Author Archives: Erika Lutz

Are Automated Posts the Best Solution for Your Social Media Efforts?

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Many companies and the marketing and communications agencies that represent them use social media management tools such as SproutSocial, Hootsuite or Radian6 to manage their social media accounts.

Many social media professionals love the scheduling features of these tools. Often scheduling tweets and Facebook posts in advance is done to save time, but is this having a negative effect on your engagement?


keiyac / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

1. Don’t be a robot. If your company’s tweets are posted everyday at 10 am, noon and 2 pm, followers will notice that. It will seem like you are simply tweeting three times a day because that’s what you’re expected to do, not because you have genuinely useful or relevant information to share. Also, it seems robotic, like a real person didn’t take the time to craft the tweet him or herself.

2. Interaction goes both ways. If your posts are all scheduled, you will be missing opportunities to interact with your followers. Say someone asks a question on Facebook. Ideally you would respond to their question in a timely fashion. One way to be sure you catch notifications quickly is to have your social media management tool up in the background of your computer, so that while still working on other projects, you can occasionally check to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

3. Stay up to date on the news. If your posts for the day are all already scheduled, you may not be taking into account breaking news and events that come up that affect your industry or company. When these things happen it is important that you respond as soon as possible, so as not to get lost in the crowd. Simply taking a half hour during the day to go through your news feed as well as search the news for any relevant industry updates, is a great way to share or retweet the timely news your audience wants to know.

There is absolutely a place for scheduling automated posts, such as if you want to share company news or a link to your newest blog post. However, scheduled posts have to be mixed with live posts in order to most effectively communicate with your audience.

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Get Heard With Fewer Words

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As people get more and more news from blogs, Facebook posts and tweets, content is becoming shorter and shorter. In fact, new guidelines put out by the Associated Press request that stories be no more than 500 words. Simply put, people want to read something short, sweet and to the point.


Fletcher Prince / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The same is true with journalists and editors. They get hundreds of emails a day, so chances are they aren’t interested in reading a long, detailed pitch and press release from you. They want to know the important facts as quickly as possible.

If your story isn’t getting heard, try making brevity and succinctness your focus. Here are some ways to do that:

Media Pitches:

  • Have a strong, attention-getting and short subject line
  • Make the media pitch a short and intriguing summary of the story in the body of the email
  • Be sure to focus on the timeliness and the local connection of the story, if applicable
  • Encourage interaction by providing multiple ways for the journalist to contact you, should they want more information

Press Releases:

  • Write more like a journalist, focusing on the news aspect of the story
  • Include the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How in the first couple paragraphs – that way if that’s the only thing they read they still get the gist of the story
  • Always limit press releases to one page
  • Save them as PDFs so they can be universally opened and send them as an attachment to your pitch email
  • Attach pictures if you have them that journalists can use to go with the story

Another suggestion is to use your media contact database to its full potential; at Kimball Communications our database tells us an editor’s preferred form of contact. Some prefer phone, email or Twitter, this is a good thing to use in order to follow up with them and gauge their interest in your story.

TeenCentral.Net Educates Teens about Dating Violence

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Online graphic novel educates teens about domestic violence, offers resources

Schnecksville, Pa. – One in three teens will experience some form of abuse from someone they are dating. To raise awareness of dating violence and help abused teens get help, TeenCentral.Net today announces the launch of ‘A Good Date Gone Bad.’

This online graphic novel – another in a series of themed sections on TeenCentral.Net – provides teenagers with information about domestic violence, including signs of dating violence, advice to handle an abusive date, and a safety plan to help teens avoid abuse.

“Although we hear about domestic violence in the news sometimes, dating violence among teens, which occurs with alarming frequency, is rarely discussed in public,” says Julius Licata, Ph.D., director of TeenCentral.Net. “Teens often don’t know what is normal or abnormal in a relationship. Because they may not recognize certain behaviors as abusive, ‘A Good Date Gone Bad’ offers insight and help for teens with concerns.”

‘A Good Date Gone Bad’ provides an interactive quiz to help teens identify if they are in an abusive relationship followed by steps on how get help. The steps include a list of certified websites and hotlines for victims to call. Another important section of the site is the safety plan, which encourages teens to have a plan in place that has been shared with trusted individuals to lower chances of being abused.

ABOUT TEENCENTRAL.NET
TeenCentral.Net is a unique prevention, intervention and aftercare website developed by KidsPeace, a national not-for-profit mental and behavioral healthcare charity headquartered in Lehigh Valley, Pa. TeenCentral.Net’s mission is to help teens safely and anonymously tell their stories and receive sound advice within 24 hours from specially trained volunteers and counselors. All postings by teens and volunteers are reviewed by Master’s level clinicians before appearing on the site. To learn more, visit TeenCentral.Net.

