Sunday, 30 July 2017

Make videos and money with this YouTube Mastery Bundle — for only $41


There’s gold in YouTube videos. Sure, you can get some views by posting your friend’s epic water skiing fail or something cute your cat did. But actually creating compelling video content that will have regular subscribers returning, again and again, is a hugely lucrative business. If YouTube star PewDiePie can rake in $15 million a year just by recording his video gameplay commentaries, just think of the possibilities. You can take advantage of YouTube’s power and learn to make some serious money at the same time by utilizing the skills learned from training like the YouTube Mastery Bundle, on sale right…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Latin American presidents love Twitter – and that’s not a good thing


Latin American democracy was born with an original sin: income inequality – the highest in the world. Thus it was that the region’s democratic institutions originated in a context of severe social exclusion and poverty. The US-style Madisonian model of democracy implemented across the region as its prevailing dictatorships ended in the 1980s – characterised by general elections, separation of powers, built-in checks and balances and civil control of the armed forces – did not match most Latin American nations’ cultural identities. That disconnect left significant gaps in governments’ ability to connect with and serve their people. Though democracy in…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Friday, 28 July 2017

Study: Bots accounted for a third of pro-Trump Twitter activity during last year’s debates


This semi-coherent baboon, for one night last October, reigned supreme; but was it of his own doing?  Regardless of what the news outlets say — or your sensibilities tell you — for one night, Trump was king — at least on Twitter. But as with all things surrounding the 2016 Presidential election, it might not be that simple. A University of Oxford study indicates he may have had some help in the form of pro-Trump Twitter bots. These deplorable-bots (can we make that a thing?) tweeted approximately 576,178 times, accounting for nearly a third (32.7 percent) of all pro-Trump posts that evening…

This story continues at The Next Web

Or just read more coverage about: Twitter

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#SproutChat Recap: Creating Content to Impress Clients & Drive Results

As Social Media Managers, we know that the content we deliver is an integral aspect of any social strategy. Having a content plan is important, but how do you create impactful content that captures your audience’s attention and drives results?

This week at #SproutChat, Sprout Social’s Director of Content, Lizz Kannenberg joined the chat to talk about the ins and outs of great content. We delved deep into the importance of gaining buy-in from senior leadership and how familiarizing yourself with your audience unlocks the potential of strong content.

Plan Ahead of Time & Always Tweak

Strategizing content should happen annually, but stay flexible as social is constantly shifting. If you’re too stringent in your content strategy and leave no room for new platforms or trends to be implemented your audience can become unengaged and you lose the potential to tap into new audiences.

Align Business Goals & Audience Needs

Have a clear understanding of your overall business goals and how these objectives can inform metrics surrounding your content. Keeping your business goals and your audience aligned can ensure you develop a winning content strategy.

Clearly Define Your Brand To Develop Great Content

Knowing your audience is key for creating content that resonates. Spending time crafting your brand around who your audience is and what their behaviors are will be beneficial for your metrics in the long run.

Jump on Social Opportunities That Are on Brand

By getting to know your audience and having a strategy in place, determining what social opportunities are worth hopping on is easy. Jumping on the latest news craze or viral trend isn’t alway genuine to your brand and can leave your audience feeling disconnected.

Track Metrics That Ladder up to Business Goals

Allow time for analysis and make sure that you’re carefully tracking content performance so that you know you’re making informed decisions about where to allocate efforts in the future. Additionally, make sure that your goals for social content also ladder up to business goals.

Be sure to join us next Wednesday, August 2nd at 2 p.m. CDT on Twitter to chat about how to get more out of monitoring on social. Until then join our Facebook community to connect with other folks in the industry.

This post #SproutChat Recap: Creating Content to Impress Clients & Drive Results originally appeared on Sprout Social.



