Month: December, 2011

An Astonishing Community – Community Building 101 with Jennifer Fitta

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With a passion for community building, Jennifer Fitta is Astonish Results’ very own social media specialist. Since joining the Astonish family, Jenn has successfully influenced how our company and clients connect through social media. Growing up in Fall River, Massachusetts, Jenn received her degree from Bryant University in 2008. Jenn was able to experience the power of social media while working for Harvard Medical School, where she focused on community building and special events. With the unique ability to build active, engaged social communities, Jenn has now brought her social strength and creativity to Astonish Results.

As a member of the Internet Marketing Team, Jenn has had the opportunity to be a part of not only our company’s community but the communities of more than 40 clients. Jenn has already begun to change and shape the way Astonish clients interact with their current customers and prospects.  Jenn has revamped the initial call structure, implementing a question and answer session which provides her with the ability to better understand each Astonish client’s brand image; ultimately helping her tailor the set-up of each agency’s social media accounts.

“I find what I do FUN! I’m psyched about my position and what I can do every day to impact the company for the better. I love my clients and knowing that what I do helps them grow and become more interactive with their sites.”- Jenn

So what is community building? According to Jenn, community building means taking one’s social media efforts to the next level. Community building is more than just a simply posting something to your Facebook Page; community building is interacting with your Facebook fans through many types of social interactions. This may include going to a client’s page and commenting on the photo they posted, then after they respond to your comment, actually taking the time to write back; continuing the conversation. Community building can also entail holding a Facebook contest to get your agency’s Facebook friends involved in the betterment of your local community.

Forming a strong community through Internet marketing tactics is social media at its highest level.  Think of your social media strategy as cultivating an online community, right behind your own computer. Social media brings people together and creates a society full of access and opportunity.  Community building is also a great social media tactic to become familiar with because it provides a business with the opportunity to interact with people or other businesses that you otherwise may not have been able to do.

One of the best client examples Jenn has witnessed, since joining Astonish, comes from Illinois’ Equity Insurance. Since becoming a member of the Astonish family, agency owner, Chuck Rowland has proactively followed Jenn’s advice; taking control over his social community. With Jenn’s coaching and best practices, Chuck has jumped right in; actively posting and communicating with the agency’s fans and followers.

Jenn takes her job to the next level, by actively getting to know all of her Astonish clients. She takes the time to understand their agency culture, research their surrounding community, local media resources and even their competition. Not only does she build a community for her clients, but she also builds a social community for herself. She enjoys knowing that at the end of the day she positively impacted someone’s social media strategy; and better yet their overall insurance marketing strategy.   Astonish’s RFM’s (Raving Fan Managers) have also helped Jenn to build a relationship with each client, by having her participate in client meetings and conference calls – whatever it takes for her to better understand each agency’s unique culture!. Community building is an important social media tactic for all of us to utilize and Jenn really knows how to stay PSYCHED about it!

Astonish Results Welcomes Mary Mack to the Astonish Team

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Everyone say hello to our newest employee, Mary Mack! Mary is taking on the role of SEO Specialist at Astonish Results and will be concentrating most of her efforts on link building.

“Link building is such a key part of SEO and Public Relations, and it’s so impressive that Astonish has recognized that and created this position. I’m really looking forward to helping our clients build their online presence!”

Mary is a native of Newport, Rhode Island and lives there with her husband, Andy and their pug/basset hound mix, Kenny Powers. A special congrats goes out to our new astonishing team member as she just got married on 11/11/11!

Mary recently earned her Master’s degree in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University’s online program. At graduation, she received the honor of class Salutatorian and a course director award for Advanced Search Engine Optimization. She also has a B.A., in Communications and Media Arts with a concentration in TV/Video from Emerson College in Boston, MA.

While at Emerson, she did her internship at the CBS soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” and moved to Los Angeles after graduation to work as a writer for a comedy website. She’s still funny (or at least her mom thinks so), but she’s found her “happy place” focusing on SEO and Internet Marketing and most importantly helping to strengthen our clients’ insurance marketing strategies.

