Blog

Instagram Reaches 200 Million Users

Posted on March 27, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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Yesterday Instagram announced that they have reached 200 million users! According to Mashable, "More importantly, 50 million of those users signed up in the last six months, which means Instagram grew by roughly 100% in the last year. The 200-million figure is for monthly active users, Instagram said." This is huge news for Instagram. If your camp is not already heavily using Instagram then they should be! With the incredible growth they are seeing it is definitely the place right now to...

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Twitter Fave People Feature

Posted on March 25, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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As Twitter becomes more popular and people start to follow more users, it is easy to miss out on tweets you care about.  A new “Fave People” section has recently been added to Twitter and is being tested by some Android users. This allows you to create lists of your favorite Twitter follows to view their tweets easily, as well as receive notification each time they tweet. This could be beneficial for camps because rather than scrolling through the feed to...

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The end of organic reach on Facebook

Posted on March 18, 2014
in Social Strategies
by Nick Middleton
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I don't want to make it seem like the world is ending. But if your world revolves around organic reach on Facebook, it sort of is. According to Forbes, "Research published today by Social@Ogilvy shows the downward trend of organic reach on Facebook that a post published on a brand page can expect. From 16% of followers of a brand page being shown a piece of content in 2012, the percentage of organic reach has dropped to roughly 6% in February 2014 for...

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March Social Media Newsletter

Posted on March 11, 2014
in Social Strategies
by Nick Middleton
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The Social Summer Camp March social media newsletter is now live! You can read it here. This month I cover the following topics: Summer marketing plans, Facebook buying WhatsApp and How to increase your Facebook reach. Don't forget to subscribe to continue to see my newsletter. Thanks for reading!...

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Social Media Business Cards

Posted on March 6, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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Camps often send out brochures to potential or current campers during the year to give them a taste of camp. Frequently, camps’ social media accounts are left off this brochure. Rather than making a new brochure, camps can make a small card and send it out along with the brochure. This is a fairly inexpensive way to ensure that all camp families have access to your social media networks. Here is an example of a social media card from Birds iView....

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Book Review: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

Posted on March 4, 2014
in Camp Inspiration
by Nick Middleton
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One of my awesome clients started reading Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook and asked me to join in with her for a work-related book club. This is the third book from award winning social media expert, Gary Vaynerchuk. We both found the book fascinating and I wanted to share some learnings with you all here. This book is a social media blueprint on how to jab, meaning to excite and delights your customer, on the right social media platforms at the...

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Facebook promoted posts v. ads

Posted on February 25, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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I get asked pretty frequently if camps should use Facebook promoted posts or create an ad using ads manager. My answer is always the same, always create an ad!! Why you ask? 1. Targeting- When you create a promoted post Facebook limits your targeting to "fans and friends of fans," or basic geo and interest targeting. When you create an ad using Facebook ads manager you get a lot more targeting options that will help you reach your audience without wasting...

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Facebook buys WhatsApp. What does that mean for camps?

Posted on February 20, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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Facebook just announced that they are buying WhatsApp for $16B!!! According to Facebook, "WhatsApp has over 450M MAUs, with 70% of those active each day. In a staggering comparison, Facebook also notes that the messaging volume of WhatsApp approaches the SMS volume of the entire global telecom industry — and that it’s adding 1M users a day." So what does this mean for camps?? There is definitely a shift going on where messaging is becoming an important part of daily life. Right...

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Facebook Secrets for Summer Camp Marketing

Posted on February 18, 2014
in Social Strategies
by Nick Middleton
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Travis Allison and I just hosted our second ever Facebook Secrets for Summer Camp Marketing webinar! He focused on the social content side, while I discussed social ads. I absolutely love collaborating with Travis because of his deep understanding of the camp industry. If you missed the webinar, you can watch it here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIHVrgSd8FI&feature=youtu.be...

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Holiday 2013 Wrap Up

Posted on February 13, 2014
in Social Strategies
by Nick Middleton
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I wrote a lot about holiday marketing for camps this past year! Now that the holidays are over, Facebook released some information on how consumers shopped using Facebook over the holidays of 2013. Here are some interesting stats I wanted to share with you all: According to Facebook, this was the holiday shopping lifecycle: "Before: Shoppers start with a plan but are open to discovery During: Mobile is perceived as a hero for shoppers and Facebook is a key companion After: Once the presents...

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