Category: Social Media

Open Secrets: What Makes Email Subject Lines Work?

Posted on March 10, 2014 by hermanoff - General, guest post, PR Business, Public Relations, Social Media, Survey

In a series of “think-aloud” studies in 2011, the Carnegie Mellon professors asked participants to sort through emails in their own inboxes and in inboxes developed for the study.

The results? Readers were most likely to open emails with subject lines focusing on:

1. Utility, or relevance: People are most likely to open emails when the subject line focuses on “information I can use to live my life better.”

2. Curiosity: Carnegie Mellon is heavily invested in “knowledge gap” research. That is, once people know what they don’t know, they’re eager to close the gap. So this study tested emails with vague subject lines, not entertaining ones.

Curiosity worked when recipients:

Knew who the email was from but were uncertain about the contents
Understood the contents because of a detailed subject line but were unfamiliar with the sender

Utility was more effective than curiosity in getting emails opened. And the more emails recipients received, the less effective curiosity became.

The researchers did not look into the effect of interesting, or feature-style, subject lines. I suspect that engaging subject lines that raise interest in the topic, but don’t spell it out clearly, would also be effective.

But unless your reader knows you personally and will be driven to open your message solely based on your relationship, I do not recommend using vague or empty subject lines.

Given the research, here are three ways to make your subject lines more effective:

1. Focus on readers’ self interest.

The best subject line I received last year came from Portland Monthly’s Shop Talk e-zine. It said: “Talk to Tim Gunn | Free Kiehl’s Product | Bad Mall Photos.”

You had me at Tim Gunn!

Opportunities, offers and discounts drive the most opens, according to Lyris Technologies. So focus on what’s in it for the recipient, not what’s in it for you, the sender.

2. Make it interesting.

Among the most popular subject lines for my e-zine, Wylie’s Writing Tips:

“Pleading for shorter sentences”
“Don’t commit verbicide”
“Can you read me now?”

Why did these lines get higher click-through rates than usual?

Because they focus on what the reader will learn and they sound intriguing.

3. Make it easy.

EmailLabs studied 23,475 email campaigns of more than 650 companies. They found that:

Recipients opened email messages with subject lines of less than 50 characters 12.5 percent more often than those with 50-plus characters.
The click-through rates for the shorter subject lines were 75 percent higher than for the longer ones.
Some email platforms truncate subject lines after 5 words or so. So limiting your subject line to 50 characters or less will also ensure that it displays fully in inboxes and on mobile devices. Plus, shorter subject lines are easier to understand at a glance.

Ann Wylie works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. To learn more about her training, consulting or writing and editing services, contact her at ann@WylieComm.com
Email: ann at WylieComm.com

Top 7 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Social Media

Posted on February 19, 2014 by hermanoff - Facebook, guest post, Services, Social Media

An avalanche of new opportunities is available on the Internet in the form of social media sites. These sites serve as a strategic public relations and marketing tool to build your brand and target key audiences for your business.

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter enable individuals, groups and companies to easily publish, share and interact on the web. By joining a social site, you can discover topics that people are talking about and what they think about your business and how to improve accordingly.

Here is a list of popular sites to give you a quick overview of how each serves its purpose:

Facebook: Facebook is considered the heavyweight of social networking. From uploading photos, to making status updates, which allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions, is the epitome of social media. It’s a great way to keep in touch with friends and family as well as marketing tool. In addition, you can create a fan page for your company or start or join a group related to your company.

Forty-five percent of Facebook’s 45.3 million active users in the US are 26 years old or older. Nearly a quarter of all Facebook users are over 35 today. Facebook is growing in every age and gender demographic. The fastest growing segment is women over 55, up 175.3% as of February 2009.

Twitter: Twitter is considered a more basic format of Facebook. The users known as “followers” are allowed to send brief messages, only limited to 140 characters known as “tweets.” Followers can search by name and follow your daily tweets. There is no limit on how often you can tweet, but make sure the information is related to the company that followers would find interesting and useful.

For example: Your company can use Twitter to inform followers of the latest company news or upcoming events. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information in a mass message.

