6 Simple Steps to Using Facebook Promoted Posts

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Datis Mohsenipour

The average Facebook Business Page post will only reach 16% of its audience. If you have 100 likes on your Facebook page, your posts will appear on the home feeds of approximately 16 people who have liked your page. This has a lot to do with the timing of content and Facebook’s Edgerank system. Facebook allows you to reach a higher percentage of your likes and people who have not yet liked your page with the Promoted Posts Feature. This is a low-cost, high-value tool for those of you looking to draw attention to an announcement, promotion, event etc.

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Bit.ly – What It Is and How to Use It

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Datis Mohsenipour

As tech companies grow and new ones pop up, new verbs continue to be introduced to our evolving vocabularies. New verbs that started off as company names and won’t be found in Webster’s Dictionary. “Google” it comes to mind first. Want to know the name of a song you’re listening to? “Shazam” it. Want to video chat with your family back home? “Skype” them. But here’s an example you may not be so familiar with; has anyone ever asked you to Bitly a link?

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How to Improve Your Posts With Facebook Insights

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

The starting point for all marketing is your audience. Who are they? What are they like? What are they interested in? How do they buy?

If you do a good job of targeting your emails – announcing upcoming yoga classes to past yoga class attendees – you need to do the same with your Facebook posts. And today, we’ll talk about how you can better understand who your Facebook fans are and what they like. Here are three parts of Facebook Insights to check out in order to understand who is participating and what they want: Continue reading →

How Apple and Starbucks Can Improve Your Customer Experience

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

A few weeks ago, hundreds of customers came down to San Diego for ACTIVE World, our customer conference. One of the keynote speakers, Tim Sanders, is the CEO of Net Minds and founder of research firm, Deeper Media Incorporated. Tim is also the author of four books and works to improve the intersection between technology and people.

Tim talked about creating an experience around your product or service and used two stories:

1. Less stuff, fewer steps – Steve Jobs Continue reading →

Why You Need Benefit-Based Marketing (Guest Post)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

This is a guest post by Greg Bruggeman. He is a recreation professional and blogs at Professional Recreation. Check out his blog or follow him on Twitter.
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Have you ever had to buy an item foreign to you? Not something huge like a car or house but something inconsequential and of little cost, like a cleaning solution. As you sit in the aisle weighing the pros and cons of two similarly priced items, something catches your eye: Scrubbing Bubbles! You think to yourself “How could I have been so stupid! All these years, I’ve been doing the scrubbing when these bubbles can scrub for me!” I had to get this product! While I was walking out of the store with my Scrubbing Bubbles, I realized I had become the victim of great benefit-based marketing. Continue reading →

4 Ways To Engage Your YMCA Members (Outside Its 4 Walls)

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

If you’re reading this, you are probably involved with YMCAs in some capacity. And since you’re in the industry and we’re a software company, we won’t be talking about how you can better engage your members on a human level or in person. You’ve got that down.

But we do know technology, so this blog post will cover some ways you can interact with your members through newer media and tools. Here are 4 ways to improve member engagement when they aren’t at your facilities: Continue reading →

Facebook’s New Timeline Design for P&R Agencies (VIDEO)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

Facebook is playing around with a significant Timeline redesign. The new format is being rolled out experimentally and could be live for all members soon. And to cover this change for the parks & recreation community, we turn to Josh Panzer. Josh is the founder of ParksandRecreationSocialMedia.com.

Check out his video guest blog post to learn how your agency should adjust to the pending Facebook change: Continue reading →

Why You Need The City of Calgary Recreation’s Thank You Page

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Henry O'Loughlin

When a customer registers for a program or books a facility online, what happens? Do you thank them? Do you recommend other similar programs or point them to your Facebook page? Don’t squander this opportunity to turn a new customer into a loyal one.

We covered this idea a few months ago in this article: 3 Critical Web Pages You Are Neglecting. One of the three we covered was the thank you page. To summarize, each web interaction with a customer is a great opportunity for your P&R agency to take the next step. On the thank you page, can you turn that customer into a Facebook fan? Can you point that customer to other similar programs (upsell)? Designing goal-oriented thank you pages should be a part of your marketing strategy. Continue reading →