Shawn Yingling Takes the Helm at Glatfelter Healthcare Practice

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York, Pa. — May 5, 2014 — Glatfelter Program Managers (GPM), a strategic business unit dedicated to Glatfelter Insurance Group’s program business, has appointed Shawn Yingling as president of Glatfelter Healthcare Practice, effective today. Yingling is currently president of Glatfelter Religious Practice (GRP) and will maintain this role.

Yingling is a 26-year veteran of insurance program business. In 1988, he joined Glatfelter as a commercial underwriting specialist for the VFIS program, and then joined the Claims Department as a liability claims representative. Later, he was promoted to regional marketing representative for Glatfelter’s Ambulance Insurance Services, served as a producer for VFIS and then was promoted to Pennsylvania marketing and sales manager. In 2012, he was hired to lead GRP.

Licensed in all states, Yingling’s insurance designations include: Associate in Underwriting (AU), Associate in Claims (AIC), Accredited Advisor of Insurance (AAI), Associate in Insurance Services (AIS), Associate in Customer Services (ACS) and Certified Professional Insurance Agent (CPIA). He is currently working toward the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Associate in Management (AIM) designations. Yingling holds a bachelors’ degree from the Pennsylvania State University.

Sue Federinko, who led GHP as a senior vice president since 2013, retains this title as she moves to a leadership role on GHP’s sales team and assumes responsibility for all relationships with the program’s “Most Valuable Producers (MVPs).” She will also oversee all GHP territory east of the Mississippi and is responsible for expanding GHP’s distribution.

About Glatfelter Program Managers (GPM)
GPM (www.glatfelters.com/specialty_insurance_programs.asp) is a strategic business unit dedicated to Glatfelter Insurance Group’s program business. Based in York, Pa., GPM is one of the premier managers and recognized specialists of niche markets in the country. GPM manages and markets several specialty programs, including VFIS for fire departments, ambulance and rescue squads, and 911 centers; Glatfelter Public Practice for educational institutions, municipalities, independent school bus contractors and water/sewer entities; Glatfelter Healthcare Practice for skilled care, assisted living, independent living, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), personal care and group homes, hospice, home health care agencies and other private homecare agencies; and Glatfelter Religious Practice for churches, synagogues, temples and other religious institutions.

Cohen Feeley Marks 20 Years With Scholarships for Best of the Best

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BETHLEHEM, Pa., April 21, 2014 – On May 17 Cohen, Feeley, Altemose & Rambo will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Annual Best of the Best Scholarships Program. The law firm will award scholarship assistance to 37 Lehigh Valley, Hunterdon and Warren County high school students at the Event Center at Blue in Bethlehem.

The Best of the Best Scholarship Program was established by Martye Cohen and Dennis Feeley in 1994 to recognize one outstanding high school student from each high school in the Lehigh Valley. The program added 10 high schools in Hunterdon and Warren counties in 2013.

“The kids receiving these scholarships are selected through a committee that considers their academic achievements, extracurricular activities and the challenges they have overcome to excel at school and in life,” explained Martin D. Cohen, founding partner of the personal injury and commercial litigation law firm. “They are, without question, the best of the best.”

In addition, one male and one female from the Lehigh Valley and Warren and Hunterdon Counties is selected from the 37 honorees to be named overall Best of the Best. Two other students from all the applicants are granted the Team Capital Bank Community Service Award.

“Martye and I started Best of the Best 20 years ago to help make a difference in people’s lives,” said Dennis Feeley, a partner at Cohen, Feeley, Altemose & Rambo. “In the past 20 years we’ve provided assistance to nearly 700 area high school students and helped improve their lives and their communities at the same time.”

In the spirit of the program’s efforts to give back, the law firm also makes charitable donations in the name of each award recipient to a charity of the student’s choice.

The scheduled keynote speaker for the May 17 breakfast ceremony will be Temple Law School Dean JoAnne A. Epps.

ABOUT COHEN FEELEY
Cohen Feeley, Altemose & Rambo is a personal injury and commercial litigation law firm serving the needs of those in the Lehigh Valley and beyond for more than 30 years. Cohen, Feeley Altemose & Rambo has offices in Bethlehem and Allentown, Pa. For more information, please visit www.cohenfeeley.com

NAPCO Report: Low Property Catastrophe Losses and New Capital Drive Down Pricing and Increase Competition Among Insurers

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State of the Market Insights Report asks whether the continued increase in industry capital from non-traditional sources will force insurers to rethink products and pricing

Iselin, N.J. — April 8, 2014 — With low global insured catastrophe losses and added capacity from non-traditional market sources, insurers have become increasingly competitive and are reducing rates for most accounts. This is a key takeaway from State of the Market: NAPCO Property Catastrophe Insights report from NAPCO, a wholesale insurance broker with expertise in the property catastrophe market.

