Arc 3 Communications

How to Better Keep Track of the News Important to You

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For decades, people have used news monitoring to track issues that affect them, their business, their association, or their cause. In the past, this was done with a process called “clipping” which was scanning local and national newspapers for stories related to these categories and cutting them out to keep a tab on issues at hand.  This form of news scanning was an essential practice in nearly every aspect of life, from politics to business to advocacy. It allowed one to keep up with new developments in a campaign, on an issue, with a market, or with a competitor. In today’s online world, this process still exists; it has simply gone to the online world and covers a much larger scale. This can be overwhelming, and it can seem impossible to keep up to date with the 24/7 news cycle and nearly immediate news updates. There are many tools and strategies you can use to help make this process easier while increasing effectiveness.

Google Alerts

Google is a search engine that grants people quick access to information. It can be quite time consuming to search each term or phrase that relates to your issue and try to sift through countless stories and websites trying to find the most recent developments. This is where Google Alerts can be used to help save time and increase the efficiency of your news scanning.

Google Alerts is a free-to-use service in which you can add all of your key terms and phrases to a list and Google will send you email alerts whenever a news story or update is released that relates to that term or phrase. You can schedule a set time that all of your alerts come into your email. You can choose morning, afternoon, or evening or even multiple times throughout the day, if you have an issue that needs constant monitoring.

It is also good practice to add a Google Alert for your name. Doing this will allow you to be alerted anytime your name appears in a story or somewhere online. Also, if you own a business or brand, you should have an alert set up for these as well for the same reasons.

Feedly

Feedly is a news aggregator application for your web browser that allows you to bookmark and organize all of the websites you regularly check for updates. You can categorize these based on your needs so you can keep track of different sites for different topics. The feed allows you to scan RSS feeds, news and updates from your tracked sites by date and popularity all in one place. Having all of your news sources together saves you the time of having to go to each site separately looking for updates.

Feedly is a free-to-use platform which includes most of its features, but also has a paid pro option that will allow you to incorporate your Google Alerts into your Feedly feed as well as give you access to unlimited feeds, sources, and premium customer service.

Following Social Media

Much important news is shared these days through social media. A good practice to have is to make sure you follow your news sources on social media platforms such as Twitter and activate notifications for any that you need to track closely. This way, when something new is posted or updated you can be in the loop. Sometimes news and updates will be posted to social media before they are released on news sites; this way, you can keep on top of important issues that affect you and your business or association.

Following specific hashtags is also a great way to keep up on trending news related to your cause or industry. You should do research and find if there are any highly-used hashtags that fit to your needs and follow them as they tend to lead you to updates and news quickly as well. Though social media can get quite noisy at times, it is still a great source of updates for news, causes, and events if you can develop a system for aggregating the news important to you through notifications and hashtags.

Stay in the Loop

There are many options for staying on top of news related to your specific needs. In today’s world of quick, shortened news cycles and instant 24/7 news updates, it can seem impossible to keep up with everything at once, but these tools help make it easier and less stressful. Of course, there is nothing wrong with reading the local newspapers or doing Google searches for news updates. These suggestions are simple tools that will make monitoring news much more productive while giving a broad scope of resources all at once in an organized way. Keeping on top of things is essential for many businesses, causes, and just day to day life, and with these tools, you’re all set.

Need More Help?

For more information, visit us at www.arc3communications.com or contact Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com. We look forward to working with you to acheive all of your content, digital, and advocacy goals.

Congrats to Our Founder

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Congratulations to our founder, Patrick Burns and his wife Mary on the recent birth of their fifth child, Michael McAlister Burns.

Michael is a beautiful healthy baby boy weighing in at 9 lbs. 8 ounces and 20 inches long.

We are so happy for the Burns’ family on their new addition!

Ways to Mobilize Your Community to Support Your Cause

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When it comes to making a change in your community, the most powerful tool you have is the community itself. How you can mobilize your community has evolved with the growth of social media, but many of the traditional methods still remain most useful. In fact, all of these tactics should be used together to bring awareness and organize your community to support your issue and gain the attention of your elected officials. This article will explore what is known as “slacktivism,” a form of social media engagement regarding a cause, and traditional tactics to bringing attention and action to an issue.