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Thursday, 27 July 2017

Taking Email Template Design to the Next Level

Somewhere along the way, creating and sending emails turned into a repetitive cycle of adding content, dropping in an image and sending. But over the last few years, we’ve seen new trends in email design that pushes the limits of what’s possible and creates a more delightful experience for subscribers. Interactive emails, emojis, gifs, video and behavioral content are only some of the awesome design elements senders are trying. After all, email is an essential way for brands to communicate with their audiences, so why not make it fun? As someone who works at an email marketing technology company, I can safely say that we really do talk about emails a lot. Like every single day. We’re often on the search for cool emails, too, because we gain inspiration from them and love to see what entrepreneurs like you are doing to engage subscribers. As AWeber’s Email Designer, I spend an extra amount of time thinking about emails and how to make it even easier for our customers to send ones they love. That’s why every month I add a new template or two to our Email Template Gallery (located in the Drag and Drop Editor). And there are some that were recently released that I wanted to share with you because I think they really provide some cool features and flexibility that customers are looking for when designing emails for their audience.

Taking our email templates to the next level

In order to make our templates really cool, I push myself to include at least one progressive enhancement in each new design. If you’re not familiar with the phrase, don’t worry (not many are outside of the design community!). Progressive enhancement is a fancy way of saying there’s more technically advanced elements being utilized that will work in certain email clients, apps and browsers. Those same elements may not work in less advanced clients, apps and browsers, but they will fall back gracefully in a way that doesn’t degrade the overall experience. These elements in email allow me to do some really cool things with our email templates, so our customers can easily replicate what they'd normally only see on the web, within an app or in a custom-built email. Here’s a snapshot of some of the progressive enhancements we’ve included in our templates.

Rounded corners

Rounded corners, or border radius, is a style that can be added to the corners of buttons, images or other elements. Most email clients will support this style, but some will display square corners.Many templates I create use border radius on buttons, but the Max template in particular uses border radius on images, content blocks and buttons.  email design

Skewed buttons

The West template uses a transform style that makes the buttons appear to be skewed or slanted. In email clients where the transform style is not supported, the buttons will appear as a rectangle with right angles. email design

Hover effects

Hovers can be a way to add delight to a design. Hover effects won’t work on mobile devices or in some email clients, so I made sure the button is well-designed, even without the effect. The buttons in the Gibson template lessen the opacity slightly when you hover over them, making them appear a bit lighter. email design

Box shadows

Box shadows, like the one used in the Drop template, can be used to add depth and dimension. I  also made sure it works well with and without the box shadow – if the style is not supported by an email client, it'll fall back to a "flat" design instead. email design

Background images

Background images can be placed behind text or other elements in an email. It’s important to consider how an email will appear without the background images, though, since they will not appear in every email client. The Two-Tone template, designed by our Creative Director, Chris Vasquez, uses a background image at the top of the email, which allows us to achieve the offset look below. design

Gradients

The Wane template uses a linear gradient and opacity to achieve the look you see in the full-width section of the template. Similar to box shadows, this style will fall back to a solid color where it’s not supported by an email client.  The gradient in the Wane template goes from opaque to transparent, and will allow for a color to show through the transparent areas. email design

Duo-toned images

The West template was inspired by our new style guidelines for our What to Write in Your Emails course . This includes a treatment where images have a two-toned look. Even though I created this effect for our course emails, I didn’t want to leave our customers unable to recreate these types of images. So, Chris and I built a tool to help our customers achieve this look in just a few simple steps. email design Click here to create your own two-toned images!

Background colors

Our background color picker allows people to send more unique looking emails, while still matching their brand. I also experimented with creative ways to use the color picker, this way it appears to do more than just the background color.  The West template uses a transparent image with a background color behind it. When a background color is selected, it appears that the divider is changing colors. email design When selecting a background color, it’s important to make sure there is contrast between the background color and the text. This is why we created a dark and light version of our templates. The dark versions use a lighter text color on the background colors, while the light version uses a darker color text on the background colors.

Common layouts and patterns

From newsletters to courses to nurture campaigns, we send a lot of emails at AWeber! So we decided to turn them into tried-and-tested templates our customers can use. Baking familiar patterns into our template gallery makes it a lot easier to drag and drop your content right into a template, without having to decide on the proper layout or pattern. With all of these cool new features, customers now have more options when designing their emails. If you’re not well-versed in HTML, these templates make it a lot easier to create and send beautiful emails. Now that you have the templates and tools you need to craft emails that look great, there are some email design principles I’d also recommend, based on the type of email you plan on sending:

