When most people talk about social media, they are typically referring to Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. However, the reality is that there are many more social networks out there – some of which you know like YouTube, some of which have recently launched like Google+, and others like Pinterest which are rapidly growing.  If you aren’t familiar with these other social networks, read on and learn more about four of them and how they can help grow your business.

Pinterest

With 11 million unique visitors last month, Pinterest has grown quite rapidly filling a niche with its unique and very visual presentation of boards and items that you have “pinned” to them. As a small business, Pinterest can help you share your inventory or content in a new way. For more information about what Pinterest is, feel free to click here for our recent blog post or if you are already using Pinterest, make sure to check out the iContact Pinterest page and follow us!

Slideshare

Many online businesses create presentations, whitepapers, etc.  Why not share those online? Slideshare will let you do just that. It’s a great way to reach a new audience that is just researching a particular topic or company.  I use it all the time to learn more about just about anything and if a company publishes something I like, it often means a visit to the company’s website in order to learn more.

Quora

Many folks haven’t really heard of Quora, but it’s a great place to go to ask and answer questions from folks who are asking questions about your industry or even your company or your products. It’s also a great place to learn about various topics that you may be interested in to help you grow your business.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging site that lets you effortlessly share anything you find online. As a result, it gets over 12 billion page views a month. The great thing about Tumblr is how easy it is to use as well as the very visual nature of sharing content. Small businesses will find it very easy to get started and start sharing a bit of their personality, latest news, or products.

As with all social networks, it’s best to explore around a bit before posting. Remember, you don’t have to be on every site. Let’s face it small businesses are just too busy to try to be everywhere and social media takes time. The key is to find out which social networks are appropriate for your company. For example, if you sell physical goods, Pinterest is a great way to visually share them. If your business is more B2B oriented, then Slideshare may be a better fit for you. Again, it all depends. If you are still having a hard time getting started, iContact’s social media guide is a great place to get started. Check it out here.

I hope you found this helpful and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!

Share: Which social networks have worked for your company?

iContact is dedicated to being a purpose-driven company that creates value for our customers, employees, community and shareholders. We place strong emphasis on giving back to our local and global community, and in 2010, we formalized a community giving program that links our community investments to our growth and success as a company. Our 4-1s Corporate Social Responsibility Program focuses on four areas:

• 1% of payroll equivalent in unrestricted grants to 501 (c)(3) non-profits
• 1% of employee time in paid time off to volunteer
• 1% of product free to North Carolina non-profits
• 1% of company equity to the iContact Foundation for further charitable pursuits

In 2011, iContact donated more than $200,000 to non-profit organizations; each of our employees had a say in which non-profits would receive a portion of the 1% payroll donation. Check out the list of 2011 iContact grantees below. We appreciate the exceptional work these non-profits do to help make the world a better place!

