Puppy Play Date
They say that dogs have a calming effect, and are great for your health. This means we were the healthiest office in town when NMC Account Executive, Whitney Moreau’s puppy, Libby, stopped by for a visit recently.
Libby, the newest member of the NMC family.
Whitney says, “Having Libby is what I imagine having a new baby is like—I feel like I haven’t slept since I picked her up! Good thing she’s so adorable and sweet…most of the time.” Lucky for us, Libby was pretty tired and dozed off moments after this picture was taken.
The NMC staff wishes you a happy and relaxing weekend.
United We Tweet
NMC Account Assistant, Erika Bush
“Maine Olympian Joan Benoit Samuelson is running in today’s Boston Marathon, marking the 30th anniversary of her record-breaking win in 1983…” plays on the local radio station on my drive into work.
Marathon Monday!
I joked with my Mom on the ride in about Maine and Massachusetts having their own holiday, and later in the office explained why Patriot’s Day is a big deal—reminiscing on the reenactments of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that I attended as a kid each April vacation.
Being the huge fan of social media that I am, I kept dibs on the marathon via Twitter most of the day and I was happy to hear that Samuelson had finished the marathon within 30 minutes of her original pace—newsworthy, I thought. However, we all know how the day ended.
The marathon bombings in Boston on Monday marked the first incident of their kind in the new age of social media and exemplified the crucial role social media plays in a time of crisis.
Breaking news and support were expressed using the #BostonMarathon and #PrayForBoston hash-tags.
Twitter stole the show, breaking the news to me when a single Tweet, “Explosion at the finish line rocks the Boston Marathon,” appeared in my stream. Then on Facebook, our local news affiliate posted a similar status update as a developing story.
Within minutes a hashtag had been created, #bostonmarathon, for people to track the latest updates, and reporters began using it as a way to rebuke false stories and to give the public news as it happened. Within 30 minutes, support began pouring in from around the country and world using #prayforboston.
In the midst of the chaos PR professionals and various CEOs suggested that any prescheduled Tweets be canceled, and that the focus should be on the victims and their families. No more business for the remainder of the day.
Former Bostonians and other influencers reached out with messages of support.
Meanwhile, Google simultaneously launched Google Person Finder for the Boston Marathon while the Red Cross promoted their Safe and Well site to help reunite and connect family members to marathon participants.
Newscasters everywhere began to ask people to not call each other, but rather to text, update a Facebook status or even Tweet their loved ones to let them know they were OK. Law enforcement also embraced social media, asking for people to send any and all images they had from the finish line via text, Facebook and Tweet as a way to gather evidence.
Within a few hours Twitter began to fill with nods to random acts of kindness. Bostonians were offering meals to runners and opening their homes to strangers, and humanity was shown through posts using the #bostonhelp hashtag. Restaurants offered free meals and hotels offered free stays—Brooklyn Academy of Music displayed their love for Boston, projecting a Martin Luther King quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that,” on the side of a campus building.
Looking for a place to crash? Hungry? #bostonhelp is a great resource.
This support continued well into Tuesday when the Chicago Tribune posted an advertisement bringing the two cities together; various states also showed their support by creating banners and images to convey a united front of love and support for the Boston community.
Even the longstanding rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees ceased to exist when the Yankees announced via Twitter that they had put up a sign on their stadium stating, “United We Stand,” with the Yankees and Red Sox emblem on either side. They continued to honor Boston on Tuesday night with a moment of silence, and by playing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” at the end of the third, a treasured tradition at Fenway Park.
While the whole story is still unknown, and many of the details are still developing, the message is clear—social media connects us all. Twitter was a shining star in light of Monday’s horrific events, and three hashtags were able to provide information and support to a city and country in need.
Contributed by Erika Bush
All of us at Nancy Marshall Communications are profoundly saddened by tragedy that took place on Monday. Our hearts go out to the families of those whose lives were lost, as well as those whose bodies were maimed and injured. We are in awe of the way city officials, residents and visitors came together to support one another, especially emergency and medical personnel. As much as an event like this is unimaginably horrible, it also brings out the best of our collective humanity in its aftermath. May this kind of senseless violence and tragedy never happen again.
