – Some participants found the loophole in the contest in that you can repin an image an infinite amount of times. The guidelines even suggest not to use repins as a voting mechanism. If I were to run this contest in the future, I would choose the winner based on creativity and not solely based on Likes and repins.

Specificity – I was not specific in which time zone the contest ended. The results were different from one time zone to other at midnight when the contest was slated to end. Make sure you include which time zone your contest will be ending in.

Conclusion

Social media is a medium for communicating, but keep in mind that it is just a tool, not a means to an end. Contests and promotions are one way to engage and gain new followers, but if all you run is contests, you aren’t providing your fans any value. Your fans will love you even more when their perceived value of you increases. Have fun running contests and be sure to contact me if you need any advice.

The winners

See Also:

How to increase Facebook Reach

How to violate Facebook guidelines

Social Media Campaign Case Study

Want to Learn More?

2 Hour Live Social Media Course – May 26th at 10am EST

The post How to Run a Pinterest Contest appeared first on SociallyGold.

Facebook insights gives you a fabulous amount of information, but it is only as good as the user using it. To increase your Facebook reach, your goal should be to get as many shares, likes and comments on your posts as you can. The more you have of the “big 3,” the higher your reach will be (hey that rhymes).

The reach (seen at the bottom left) of the below image will continue to grow until 28 days after it was posted. Ask Big Questions posted a fill in the blank post that earned 7 comments and a few shares. Individual user privacy settings dictate whether or not you can see a share. I’ve seen pages get stuck in broadcast mode, and they should be focused on conversation mode. Remember, when someone comments on, likes or shares your posts, it creates a story on their page.

Again, depending on individual privacy settings, Facebook will show you who shared your posts and what they said. Click on the share icon to the right of “Like, Comment, Share” to see the below image.

Facebook allows you to tag up to 6 people at a time. Simply ask your fans to do something and they’ll do it. Below is a screenshot of Facebook Insights. You’ll see that the above post has the highest Reach to date.

Want to Learn More?

2 Hour Live Social Media Course – May 26th at 10am EST

You can click on the post and it will show you a preview of what the post was. You can also click on “view post” and it will take you to the exact post.

Do you have a simple way to increase your Facebook Reach? Let us know in the comments.

Want to Learn More?

2 Hour Live Social Media Course – May 26th at 10am EST

The post How to Increase Facebook Reach appeared first on SociallyGold.

I have tried my hand at crowdfunding to get Sociallygold off the ground. I originally got the idea from seeing a campaign on Indiegogo that aimed at helping Karen Klein, the school bus monitor who became famous from a YouTube video that showed her being humiliated by a bunch of middle schoolers. The goal of the campaign was to reach $5,000 to send Karen on a much-needed vacation. The campaign went viral on the internet and raised over $700,000 before ending. The “Let’s give Karen – The bus monitor – H Klein a vacation” campaign has over 30,000 funders, all of which donated small amounts. Some people donated $1, and some donated $100.

Seeing the success of this campaign, I wanted to try one of my hand at it. I’m not crowdfuning currently, but campaign was to help start my website. I want to start a company that gives resources to non-profits that teaches them how to use social media to accomplish their goals. I admit, I got very excited about the potential, but don’t let the high amount raised by Karen’s campaign fool you. Crowdfudning is not for everyone. You can see my Indiegogo campaign and what I did to try to raise the money. I emailed friends, posted it on Facebook, Tweeted at people and I was able to raise a little over $200.  I event created a video to encourage people to donate. I didn’t reach my goal of $2,000, so I would not consider that campaign a success. 

Crowdfunding campaigns allow you to set up incentives so donors can get something for donating. You can set up different levels to encourage higher donations. If your would be donors have a perceived sense of value that they can associate with their donation, you may have better luck.

 An example of failed campaign

A friend of mine asked me to help her with a crowdfunding campaign for her organization. The goal of the campaign was to raise money that would go to programming. I think we missed the boat for a couple of reasons.

. The campaign was promoting a vague goal. “Programming” may have been too broad.

. We didn’t get buy-in from the community that the funding was looking to benefit. We posted the campaign and hoped it would go viral. We should have had someone in the community or a beneficiary of the funding to create the campaign and spread the word.