ABAN
Africa Rising
Afrinet Vocational School, Mityana, Uganda
Akilah Institute for Women Rwanda
All Hands Volunteers
Alley Cats and Angels
Alzheimer’s Association
Alzheimer’s North Carolina
American Cancer Society
American Diabetes Association
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
American Heart Association – NC Chapter
American Red Cross – Triangle Area Chapter
Amnesty  International
Animal Protection Society of Durham (Tiffany Fund)
Anna’s Angels
APS of Durham
Atlas Service Corps
Autism Society of North Carolina
Band Together NC
Boot Bank Ltd
Boy Scout Troop 9
Boy Scouts of America, Troop 914
Boy Scouts of Durham County
Boy Scouts, Daniel Boone Council
Boys and Girls Club of Durham
Bread of Life Ministry
Brain Injury Association of NC
Bull City Forward
Calvary Chapel Cary, Calvary Cares
Camp Aranu’tiq
Campus Y of UNC
Carolina Care Bullies
Carolina for Kibera
CASA of New Hampshire
Chapel Hill / Carrboro YMCA
Charity Water
Chatham Animal Rescue and Education
Child’s Play
Children’s Flight of Hope, Inc.
Chordoma Foundation
Christian Foundation for Children and Aging
Coalition to Unchain Dogs
Coastal Horizons Center
Community Water Solutions Ghana
Compassion
Conservator’s Center
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America
Darkness to Light
Debra of America
DoSomething.org
Duke Hospice Camp ReLEAF
Duke Medical (Brain Tumor Research Fund)
Durham Rescue Mission
Equality NC Foundation
Falling Whistles
Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County
Feeding America
Follow the Child Montessori School
Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina
Fourth Sector Cluster Initiative
Friends of Nosara: The Surfing Nosara Foundation
Friends of the Orphans
Girls on the Run of the Triangle
Global Citizen Year
Goathouse Refuge
Granville Habitat for Humanity
Heifer International
Homes for Heroes Foundation
Hope Reigns Raleigh
Horizon’s for Homeless Children
Hospice & Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell
Hospice of Wake County
Humane Society of the US
I am a great child world wide
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
Invisible Children
Jimmy V Foundation
Junior League of Raleigh’s Backpack Buddies
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Kisses From Katie
Kopila Valley Children’s Home
Le Projet Abeni
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
MapAction UK
Naama Millennium School
National Cancer Coalition
National MS Society
National Stroke Association
NC ALS Association “Catfish Hunter” Chapter
NC Cancer Hospital – Patient and Family Resource Center
NC Governor’s School Foundation
Nourish International
Oceana
Old North State Brass
One Home Many Hopes
Opportunity International
Pajebal
Partners in Health
Paw Prints Animal Rescue
Pawfect Match Rescue
Paws4Ever
Penn State Dance Marathon, Four Diamonds Fund (THON)
Prevent Child Abuse NC
Questscope
Read & Feed
Rebuilding Together of the Triangle
Resources For Seniors
Safe Haven for Cats
Samaritans
Santa Maria Medical Clinic Mityana
Sarcoma Foundation of America
Savannah Music Festival
Save the Children – Children’s Emergency Fund
SEEDS Durham
Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen
Shriners Hospitals for Children — Greenville
Snowflake Animal Rescue
Soldier’s Angels
SPCA of Wake County
Special Olympics North Carolina
Special Operations Warrior Project
St. Judes Children’s Hospital
StartingBloc
Stop Hunger Now
Super Coopers Little Red Wagon Foundation
Sustainable Health Enterprises
Tango Digital Archive (c/o Help Argentina)
The Green Chair Project
The Humane Society of Concord and Greater Cabarrus County
The Mimi Fishman Foundation
The Monday Life
The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center
The Scrap Exchange
Triangle Community Foundation/Kid R Something Special
Triangle Down Syndrome Society
Triangle Family Services
Triangle Radio Reading Service
Triangle Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic
Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill
Two Paws Up
United Way Teaming for Technology
Urban Ministries of Durham
Urban Ministries of Wake County
Victorious Community Development Corporation
VillageReach
Weathervane Music
WOMEDA
Wounded Warrior Project

Your customer is on your Web site. They’ve gone through your Web site, and they’re mostly impressed. They’re not really in that buying mode, but they’ve explored and want to learn more. They might buy in the future.

They find a sign-up form to join your email list. It’s simple, just a place to enter an email address and maybe their first name.

They’re on the fence. They have some trepidation. Finally, they leave.

Why?

They have no idea what you’re going to do with that email address.

Enter the Permission Statement

Most people are nervous about giving out their email. To them, it feels like you’re asking them to write a blank check. Who knows where that email address will end up? How do they know you’re trustworthy and won’t spam them frequently? These questions will pop up in their minds and can make or break whether or not they hit submit.

So, you have to set their expectations before they’re set for you. Here are some tips on how, followed by an example that you can just cut and paste.

1. Be clear about what to expect

Don’t ask your users to write you a blank check. Just answer a few simple questions:

• About how often will you send?
• What are you going to send them? Will it be tips? White papers? New product or service offerings?
• Are they going to get anything for signing up? Maybe they’ll get a free report or white paper? Or maybe you’ll send them a few tips via auto responder.

It’s also a good idea to tell them that they can unsubscribe at any time.

2. Use the statement to make a great first impression

When a customer signs up for your list, you’re starting a relationship. It’s your first chance to start your relationship off on the right foot.

Thing is, you’re already doing that by even including a permission statement. It says to your readers that you care about them, you care about their time, and you care about their in-boxes. It’s respectful, and they will appreciate it. But if you’re daring, I recommend you write the text in your own voice.

I’ll give you some sample text at the end of this post. You can simply copy and paste the text and pretty much be set. However, if I were sitting in your chair right now, I’d only use it as a jumping-off point. I’d take the text and try to put it into my own personal voice.

They’re going to be hearing from you over the course of your email campaign. It will be obvious to them if you write very formal, generic text for your form and use your more personable voice in your emails. (Of course, if your emails are formal, then that’s your voice.)