LinkedIn: Unlike all the other major social networking sites, LinkedIn is dedicated to helping people connect for business rather than social purposes. It’s useful to search for consultants and contractors and identify people in companies that you hope to do business with in the future. It’s also become a major source for posting professional job openings.

For example: LinkedIn can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as colleague recommendations.

YouTube: This site pertains to videos only. Although you may think it has nothing to do with your company, businesses have discovered it’s a great way to provide information to prospects. You can make a video of the products you sell, describe your services or even video testimonials and easily upload them to YouTube.

For example: By using YouTube, your company can embed a watermark so users watching the video know which company and website the video is from. This is another way of building your company’s brand.

Top 7 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Social Media

It’s free, fast and flexible.

Establish yourself as an expert in a field, while staying on top of your field and your competitors.

Target potential and current audiences without resorting to spam. Since the users make the decision to connect with your company, marketing messages will be anticipated not disregarded.

Engage with user-friendly options such as photos, videos, blogs, and status updates. Traditional media is passive while, social media is interactive.

Market and build your brand while engaging audiences.

Enhance credibility by controlling and communicating directly with the key audiences.

Learn directly from audiences on social media sites such as Facebook. These platforms let the company learn directly what customers are saying about its service and products.

For more information contact, Pam Perry, Social Media Strategist at 248.851-3993 or 248.690-6810.

Not Yet On Board With Social Media? You May Already Be Left Behind

Posted on February 11, 2014 by hermanoff - guest post, Social Media

I received the following note the other day via LinkedIn, from someone who has apparently been in the business for more than 20 years:

“I found out on a web site called social media today that you have considerable experience in PR and social media expertise.

“Although I also have an extensive PR background, I up to now haven’t needed to get involved in social media very much. My PR areas of expertise are media relations, writing, research, and special events.

“I have developed many customized media lists using Excel.

“Can I somehow use Twitter also to develop customized media lists using media data that I find from a variety of sources, which I do when creating Excel media lists? If I can, how do I go about creating customized Twitter media lists that include writers’ names, title, media name, email address, etc.

“Also, I want to find some articles/case histories that detail how companies have specifically used Twitter and Facebook to in PR campaigns to boost awareness of products and services,

“If you can provide me with links to such articles/case histories, that will be fantastic.

Any questions, send them.”

I responded that the person in question should read this post, and if he wanted to chat further, he could book a two-hour (paid) consult via my assistant.

To which he asked where he could find the post, and made a snarky comment on how perhaps he should become a “social media expert consultant at that hourly rate,” as it’s more than he’s “ever received in PR on hourly basis.”

***

When PRSA asked me to author a guest post on the evolution and elevation of social media, I was wondering how I could do so without stating the obvious: that social is here to stay, it’s not just for the “kids,” and if you haven’t gotten on board that particular bandwagon yet, you should start dusting off the old drum kit pronto.

Then I received this note. And it seemed to me to illustrate exactly how our industry needs to evolve vis-à-vis social media and the elevation thereof.

Clearly there is a sizable group in the industry that is still grappling with social, while grudgingly realizing they need to learn how to deal with it. Despite my irritation at this interchange, I sensed that the arrogance (“Tell me everything I want to know! Do it now! Free!”) and snark (“Whaaa? How do you get away with charging that?!”) were layered on top of confusion and, perhaps, fear. Because while this gent and others of his ilk may see the writing on the wall, clearly they don’t like the story it’s telling.

Social media cannot be elevated from the tactical to the strategic if it continues to be boxed in or silo-d. While its evolution has been breathtaking—a day does not go by that I don’t marvel at what a remarkable time we live in, to literally see technology change the world, minute by minute—it must be invited to sit at the family table, not banished to the kids’ corner.

Public relations practitioners of all stripes must understand this. They must start to respect what social brings to the table, even if they choose not to make that a core part of their business offering. They must start looking at public relations in an integrated and measurable way, because that’s the only way it will be regarded as an integral business function.

That means a genuine desire to learn, grow and engage, resisting the urge to make digs at those who’ve taken the time and trouble to at least be in step with today’s world. That’s what I hope to see happen, and our industry take larger strides toward, in 2014.