Drawing on broker and insurer insights, as well as industry wide statistics, this report analyzes property-catastrophe insurance industry performance in 2013, catastrophe losses and trends for 2014.

“While catastrophe model guidance and rating agency pressure continue to play an important role in pricing and evaluating risks, the continued increase in the industry’s capital – including new capital from non-traditional sources – is changing how pricing is done,” says David Pagoumian, CEO of NAPCO. “These developments may begin to disrupt old business models and force insurers to rethink products and pricing.”

According to Pagoumian, brokers who understand the marketplace have an opportunity to help clients figure out when to remarket programs and how to structure programs to provide better coverage and pricing.

Key report findings include:

  • At about $31 billion, 2013 global catastrophe losses were well below the 10-year average, with no one event proving capable of affecting pricing.
  • Insurers’ net income rose 55 percent to $43 billion, thanks to strong growth in premiums and low catastrophe losses.
  • New capital from non-traditional sources now totals $50 billion, and catastrophe bonds are being used to protect against a wider array of risks.
  • Low catastrophe losses plus competition from alternative markets are driving down the price of reinsurance, 10 to 25 percent on loss-free accounts.
  • The frame habitational and commercial flood insurance markets remain difficult.
  • After raising rates in 2012 following a CAT model release, insurers kept rates relatively stable throughout most of 2013; in 2014 expect a soft market where insurers offer lower prices and plenty of capacity.

Download the full Fall 2013 State of the Market report at http://bit.ly/SOTMSpring14 for a deeper analysis of these trends detailed placement considerations for brokers.

About NAPCO
NAPCO (www.napcollc.com) is a leading wholesale broker of commercial property insurance coverage, providing retail agents and brokers with an efficient, single-source independent marketing arm for difficult placements that have significant exposure. The company utilizes in-depth research and sophisticated risk modeling to implement coverage and cost-effective programs. Headquartered in Iselin, N.J., NAPCO provides access to the global insurance market, including major and specialty domestic carriers, excess and surplus lines markets, reinsurers and international providers.

Venture Expands Cyber Liability Coverage for Club and Hotel/Resort Programs

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PREFERRED CLUB and Suitelife programs respond to increased demand for broad, affordable privacy and data breach protection; complimentary risk management and data breach response services included.

West Chester, Pa. — April 1, 2014 — Venture Insurance Programs (www.ventureprograms.com) today announced it has expanded and enhanced privacy and data breach protection for its PREFERRED CLUB program for golf and country clubs, and its Suitelife programs for hotels and resorts.

The policy offers flexible, more affordable coverage for the costs to respond to a data breach, along with the costs to defend and resolve claims for statutory violations, negligence, regulatory investigations and breach of contract. Risk management and data breach prevention and response services are also offered. Coverage is written through Hiscox, a cyber insurance specialist with an A.M. Best rating of A (Excellent).

“The alarming increase in cyber attacks has highlighted the need for privacy and data breach protection in the hospitality industry, and we’re pleased to offer coverage that is not only broad in scope, but also more affordable for clubs and hotels of all sizes,” said Philip J. Harvey, founder and president of Venture Programs. “Club members and hotel and resort guests expect their information to be secure, and whether an attack is a targeted hack or simply a lost employee laptop, the result can be a costly claim and damaged reputation.”

Venture offers clubs, hotel and resorts a fast, easy process to obtain privacy and data breach protection, with limits up to $2 million and coverage available for risks up to $100 million in revenue. Coverage highlights include:

  • Retentions available from $5,000 to $25,000 and scaled based on revenues
  • Full limit for breach notification costs, with an option for Breach Costs Outside the Limit
  • Full limit for computer forensics
  • Duty to Defend policy
  • Coverage for breach of contract claims, including those under a payment card processing or service provider agreement
  • Coverage for regulatory actions, including investigations by the FTC or state attorney general, as well as coverage for civil penalties (where allowed), and compensatory awards such as consumer redress funds
  • $25,000 of PCI Fines coverage and PCI Remediation coverage included at no additional premium
  • Ability to add additional coverage modules including: Multimedia Liability, Hacker Damage, Cyber Business Interruption and Cyber Extortion

 

Coverage also includes complimentary risk management assistance and prevention services, as well as complimentary breach response services, including one hour with a data breach coach and access to breach response providers.