. We did what we could to promote it by creating a Facebook event in hopes of it going viral. The idea was to send it to board members of the organization so they would send it their friends. We didn’t take that step.

Jacob, a friend of mine who is also involved in fundraising has a strong opinion about Crowdfunding and why you should be weary of it. He mentions Kickstarter, which is also a Crowdfunding website.

Jacob Rosen, Development Associate, Hillel at Kent State: “Kickstarter-type models might seem appealing for everyone. It’s certainly been quite the rage over the past few years. The suddenly successful model has quickly sprouted to websites, books, thesis projects and more. But it’s just not applicable to all situations. Where these crowd-funding examples succeed: Niche ideas with large, rabid fan bases that are purely social and bursting with viral potential. That means it might not be perfect for your particular non-profit that you think could instantly raise $10K online. It’s not that simple. I was born in 1990 and that’s just not possible for all fundraising ideas.”

Most Successful Kickstarter Campaign

If you know me personal, you know that I am a huge fan of technology, and if you don’t know me personally, now you know. I was exposed to a Kickstarter campaign that was looking to fund a smart watch. This smart watch needed to raise $100,000 to get their smart watched into production, but they ended up raising over $10,000,000. Wow! I backed this campaign in May 2012 and didn’t get the product mailed to me until 10 months later. I was first exposed to this campaign from a friend who posted about it on Facebook.

Why I decided to fund this campaign. 

The above crowdfunding campaign is slightly different then the fundraising campaigns mentioned earlier. By giving my $115, I was going to receive something from it. The Kickstarter guys also kept all their backers in the loop with weekly updates of the progress. I really got a sense I was apart of the team. Now that I have the watch, I couldn’t be happier.  It also makes me cool at parties.

An example of a successful crowdfunding campaign

10 Things To Know When Launching a Crowdsourcing Campaign

by Scott Frankel, “From The Diaspora” – an educational film and program about the place of Israel in the identities of young Jews from around the world.

1. Fixed fundraising vs. Flexible fundraising

Kickstarter uses a fixed fundraising model, where Indiegogo has more flexibility. Each project is different, but overall I think fixed is better. It puts both you and the potential investors in an “all-or-nothing” situation where you either reach your goal or nothing is lost. Flexible fundraising creates more barriers. Potential funders might ask themselves: What if he/she doesn’t reach their goal, am I out that money? You don’t want either party left with any questions about what’s next. Go with a fixed fundraising campaign so you can push yourself and your potential funders to act urgently (which is key). The shorter the time frame the better – it’s all about getting people to act now!

2. Have something tangible. If you’re only at the “idea” stage, then forget about it. People want to see that you have the ball rolling on a product/venture. Be explicit about what you need money for and how the investor benefits from giving you money. Create a website, create a prototype, do as much as you possible can on your own before you start asking people for money.

3. Make a Video.

People respond visually. Video is able to evoke an emotional response better than any other medium. Capitalize on that! Keep the video short and sweet – should be no more than 2 minutes

4. People invest in people. People look to invest in the person behind the product. So make sure to sell yourself. It’s important that your personality shines through in your fundraising page and in your video. Don’t overdo it though – I’ve seen campaigns really get burned by too much personality.

5. Don’t rely too much on social media (unless you’re of celebrity status). If you plan on raising the majority of your money through Facebook and Twitter, you’re going to be disappointed. Test the waters beforehand and build up a network of interested investors before launching. Nurture those relationships through personal e-mails, coffee meetings and phone calls. Then you launch

6. How much do you need? Ask for less. People can always invest beyond the target goal. When setting a goal, ask yourself, What’s the absolute minimum I can work with? Your goal should be $1 more than that. Also, keep in mind that crowdsourcing websites take 10% of the total amount raised (shocking, I know). So keep that in mind when setting your goal as well.