Slacktivism

In our age of social media, many issues become viral social media campaigns resulting in shares, comments, likes, and views but most of the time, little else. This isn’t to say “slacktivism” is entirely useless, in fact, it does raise awareness of an issue and can even inform people and get people talking about the subject. The problem lies in that these campaigns alone rarely result in action being taken. People comment, like, and share or sign an online petition and feel accomplished, like they have done something to help the issue when, in fact, it takes much more effort than that. This is why the term is a combination of “slacker” and “activism” because not much effort goes into participating in these online interactions and involvement often ends there.

This does not mean that online advocacy is useless, as previously stated, it can work wonders in raising awareness and spreading a message further and faster than many traditional forms of information sharing. It becomes hindered when it ends with this social media step. When people hit share and feel they have done enough and then move on. In turn, if it goes on to spark action and mobilization in the non-digital world, then it can be measured as a useful tactic. Online advocacy should be viewed as a tool, and not a complete solution to driving your issue. 

Traditional

The traditional ways are still the most effective for mobilizing your community. Traditional methods are complemented and enhanced by the online and social media aspects we have in the digital age, but the tried and true forms of raising awareness and prompting action still hold strong. As stated before, engagement efforts must be utilized offline in the community itself to see real results. Writing letters and direct mail, volunteer phone banking, going door to door, and organizing local precinct level meetings are proven ways to reach the people of your area and really add voices to your cause. These tactics allow you to know that you are reaching the population you intend to reach and also allow you to form relationships that will benefit your cause in the long run. These traditional strategies combined with an online strategy will help mobilize your community. The effectiveness of your traditional and online strategies, however, hinges on a properly developed and crafted message. It is vital that your message informs and is credible and factual.  You also want to be prepared to answer any tough questions that may be raised regarding your position and help alleviate any concerns among elected officials, the media and the public. Having a message that is factual and based on credible personal stories and sources goes a long way in building support.

In Conclusion

When bringing attention to an issue, both new and traditional tactics can be used together to mobilize your community, gain support, and ultimately bring about desired policy and legislative changes. Digital advocacy and social media campaigns are persuasive and bring awareness, while traditional measures bring people to concrete action within the community. A balance of these different tactics will help result in successful campaigns. These strategies used with a strong message, grab people’s attention and provide them with enough facts to make an educated decision to act. A community mobilized behind an issue is an extremely effective force in getting a legislative or policy change. In fact, it’s near impossible to get things done otherwise.

Need more advice or help?

For more information, visit us at www.arc3communications.com or contact Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com. We look forward to working with you to achieve your goals and help your voice be heard to bring positive changes to your community.

Content Marketing Internship – Fall 2019

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Arc 3 Communications, an Atlanta area-based agency specializing in content, digital and advocacy is seeking an intern in the area of content marketing.

Arc 3 is looking for an intern that would like to further their experience in content marketing in the trade association, public affairs and government space. Desired skills include knowledge of content creation, social media management and analytics tools, as well as strong writing skills. Knowledge of design tools such as Photoshop, Canva and Google Drawings is a plus. Internship would be part-time or full time; virtually or at our office.

Applicants must be a current college undergraduate or graduate student. Academic credit can be arranged for internship.

We are a startup with a bold vision. If you are looking to gain professional experience in politics and public affairs while learning content marketing strategies, please contact our Founder, Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com 

The 2 Most Popular Article Types for Association Content Marketers

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In a digital age, content marketing is one of the best marketing strategies that can be used by associations’ large and small. There is a wide variety of options in the world of content marketing and choosing the best types of content for your association can be challenging. Of course, you do not have to use just one type of content, in fact using a variety of different content formats is good for keeping your membership and stakeholder audiences interested. These different types of content can be tailored to fit your association and reach your target audiences. This guide will identify two of the most popular forms of content out there right now and explain what each of these can accomplish for your association.