About Venture Insurance Programs
Venture Insurance Programs (www.ventureprograms.com) is a leading program administrator that designs, underwrites and distributes industry-specific insurance packages. Based in West Chester, Pa., Venture has underwriting alliances with the world’s leading carrier groups, including Chubb, Allied World, RSUI, USLI, Zurich North America, ACE, Monitor and Lloyd’s of London. Founded in 1993, Venture provides specialty insurance packages for select vertical industries—including golf and country clubs, golf destination resorts, hotels, resorts, hunting and fishing lodges and city and social clubs.

Cohen Feeley Altemose & Rambo Takes Time For Lehigh Valley Big Brothers Big Sisters Event

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BETHLEHEM, Pa., March 4, 2014 – Cohen Feeley Altemose & Rambo, a Lehigh Valley personal injury and commercial litigation law firm, was an event sponsor for Bowl for Kids’ Sake on Sunday, March 2, 2014. The annual event is hosted by Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley and was held from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. at the AMF Parkway Lanes in Allentown.

The law firm received a Corporate Sponsor Award for making a $1,000 donation to the event. Employees of the firm volunteered their time to participate and bowl for the children. Cohen, Feeley, Altemose & Rambo has supported Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley for more than 20 years.

ABOUT COHEN FEELEY
Cohen Feeley, Altemose & Rambo is a personal injury and commercial litigation law firm serving the needs of those in the Lehigh Valley and beyond for more than 30 years. Cohen, Feeley Altemose & Rambo has offices in Bethlehem and Allentown, Pa. For more information, please visit www.cohenfeeley.com

ReSource Pro Named a Top 100 Best Human Resource Management Company

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NEW YORK – ReSource Pro, a leading provider of business process management solutions for the insurance industry, has been named to the list of Top 100 Best Human Resource Management (HRM) Companies operating in China. This is ReSource Pro’s fourth time being listed as a Top 100 Best HRM Company since the list began in 2006.

The independent panel of judges that selected ReSource Pro identify companies that distinguish themselves based on a series of criteria that include training, employee benefits, leadership development programs, and an outstanding dedication to making the workplace a postive and rewarding experience.

The list is compiled annually by 51job (Nasdaq: JOBS), a leading human resource solutions provider with 25 offices in mainland China serving hundreds of thousands of domestic and multinational companies.

“We pride ourselves on building a culture that respects and provides opportunities to our people because it aligns with our values and returns better results to our clients,” said ReSource Pro CEO Dan Epstein.

Headquartered in Manhattan, ReSource Pro recently announced the opening of a third China office in the city of Huangdao.

About ReSource Pro
ReSource Pro LLC, a premier provider of business management process solutions, was named one of the top 100 global outsourcing companies by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, and has appeared on the Inc. magazine list of fastest growing US companies in the past five years. ReSource Pro is focused on productivity growth for more than 160 of its insurance business clients including retail and wholesale brokers, MGAs, program administrators, carriers, and TPA’s. For more information, please visit www.ReSourcePro.com.

ReSource Pro Opens Office in Third Location in China

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NEW YORK – ReSource Pro, a leading provider of business process management solutions for the insurance industry, announces it has opened an office in the Chinese city of Huangdao. This is the third office in China for the organization, whose headquarters are in Manhattan.

The new 19,000-square foot Huangdao office will house Processing and Operational Excellence staff. Other ReSource Pro offices in China are located in Qingdao and Jinan.

“As insurance organizations continue to look for ways to drive productivity growth and improve performance, our business continues to grow to meet their needs,” explained ReSource Pro CEO Dan Epstein. “China offers a rich field of English-speaking college graduates eager to learn about, and grow with, the insurance industry and we continue to see it as an outstanding location for finding quality professionals.”

The new office is led by long-time ReSource Pro veterans, and overseen by Leaf Zhang, VP of Operations and Finance. Located within a 180-acre office park just minutes from the Huangdao business center, the two-floor office currently employs nearly 50 employees and will soon accommodate 235 employees.

ReSource Pro received a number of awards in 2013 related to its business growth, including ranking fourth on the list of Rising Stars from the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals’ Global 100 List. Additionally, ReSource Pro was named for the fifth consecutive year in 2013 to Inc. magazine’s list of fastest growing, privately held companies in the United States. ReSource Pro has been recognized among leading global companies for its human resource management practices, and learning & development curriculum and data security initiatives.

About ReSource Pro
ReSource Pro LLC, a premier provider of business management process solutions, was named one of the top 100 global outsourcing companies by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, and has appeared on the Inc. magazine list of fastest growing US companies in the past five years. ReSource Pro is focused on productivity growth for more than 160 of its insurance business clients including retail and wholesale brokers, MGAs, program administrators, carriers, and TPA’s. For more information, please visit www.ReSourcePro.com.