—Nancy Marshall, Principal, Nancy Marshall Communications
Strutting Their Stuff
Kennebec Valley Humane Society Executive Director, Hillary Roberts (image via KVHS Facebook page)
Community involvement is the key to success for any local nonprofit, and social media has played a major role in the continuing success of the Kennebec Valley Humane Society (KVHS). This week’s Monday Maine Maven and KVHS Executive Director Hillary Roberts says, “Educating the public on what we do and raising money toward our efforts is very important.”
Almost two years ago Roberts was featured on our blog and discussed how the social media movement was positively impacting their organization through donations of time, money and just about anything else they might need. Since that time social media, Facebook in particular, has only improved and with that so has the strategy KVHS uses to spread their message.
Currently, they have a team of seven people that handle the Facebook page and Roberts says, “We only have two rules: the posts must be positive and they must be accurate.” Their most popular posts are about their adoptable dogs, cats and other pets, and of course the happy-endings posts about past adoptions.
KVHS is currently accepting submissions for their annual Paws in the Park & Mutt Strut Art Contest. Winning submissions will be used as posters, t-shirts, and more to promote their Paws in the Park event.
Hillary says the power of Facebook for their organization is unbelievable stating, “It’s amazing to reach thousands of people to tell them about adoptable animals, or a special event we’re having through a single post. Even better? It’s free!” She adds, “We have even seen an increase in the distance people will travel to come and see a potential pet having seen them online first.”
This past Saturday, KVHS hosted a successful Strike Out Animal Abuse Bowl-a-thon at 1-7-10 in Augusta. On Saturday, May 18, 2013 they will be hosting their 20th Annual Paws in the Park & Mutt Strut—an all day family and pet-friendly event at Capitol Park. This year’s event will include the following activities:
- Animal nutrition workshop with Dr. Judy Herman
- The first annual KVHS Best in Show competition
- Dog micro-chipping and nail trimming
- Food vendors
- K9 Police and Agility demonstrations
- Raffles, contests, and more
Events like the Mutt Strut and Bowl-a-thon are essential to raising awareness to the various programs offered by the KVHS; such as their volunteer and foster programs, micro-chipping, animal nutrition and more.
Roberts has a lifelong love of animals and believes that regardless of how you find the next furry member of your family, the most important part of the decision should be based around research. She adds, “You have to consider your lifestyle and figure out what kind of pet will best fit that lifestyle, and if you do adopt, know that your new family member is grateful for the second chance!”
To learn more about the Mutt Strut check out the Facebook event page www.facebook.com/events/497132327019644/, or see their adoptable animals on the KVHS Facebook page, www.facebook.com/KennebecValleyHumaneSociety. To speak to Hillary directly, you may email her, director@pethavenlane.org.
2010 Called – They Want Their Website Back
NMC Interactive Marketing Manager, Matt Rideout
Does it seem too soon to say something like that? It’s not. The truth is, mobile devices have completely changed the Web landscape over the last couple of years. Mobile searches have grown 4x since 2010. More people are ditching their laptops and are using smaller tablets or large smart phones for a lot of their Web browsing now.
Are you trying to drive traffic to your website using social media platforms like Facebook? Did you know that Facebook’s mobile users grew by 50% to over 500 million in 2012? It’s likely that any links you post to Facebook will be viewed on a mobile device.
So far in 2013, NMC’s clients have regularly received 25% – 30% of their traffic from mobile devices. In 2012 we were saying 15% – 20%. In 2011 it was less than 10%.
Full desktop for Summit Natural Gas of Maine.
The problem is, desktop websites just do not display properly on phones. People need to “pinch and zoom” just to read small areas of text. They have to pan when lines of text don’t break within the limits of the screen. Buttons are hard to click, drop down menus do not work, and visitors become frustrated.
If your website is not mobile friendly, your business is literally leaking money. Customers are hitting their phone’s back button and trying elsewhere because they can’t make it through your website without unnecessary effort (it’s like making the entrance to your store into an obstacle course).
This is why NMC is now making all new websites completely responsive. Responsive websites automatically resize and rearrange content and menus according to the size of the screen that the user is viewing the site on. This makes it so that on small touch screens, everything becomes navigable with just a thumb and content is organized much like a mobile app. On larger tablet screens, everything works perfectly through touch with more content filling the entire screen area, and on desktop screens, users get a view that is optimized for a keyboard, mouse, and large viewing area.
Tablet display for Summit Natural Gas of Maine.
