As a long-time fan of Constant Contact (I began using around them around the time they launched in 1995), I have been continually amazed at the effectiveness of email marketing for small businesses. Recently, quite by accident, I found out the one of our larger management companies, Senior Housing Companies, encourages the senior living communities that they manage to utilize Constant Contact in their marketing plans. Since my “discovery”, I have been busy brainstorming ideas for further collaboration on email marketing (in addition to printed, internet and social media) with the Senior Housing Companies communities that we conduct classes in.
I have signed up for each of the individual communities’ email lists so that I can stay on top of the events and activities that are going on in the various communities. I am working on creating some programs we can provide to the SHC to help them specifically with marketing our Live 2 B Healthy® senior fitness classes – of course! But, I would also like to help out with publicizing other events that may be unrelated to our classes as well. One way I have been doing this lately is sharing all the emails that I am forwarded on our national Facebook page, as well as the applicable local pages.
Which is cool – and easy to do. BUT – some of the emails are easier to share than others because some of the communities are providing us with the tools to easily share their news, while others, are not. Here are two examples:
The example in Figure #1 has an option in the header to view this email in a web browser (“Having trouble reading this email? Click Here.”). Notice in Figure #2, there is no text between the address portion and the beginning of the actual email. Now, I am not having trouble reading either of these emails, so, you would ask, why would I even bother to include this header in my email? Well, one very good reason is that it allows me to share this email on my social media pages very easily. When I click on the “Click Here” I now see this (Figure #3):
The highlighted spot is the shareable link. I simply right click, copy and paste into my Facebook Page status update and share. So easy! On a busy day, that may be all I have time for. Now, I am certain that in the above Figure #2 example, I could poke around and find that same web browser version and the link to share, but, I don’t have time to fuss with it, so it might not get shared. Look how nice this email, when shared in this manner, shows up on my Facebook Page (Figure #4):
Now, you may think this is just mean of me to share some and not others, but, it’s the reality of our busy lives. If we can make it easier for someone to share our message, that’s exactly what we should be doing so that we get the most shares we can.
So, what is Glendale Place doing differently than the other location that allows me to share their email so simply? I contacted Constant Contact to find out the answer so that you, too, can make all of your emails more “share-friendly”. When creating your email, click on the header section of the email in Constant Contact (Figure #5):
When you click on the Edit (pencil) button, this pop-up window (Figure #6) will appear. Check the box that says Webpage Version and click ok. Your recipient will then see the option to view your email in a web browser, and be able to share it quickly and easily.
If you notice, I mentioned that I had to contact Constant Contact Chat to find out where this option was hiding out (it is different if you are using the New Editor in Constant Contact. I also found out how to do that, and it is similar. But, if you have issues locating it, let me know and I will walk you through it.). Before you start worrying that you are ‘doing it all wrong’ and ‘everyone knows this stuff but me’, note that, until I noticed the difference between the two emails I received from our partnership communities, I had not had “the box checked” on any of our Live 2 B Healthy® emails either. Until I actually decided to begin attempting to share these communications on behalf our our communities, it had never once occurred to me why I might want to check the Webpage Version option on my email headers. I just figured that it was probably only for those recipients who were using an ancient computer or something. This is TRULY one of the most amazing parts of my work as Marketing Director for Live 2 B Healthy®! I have the opportunity every single day to learn something new – and, with this blog, I can share it with you as well!
