First off, I want to give a big shout out to everyone who joined us at our first Take Action User Seminar of 2011! It was a great way to kick-off our country-wide tour.

A lot of content was covered – from Social Media in 30 Minutes, to Building Customer Relationships and Email in the Social Age.

I was really impressed by the high level of attendee engagement and the thought provoking questions that were asked. Here’s a few of the questions and answers so you can take what was shared and put it into action for your business.

Q: How often should I update my social media sites with new Tweets and posts?

A: It’s a highly guarded secret and the answer is…It depends. Yes, that’s really the answer. There isn’t a number that is perfect for every business and every audience as it varies. We would, however, say a good “guideline” would be to tweet once or twice a day, and update your Facebook page a few times a week. Again, this totally depends on the content you have to offer. Don’t just tweet to tweet or update your Facebook if you have nothing to say. Content rules so be relevant and your readers will respond. Read our Social Media Marketing Guides for more insight.

Q: If you don’t have reviews for every product or service, is it better not to use any at all?

A: It’s important to use the information you have and leverage customer feedback. Reviews are great for that! If you’re trying to get more reviews for your products, displaying the (good) reviews is a great way to go. You could also add some copy around products that don’t have any reviews and say, “Be the first to review this item!” Remember, you have to start somewhere. Displaying customer reviews is a helpful way to encourage more reviews. Read more about reviews in my blog post, Restaurant/Bar Reviews…How Do You Handle Negativity?

Q: What exactly is A/B Testing, and how do I do it in VerticalResponse?

A: An A/B test is simply a split test, and it’s easy to do this in VR by creating list segments. Split a list into multiple, randomized lists and test anything (i.e., changes in content or timing). All you need to do is create multiple versions of your email (change whatever it is you’re testing) and send the emails to your different list segments. Learn everything about creating segments on our helpsite.

Q: Can I set up my VR account to work with Google Analytics?

A: Yes, we have an integration with Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Integration tracks the traffic your emails are generating for your website. To activate the integration:

1. Go to Account > Analytics Settings.
2. Select the Google Analytics tab (this should be selected by default).
3. Enter the domains of the websites you’re tracking with Google Analytics.  Note that we do not need to know every web page you’re tracking – just the domain itself.
4. Click Save Domains.

Learn more in our Advanced Reporting and Analytics section of the helpsite.

Q: How do I add social sharing buttons in my emails?

A: There are two ways to add the Facebook and Twitter social sharing links in your emails. The first is to share an article within your email, and the second is to share your whole email. We have a new tutorial on our helpsite that walks you through the simple steps to add the social sharing links to your email.

Don’t worry if you missed our SF Take Action User Seminar. You can learn helpful information like this – and more! – when we take the show on the road. Check out our seminar schedule and sign up when we visit a city near you!

© 2011 – 2018, Contributing Author. All rights reserved.