Nudge, Nudge

Thank you to all the people who've been reading this blog. I really appreciate it, and in an effort to shamelessly self-promote the brand, I would ask everyone who reads to scroll down on the left-hand side bar to the blog's Facebook Fan Box. Click on the button, "Become a Fan."

My goal is to have everyone that reads this blog to go and become a fan. For now, the only thing you can expect is a big, fat "thank you" from yours truly. However, in the future, there could be prizes involved for Facebook fans of the blog. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

A tweet worth tweeting about

Image via Wikipedia

In an attempt to engage people that follow them on Twitter, Southwest Airlines did a "20,000th follower on Twitter" prize. The lucky winner was from New Mexico, and that person won a lot of travel-related promotional items branded with the Southwest logo.

This promotion was a success for two reasons. First of all, it engaged customers in a more social setting than television, print or a traditional website. Twitter, Facebook and other social networking outlets allow customers to virtually shake hands with companies they admire.

Secondly, it was just nice. They didn't HAVE TO do anything, but they did anyway, just to say, "Thanks." Often, there's no better reason for a company to do a giveaway; "just because" is a good reason to do promotions because customers often see it as a great big "hug," so to speak. And let's face it: everybody needs a hug every once in a while!