  1. Listicle Articles

We have all read listicle articles in magazines or on social media, even if we didn’t know that is what they were called. In fact, the article you are reading right now is a listicle. Listicles are highly popular due to their ability to be very informative while being easy-to-read and aesthetically pleasing. Arranging information in a list format and including numbers in the title and body of the article has been proven to be psychologically attractive and draws in readers. People like having their information in list form; and with a catchy title, this form of content can greatly increase page views, shares and likes.  Listicles will usually have a numerically based title, for example: “Top 10,” “6 Ways to,” “5 best,” etc. These numbers can either be a ranking system or simply organize information into the list. Unlike How-To articles (which we will discuss next) listicles do not necessarily have to show someone how to do something or teach a skill; it can simply be used for informing readers or for entertainment purposes. The items in a listicle will usually be related to an overall theme such as “10 Things to Consider When Writing Captivating Content for Members”. This theme will be something related to your association that will attract your membership and stakeholders. Listicles are immensely popular and can be tailored to any policy or content bucket.

  1. How-To Articles

How-to articles are another extremely popular form of content. The how-to article is written in a sequence of steps and shows the reader how to perform a skill or complete a task. In the past it was enough to use a title like “How to do…” but now, with social media and endless online articles for your members and stakeholders to choose from, you have to be creative with your titles and content in order to catch the attention of readers. How-to articles are much more specific than listicles, usually explaining a specific task or skill. Often, listicles and how-to articles can cross paths with steps and guides written in a numbered list format like “10 Easy Steps to Building a Remarkably Popular Website.” This translates roughly to “How to Build a Website” but uses much more exciting and interesting language. Like listicle articles, how-to articles increase traffic, shares, and likes and can benefit your SEO and keyword placement. Writing how-to articles that take a unique approach to a topic and take a new angle on what might be a well-known subject to your members is the key to leveraging this content format.

In the End, Quality Content Works

Ultimately, the most important thing about creating content is making sure that it is of high quality.  You can pump out countless content pieces, fast and furious; and have them all fall flat because there is no value to them. Quality over quantity is the golden rule when it comes to creating new content for your marketing campaigns. Well-crafted content will boost the visibility of your website and ultimately increase your audience numbers. Interesting and readable content will go far in engaging your membership and keep them coming back for more. Strong content is also more likely to be shared on social media, thus acting as free advertising and driving traffic to your website and generating membership leads for your association. While the two content types discussed in this article are the most popular and effective, they certainly are in no way the only types you can use to be effective. In the end, if you create quality content, your membership and stakeholder audiences will rely on you time and again as a trusted and valuable resource.

For more information or help with your association’s content marketing visit us at www.arc3communications.com or contact Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com. We look forward to working with you to achieve your goals and develop successful content marketing strategies to help your association grow.

How to Run a Lucrative Email Marketing Campaign

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What is the difference between an email newsletter and an email marketing campaign? This is a good question and one that a lot of companies and organizations may have when designing their marketing strategies. This article will help distinguish between these two tools as well as help you create and implement an email marketing campaign that is successful.

E-Newsletter vs. Email Marketing Campaign

First things first, let’s take a look at the difference between an E-newsletter and an email marketing campaign.

An e-newsletter is a regularly occurring email that contains strong informational content that relates to your readers and their lifestyle or interests. Newsletters are not advertisements and do not push products or services. Instead, these emails develop and build relationships with your audience by relating to them on a personal level. This content will be related to your business or market and drives website traffic which can lead to conversions.

An email marketing campaign consists of many different types of emails used together in a strategy to persuade the recipient to take an action such as making a donation or purchasing a service or product. An e-newsletter is considered a part of an email marketing campaign, in addition to other email types such as welcome emails, promotional emails, retention emails, and nurture emails. We will discuss these different email types further, but for now, just think of an e-newsletter as one tool in an email marketing campaign.

Now that you know the difference between e-newsletters and email marketing campaigns, we can discuss how to develop and implement a successful email marketing campaign.

Running a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Email is still one of the largest communication tools used today, with 90 percent of adults and 74 percent of teenagers using email regularly according to the company OptinMonster. This makes email one of the most efficient ways to reach your customer base. Here are the steps you can take to create a lucrative email marketing campaign. 