Shonali Burke, guest blogger

Shonali Burke was named to PRWeek’s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PRprofessionals and is considered one of 25 women that rock social media. As President & CEO, Shonali Burke Consulting, Inc., she helps take business communication strategy from corporate codswallop to community cool™. Shonali is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University, and publisher of the popular PR and digital media blog, Waxing UnLyrical. The Washington Business Journal recently named her one of 10 CEOs to follow on Twitter… follow their advice by finding her @shonali.

Reposted from: http://prsay.prsa.org PRSA/Editor’s note: This is the finalin a series of guest posts from industry thought leaders predicting key trends that will impact the public relations industry in 2014. Hosted under the hashtag #PRin2014, the series began Jan. 8, 2014, with a compilation post previewing some of the predictions.

When it comes to social media, an ounce of prevention goes a long way

Posted on July 26, 2012 by abrothanamedced - General, Social Media

Photo Credit: Ikon Images

Thanks to social media, following companies is as easy as watching television. However, the social media world can turn into a cruel one with one wrong move, damaging the reputation you took years to build.

Sarah Skerik of PR Newswire recently gave some good advice on ways to avoid a social media disaster. We’ve tweaked her ideas to focus on avoiding a professional PR crisis:

Keep it clean – While it’s become socially acceptable for TV networks to use language formerly considered vulgar, this is one trend that your business should avoid.
Make sure you want to see it again; it will come back to you – Yes, you’re able to delete any tweet or status update you please. However, there are two reasons doing so is a bad idea: a) someone can still grab a screenshot of your message; and b) backtracking on social media leaves a bad impression on your business.
Consider your stakeholders – If you have any doubts that your message may offend the people you care about – or those you want to respect you – then refrain from posting it. Cool off before you write anything. As your mother probably told you, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all.”
Stay classy – Since no one is perfect, you’re likely to have a dissatisfied customer whose mission in life is to damage your company’s reputation. In situations like these, it’s best to admit wrongdoing on your company’s part and offer a solution to the customer – putting out the fire in the process.
Do some scenario planning – This simply involves thinking before you speak. Don’t just think about the positive outcomes of your message, but also think about the negative responses your message could receive.
Divide and conquer (or don’t mix your accounts) – Every company has a few social media savvy employees to manage the social media accounts. Social media managers must keep their personal profiles distant from the company’s profiles to avoid posting to the wrong account.. And always remember to manage your privacy settings carefully.

The ease of sharing information is what makes social media both a blessing and a curse. With social media, what it all boils down to is being cautious of the message you send.

Why Your Company Should Be On LinkedIn

Posted on March 20, 2012 by steffums - Social Media

LinkedIn may no longer be “new news” as far as social media networks go, but there are still companies that have yet to join. Whether it’s because they are stuck on old ways and don’t see the potential or they are too busy to create a company profile, they need to take advantage of it.

LinkedIn has several benefits including the ability to connect to employees and customers, post job openings, and promote products and services.

Connecting with your customers and your employees is crucial to the success of your company. Building relationships with your customers is growing harder to do without the help of social media. LinkedIn allows your employees and customers to follow your company and receive news updates.

Employees can connect to your company through their own profiles by adding the company as their employer. This links the company’s profile page to the employees which makes their connections only a click away from your company page.

Since LinkedIn is one of the main resources for job searches and job applicants, what better place to post a job within your company? It is very easy to create a job post and include information such as the experience level and required skills along with the job description. LinkedIn also allows you to choose between accepting applicants resumes internally through LinkedIn or externally which directs them to an outside website.

Your company profile would not be complete without the ability to list your products and services. When adding a product or service, there are several details that you can include such as an image, key features, contact information, and a YouTube URL. LinkedIn even allows you to create a promotion for your product or service. Another benefit of adding your products and services to your profile is that it allows for your clients and customers to write recommendations for them.

Some of the other advantages that LinkedIn has to offer are page statistics and the ability to link your company blog. When you update your blog, the RSS feed will automatically update on your LinkedIn profile. The post will be visible to anyone who looks at your profile and your followers will be notified of the update.