To see a responsive website in action, head over to one of NMC’s latest creations at http://SummitNaturalGasMaine.com. Check it out on your smart phone, tablet, and desktop. All of the same information is accessible to everyone, but rearranged and presented differently depending on the screen size. Using Google Chrome, you can watch this transformation live by dragging your screen width from full screen to narrow to see how elements of the page reposition and resize themselves. Watch as it immediately responds to changes in screen size. This website was building using responsive (mobile friendly) technology on the Drupal platform. Our client can easily upload and add new content themselves once, and the system will automatically adapt it to any screen size without any extra work.
To learn more about what responsive Web technology can do for your business, feel free to come see NMC, the mobile marketing experts.
Article by NMC Interactive Marketing Manager, Matt Rideout
Raising Awareness and Brand Building
Coastal Human Society Marketing and Development Coordinator, Jane Siviski
Awareness plays a huge role in the success of a business, and adorable four-legged friends definitely don’t hurt your cause. This week’s Monday Maine Maven, Jane Siviski, marketing and development coordinator at the Coastal Humane Society (CHS), could not agree more! She says that over 60% of their adopters look at the animals online before coming into the shelter.
Siviski adds, “Without question—Facebook and our website are our best advertising tools and there is never a shortage of content.” If you visit their Facebook page, you will find pictures and videos of adoptable animals, newly-adopted animals with their new families and heartwarming stories of community involvement.
Their goal is to engage fans and followers by creating an inviting environment for animals and people. Jane apologizes to Sarah McLachlan saying, “Facebook helps us break down the stigma of shelters being a scary, sad and overwhelming place. Unfortunately, there are shelters in other regions that are bursting at the seams and euthanasia is their only option—for us and many Maine shelters, it’s not.”
The role of social media manager is divided between Jane and the volunteer coordinator and shelter manager. This division is important—Jane says, “We all bring a different perspective on shelter life and that adds richness to our Facebook presence. The CHS mission prioritizes our posts, so anything that promotes adoption or brings people into the shelter comes first.”
CHS recently hosted Rescues on the Runway, an adoption event at the Maine Mall in Portland.
These values are clearly exhibited when you walk in and are instantly greeted by friendly staff members and volunteers who are more than happy to spend some time with you and share the stories of the animals. They encourage you to go into the cages (with an adult of course) and spend time with your potential new family member.
The CHS team also works to reunite families with lost pets. Occasionally they get a stray brought in who weighs a little too much or is a little too friendly to not have come from a good home. Multiple times CHS has posted about an animal in their custody, the image is shared and the next thing they know someone is calling saying the cat belongs to them.
The CHS permanent resident, Amere!
Although, after spending some time at CHS, it’s no wonder that some of the animals, like Amere, just never want to leave. Amere came in from a cat hoarding situation last summer and while many of the cats that came with him were feral, Amere was not. Known for his crinkled ears (a result of ear mites left untreated), tolerance of dogs and playful disposition with guests, Amere is the perfect lobby cat/mascot for CHS. Staff members, or his pets as the staff puts it, love him and when they find themselves buried in projects and spending late nights at the shelter, he is their very own crinkle-eared watchman.
When I asked Jane how people can help out, she asked, “How much time do you have?” Any involvement is very helpful, whether it is a donation of money, food, or time. You can check out CHS on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CoastalHumaneSociety, or visit their website www.coastalhumanesociety.org to find the best fit for you!
Advocacy for Predictive ROI
Nancy Marshall, principal of Nancy Marshall Communications
This is Nancy….welcome to the blog and welcome springtime!
I was invited to speak about economic development marketing to the Broadband Capacity Task Force at the State Capitol on Thursday, March 15, 2013. I shared the power of “Predictive ROI,” which is a patent-pending process created by author and Web marketing expert Stephen Woessner who is one of my agency’s strategic partners. Predictive ROI allows website owners to predict the return on investment of their marketing expenditure by creating a sales funnel on their site, and understanding how many visitors it takes to convert to a sale.
I talked about our own process to create a marketing communications plan collaboratively with a client, which we call The Marshall Plan™ and explained that having a strategic plan for a website allows a business to exponentially increase traffic and convert website visitors into sales.
Chuck Lawton of Planning Decisions introduced me to the Broadband Commission as a leader in Maine who has fully embraced the power of the Internet in public relations and marketing.
Planning Decisions Chief Economist, Chuck Lawton.