Newsletters

If you're creating a newsletter, whitespace and line height is your friend. Newsletters can contain a lot of information, so it’s your job to make it easy to scan. Whitespace gives your content and images some room to breath, which will make it easier for subscribers to scan through your content. Although it’d be great if subscribers read every word from top to bottom, many people will just scan your email. Also keep line height in mind. Line height is the space between your lines of text. Too little or too much line height can make your content difficult to read. Best AWeber templates for Newsletters: Tranquil, Flat White

Digests

When creating a digest of content (such as your most recently published blog posts), break out your content into individual cards. Cards will help you organize your content in a way that is scannable and easy to digest. email design Each card will relate to the same concept, and can contain multiple elements, like a headline, descriptive text and button. For example, if you create a monthly digest of your blog posts, each blog post you feature will get its own card. Cards are used across a variety of digital platforms, like apps, web pages and email, so your subscribers should be familiar with this pattern. Best AWeber templates for Digests: Digest, Gibson, Max

Letters

Whether you send a long or short letter-style email, the design should be simple and allow for your brand to be recognizable. Adding your brand logo to the header of your email, for example, will make it easy for subscribers to recognize you. Letters should also take line height into consideration. While letters are literally a block of text, it shouldn’t feel like that. Make sure the text is easy to read and avoids eye strain. Here are some things to keep in mind:
    • Consider the size of the text (Is it too small or too large? How will it appear on different devices?)
    • Try dark grey text on a white background, rather than pure black text on a white background
    • Avoid using bright colors for backgrounds or text colors, or layering colors on top of colors
Best AWeber templates for Letters: Drop, Tidal, Pure

Build the email of your dreams

Now that you have the tools and tips to design an email your subscribers will love, what’s stopping you? Now’s the time to go check out the templates in your AWeber account and play around with them until you find one that works for you. Not an AWeber customer? Sign up for a free 30-day trial today.

The post Taking Email Template Design to the Next Level appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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Making Seasonal Business Work with Email

The Complete Guide to LinkedIn Ads

As Thailand restricts internet freedom, cyber activists work to keep an open web


On June 9 2017, a Thai man was sentenced to 35 years in jail for sharing Facebook posts. The crime: he allegedly defamed the king. This harsh sentence is just one example of Thailand’s increasing repression in the digital sphere. Since the 2014 coup, the Thai military junta has take a hard stance toward online critics and dissidence. In May, authorities threatened to shut down Facebook if the company failed to remove content deemed “inappropriate”. Facebook, which did not comply, has not been shut down. At least, not yet. Cyber repression in Thailand Thailand’s cyber repression seems to be linked…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Tuesday, 25 July 2017

The 4 Survey Emails That’ll Give You Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions

Am I sending too many emails? Or too few? Why is no one opening my emails?! Will my subscriber buy the new product I’m going to create? What do my customers think of my service? Are they happy? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions recently, there’s one email that can answer all of them: the survey email. With a solid survey email, you can decrease unsubscribes, increase engagement and get validation for your next big project before you start working on it. Ready to find answers? Read this post to learn about three types of survey emails you can send to your audience. Plus, you'll learn how to write these emails in a way that gets subscribers to complete them.

The new subscriber survey email

You don’t have to wait a year or more to begin gathering information about your subscribers. One of the most valuable surveys emails you can send should go to to people shortly after they sign up to your list. Here at AWeber, we send a survey to almost every new subscriber in our welcome automation campaigns. By doing so, we can ask every new subscriber questions that’ll help us send more valuable content and better offers. We’ve used survey responses from new subscribers to revamp entire campaigns, increase open and click-through rates, decrease unsubscribes and rewrite content. For our What to Write in Your Emails course, we send subscribers a survey email after they finish the course: In the survey, we ask them what they thought of the course, how we can improve it and more. We received answers from hundreds of subscribers, which we used to totally revise the course. (You can access the revised course for free here!). New subscriber emails are a great opportunity to discover your audience’s preferences, like how often and when they’d like to receive emails from you. Here are a just a few questions you might want to ask in this survey email:
  • What did you think of the incentive/freebie that you received when you joined this list?
  • What kind of content would you like to receive from me?
  • What are your biggest challenges?
  • How often would you like to receive emails from me?
  • When is the best time to send you emails?
  • What questions do you have for me?
  • How can I help you?
Pro tip: To encourage more subscribers to complete your survey, keep the survey short. One to five minutes is a good range. Then in your email, explain that it’ll only take a few minutes to complete the survey.

