Good morning, Guerilleros! Lately, we’ve taken up a new client, in the form of the local Quiznos. For those of you not familiar with Quiznos, they are similar to Subway, only better. Quiznos is a big enough name that making a site in addition to the corporate one seemed pointless, so we made a deal with them to provide local social media services. We also get 10 free subs a month!
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Hello Guerilleros! It’s not as nice a day today as it has been lately. We’ve got some clouds overhead, and it’s kind of been a gray day. So I’m just going to jump straight to the point: QR codes and ways to use them. I’ve been pushing for QR codes for some time with the Chefe, but we haven’t yet had a chance to use them. But I have some ideas which I’m going to share with you! Read More…
Today is a special day, Guerilleros! We’ve got the new theme up and running! While it’s a little more modern, this is still the same revolution you know and love. But after the Crash, we figured we’d modernize a little while we were at it. So we hope you like it. Tell us if you don’t.
I also noticed that we now have 42 followers on Networked Blogs, and 42 just happens to be my favorite number. Our 42nd follower also happens to be the newest writer I’ve been working with, and I invited her to write a guest post. Dr. Anna Gralton is a talented writer from Australia, and has been very helpful to the Chefe and I with some blog posts lately.
One of the blogs Anna has been running is topcornholeboards.com. The company name is The Cornhole King, and Anna has written some brilliantly funny posts following the royalty theme. They are completely worth stopping by for. But let me stop going on, and here is Anna’s article!
Writing humor for social media can be akin to a minefield. Humor’s a great way to get the message across, especially in this day and age with social media. If you get it right, the benefits can be nothing short of a miracle: increasing brand awareness; buzz; attracting new clients and leads; promoting firm-client interaction; increasing followers, fans etc. In contrast, if you get it wrong, you’re likely to confuse the heck out of your readers or, worse still, insult them. They will lose interest and not come back.
Although social media marketing is ultimately about selling and is very serious, the fact of the matter is that much content is set in a light-hearted, entertaining backdrop. As such, if you can find a funny angle or if it just slaps you directly in the face, such as with our Cornhole client blog, then why not run with it? Let’s face it; no one wants to read dull, dreary blog posts about an obviously funny topic.
You might also think that writing a humorous piece is easy and can be done on the spot. Wrong! When writing for social media, as you know, there are many more considerations that go into it. This is where you have to sit down and consciously merge the two.
When writing humor for a social media client, try not to get too carried away. This can lead to “humor specialization” – that is, humor that only you find funny. Keep it light, simple and connected to the brand and customer base.
Social Media Guerilla brings tips and tricks for effective social media marketing, as well as social commentary to anyone who is interested or will at least listen. We are waging a war on traditional marketing techniques. We are the underground. We are the future. Enlist now.
For an example using humor to drive traffic check out the Cornhole Kingdom, the place for custom cornhole boards. The Kingdom is a great site for humor, and it certainly spreads into the realm of social media.
Good morning, Guerilleros! It’s another fine day in paradise! Actually, it’s really cold outside. Winter has finally hit the island, and I am really glad I don’t work outdoors. Thankfully, those days are over. And today, I can turn up the heater, forget about the cold, and focus on social media, and writing for you, my fellow guerrillas.
And speaking of you, the reader, I have recently noticed an upswing in membership on the Networked blogs. That is a great app. The Chefe has almost all of our blogs on his wall with it.
We’ve been getting a steady stream of new readers coming on board, and I want to welcome them to the blog. I also want to thank whoever turned them on to us, because that is social media marketing at work. Especially on this blog, which is much like the shoemaker’s children, always going barefoot and without any marketing.
And in honor of all the new readers, today I have a challenge. It’s a simple one, so I hope you’re up for it. And it’s going to tie in to next weeks post, so I hope you do it.
Two of the main concepts behind Social Media Guerilla are stealth and networking. Have you read the About SM Guerilla page? It’s all of about five sentences, so do so if you haven’t yet.
The best social media marketing strategies should not even look like marketing campaigns. To quote the Guerilla Chefe, “Guerilleros are sneaky.”
The second part is networking. You need to have a network of friends in order for social marketing to work. Otherwise, who’d spread the news?
The Guerilla Chefe embodies these two principles. He has stealth so down pat, his name doesn’t even appear on this entire blog. And yet, you are all still part of his social network. Nice, huh?
So here is the challenge. I want all of you to find the Guerilla Chefe and friend him on Facebook. Make him part of YOUR network. This is just a simple way to flex your deductive reasoning prowess, plus, it helps you become a little more stealthy tracking someone down.You probably won’t have to think real hard, but you’ll have to think a little. And if nothing else, haven’t you ever wondered who the Chefe is? Heck, he wasn’t even the Chefe until I started writing here.