A Britney Spears supporter since 1998, Mary was even voted “Most Likely to Go on Tour with Britney Spears” in high school. She also loves Top 40 music and knows that she has secured her status as an “adult teeny bopper.”

Mary has always been obsessed with the Internet, so she’s thrilled to be the newest addition to the Astonish Results family! Very few people can say they get paid to do what they love and Mary knows she’s lucky to be one of them!

Behind the Scenes in the Internet Marketing Department- Meet and Greet with Sara Day and Rachel Weiss

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The Internet Marketing department at Astonish has been growing, and there are two very important people we wanted to highlight. Meet Content and Social Media Specialists, Sara Day and Rachel Weiss. The two specialists have been working hard on the content and social media for our clients for the past few months, and absolutely love it!

“From the application process on, I just loved the culture of the company. I already feel like I’ve been here forever!”- Sara Day 

Sara originally grew up in Lewisburg, PA, and then went on to college in Boston where she earned her degree from Emerson College. Sara loves the show Dexter, eating peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, and watching trashy reality television!

The Internet Marketing department is more of a team at Astonish; everyone is always sharing ideas and encouraging conversation to get the writing juices flowing! Sara has been more focused on content writing since her arrival at Astonish, but will soon be moving into more of a social media role. She is excited for more responsibility and the new tasks that lie ahead of her!

Rachel Weiss has been working hard with the Internet Marketing team here at Astonish. Just like Sara, Rachel focuses on content for our clients. Rachel is originally from Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Northeastern University she held a range of different positions, before landing at, Astonish Results.

“I was so happy when I came across this position. Everyone has a positive attitude and loves what they do. It’s a team and a family. I love it!”- Rachel Weiss

When she isn’t blogging away, Rachel loves to spend time with her dog, cook and bake homemade treats! Rachel is always bringing in delicious snacks for the whole Astonish team including gluten free brownies, and frosted cupcakes!

These two astonishing team members are just a glimpse of the talent we have working here at Astonish! More updates about our team members and the Astonish Results community will be sure to come every day.

Astonishing Results for our Make-A-Wish Foundation Charity Initiative, Mid- Month Update!

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Mid- way through the month, Astonish Results has raised over 21,000 dollars for our charity initiative, benefitting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island! With roughly two weeks left in December, the Astonish Results family hopes to double this number, all while positively impacting the lives of local children.

Astonish Results CEO and Founder, Adam DeGraide, decided to sweeten the deal early this week when he announced that he would donate an additional $1 for every new “like” on the Adam DeGraide Facebook Fan page. Furthermore, if the CEO’s Fan Page reaches 700 likes by December 31st, 2011, DeGraide will donate an additional $500 on top of all the other funds raised so far! It is surely shaping up to be an astonishing month so far!

Photo By: www.massri.wish.org

Just some facts on Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island: 

Photo: Google

 

  • Chapter founded in 1987, fulfilled their child’s first wish who had Niemen-Pick Disease
  • The foundation has served over 4,500 children in Massachusetts and over 1,000 in Rhode Island.
  • Ever dollar counts to help a child’s wish come true; it takes an average of $4,000- $6,000 to make one child’s wish come true.

Astonish Results Has a New SEO Content Writer

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Let’s welcome Jamie Silverstein, who has recently joined the Astonish Results family has as an SEO Content Writer! Jamie will be working directly with the Astonish Marketing team, helping to craft an array of compelling branded content, ranging from: blog posts, email campaigns, print materials and company press releases.

 

“I am going to stay focused on marketing and blogging about all the best parts of Astonish Results while helping out in whatever is needed, says Silverstein.”

 

Jamie is originally from Monroe Township, New Jersey.
As a University of Rhode Island graduate, Jamie studied Journalism and Leadership. During her college experience she interned at three different companies, which have helped to better shape who she is as a professional today.