3. Follow through with your confirmation email

Once someone signs up for your list, you should send them an email confirming that they actually want to be on your list. You can do this automatically by adding a confirmation-request email to your sign-up form in iContact.

What should the email say? Well, you should echo what you mentioned in the permission statement on the form. Let them know what to expect and how often. Keep it short and sweet, and if possible, use your personal voice.

Now, for some examples

Feel free to copy and paste these. But, I highly recommend changing the language up to fit your company’s voice or standard tone. I’ll give you examples of how I would write it formally and conversationally.

Formal tone:

Permission statement

If you sign up, we will send you our email newsletter once a week. In it, you’ll find the newest tips, tricks, and sales. If you no longer wish to hear from us, you can unsubscribe at any time from the footer of any email.

Confirmation-request email:

You are receiving this email because you requested to join our weekly email list. Please click the link below to confirm your email address.

Also, you can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link in the footer of your emails.

Informal tone

Permission statement:

Want the latest tips, tricks, and coupons? If so, join our weekly email list so we can keep you in the know. You can get off the list at any time using the unsubscribe link if you don’t want to hear from us anymore. We’ll be sad and will miss you, but we promise we will understand.

Confirmation-request email.

Thanks for signing up for our weekly email list. Just click the link below so we know you’re you.

Related Posts:

Grow Your List the Right Way

A Crash Course in Email and Social Media Marketing Success

10 Email & Social Media Marketing Strategies for 2012

Every quarter, iContact invites local non-profit organizations who are taking advantage of our free North Carolina Non-Profit accounts to attend an iContact non-profit workshop. Our workshops help users take full advantage of iContact’s features to grow their organizations through email and social media marketing. We also share ways to avoid spam complaints and share the fun side of iContact through a tour of our offices, including our two-story slide!

This past Friday, February 10th, we hosted ten local non-profits. The workshop focused on using the application, including our social media integration; establishing good permission policies; and effective ways to capture the attention of subscribers. Three main themes arose throughout the afternoon:

Take advantage of iContact’s targeting and personalization features

Many of our attendees were comfortable creating messages, but were not aware they could better target and personalize their communications through some iContact features. These included making custom fields to segment lists by roles such as volunteers and donors, creating new campaign settings to create multiple sending profiles (e.g., Durham office versus Raleigh office), and using merge fields to personalize messages. They also learned to use reporting results to further target contacts who opened messages and/or clicked on links, as well as how to follow up with those who may not have opened their messages.

Permission to send to your contacts must be earned and maintained

Most of our non-profits understood that people have to give permission in order to be emailed, but they were not aware that this permission must be maintained. How do senders lose permission? By not sending regularly enough (so that contacts forget they signed up), by not sending what was expected (either content or frequency), and by sending in a way that makes them unrecognizable to recipients (e.g., lack of branding, sender name not familiar).

Establishing and maintaining permission requires clear communication from the moment of sign-up. Our workshop gave tips on the best practices to do this: have a permission statement indicating frequency, type of content, and privacy policy; a confirmation message to ensure the double-opt-in process; a welcome message reminding them of what they signed up for; and sends that match the content and frequency promised. As deliverability specialist and presenter Bruce Woods expressed, “Spam complaints and spam are in the eye of the beholder.” Bottom line: Make sure your permission is maintained so contacts never wonder why you are contacting them.”

Use iContact’s social media integration to expand your scope

Our non-profits had users with a range of expertise in social media: Some had never used Facebook, while others have posted their iContact emails to Facebook and Twitter. Their favorite discovery? iContact’s new Social Media integration! Noted Tani Kennedy from the Center for Child & Family Health [], “Your Social Media integration is better than anyone’s I’ve seen.” She cited the ease of scheduling and tracking Facebook posts and tweets within the iContact account.

Overall, it was an excellent opportunity for both new and seasoned email and social media marketers to learn how to grow their communications. As Regelyn Edwards, executive director of The Encouraging Place noted, “I’m a beginner with technology, so the biggest moment for me was realizing that I really CAN do this.”

If you are a local non-profit organization who would like to find out more about using iContact and/or are interested in attending a future Non-Profit Workshop, please contact us at csrprgram@icontact.com.

Did you attend this or other past iContact Non-Profit workshops, or have tips for how our non-profits can expand their scope? We’d love to hear your comments!