The page statistics provides you the ability to monitor how much activity your profile is getting from page views, unique visitors, and clicks on products and services.

Of course the more active you are through your LinkedIn, blog, and various other social media accounts, the more traffic you are likely to drive to your company’s profile!

Company profiles on LinkedIn are free to make, but you must be authorized by that company in order to create the page. LinkedIn will ask for your email at that company for verification. From there you can add administrators, update the profile, and a logo.

So get connected and join LinkedIn!

Happy networking!

Time (line) is Almost Up

Posted on March 13, 2012 by lhaliburton - Facebook, Social Media

Many people are dreading the timeline feature on Facebook, but most marketers are looking forward to its roll out. There isn’t much longer to wait, timelines will be activated for all Facebook brand pages on March 30, 2012. So ready or not, it’s coming to your page. How will this affect your company’s page and how will this be different from the current brand pages? Be ready for the timeline activation so that it will truly represent your brand. In fact, Facebook is giving you the opportunity to play with your timeline and view it before you publish it live.

I believe that the Facebook Timeline may be a social media marketers dream. The timeline feature allows brands to highlight important moments in the company history. Pictures will also be much more prominent on the pages. Since Facebook has more pictures uploaded to its site than any other website, this is a great way to feature images with the brand.

Here are some tips and tricks so that your brand page is ready for March 30th:

Choose your cover photo and logo – Gone are the long images that you could use for a profile image. With timeline you can really brand yourself and show off at the same time. However, there are some rules with the cover photo:
- The cover photo is large and will stretch across the page. It’s best to size your cover photo to 851 px by 315 px. Anything smaller will be stretched.
- It’s best to use your logo as the profile image. The size for the profile picture is 125 x 125 pixels.
- Facebook wants the cover photo to be visual and does not want you to include the following
  - Calls to action, for example “Get it Now” or “Tell Your Friends”
  - You can’t ask users to Like or Share your page
  - No contact information, including your website, phone number, email or twitter handle, all of this information can be included on your “About” page
  - Prices or purchasing information such as “40% off” or “Download it on thiswebsite.com”
  - You can not encourage other users to download your cover photo
  - Photo cannot infringe on copyrights, it is best to use an image that represents your company and a photo that is owned by your organization

Wall is Home – When Timeline is activated on your page, the default landing page will be your wall. This is why your cover photo is important, this will be the first thing your fans see.
- Fans posts are no longer prominent. If you have one of those fans that constantly posting on your wall and pushing your brand posts down, this is perfect. Now all posts by others are featured in one box on the right hand side.
- Keep important information at the top of your page by pinning it to the top of your page. The post will stay at the top of the page for seven days or until you remove it. You can also re-pin the post to the top after seven days. To pin the post, go all the way to the right of the post where is says “Edit or Remove” and select “Pin to Top.”
- Highlighting a post, the start located next to “Edit or Remove” is best for pictures. The highlighted post will spread across the entire page and appear more prominently that other posts.

Tabs are gone – All of your Apps that you have featured on the left side of your page will now be located under your cover photo.
- Only four applications can be featured at a time and one of those will be your photos. So really there are only three apps that you can choose to be shown at all times. Choose the apps/pages that you most want your fans to visit.
- There is a more button that will feature all of your applications and there is the ability to rearrange the apps.
- Events, notes and number of likes are some of the apps that can be featured. Decide if you use these features most often or if you use other applications. For example, feature events if you host a lot of events.
- All of your apps from your current page will be in your app toolbar.

Mark your timeline– This may be one of the best features of the new roll out.
- Under status update, select “Milestone” and type in the date, notes and a picture or video.
- Mark all of the important dates in your brands history, from launch/opening to new developments and any other milestones you would like to be featured.
- Milestone events will be located on the timeline on the right side of the page. The milestone will appear when someone clicks on the year of that event. Now your fans will be able to see the history of your brand.

There are many more features for the new Facebook timeline, but this should be a great way to get you prepared before your page is automatically switched over.

Links to check out:

Cover photo rules from Facebook
Facebook Page Guidelines
Innovative uses for Timeline from Mashable.com
Ford Motor Company Facebook Page, a really cool use of the Timeline feature