Constant Contact: Miserly or generous?

I recently viewed Constant Contact's program for nonprofits and wasn't very impressed.  To get free service, you must work directly with kids for literacy, arts or education AND be nominated by a current Constant Contact customer.  Otherwise, you can get a "generous" discount: prepay for 6 months and receive a 20% discount or for 1 year and receive a 30% discount. I'm a huge fan of free and feel as though I must ask: why pay for Constant Contact when you can get services for free elsewhere?  If it's the services they provide, think of this: most people don't like getting survey after survey after email ask after email ask.  It really sucks for lack of better terminology. 

Vertical Response: Email Marketing for Nonprofits (and others)

There are so many email marketing services out there: Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.  Why should a nonprofit go with Vertical Response?  Because they have a free program that allows up to 10,000 emails per month and nice discounts on other services (postcards, surveys).  I'm also a fan of their marketing education library, which can be useful too.  A 98% delivery rate isn't bad either. Neither is social media integration. 

Tweetmeme-The tweet aggregator

Tweetmeme has several uses.  You can retweet the most popular tweets, find content, and post content.  How do you post?  Add a button to your site.  Users can comment on stories, tweet story comments, and promote your own original content. 

Storify: unleasing the storyteller in all of us

Use Storify to collect social media stories from around the web.  Compile them and turn them into one big story that uses embedded links to post online. Right now, potential users have to request an invite.  Totally worth it.  Storify can be used in Mailchimp, Tumblr, Posterous and WordPress.

MailChimp: Reliving my youth through email

The Mailchimp logo looks like a cousin of Curious George.  I fell in love instantly.  Not only can I use it for free to create mailing lists of under 2,000 people and 12,000 emails/month, but the emails can include co-branding, social stats, facebook integration, templates and more.  It's also Storify friendly. This is perfect for enterepreneurs, startups and small nonprofits.

Next Digest

From Tech Jobs to startup news, NextDigest sends readers weekly reading lists with uberhelpful articles, like the best social marketing sites.  I'm subscribed to each list.  Who are the curators?  Marketers for venture firms, successful entrepreneurs, and a TEDx Curator. 

Cause Marketing Forum

The big prize from Cause Marketing Forum and AOL 365: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive the opportunity to have their organization’s message featured on the home page of AOL for up to 24 consecutive hours on a date to be determined by Sponsors between June 3, 2011 and December 31, 2011 (approximate retail value $60,000). 

What you have to do: 1) A short essay on how your cause-related initiative would leverage this exposure

2) The power of the three lines of copy and image you submit.

End date: April 15th (tax day). 

Start date: March 8th

Contact: Sara.Bennet@teamaol.com

AOL 365

I can't wait until April (and not just because of my birthday).  AOL 365 launches.  This initiative gives nonprofits exposure on the front page (top right corner) of AOL's site.  How do you get on the homepage?  Through contests.  They're highlighting one nonprofit/day for a year.

Inc Magazine

What's so great about Inc Magazine is that you can find it offline too.  They're best at blog articles regarding web applications that help make business operations easier and marketing easier.  I'm a Twitter follower and a fan on Facebook. This magazine is created especially for the entrepreneur.  However, nonprofits should follow this site too.

Twitalyzer

What can I say about Twitalyzer? It's an amazing site.  You can find out your Twitter impact or the impact of your favorite users.  Your clout, lists, followers, followings, signal, generosity, velocity, engagement, influence and impact are all analyzed.  For a complete list of how they score a user, along with an explanation, click here.  Plus, they have a discount program for nonprofits if you want to use one of their paid plans.  The average user doesn't need a paid plan though.