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Email Open Rate Versus Social Media Open Rate

Posted on March 9, 2015
in Uncategorized
by Blake Sunshine
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This is a post from the Social Summer Camp blog archives that I find to still be VERY relevant today.  One of the most successful ways for camps to market is through email. I happen to love email marketing, especially if like most camps you already have a list of parents and campers who have opted-in to receiving your newsletters and updates. That being said, I am definitely concerned about email marketing open rates and how camp email marketing has become less...

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Using the right image for your Facebook ads

Posted on March 2, 2015
in Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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Using the right image for your Facebook ads is really important! It is one of the most important levers you can pull in making sure that your ads reach more people and perform well. Luckily summer camps have great images from their summer photographers, which means they always have an arsenal of photos to use for Facebook posts. Still, I see camps all of the time using images that don’t perform well on Facebook. Here are five quick tips to make...

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Faceboook has over 200 million active advertisers

Posted on February 25, 2015
in Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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Facebook announced yesterday that they have over 200 million active advertisers. Are you one of them? Facebook ads are extremely effective in reaching your target audience of moms who are looking for great summer programs for their children. I don’t think many people realize that there is a very specific formula for setting up a successful Facebook ad. The reason that most people don’t realize this is because Facebook makes it very difficult to actually set up a successful ad. I...

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Tumblr: An opportunity for summer camps in 2015

Posted on January 13, 2015
in Social Strategies, Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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I really think that Tumblr will be a huge opportunity for camps in 2015. To give you an idea of some Tumblr blogs that are very popular, here are the top 25 viral Tumblrs from the year. Tumblr is dominated by a younger, female audience, which makes it perfect for a lot of summer camp's target audiences. From their webpage: "Tumblr has over 200 million blogs to date. Tumblr was one of the fastest growing platforms in 2014. Its audience is 51% female and 55% between the...

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Promoted Tweets on Twitter for Summer Camps

Posted on October 20, 2014
in Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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A lot of camps have recently been asking me about Promoted Tweets on Twitter. These are essentially just Twitter ads that are promoted to reach a specific target audience. Twitter recently analyzed 200,000 promoted tweets and shared some best practices with the public that I am now sharing with you. 1. Be brief: "Stay under 100 characters per tweet, which Twitter says gets 18% more engagement. For an even more effective campaign, Twitter suggests aiming for three to six Promoted Tweets...

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New Pinterest Analytics for Summer Camps

Posted on October 2, 2014
in Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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Last month Pinterest launched brand new analytics for its business customers. The new analytics includes a few awesome additions including audience and website insights. According to Tech Crunch, "At a very high level, the dashboard is designed to provide a quick view into a business’ overall reach on Pinterest. They will be able to at a glance see the number of impressions and views their content got on the platform, as well as how those numbers have trended over time. In...

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Using Hyperlapse For Your Camp

Posted on September 15, 2014
in Social Tools
by Nick Middleton
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Last month Instagram introduced Hyperlapse, a new app to capture high-quality time lapse videos even while in motion. After downloading Hyperlapse, it really is a very simple tool to use! There is not need to create an account to create a hyperlapse. Instead, you open up straight to the camera. Tap once to begin recording and tap again to stop! After recording, you simply choose a playback speed and can instantly share your video to Instagram. This new app is a great and easy way share...

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Fall Marketing Plan: Returning Campers

Posted on September 1, 2014
in Social Strategies
by Blake Sunshine
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Now that camp is officially over, it is time to put together a fall marketing plan for your summer camp. One big component of this plan is what message your camp will use to market to returning campers. There are a few ways to do this: 1. Reach Parents- Parents are the ones who are most likely re-enrolling their camper for next summer. Appeal to them with a few different types of messages during your early bird period. A few messages you...

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Snapchat Still More Popular

Posted on August 25, 2014
in Social Tools
by Blake Sunshine
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There was a really interesting article in Mashable last week about how Snapchat is still more popular with teens than Facebook. "The study found that while 70% of college students report posting on Snapchat at least once a day, only 11% report posting on Facebook with the same frequency."  The study was organized by Sumpto, a New York-based marketing company.  As your camp begins their fall marketing, this is something really interesting to keep in mind. Should your camp be actively using Snapchat? If...

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