The pre-launch survey email

Launching a new product or service is a lot of work. Of course, once you do launch it, the payoff can be great. However, there’s always a risk that your audience may not like or buy your new thing. If this happens, you might end up wasting hours of time and perhaps hundreds or thousands of dollars. To avoid this scenario, send a pre-launch survey email that asks subscribers if they’d like your new product, service, etc. before you actually create it. This email can give you valuable feedback to tweak, optimize or even abandon your New Thing before you spend time creating it. This can help you avoid the issue of investing copious resources into something no one wants. And it can help you make a better final product. For example, this survey email from The Path aims to learn about what their audience wants. With the responses they receive, The Path can launch new products that their audience will love. In your pre-launch survey email, you can ask subscribers questions like:
  • What are your interests or hobbies?
  • What do you think of this product idea? (Or tell us your product or service idea)
  • What is your interest level in this topic or idea?
  • How often do you use a certain product or service?
  • How interested are you in a specific product or idea?
  • Would you purchase a specific product or idea?
Pro tip: In your survey email content, explain how you’ll be using the feedback you receive from subscribers. This can get more people to complete your survey.

The post-purchase email

Another perfect opportunity to send a survey to your subscribers is after a purchase. In a post-purchase survey email, ask subscribers what they think of your product or service. You can also find customers who may be willing to give you a positive review or a testimonial. Be sure to collect their email address in the survey as well – if someone shares positive feedback, you'll be able to reach out to them to get a testimonial or review. In this email below, Old Navy thanks subscribers for purchasing and asks them to complete a 5-minute survey to share their feedback. In exchange, they offer them a 10 percent discount on their next purchase. In your post-purchase email, you can ask subscribers questions like:
  • What did you think of my product or service?
  • How was our customer service?
  • How would you rate your customer experience on a scale of 1-10?
  • How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
And much more! If you have questions for new customers or recent purchasers, this is the place to ask them. Pro tip: Incentivize subscribers to complete your survey by offering a discount on your product or service in exchange for completing it.

The data survey email

Want to collect data that you can use to create a report, guide or infographic? A survey email is a great way to collect that information from subscribers. Here at AWeber, for example, we support women entrepreneurs. And to help us better support them, we decided we wanted to learn more about them by gathering information and creating a report. To accomplish this, we sent a 15-minute survey email to entrepreneurs and offered a $200 Amazon gift card to a randomly-selected winner who completed the survey. We received more than 1,000 responses to this survey! Pro tip: If you need to send a longer survey, be sure to give your subscribers a compelling reason to complete it. Offering a large prize to a randomly-selected winner or smaller prizes to everyone who completes the survey are great incentives!

Ask questions. Get answers.

Survey emails are great for gathering useful information about your subscribers that can help you increase email engagement and market your business. Want an easy way to create surveys in minutes? We've included fill-in-the-blank survey email copy templates that you can use today! Get them now in our free “What to Write in Your Emails” guide. what to write

The post The 4 Survey Emails That’ll Give You Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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[PODCAST] How to Rock Podcasts as a Guest with Jessica Rhodes

Phone with podcast

Not interested in being a podcaster, but want to be on podcasts? Get ready to rock the mic, no matter what side you're on! In this episode, Jessica Rhodes of Interview Connections and #RockThePodcast teaches us how to grow our brands and businesses by successfully becoming a guest on podcasts. Jessica takes us through the entire process from positioning ourselves, pitching to shows, preparing for interviews and following up with hosts and listeners.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

  • How becoming a podcast guest can help you build your personal brand and attract new fans and followers
  • How to attract leads as a guest even when podcasts are typically a "no-pitch zone"
  • The do's and don'ts of pitching yourself
  • What gear (if any) you'll need to sound professional without breaking the bank
  • How to prepare for a show after you've landed an interview
  • When to use a landing page or email automation with your audience destination
  • How being on a Walking Dead podcast can help you grow your business
  • And much more…

Key takeaway

One of my key takeaways from our conversation: [bctt tweet="'Tap into some of that fun energy that I know you have...' - @jessrhodesbiz on being a #podcast guest"]

Important links

Here are a few links mentioned on the show:

Subscribe to the show!