And really, this is super easy. I gave you a clue on where to start already, and your choices are seriously limited. Really, the more I think about it, this is almost too easy.
Just make sure that when you friend him, you put the name of the movie I got the title of this post from in a message. And if you didn’t know what movie it was immediately upon reading it, then you must have completely missed the 80’s. Google it.
Next week I will explain why we’re doing this. That’s right, this does all have a purpose. But you’ll have to wait until next week to find out. So this challenge is only good until next Tuesday.
Oh, and what’s the point of a challenge without a prize? I have no idea what to offer as a prize though, so here’s my proposition.
If you friend the Chefe, friend me, as well. And in return, I will write one blog post, masterfully crafted for your blog, free of charge. I will also put your name up here so everyone else knows how cool you are.
I would like to point out that I am a professional writer, and I do get paid well for what I do, so this does actually have some value. 🙂
I am a REALLY busy guy, though, so this is only eligible to the first five people who friend the Chefe AND me, so you have to friend us both to get it. Once you find the Chefe, finding me is as easy as saying “Oh look, there he is.”, so I don’t feel this makes the challenge any harder. Plus, for as long as it’s going to take me to write 2,000 words, I feel I deserve to be friended.
I will write it about any topic you like, up to 400 words minimum, and it will have my own distinctive flair. 🙂 SEO and keyword usage is a given.
If you don’t have a blog, then I don’t know. I have trouble believing that anyone who cared about social media marketing could not have a blog. That’s like trying to fly by flapping your arms really fast.
Just don’t forget to put the name of the movie in a message when you friend the Chefe and when you friend me.
And that’s it Guerilleros. You have one week, so get a move on, and good luck. I hope you all have a merry Christmas, and I’ll be hearing from you soon. Don’t forget to tune in nect week, when I explain how this all ties into social media marketing, only on SMG.
For an example of my writing, check out some of the content at OBX Master Builders, the site for the best Outer Banks contractors. The older blog posts are mine along with all of the page content. If you like what you, take your spot at the table and try to win my services!
Good morning Guerilleros! It’s another beautiful day in paradise! And today I’m going to talk about a new client we have that’s pretty interesting: Kill Cliff. Kill Cliff is a sports recovery drink that is fairly new to the market, and they asked us to run their marketing campaign. Of course, we’d never done a sports recovery drink before, so it posed some new challenges we met head on, using tried and true social media marketing techniques.
Once we took over the marketing, we took control of the website and started updating both the site and blog on a regular basis. It was a custom WP site, which we’re pretty familiar with, but we still haven’t entirely figured this one out. It’s a pretty advanced theme.
The biggest aspect of our campaign, however, is on Facebook. Kill Cliff sponsors some pretty big name athletes, including UFC fighters. And since we have more than a little knowledge of the MMA world, we decided to go with what we know, and focus on that.
We created fan sites for the more popular fighters, and we’re monitoring their organic fanbase’s growth carefully. All the pages prominently feature the Kill Cliff can and have a trail back to the Kill Cliff page. Depending on the success of that experiment, we may develop more pages.
We’ve also developed a campaign demonstrating that Kill Cliff isn’t just for athletes. It features three videos of some of the more advanced students at our local MMA gym. We’re using those heavily in the campaign.
We have a lot more in plan for Kill Cliff, but we want to see what works best before we commit any more resources to a project with less than minimal results. We’ll probably come back to the subject more in future articles.
PS. Speaking of marketing, you need to check out some of the great real estate that is selling cheap on the Outer Banks. For a lot less than you might expect you can get a Nags Head luxury home. If you prefer something in a quieter neighborhood, how about a beautiful oceanfront home in Corolla? I know what you are thinking: One is too far south and the other is too far north. How about splitting the difference with a great investment property in Duck? With OBX real estate prices so low, buying an Outer Banks home is one of the best investments you can make!
The truth behind Google Maps!
Hello Guerilleros! It’s another beautiful day for Social Media Guerilla, isn’t it? And today, let’s talk about some of the changes Google has been doing. Specifically the Google OneBox, and a little about the preview function. The OneBox, and its Google Maps results is the big one though.
OneBox results are when Google shows information within a special unit, often with images associated with them. OneBox unit often appears to highlight news, shopping, image and other results that are blended into regular listings using Universal Search.
One of the best results you can hope for with your brick and mortar store is to get it to list on Google Maps. These results are above the organic results even, and are ideal placement for a web listing.
But how you get on there is a mystery. Yeah, there are theories, but no one knows the exact formula, probably not even Google. Even if you’re number one on the organic results and PPC, there’s no guarantee you’ll even be on the Maps.