The Task Force’s job is to recommend regulatory, investment, and best practice strategies for expanding the availability and use of high-speed Internet in rural Maine. The Broadband Capacity Building Task Force examines current practices in the fields of health care, education, and economic development; identifies obstacles to greater use; and recommends policies for change.
The Task Force is staffed by Planning Decisions. It operates with funding support from the ConnectME Authority, recipient of a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Authority (NTIA) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The ConnectME Authority is a Maine government component unit established by the State of Maine legislature in 2006 to facilitate universal availability of broadband service and increase the adoption and use of that service among Maine individuals, businesses, and public organizations.
Thomas College Featured on MPBN
Mike Dacri, account coordinator at NMC
Hi, Mike here.
I don’t need to tell you but college is expensive and tuition seems to go up and up all the time! We recently got the opportunity to work on a project with Thomas College, which is working to make college more affordable for their students.
On Thursday, March 14, 2013 Thomas College was featured on “Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks” on MPBN. Interviews were conducted with Thomas College President Laurie Lachance, Board Co-Chair Conrad Ayotte and students Sarah Marckoon and Jacob Darveau about Thomas’ tuition freeze, Guaranteed Jobs Placement Program, and how Thomas is working to make college more affordable for its students. Check out the video below. The story about Thomas starts at 6:20.
Great job, Thomas!
Bright Lights, Big City, Bold Ambition
Assistant Designer for Ralph Lauren, Jordan Weymouth Richards
I’ve heard it said that if you can find something that you love to do, and find someone who is crazy enough to pay you to do it each and every day, then you will never work a day in your life. The implication is that work is a state of mind, and this week’s Monday Maine Maven Jordan Weymouth Richards lives in a New York state of mind.
Since leaving her hometown in Maine seven years ago, Richards has been pursuing her passion for fashion, and is currently working as an assistant designer for Ralph Lauren in New York City. Ironically, the path to Manhattan began when she was only seven years old and received a plastic Singer toy sewing machine. She says, “Of course, I was thrilled and went right to work with the intention of putting miles on that baby!” When it broke, her parents quickly realized that upgrading to a real machine was a necessity.
Jordan immediately put in hours creating dolls, clothes for all of her dolls, Halloween costumes and eventually reconstructing and redesigning her old clothes into custom creations. Without even realizing what was happening, she began crafting her future career. As she got older, she considered engineering because it would allow her to translate her childhood vision into a lasting career through the use of creativity and the logic of math and science.
Richards, with a handbag she designed for Lucky Brand.
However, her initial love for fashion and creation kept pulling her in a different direction. Jordan says, “I went to a Catholic elementary school, which meant uniforms and not much opportunity to express myself through my clothing. When I got to high school styling my daily outfits was exciting and fun! It was like playing with a fresh canvas each day and that truly appealed to my creative side.” The fusion of engineering a product with her passion and curiosity for fashion made fashion design the only option.
Four years of sleepless nights, one semester in London, an internship with Kevin Christiana, a bag design picked up by Lucky Brand Jeans, a feature on CBS New York, and an outstanding thesis presentation resulted in Jordan landing an interview and job offer from Ralph Lauren before she even graduated. She loves what she does and credits Ralph for refining her style saying, “My attention to details—the trim, buttons and the fabrication—has sharpened. I used to look at design in a broader sense of shapes and silhouettes, but the little things can truly make a garment special.”
A wedding dress Jordan designed for her cousin Kasie.
When she isn’t working at Ralph Lauren, Jordan can be found in her Brooklyn apartment booking work of her own. Her work has been featured in two fashion shows, one in New York at Webster Hall in 2010 and one in Maine for Maine’s Fashion Night Out in 2010. Richards has always worn her own couture apparel since she was in high school, but recently, she has been building a clientele that keeps her busy. She designed her cousin’s wedding gown in 2011 and is currently working on a 3-in-1 wedding dress for a New York City client.
Where does this designer find her inspiration? Richards says that she definitely looks at social media sites such as Pinterest, Etsy, and a number of blogs and Tumblr accounts to see what’s out there. She says, “I want to be original and that means I have to know what’s out there. You never know where you will find inspiration. You might see a sleeve on a Tumblr post that sparks the idea for an entire dress.” She adds that access to so many images helps designers understand construction and inspires creativity beyond what can be learned from a textbook.