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to Ask Me About Email Marketing on Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast listening app. And if you really enjoyed this episode or are a regular podcast listener, leave us a quick review! This will help us continue to improve the show, attract new listeners and get more ideas for future podcast episodes. Thanks so much for tuning in!

The post [PODCAST] How to Rock Podcasts as a Guest with Jessica Rhodes appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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9 Inspirational Ideas for Your Next Instagram Photo Contest

Reclaiming Billboards to Promote Public Art

Monday, 24 July 2017

Pro-Trump Instagram post costs contest winner her grand prize


A Kansas makeup artist found out the hard way that social media is an unforgiving muse. After initially winning an Instagram contest sponsored by Kat Von D Beauty, the winner ultimately had her prize package revoked after Von D found pro-Trump commentary from a November Instagram post. Gypsy Freeman, a makeup artist that splits her time between Kansas and Florida, won the contest last month after submitting images of an angelic white-washed figure posed next to one in all-black, and heavy makeup. Freeman was due a prize package of about $2,100 including a $500 gift card, and trip to Los…

This story continues at The Next Web

Or just read more coverage about: Instagram

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A Strategic Guide to Social Media for Nonprofits

Saturday, 22 July 2017

The Journey From Sprout Intern to Software Engineer

As I close out my first year as a full-time Software Engineer here at Sprout, I am reminded of one moment during my internship  last summer that will always stick with me. In my final week, I was called into a meeting where several senior engineers guided my fellow interns and me on how to interview elsewhere. Initially, I was certain they were ostensibly showing us the door. However, they had already spent an exorbitant amount of time and effort training us, making us feel the “Sprout Love”, and to top it off, presented each of us with a return offer. Needless to say, I was confused why they were encouraging and even instructing us to go off and explore our options.

One year in and I have realized that this gesture embodies what I’ve come to appreciate about the culture at Sprout–always be curious and always be growing. The way Sprout embraces learning and development for all employees is impressive, and by the end of my internship it made it difficult, dare I say impossible, for me to decline that return offer. And while I have explored other career options, knowing my team supports and encourages me in that journey, no matter what, actually makes it more enticing for me to stay at Sprout.

Fast-forward to the present and it’s been a pretty wild ride. Just two days into my full-time position and Sprout continued to deliver on its commitment to my growth as an engineer and leader, placing me in tech design meetings for our asset library feature, and within my first month, we released that feature to customers. Since then, I’ve helped build Instagram scheduling and Twitter video publishing, both of which were led in tandem by myself and another engineer who graduated with me last summer. It is hard to believe how much changes in a year. Nearly twelve months ago I was walking across the stage at Northwestern’s commencement ceremony and now I come to work everyday with the support and freedom to make lasting impacts on the team.

Looking back on my graduating class, I am struck by how many of my fellow engineers headed to the fabled Silicon Valley to start their careers. While I have no doubt that they are all finding similar fulfillment in their work and tackling exciting challenges every day, I think it’s worth mentioning that there are exciting companies everywhere you look. I could have easily justified the need to go somewhere else and find experiences at different companies. In fact, many of my teammates encouraged exploring those options. That said, I really couldn’t imagine starting anywhere else. The tech community in Chicago is thriving and I’m sincerely proud to be a part of it.

To those that are graduating soon. I’d say that wherever you go, there will likely be some brilliant engineers for you to work with and exciting challenges to solve if you seek them out. Just be sure that you’re investing your time into an organization that is similarly invested in you.

Interested in joining the Sprout team? Browse through our careers page to see our current openings.

This post The Journey From Sprout Intern to Software Engineer originally appeared on Sprout Social.



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Friday, 21 July 2017

#SproutChat Recap: Advancing Your Career With Digital Conferences

When you work in social media, staying up to date on the latest trends is sometimes a struggle. Attending in-person conferences to stay informed can be expensive, especially if you work on a small team or on your own.

Thankfully there are a multitude of ways to continue learning and keep tabs on changes in the digital marketing space. With low cost resources like digital conferences, webinars and Twitter chats, it’s easy to find the tools and knowledge that will expand your skill set.

Always Be Learning

It’s vital to your career advancement to be constantly learning new skill sets and trends in the industry. Be sure to keep your continued learning cycle consistent and do more than the bare minimum.