Now though, Google has moved the OneBox results for the Maps to the right side of the page, by the PPC ads. In fact, as you scroll, the map covers the ads. Really Google? Thanks. However, this really does take the focus off the maps and back on results. And it seems they are better integrating Map results with organic ones. But that’s just my observation.
Another cool little feature I’ve noticed is the preview function. Beside the result is a little magnifying glass icon, and if you hover on it, you’ll see a small image of the website before you click on it. It’s nice, but really I’m not sure of the function. It’s too small on my monitor to really make anything out, but I guess if you have a larger monitor than mine it’s more visible.
These changes are not effecting everyone, and to be fair, I can’t even always get it to work for me. So your results may differ, and this may not even be permanent. You know how Google like to play around.
Well, that’s it today Guerilleros. I’ve had a long day, and I think I’m going to get some dinner. But if you need more help with your social media marketing campaigns, make sure you browse the site for more SMG tactics.
Hello Guerilleros! Today is a lovely, cool day on the Island; much preferred over the sweltering heat we usually get. It’s a perfect day to wear the new shirt the Guerilla Chefe got me. It’s from one of our clients and I’ve been wanting one for a while, but since it’s long sleeve I had to wait for it to get a bit cooler.
So this morning I put it on, and it looked really good on me, so I took a picture of myself wearing it. Naturally, I uploaded it to my personal Facebook.
From here, I wanted to show all the people involved how well it fit. We all know that tagging the photo itself puts the picture on the persons wall, but you can’t photo tag with a fan page and I wanted the clients fans to see the pic as well.
So I put a message with the photo and I used the @ to tag people. When you type @, followed by whoever you’re trying to tag, Facebook will pop up a little selection of your friends and pages you like. Just pick who you’re looking for, and you’re good to go. But to tag someone, you have to be friends with them, or Like them.
Clearly, this is incredibly useful. If you have a company that sells kitchen furnishings, why not talk about Vetrazzo counter tops and tag Vetrazzo in your update? Then your post will appear on both your site and the Vetrazzo site. And, generally, there are more followers on their page who will hopefully follow back to your page and become fans.
I would warn you though, don’t abuse it. It has been my experience that other pages will take offense if you start blowing them up with your posts.
So thats this weeks update. The Guerrilla Chefe is beckoning, so I best be wrapping this post up. And of course, don’t forget to search the rest of the site for more social media guerrilla warfare tactics. See you next week, Guerilleros!
Hey Guerilleros! I was browsing through my email, and I got a message from the Guerilla Chefe about Google TV. I watched all the videos, and I have to say, it’s an ambitious project, and it sort of reminds me of MSN’s WebTV and Apple TV in certain ways. Of course,if anyone can finally break down the barrier between TV and internet, Google can.
I don’t plan to talk about what Google TV is, you can find that on your own. I want to talk about possibilities. Ways to take advantage of a new technology. Several different ideas come to mind pretty quickly.
This is a no brainer. If PPC ads can read your search query, it can read what you’re watching on TV. Instead of basing your ads on keywords, in the future you may need to think about the TV that your potential customers are watching. This could be very interesting. If you have a bakery, and someone sets their Google TV to record Cake Boss every week, possibly they would like your product.
Imagine watching the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory, and Chuck Lorre pops up in a little live chat on the side of the screen and talks about the episode your watching. And not only that, but since it’s a live chat, you can interact with him. Awesome right? So how is this marketing? Well, imagine if you offered a similar service. Nice, right?
If you have a way to tie your product to a TV show, you are golden. Find a way. You have a chiropractor for a client? Hey, Alan on Two and a Half Men is a chiropractor. It’s a valid enough connection. Start basing your communities around TV shows, and the clients will come from the fan base. Most popular shows have viewers in the millions.
Let’s say I Like House on Facebook. I find an ad asking me to join a specialized House fan page run by a doctor who is local to my area. I do, and the next time I’m watching House, I have the opportunity to chat with other fans as the show is playing. I eventually become a regular member of the community, because I am interacting with fellow fans as the show is on. This is the key time to catch me being receptive to a House community. And of course, the next time I get sick, guess what doctor I’m going to see? The one running the fan community I belong to.
Yeah, that was a pretty contrived example, but you can see where it’s going. This opens a whole lot of ways to interact with your community, and we didn’t even talk about apps yet. Google Tv apps open even more doors.
Well Guerilleros, that’s about it for me today. I have a few fan communities of my own to go take care of. And remember, for more guerilla marketing how-to’s and such, keep coming back to Social Media Guerilla!
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