  1. Set Your Goals

Before beginning to design your emails, it is important to set goals you want to achieve with your campaign. These goals will vary depending on your business but some of the common goals are:

  • Welcoming new subscribers to your campaign which involves informing them about who you are and what you do. This begins the relationship building process.
  • Strengthening existing relationships with current subscribers by providing them with useful information and incentives.
  • Touching base with inactive or less active subscribers to try to get them to reengage with your business or organization.
  • Encourage engagement with strong content and calls to action to drive conversions.
  • Target your subscribers by segmenting them based on data you collect to deliver relevant content to the right people.

Keep in mind your conversion goals when developing your email marketing campaign goals so one can help the other.

  1. Create Strong Opt-ins

Opt-ins are how you will initially get and grow your audience. These are forms strategically located on your website where visitors can sign up to receive your emails. It is important that these are eye-catching, well designed and prominent without being annoying or overpowering. Having a pop-up when people navigate to your site, a visible form that stands out on your homepage, or an exit pop-up when people are leaving your site are good ways to catch the attention and drive your call to action(CTA) for subscribers.

  1. Use Different Email Types

As we discussed earlier, there are different types of emails that can be used as a part of your campaign. These email types will work together to help you reach the goals you have set.

  • Promotional Emails are offers and sale information that promote your business and can include coupons or special events.
  • Transaction Emails include welcome messages and confirmations for sign-ups, orders/purchases or information changes.
  • Relational Emails are where your E-newsletter come into play. These emails deliver relationship building content and appreciation to your subscribers (free gifts, thank you notes, etc.).
  • Follow-up Emails are emails that can be scheduled to follow promotions or newsletters to keep your subscribers active.

  1. Crafting Your Email Designs

 Content and design are very important aspects of a good email marketing campaign. Without strong content, catchy subject lines, and professional, clean design; your emails will be overlooked, go unread, or you could even lose subscribers. Strategies such as personalization, valuable information, polls and surveys, and incentives can be used to help drive open and click-through rates. It is also very important to include a call to action in your emails that encourages your readers to take an action like making a purchase, partaking in an event, or becoming a paying member. These are best when short, clear, and to the point and will work for you if your content and design are strong and relevant.

  1. Use Tools, Tech, and Software

There are many programs and services available to help create email templates, automate email scheduling delivery, track success and goal completions, and help to segment your audience. Services like Mailchimp provide all of these aspects in one place and can help you make sure your campaign runs smoothly. Tools like these are necessary to keep track of where you stand with your goal completions. This can also allow you to test new ideas and gauge the success rate of these ideas, giving you much control over your own success.

  1. Test Runs and Tracking

Anytime you are sending a mass email it is always smart to do a test run. This can involve sending your email to people designated as test readers, such as an inside marketing team; to check for errors, broken links, and to see what your audience will see. You can also do test runs with your audience to test things such as send times, calls to action, and subject lines. You will always want to track email activity with your subscribers so you can see what works and what doesn’t. This way you can keep doing things that are working with your subscribers and change and test things that might work better. This will be key to helping you reach your set goals and drive conversion goals as well.

For more information or help with your email marketing campaign visit us at www.arc3communications.com or contact Patrick Burns at pburns@arc3communications.com. We look forward to working with you to achieve your goals and develop successful e-mail marketing strategies to help you grow.

 

Welcome New Account Executive Paul McNally!

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Arc 3 Communications welcomes Paul McNally as Account Executive. McNally is a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University with a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Media Studies. With a strong passion and skill for writing, research, content creation, marketing and media, he is the perfect addition to Arc 3 Communications.

During his career, McNally has worked on many impressive projects. His proudest work was teaming up with the non-profit Sober Living America in creating a media kit and campus event at Kennesaw State University which raised awareness of addiction among young adults and students. He wrote multiple articles that were published in the 2018 edition of KSU’s communication magazine, Pipeline including alumni stories; coverage of the dedication ceremony of the new radio lab named for the late Rhubarb Jones, a beloved Atlanta country music radio host; and a story on a new study abroad program in Milan, Italy. Prior to attending Kennesaw State University, Paul attended the Art Institute of Atlanta where he studied graphic design and animation. While a senior at KSU, he interned for an entire year at Arc 3 Communications with company president Patrick L. Burns. 