Take Time to Learn New Skill Sets

You have to remember to step outside of your own bubble of work. The time you invest in learning new skills outside of your specialized role will help you in the long run, whether that means reaching business goals or personal goals.

Pay Close Attention to Trends

Outside of expanding your skill set, it’s important to keep tabs on trends and breaking news for every social platform. Being proactive in this approach will help ensure that brand accounts do not fall behind and are always effectively delivering content.

No Budget for Conferences? No Problem

It may seem like in-person conferences are the most effective way to continue learning, but it’s okay to think beyond costly methods to connect with new people and ideas. Digital conferences are a great way to get in-depth information in a short amount of time.

Share Learnings With Leadership

Be your own champion. Start sharing insights gathered from conferences and webinars with senior leadership and list action items from what you’ve learned to set informed goals for your work. Sharing these ideas shows leadership that you take your career seriously and are capable of taking initiative on new projects.

Be sure to tune in next week, Wednesday, July 26, for #SproutChat at a special time, 3 p.m. CDT. We’ll be joined by special guest, Lizz Kannenberg, Director of Content at Sprout Social, where we’ll discuss creating impressive content that drives results.

Until then be sure to join our Facebook community to keep up on on all things #SproutChat.

This post #SproutChat Recap: Advancing Your Career With Digital Conferences originally appeared on Sprout Social.



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Wednesday, 19 July 2017

15 Twitter Hacks You Should Have Learned Yesterday

Social Media & Business: Are Your Brand Objectives Aligned?

How the death industry is going digital


On Friday, November 11, scores of Facebook users logged into their accounts to find that they were dead. With the simple addition of the word “Remembering,” placed in front of a name along the top of the that user’s profile page, their accounts became memorials, with banners along the top urging users who were friends with the deceased to use the page as a space to “remember and celebrate [their] life.” But, of course, these people weren’t dead — just the victims of a bug that Facebook quickly fixed. Meanwhile, it gave many access to a feature they otherwise, ideally, hadn’t had…

This story continues at The Next Web

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Tuesday, 18 July 2017

How Fountain Pen Revolution Gets Repeat Customers with Facebook Ads

5 Ways Nonprofits Can Boost Their Causes On Social

How to Use Facebook Recruiting to Find Top Talent

[Infographic] How to Write an Engaging Welcome Email

Did you know your welcome email is one of the most essential emails you can send to subscribers? According to a study from Experian, welcome emails receive higher opens and click-through rates than any other type of promotional message. And we've seen similar results; some of our own emails get open rates as high as 94 percent! Plus, welcome emails help you create a great first impression among your new audience and allows you to set the tone for future sends. To make it even easier for you to write this message, we created an infographic just for you. Check it out below, and use it to either set up your first welcome email or optimize the one you already have in your automated email campaign!   welcome email   If you love the content in the infographic, you might also want to check out our complete What to Write in Your Emails course and guide. You'll learn the ins and outs of writing compelling emails, and you'll get over 45 email copy templates to help you along the way. Sign up for the What to Write in Your Emails guide and course now!  

The post [Infographic] How to Write an Engaging Welcome Email appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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[PODCAST] Creating your own Life (and Podcast) with Jeremy Ryan Slate

"You have to create success for yourself before you can create success for other people." This is the mission statement that drives Jeremy Ryan Slate to produce three outrageously actionable podcast episodes every week. In this episode, learn how Jeremy Slate of Create Your Own Life podcast pivoted his career, built a brand and business from scratch, and produced over 280 podcast episodes. You'll especially want to check out the strategies and tools Jeremy uses to consistently release multiple episodes a week.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

  • How to start your show and pivot when needed
  • The value of growing your personal brand through podcasting and beyond
  • Why quality will always trump quantity
  • How to set up a streamlined process to automate and facilitate a podcast production workflow
  • How to use email marketing to drive listeners back to the show
  • Ways to connect with your subscribers through plain messages and strong subject lines
  • How to stay top of mind with consistent email sending
  • And much more…

Key takeaway

One of my key takeaways from our conversation: [bctt tweet="It's always about 'How can I help? What do you need?' - @jeremyryanslate #entrepreneur"]

Important links

Here are a few links mentioned on the show:

Subscribe to the show!

