Daily Archives: September 2, 2013

Facebook Contests, How to Get Your Fans Excited | Bedford Corners Realtor

Have you ever run a Facebook contest?

Are you wondering if you should use them for your business?

To learn about Facebook contests, I interview Andrea Vahl for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner

 

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies.She regularly writes about Facebook for Social Media Examiner (in fact she was our community manager for 2 years), and has an alter-ego known online as Grandma Mary.

Andrea shares how a Facebook contest can work for your page and your business.

You’ll learn about the different contests available and what contest apps to use.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

You can also subscribe via iTunesRSSStitcher or Blackberry.

 Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:

Facebook Contests

Why should businesses run contests on Facebook?

When it comes to what contests can do for your Facebook page and your business, Andrea is a contest fan girl.

There are many benefits of running a contest and Andrea’s top three follow. You’ll hear the benefits of each and the best types of prizes to give away.

  1. Help grow the likes on your page and your Facebook presence
  2. Grow your email list
  3. Help promote a product you’re selling

Listen to the show to find out how we did a photo contest called Help Me Launch.

Examples of successful contests

Andrea shares a few success stories with Facebook contests and what range of prizes can develop good success.

Andrea helped set up a contest for a client on Facebook called Chocolate for Breakfast. It was a contest where the giveaway was a small box of premium chocolate truffles.

The contest was run for one week. From this, the client got 700 new fans and 400 email addresses. At the time, the page was at the early stages with around 1200 fans. So for the cost of the premium box of chocolates, the client got a huge response.

chocolate for breakfast truffles

The Chocolates for Breakfast prize was very well branded with the page.

The contest was on the client’s Facebook tab (like you’re supposed to do), and it required people to like the page to enter.

Discover how a contest on a tab works and what information people need to enter to participate.

It was a sweepstakes contest where you didn’t have to enter any photos, essay or video. It was a random-draw winner with anyone eligible to win.

You’ll hear how it was promoted and the frequency of the posts.

Another client of Andrea’s, Camp Bow Wow, did a contest called Bad to the Bone. They’re a doggy daycare facility and also have home buddies dog training courses that they give away.

 

 

Facebook Contests, How to Get Your Fans Excited | Social Media Examiner.

White Plains Commuters: Prepare For New Train Schedule On Harlem Line | Chappaqua Real Estate

A new Metro-North train schedule goes into effect for all Harlem and Hudson Line customers Aug. 19 so track repairs can expand and continue on the Bronx Right-of-Way Improvement Project, the railroad announced.

The new schedule includes changes on the New Haven, Harlem and Hudson lines.

On the Harlem Line, the 8:03 a.m. local train from Mount Vernon West to Grand Central will be restored. The New Haven Line’s 7:35 a.m. train from Port Chester to Grand Central also will be restored, as well as the 8:30 a.m. train from New Rochelle to Grand Central.

This schedule will remain in effect through the fall until the improvement project is completed. The schedules for trains on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines will be adjusted between two and 10 minutes to more accurately reflect travel times, the release said.

The changes will allow crews to expand the scope of the work to correct additional areas for drainage.

“Further inspections, aided by the use of new technology, such as ground-penetrating radar, have indicated additional areas not visible at the surface where drainage needs to be improved,” a press release said.

Metro-North said it is working to improve the reliability of its service and to address delays. The railroad said the new schedule changes are necessary to restore the three trains that were cancelled July 1.

Track work for improvement program, which began July 1, is being conducted to about 6 miles of track in the Bronx, used by the New Haven Line and the Harlem Line in the Bronx.

Additionally, schedule changes include special shuttle bus service to and from Tremont and Melrose stations. Customers may take buses to Fordham for train service. Buses will operate on a half-hourly basis during peak periods on weekdays and hourly during off-peak periods and weekends.

 

 

White Plains Commuters: Prepare For New Train Schedule On Harlem Line | The White Plains Daily Voice.

How Much For A One-Bedroom Condo In Long Island City? | Mt Kisco Real Estate

Where/What: A 1BR/1BA condo in Long Island City
Square feet: 842
Maintenance/CC: $636
The Skinny: The listing for this apartment touts its 14-foot-high ceilings, hardwood floors, and “oversized casement windows.” Perhaps as a result of the slightly awkward layout, there’s a smaller extra room (not pictured) with a washer/dryer that could be used as a slightly claustrophobic home office or for extra storage. You also get a dishwasher, as well as a ginormous bathroom with a monolithic tub and a tiled shower. The building itself has a roof deck, courtyard, and a gym with a pool and sauna. How much is the seller asking?

Pricespotter%20Floorplan%208_21.gif

· Pricespotter archives [Curbed]

 

 

How Much For A One-Bedroom Condo In Long Island City? – Pricespotter – Curbed NY.

Practice safe security: 3 ways to protect your real estate data | Cross River Realtor

As a real estate agent or broker you may find yourself going paperless more and more. And even if you’re not fully “in the cloud” as you make a transition into a paperless lifestyle, you need to consider how basic data security measures can help prevent future headaches.

This WIRED article proves just how easy one’s life can come crashing down because of lax security measures.

Here are some quick tips to help get you started:

Gmail and two-step verification

Gmail 2-step verificationGoogle and its two-step verification is just one simple way to help keep hackers out of your account. Simply sign into your Google account as normal, enter a code that you receive via text message and you’re set! To get started or learn more, click here.

Twitter and login verification

We have all seen plenty of situations where someone’s brand/company Twitter account is hacked. Twitter’s two-step authentication is an easy way to help prevent this from happening to you and your brand.

Visit your account settings page in Twitter and check the box next to “Send login verification requests to my phone.”

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/next/practice-safe-security-3-ways-to-protect-your-real-estate-data/#sthash.BZBeGrGJ.dpuf

 

Practice safe security: 3 ways to protect your real estate data | Inman News.

10 Must Have WordPress Plugins of 2013 Every Blogger Should Know About | Katonah Realtor

How many of you think that having a lot of WordPress plugins slows down your site? That’s only true if you use poorly coded WordPress plugins.

With over 26,000+ WordPress plugins in the repository, it’s hard for bloggers to pick the right WordPress plugin.10 Must Have WordPress Plugins of 2013 Every Blogger Should Know About Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/?p=29720#58xgLayr0OZDBLu5.99

I own and mange the largest free WordPress resource site WPBeginner, so I get to test and review tons of free and paid plugins on a regular basis. The site runs over 40 plugins, and it is very fast.

Myth Debunked…”Plugin quantity doesn’t matter

In this article, I will share the 10 must have WordPress plugins of 2013 that every blogger should know about.

#1. Floating Social Bar

Most social media plugins for WordPress are slow and bloated. Floating social bar is the fastest social media plugin for WordPress that adds a horizontal floating share bar to your content.

10 Must have WordPress Plugins

Floating Social Bar is easy to use with its drag-drop interface, and its eye-catching floating display allows you to maximize your social shares.

#2. WordPress SEO by Yoast

Yoast’s WordPress SEO is the most comprehensive SEO plugin for WordPress.

Not only does it allows you to optimize your articles for SEO, it also comes with comprehensive features such as XML sitemaps, Twitter cards, Google Authorship and Facebook meta data.


Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/30/10-must-have-wordpress-plugins-of-2013-every-blogger-should-know-about/#hv8rCXJxyBuXUlqw.99 

 

 

10 Must Have WordPress Plugins of 2013 Every Blogger Should Know About – Jeffbullas’s Blog.