7. Be able to fulfill your reward tiers. Crowdsourcing campaigns offer various tiers of rewards as added incentive. Don’t offer anything that you can’t fulfill. You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot by offering rewards that will negate the money you raised or back you into a corner

8. Timeline your campaign. The most activity comes at the very beginning and the very end of the campaign. Be prepared to push big during these days, but also think strategically about how to fill in the middle. Timeline each day of the campaign, and set weekly fundraising goals. Money doesn’t pour in all at once – fundraising is an incremental process. (If possible, try to get a family member or friend make the first donation to get the pot boiling.

9.  Keep your cool. It’s important to stand out amidst the many products/ventures that use crowdsourcing campaigns now. Be funny in your incentives. Create memes on social media. Utilize the press. Find a way to be the taller tree in the forest, but DO NOT SPAM! The quickest way to fail is to get desperate and start tagging or tweeting at people in your posts, or overloading on e-mails. Don’t be too “in-your-face.” Lulls will happen, donors take their time, just know that and keep your cool.

10. Fundraising is exhausting. Be prepared to work around the clock, but more importantly – don’t take it personally! Some people come through for you, others don’t. It’s not personal, just the nature of the beast. Enjoy the ride – you’ll learn a lot about yourself and will pick up some invaluable skills that will help you throughout life J

Feel free to e-mail Scott with any additional questions/comments: fromthediasporamovie@gmail.com. Check out Scott’s Kickstarter page at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1410100971/from-the-diaspora and for more about the film/program, please visit: www.fromthediaspora.com

The post What is Crowdfunding? appeared first on SociallyGold.

I get asked this all time. “Hey SociallyGold” “Yes?” “What is LinkedIn?” I joined LinkedIn when I was a junior in college because it was the hot new thing. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t used LinkedIn very often. I wanted to be able to answer this question, but I knew I had to reach out to others so they can explain what LinkedIn is and how they use it. If you have a specefic use for LinkedIn, send an email to adam@sociallygold.com so I can add you to this post. I’ll only connect with someone on LinkedIn once iv’e met them. I get the impression that is frowned upon to reach out to people whom you don’t know. Below are LinkedIn use cases that I believe you’ll find beneficial.

Sean Akaks Executive Recruiter – TheLions

My experience with LinkedIn will likely be different that of the average user, as my professional work depends on it. While at work, I spend about half of my time on this social network. I work for a technology sales recruiting firm in San Francisco called TheLions, and we have a custom-built platform that leverages LinkedIn data to fuel our network of candidates. Traditionally, LinkedIn has been a very powerful tool for companies looking to hire top talent, and for professionals looking for networking opportunities and getting their foot in the door into companies. Recently, however, Linkedin has made a big push for widespread adoption amongst more users than job seekers and those involved in hiring. They have developed and put focus on their “Today” feature, which basically aggregates top articles tailored to your industry and interests. Earlier this month, the company announced that they are acquiring Pulse, the web/mobile newsreader. Their hope is that Pulse’s technology will better help target and customize articles that users will be most interested in, so that one might use LinkedIn on a more regular basis.

Jacob Rosen Development Associate - Hillel at Kent State University 

I’ve been a basic LinkedIn user since March 2009. In a nutshell, LinkedIn is like your virtual online resume, with an added social networking component. Much like a resume, you can’t ignore your LinkedIn profile for too long. It really should be a living, breathing document, even though it’s most useful in the job hunt. I have 522 connections — and counting — on LinkedIn, from all sorts of professional and social circles. I’m not particularly active every day, but I have it bookmarked on my Google Chrome, I try to keep active on my connection requests and I try to immediately re-endorse when a friend gives me a nod. My profile should be updated more frequently and more thoroughly than it is, but it’s a wasted opportunity if you don’t use LinkedIn at least this much.

Anna Beyerle - Strategic Communication Specialist

Like Facebook, LinkedIn has a Facebook-esque “news feed” that alerts you when your professional connections change their profiles, get a new job, join new groups, etc. After I graduated from college, I had a year-long contract position with a company, and LinkedIn was a great resource when I started searching for new opportunities. You have the ability to search for specific companies and see their employees that have LinkedIn profiles, which can be incredibly helpful when you’re looking to connect with a person at a specific company. I reached out to an employee with an interesting-sounding job description at a company I was interested in on LinkedIn to chat about her job, and wound up getting a job listing out of the conversation that I never would have received otherwise (success story: I ended up getting the job). It’s a fabulous networking tool, especially when you’re looking to get into a new market, but also great for keeping up with old connections.