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to Ask Me About Email Marketing on Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast listening app. And if you really enjoyed this episode or are a regular podcast listener, leave us a quick review! This will help us continue to improve the show, attract new listeners and get more ideas for future podcast episodes. Thanks so much for tuning in!

The post [PODCAST] Creating your own Life (and Podcast) with Jeremy Ryan Slate appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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Monday, 17 July 2017

11 Must-Read Tips on How to Get Followers on Instagram

Meet the Anti-Spam Laws From Around the World

Even though the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) has suspended the lawsuit provision that was supposed to go into effect on July 1, 2017, it serves as an important reminder for business owners of the regulations that exist around the world in an effort to combat spam.

A little bit of background

Earlier this year, it was announced that a provision was going to be added to CASL – one that would allow Canadian citizens to pursue legal action against an individual that sent a commercial electronic message without receiving prior consent from subscribers. Although the intentions of the lawsuit provision were meant to help the people of Canada and reduce the risk of harassment, identity theft and fraud, it was found to be too restricting for businesses, charities and non-profit groups sending emails. Even though the provision has been suspended, the Canadian government will go back to the drawing board to figure out ways to continue protecting consumers while also establishing fair guidelines for business owners.  

Global anti-spam laws

The lawsuit provision in Canada may have seemed like a harsh punishment for spammers (including those who accidentally send spam and don’t even realize it), but it reminds us to consider the ways different countries around the world are addressing the growing issue. Depending on where you live, you’ll want to know the ins and outs of your country’s anti-spam laws (if they exist). Many of them have common rules in place – including providing unsubscribe links in your email and only sending honest and accurate information in your messages. As you learn more about the anti-spam laws in your country, keep an eye out for the following:
  • What are the specific things you should and should not do when sending an email?
    • Each law will detail what is required of businesses and organizations. Specifics will differ between countries.
  • Does the law or regulation cover more than just email?
    • While some countries have rules specifically about emails and spam, many laws also extend to other types of “commercial electronic messages” like texts, phone calls and in some cases, social posts.
  • What are the penalties for violating the anti-spam law(s)?
    • Breaching anti-spam laws can result in a monetary fine that ranges anywhere from thousands to millions. And in Italy, it can even be grounds for imprisonment!
Considering the hundreds of countries around the world, I won’t be listing all of them. But, here's a list of some of the anti-spam laws around the world: United States: CAN-SPAM Act Canada: CASL Australia: Spam Act of 2003 New Zealand: Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act of 2007 European Union:Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications Switzerland: Law Against Unfair Competition South Korea: Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and Information Protection South Africa: Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002 Singapore: Spam Control Act of 2007 Malaysia: Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 Japan: Act on Regulation of the Transmission of Specified Electronic Mail Israel: 2008 Amendment to the Communication Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law of 1982 Hong Kong: Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance Brazil: Movimento Brasileiro de Combate ao Spam Argentina: Personal Data Protection Act Indonesia: Law Concerning Electronic Information and Transactions Malta: Data Protection Act  

Reviewing your current email strategy

Now that we’ve covered laws around the world, take some time to review the rules and regulations established in your country. Maintaining a healthy list, using an accurate “From” name and sending relevant information to subscribers who have opted-in to your email list are some of the ways you can ensure you’re sending quality emails. But make sure your emails, sign up forms and overall strategy are compliant with your country’s specific regulations! And remember to stay up-to-date on anti-spam news in your region. If any laws or regulations are updated, you want to make sure you’re on top of the changes. How are you ensuring your emails comply with anti-spam laws? Tell us about it in the comments below!

The post Meet the Anti-Spam Laws From Around the World appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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It’s far, far too easy to break into old Myspace accounts


For people of a certain age, owning a Myspace account was an essential rite of passage. Countless teenage years were spent carefully customizing the CSS on profiles, ranking friends into top eight lists, and picking out the most perfectly angsty pop-punk track to autoplay. Ten years later, Myspace is a relic of the past. It’s forgotten, but not quite gone, existing in a moribund state. Although nobody updates their profiles anymore, they’re still there, ignored and unloved. Myspace, perhaps conscious of the fact that many people have since lost access to the email accounts associated with their profiles, offers a…

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