Jordan credits her Maine roots to the other sources in which she finds inspiration—architecture and nature—saying, “I grew up surrounded by acres of woods and there is so much beauty in the striation of a broken rock, or in the texture of bark on a tree. These little details help me come up with color stories, silhouettes, seaming, fabrication and more.”
Jordan and her brother, Griffin, on a recent family visit in NYC.
While Richards loves New York City, she also loves to get away from the faster-paced life and relax with her family and enjoy the peace that is Maine. She finds it funny that even after almost a decade in the city, she still occasionally gets asked “you’re not from around here are you?” because she takes pride in the fact there will always be a bit of Maine left in the now-New York girl.
The vibe and energy that the city feeds Jordan is the same energy that she hopes to translate into her work. Richards says, “I am dedicated to becoming a designer of not just clothing, but of lifestyles. The impact fashion has on our society and the world we live in is fascinating, and I want to be a part of that.”
Richards will be launching an Etsy shop in the summer of 2013, where she will be selling couture accessories and pieces. For more information or to reach out to Jordan, you can add her on Facebook, check out her website www.jrichstyle.com/, or follow her on Pinterest pinterest.com/JRichStyle/.
Lights, Camera, Action!
On Tuesday, NMC‘s Greg Glynn and Erika Bush went to Time Warner Cable to record interviews with Mike Edgecomb for the program, Your Magazine.
Mike Duguay of Summit Natural Gas of Maine is interviewed by Mike Edgecomb for Your Magazine segment.
While on the set, Erika discussed the Kingfield Artwalk and Greg helped coordinate an interview for our client, Summit Natural Gas of Maine. Mike Duguay, director of business development for Summit Natural Gas of Maine discussed the benefits of switching to natural gas and the company’s investment of $240 million to provide natural gas service to the KennebecValley region.
Keep your eyes peeled for the interviews—they are set to air next week. The show Your Magazine airs on Time Warner Cable Channel 9 across the state. To see the TV listings, click here http://tvlistings.timewarnerc
Have a great weekend.
Eventbrite Changing the Way You Buy Tickets
NMC Account Assistant, Erika Bush
Hi, Erika here! It seems that every event I’ve been invited to in the past year has been linked to Eventbrite, and for good reason—it’s free! That’s right, completely free to create an online event.
Planning an event is stressful enough, without having to worry about ticketing, too. Another great feature of Eventbrite is that if your event is free than so is their service—they provide the perfect platform to promote it within your area without paying a thing.
The fees only begin when you start selling tickets, and what you pay for them to take all the stress out of online ticketing is minimal:
|
Eventbrite Fee 2.5% plus $0.99 per ticket *Cap fees at $9.95 per ticket for organizations |
Processing Options
Standard Credit Card Processing Fee: 3% of ticket value
Paypal: 2.9% of ticket value + $0.30 per transaction
Google Checkout: 2.9% of ticket value + $0.30 per transaction
Authorize.net: rates vary |
Kevin and Julia Hartz, husband and wife co-founders of Eventbrite
Since Eventbrite’s inception in 2006, the company has slowly been taking over the ticketing industry. They recently received a $50 million investment that makes some believe they could begin competing with larger sites such as TicketMaster and StubHub.
The first sign of them being ready to step it up comes from their recent partnership with Facebook’s “Buy Tickets” feature—a partnership that occurred within 48 hours of the new feature’s launch. This seamless connection comes from the relationship that was already in place between Eventbrite and Facebook from their work together on Open Graph, which helps people tell stories about their lives through the apps they use.
The way the new “Buy Tickets” feature works is that when someone creates an event using Eventbrite, they will be given the option to “Publish to Facebook.” After this is done, the event will be on Facebook and they simply invite people to their event, or make the event public for the “Buy Tickets” button to appear.
The new feature will allow Eventbrite users to seamlessly link their events to Facebook.
Sharing events on Facebook happens every day; it’s coordinating where to send the money for these events that gets messy. You have to either be directed to another site to pay or you show up to the event and hope there are tickets left. Taking out the middle man makes sense. Kevin Stone of the New York Times quotes Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz saying, “Events are naturally social. You are certainly likely to share with others what conference you are attending, what club event you are going out to or what class you are going to take.”
Eventbrite has been growing steadily since its founding in a small one-room office in San Francisco back in 2006. It took off in 2010 and by 2012 it had more than tripled in size. Much like Pinterest, Eventbrite doesn’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon, and is the one to watch when it come to online ticket sales.
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