In his free time, he likes to read, write, draw, and spend time with his wife, Cobb County school teacher Trish McNally and their lovely black Labrador, Malcolm. Together the couple loves traveling, hiking, and enjoying nature. They just recently returned from traveling abroad with the Workaway program, a service program that allows people to work a variety of jobs in return for food and board, in which they volunteered all around Europe. During their three-and-a-half-month trip they worked on farms in Sweden, art festivals and foster animal care in Wales, a tango event in Germany, gardening in London, as well as visiting Amsterdam and Denmark.

“I am really excited to work with Arc 3 Communications to bring clients quality content and account service,” McNally said, “It is an innovative company doing amazing work with the top associations and companies from across the country right in the heart of downtown Marietta.”

Website Development Case Study: Georgia Secretary of State

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Georgia Secretary of StateProject Goals

For several years, the Georgia Secretary of State  conducted the Peanut Poll, a straw poll held every year at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. Each year, the straw poll focused on participant’s choices for federal elected office such as President and U.S. Senate. One of the most successful straw polls in the country, the poll was a part of the Georgia Secretary of State’s mission to raise awareness about elections and encourage voter registration.

However, in 2017 with no major election pending, the Secretary of State’s office sought to re-brand the Peanut Poll to be a contest to have Georgians pick the best high school football team in the state. In addition to a re-branding to reflect the change in direction of the poll, the Secretary of State sought to develop a new website and online polling system that would allow Georgians to vote for one of the 460 high school football teams online and on tablets at the Georgia Grown booth at the fair.  After voting, participants would be directed to the Secretary of State’s online voter registration page to check their registration status and register to vote if they had not already. The new “Gridiron Showdown” Peanut Poll sought to engage high school students who were now eligible to register to vote, but had not yet done so.

Our Solution

With the Georgia National Fair coming up quickly, the Arc 3 Communications team worked expeditiously with the Secretary of State’s Outreach Staff to create a new and unique brand for the Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll. A new mobile first website was developed that incorporated a polling system that allowed for visitors to quickly vote for one of Georgia’s 460 high school football teams. Upon voting, Georgians were directed to the Secretary of State’s online voter registration page. At the Georgia National Fair’s Georgia Grown Booth visitors were presented with i-pads upon which they could visit the website and vote for their favorite team while voters from across the state also submitted their ballots on the website. The website polling system calculated and displayed the results in real-time as they happened. Each day at 5 p.m, a special guest would announce the results at the Georgia Grown Booth at the Fair. Voting results announced on the website were easily able to be shared on social networks.

Results

The new Peanut Poll brand incorporating a football referee raised awareness about the new nature of the poll and athletic directors from across the Georgia High School Association were excited about the poll and encouraged students, athletes and parents to participate. The Georgia National Fair also publicized the straw poll and the opportunity to vote at the Georgia Grown booth.

By the time of kickoff and voting began, media outlets around the state had already started talking about the Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll and social media was buzzing. After ten days, over hundreds of thousands of votes had been cast making the Peanut Poll one of the most successful straw polls and voter registration efforts in the country. The Peanut Poll was embraced not only by high school communities in and around the Georgia National Fair in middle Georgia, but by 460 school communities from across the entire state. Participants from all walks of life participated in the Peanut Poll, including some celebrity voters such as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue who visited the Georgia Grown Booth and cast his vote for his favorite team. Special guests who announced the daily results included Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black who also cast the first vote at the fair online.

In the end, the new Peanut Poll was a success in its ultimate goal of encouraging folks to register to vote. The Georgia Secretary of State’s online voter registration page saw not only a surge in visitors, but also an increase in voter registrations. Because of the 2017 Gridiron Showdown Peanut Poll, new voters will cast their ballots in the 2018 Elections for the first time. These new voters will cast their ballots for something more important than their favorite football team; they will have the opportunity to vote for who will serve them in public office at the local, state and federal levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Location

We’re located in historic downtown Marietta just off of the Square.

57 Waddell Street Marietta Georgia 30060

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