 

Jamie’s first experience was in New York City. She worked for Megaforce Records as a PR/Marketing/Social Media/ Events Intern. There she immersed herself in everything PR; from  writing press releases, blogging , updating social media sites and setting up sound checks and events( with bands such as Metallica and Third Eye Blind). After her internship with Megaforce, she knew writing, public relations, and event planning were her passions and set her sights on entering the integrated marketing industry upon graduating. With her career goals in mind, Jamie knew she had to continue to push forward. Instead of sitting back, she interned for a singer/songwriter James Grande that fall. She created marketing plans, maintained fan sites, a street team, and all of the artist’s media outlets.

With so much energy and excitement for what she was doing that spring she interned for the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce. There she stayed focused on event planning,public relations and marketing events such as the South County Golf Ball Drop and the Dancing with the Stars event, which was hosted at the Towers in Narragansett , Rhode Island.

She remains passionate about whatever life throws at her. During college she belonged to an international sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma. Instead of sitting back and enjoying the ride she change was needed.

Taking initiative, Jamie became the membership recruitment chairman of her organization and doubled her chapter in one semester growing to sorority from about 45 women to 105 women.

Jamie then went on to becoming the VP of Recruitment and PR where she spent the entire year organizing a formal recruitment process, for not only her organization,  but for the entire Greek community. When Jamie graduated in the spring of 2010 she became the Chapter Key Advisor for the Johnson and Wales chapter. Jamie donated a good portion of her free time, hoping to help the women of the chapter get everything she got out of the sorority experience while she was in college. Jamie always puts community service and philanthropy on the top of her list during her free time as well always volunteering and helping the community.

Silverstein has a strong passion for the mission and goals of this Astonish Results and is thrilled to join the team. Passionate about public relations and social media, Jamie hopes to leverage love of writing and contribute to the company in the fullest way possible.  After a year working in the sales industry, and gaining many skills to become a more well rounded individual she finally found a company, Astonish Results, that seemed to be a perfect fit for what she wanted to do with her life.

 

Digital Marketing Makes a Difference This Holiday Season

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     While digital marketing and the Internet changes every minute, due to rapidly involving technology, it is important for people to stop and think not only about what’s coming next but also how we can help those who are the future. Children deserve everything we have to improve their standard of living, since they are the ones that will be sitting at our desks someday. With  Astonish Results’ goalto further strengthen the company’s relationships with the local community; we are proud to announce our latest charity initiative. Throughout the month of December, Astonish Results will be donating a little bit of everything we earn to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

     As a leader in insurance marketing, Astonish Results is now striving to become a leader within the Rhode Island community, and we are thrilled to announce our latest partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; helping to make a positive change this holiday season. Make-A-Wish is one of the most well known non- profit organizations in the world, when it comes to fundraising and improving the lives and morale of children. The foundation is an international philanthropic non- profit to help grant wishes to children with various medical conditions and enrich their lives with hope, strength and joy. With such a creative and forward thinking company, the pioneer in digital marketing; Astonish Results seems to have paved the way this month for not only a success of the company but for the future of children.

Across the country, donations are made to support this incredible cause as much as they can each year. From athletic teams to other non-profit organizations to sororities and fraternities to individual families’ people come together for this important humbling cause to not only support but be a part of an international effort. Year after year some organizations donate such as Conference Carolinas members raised $12,309.47, an increase of nearly $900 from last year; while Chi Omega raised over 6.5 million and donated about 400,000 volunteer hours to Make-A-Wish. Astonish Results hopes to contribute this December to help our community. For Astonish Results, not only will they donate everything the company raises but Astonish executives will match every dollar raised by the campaign!

Astonish Results is proud to support The Make-A-Wish Foundation and encourages the community to follow its fundraising progress via the Astonish Results Facebook page.

About Astonish Results, LLC:

Astonish Results is a full-service digital marketing, SEO, customer relationship management (CRM), sales training, and consulting company. Built from the ground up, Astonish provides a series of specialized systems and best practices designed specifically for revenue growth within independent insurance agents. Since Astonish was founded in 2005, the company is now serving over 600 independent insurance agencies and routinely helps their clients double their revenue within two years.

 

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