It's no big surprise by now that social media plays a huge part in today's society. Whether its discovering new recipes on Pinterest, retweeting a quote from your favorite celebrity on Twitter, or letting the world know what you're up to on Facebook.   But did you know that late night is the best time for retweets? Or that there is a best day for everything on pinterest? These are just a couple of the 10 surprising facts about each site! Here is a complete list of the 10 hidden surprises from the social media giants.   (Infographic from: mainstreethost.com Click anywhere on graphic to see full image!)     To read the full article from Entrepreneur.com, click here.   If you find my post helpful, and it answers your question, please mark it as an Accepted Solution ... View more

Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter are common terms in today’s society.  In this discussion we’ll provide an example of how Twitter helped one small business gain more fans and customers.   The example we will use in this discussion  is Jack’s Backyard BBQ. They recently had a grand opening event in Clinton Massachusetts. The event was a major success, however some people who  attended the event did not get their free T-shirt.   A customer decided to take to twitter and tweet the following:“Had a great time at the grand opening for @JacksBBQ, but unfortunately they were all out of T-shirts when I got there.”   A representative from the restaurant who monitors their tweets saw this, and decided to respond to the customer. Not only were they going to send them a free T-shirt, but they also went above and beyond and offered them a voucher towards their next order.   By doing this, not only does the customer who made the initial tweet see this, but all their followers saw this as well. Those followers may even spread the word to family and friends who may not be on Twitter. This helps the reputation of the restaurant  and gets even more people to follow them, potentially becoming new customers.    The customer was so happy with their interaction that they even posted a status on Facebook with a link to Jack’s website, letting all their fans know how great of a company Jack’s Backyard BBQ is and recommended them to all their friends.   So, as you can see just by responding to a small, simple tweet, Jack’s Backyard BBQ gained a lot more fans, followers, and new viewers to their website. Some of these people  may have never heard of them before, but  with the positive recommendations, may order from them the next time they are hungry!   Twitter can do the same for your business, so make sure to not only monitor those tweets, but also respond to them!  Click here for a free, useful tool from Constant Contact to help monitor incoming tweets! ... View more

You might ask, why would a contact not be on a list? Here is an example: Patriot Place has a sign up sheet at the check out counter of each of the retail stores that are present at the outlet. At the end of each day you collect the spreadsheets from each store and enter the information into your Constant Contact account. While entering the information you find that some people did not include their email address, just their phone number. You decide you will reach out to them at a later time, but for now will just enter their contact information into your account until you gather their email address, then select a list to include them on.   The first step would be to locate the contact.  Here are the steps to see all contacts who are currently not on a list:   Click on “Contacts”  in the toolbar on the left side of your account. Click in the search box where it says ”Search Contacts”, and enter either the contact’s First or Last name. (Note: If it says “Search Lists”, you must first click on  “Contacts” directly underneath the search box. This will make sure the search takes place in your Contacts and not your Lists). The first contact you search for being Tom Brady.  You could pull up this contact by searching either his first name, his last name or both together.         To add the contact to a list, simply click the checkbox next to the contact’s name, then click “Add to Email Lists” Finally, select the list(s) you want to add the contact to, then click “Apply”. (Note: If you receive the following message, you must click “cancel”, go back and indicate you have permission to email them before you put them into a list). Click to learn how to indicate you have permission to email a contact! Bonus Tip: You can always verify what list a contact is on by clicking on the name of the contact!  Any questions? Let us know! ... View more

Simple Share and Facebook Promotions are two similar, yet very different tools within Constant Contact. Here's a comparison of the two.       As you can see, both tools will increase your campaigns visibility on social media sites. This will grow both your fan and customer base.  Facebook Promotions are campaigns you actually create and post directly on Facebook.  Simple Share is an action you take on any campaigns you create, to share on either Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter.   How to use each tool:   SimpleShare:        Click on the name of the campaign you want to share, and click on        When using Simple Share for the first time you will need to sign into each of your accounts.        You may be prompted to give permission for the site to access your profile. (Note: If you have more than one Facebook page, such as a personal and a business page, you will need to select which one you want to connect to.)        Next, you can edit the subject line that will appear on the post.        Lastly, click on “Save and close”.  You will get a confirmation message like the following:                    (Note: To see the pending message, click on the link) Click this link to check out our post on how to create a Facebook Promotion! (Note: Link will open in a new window).   We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment and tell us how you use both SimpleShare and Facebook Promotions, and the success you've had with each tool!   Looking for even more information on Simple Share & Facebook Promotions? (Click on each tool to learn more about them!) ... View more

Knowing who has unsubscribed from your emails is an important part of email marketing. This post will take a look at how to export your unsubscribed list from your toolkit account.   ***An important note to remember is your unsubscribe/do-not-mail requests (also known as opt-outs) never expire. Federal law requires that you honor all opt-out requests indefinitely, even if you switch to a different marketing provider, unless you receive a new explicit opt-in request for that address. *** Exporting your unsubscribe list:        Click on “Contacts”, either in the top right hand corner or on the life sidebar.        Click on “Contacts” to ensure you are viewing your contacts and not your lists.        You will notice there is a folder called “Unsubscribed” under your “Contacts” heading.  Click on the word “Unsubscribed”. (Any  contact that has unsubscribed or opted-out of your emails will now display to the right.)        Now, click on the checkbox next to the name of the contact (you can also select the first check box next to where it says “name” to select all contacts in the list), and then you will see an option to “export”becomes available.        Choose any field of information you wish to export, and click on “Export Contacts”.        You will get a message letting you know the contacts were exported and will include a link to download the file. (Note: If the list is large, you will be able to track the activity and when it's done, a link to download the file will become available).   Now you have a backup of contacts that have unsubscribed which you can use to update your own database with!   Click here if you need a text version of how to export contacts for future reference! ... View more