The post What is LinkedIn? appeared first on SociallyGold.

This morning I saw another post that encourages you to Like, share and recommend a page in order for you to enter a contest. I can’t stress how mad this makes me. I realize that not every Page admin knows all the guidelines, but we need to get the word out. I’m pointing this out not to get anyone in trouble, but to make everyone aware that this is against Facebook Guidelines. Not only is this against Facebook guidelines, but page admins don’t have access to everyone who has liked their page because of privacy settings.

If you would like to run a Facebook contest, Facebook says they “must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.” I setup a demo contest on my Facebook Page, which also includes a link on how to setup the contest with a 3rd party application.

Also, please join me in signing the petition to bring awareness to this issue.

The post How to Violate Facebook Guidelines appeared first on SociallyGold.

1. Setup Eventbrite

If you are a frequent reader you know that I love using Eventbrite. I not only use it to manage registrants for my social media course, but I have used it a plenty for big in person events as well. Eventbrite provides a way for your event goers to provide their name, email and any other information you would like to collect. I love using Eventbrite because it provides a bigger barrier then just clicking “attend” on Facebook. If you haven’t used Eventbrite for your events yet, definitely look into it. The service is free to use if you are not charging for admission. You can collect money for tickets, but they will charge you when you withdraw the funds, which is standard.

Other reasons Eventbrite is amazing

. You can send reminder emails to your guests

. You can print name tags/guests lists

. You can use it to incentivize your potential guests to sign up

. Eventbrite will time stamp when your guest registers. You can use this to encourage RSVPs with a time sensitive offer.

“Sign up by Monday at Noon and you’ll be on our VIP list”

2. The Cover Photo

Facebook recently announced that they are relaxing the rules on the amount of text allowed on cover photos. Prior to the relaxation of the rule, you can only have 20% text. The new Facebook event cover photo dimensions are 714×264. If you work in paint, the previously linked article will show you how to resize the event cover photo.

The image above is the cover photo for the actual Facebook event. The image below is slightly larger and is the cover photo of the Facebook Page. The images are slightly different in that the Page cover photo is larger and we had to move the QR code to the right, as it would be blocked by the profile image.

When you change the cover photo of your Page, it will create a story in your fans’ news feeds. Changing the cover photo is a great way to publish news of your event. Make sure your cover photos are sized correctly as well. While Facebook will let you upload a 8.5×11 flyer for your event, it will get cut off. Facebook Page cover photo dimensions are 851×315.

3. The QR Code

The use of a QR code can be debated, but I don’t think it hurts to use one. You face the challenge that some don’t know what it is, but also people can be lazy and not want to scan. I wouldn’t suggest relying on the QR code to link your registrants to your Eventbrite page, but we’ll see how effective it is in the back-end of Eventbrite. Also, if people are using their mobile devices to use Facebook, they be unable to scan because the image will already be on their phone. I personally use Red Laser for my QR code scanning needs.

You may want to try using the QR code on printed material instead. I’d be curious to hear what you think about QR codes.

4. Facebook Posting

The obvious way to promote an event is on Facebook right? We don’t use this Facebook  Page to promote events usually, so posting about the Grand opening was novel to its fans. If your business or organization is constantly  posting about events, you may want to think outside the box on how to get your message across. Instead of posting when the event is and where it’s happening (boooooring) Try posing the question “Who is coming to the Grand Opening on May 3rd? LIKE this status if you will be joining us”.

You can also ask questions about what people will be wearing to the event  to encourage engagement. Also try, “10 Likes of this status and we’ll tell you what our special desert will be at the Gran Opening.” Once you get those 10 Likes, make sure to post what the desert is in a timely matter.

5. Provide incentives

Your fans will be more likely to do what you ask if you provide them an incentive. They will be asking “What’s in it for me?”  In this case study, the chance to win an iPad mini is enough to encourage people to RSVP. We also made it evident within Eventbrite that you must be present to win. Now I understand that you can’t afford to raffle an iPad at all your events, but think creatively about what you can offer. If your invitees see an answer to their “What’s in it for me?” question, you’ll find success.

You can also decide to not let people who in who don’t RSVP, so next time they’ll know they’ll need to in order to gain access. If you don’t want to turn people away, you can offer a goodie bag or prize to those that RSVP when they check-in. This idea uses psychology to encourage future RSVPs.

What to expect

Now that you are using Eventbrite to manage RSVPs, your guests will come to expect it for future events as well. At the time of posting, the Eventbrite has 80 people signed up. I’ll update this post once the event happens to see if our numbers are accurate.

Follow up (Very Important)

Once the event is over, we’ll use Eventbrite to share the Facebook album where photos are taken. The guests will be encouraged to Like, Comment and Share photos they are in. We will  also mention an offer to those that attended the event. “Thanks for attending our Grand Opening. A special offer to those who joined us: Mention this email and when you sign a lease with Gables Emory Point, we’ll waive your application fee. Thanks for attending the Grand Opening”

This tactic is ALSO answering the quetsion “What’s in it for me?” Do you use Eventrbite for your events? I absolutely love it!

The post Social Media Campaign Case Study appeared first on SociallyGold.

The post [INFOGRAPHIC] Social Media Quick Tips appeared first on SociallyGold.

1. Don’t send too many emails

If your like me, you get tons and tons of emails. If you send too many, your audience will start to ignore them. Try longer emails less often then shorter emails more often.

2. Monitor the data 

Email programs provide data on the emails you send. Use that data to test when the best time to send is, subject lines, length, open rate, and click through rate to name a few metrics. I recommend resending at the same time as the highest click through rate.

3. A/B Test with your subject line

Separate your email list into segments and test a subject line with 10% of your list for each subject line. Whichever subject line has a higher click through rate, send the winning subject line to the rest of your list.

4. Try adding names to the subject lines

Email programs also allow you to use subscriber data in the subject line. Use the name merge field to insert the recipients name in the subject.

5. Use calls-to-action

I recommend using this tactic with social media as well, but don’t broadcast an email without asking your recipients to do something or answer a questions. Inspire actions with your email.

6. Schedule emails to be sent in the early morning so it is first in the inbox

Choose your sending time wisely. Try scheduling your emails to be sent early in the morning. The email will be at the top of the mailbox when your recipient checks their email.

7. Exclusives to provide your subscribers value

Treat your subscribers as kings/queens. Make it known that you think they are special and you’ll see a much higher open rate.

8. Put a call to action at the end to inspire people to read your email

If you are sending a long email with a lot of information, add a prize to those that get to the bottom of the email. Offer it sporadically to encourage your readers to always read the whole email.

9. Pick a subscriber of your list and send them a personal email thanking them for subscribing

I have had a lot of success with this. It doesn’t happen often, so it will be novel to those who receive your personal email.

10. Pick someone who clicked a link and send them a person email based on what the clicked on

Your email program should tell you who click on what email. Use that information to send them a similar article. You can also start a conversation based on the article they clicked on.
 

The post 10 Quick Email Marketing Tips appeared first on SociallyGold.

If you saw my tweets this past week, you saw some great content from the Non-profit technology conference. In addition to writing a post or two about what I learned, I wanted to introduce a new Facebook event strategy that will take a bit of a shift in thinking, but should be really effective. Wondering what this new strategy is? You’ll need to attend the free Facebook event strategy webinar on April 22nd at 7pm EST to find out.

The webinar will take place via Go To Meeting. Once you click “attending” on the Facebook event, you’ll get access to the link to attend.

The post Free Facebook Event Strategy Webinar appeared first on SociallyGold.

Now that I’m no longer president I have been downgraded to Air Force Seven. #notColbertpretendingtobeme

— Billy Jeff Clinton (@PrezBillyJeff) April 9, 2013

There has been a parody of Bill Clinton for a while, but we’ll wait to see if this account get’s verified.

Glad everyone made it through that half of basketball with their limbs intact.

— Bill Clinton (@PimpBillClinton) April 9, 2013

The post Colbert Forces Bill Clinton to Join Twitter appeared first on SociallyGold.