The Message and The Messenger
It should come as no surprise that, as a blogger, I'm very interested in social media (yes, I do have other interestes beyond beer). Aside from writing this blog and managing a corresponding Twitter account, I also write a blog as part of my day job and manage a corresponding Twitter account for that blog as well. And as if that isn't enough, I also have personal Twitter and Facebook accounts that blend together aspects of both my personal and professional life. One by one, the accounts have piled up. At times, managing them all is overwhelming. Every once in a while, however, I'm reminded that all the time and effort poured into social media is worth it.
Over the weekend, I wrote a post called Everyone wants to start a brewery. No one wants to invest in one. Afterwards, I sent a fairly standard tweet letting people know that I had written a new post. The response was typical. That is, until Monday morning rolled around. It was then that I noticed my initial tweet, and a couple others linking to my post, had been retweeted a few times. A few times turned into several times, and before I knew it, the post had generated more traffic than any other I've written (both personally and professionally).
While it's gratifying to know that people are reading what I write, I couldn't help but think about what made this post different. Why did this post generate so many more hits than others? Was it the topic? The title? I doubt that these reasons alone are enough to create such a dramatic difference.
Bridgeport Brewery Finds Unique Use for Foursquare
I have mixed feelings about Foursquare. While I appreciate the fact that the location-based social application lets users tell their friends where they are, I personally don't need to know about every move my friends make. Even worse, most of the people I see using Foursquare are people I barely know but follow on Twitter. Unfortunately, these are the same people who want to broadcast every stop they make from morning through the night. It's annoying.
At the same time, I do see the benefit for businesses in using Foursquare. Companies can monitor the people who visit their establishments and find out who visits most frequently (aka the Mayor). Many businesses have found practical ways to use Foursquare as means to engage customers and reward loyalty. In what I've seen, most businesses using Foursquare are stationary. That is, they are an establishment that remains at a specific address. Today however, I noticed that Bridgeport Brewery launched a new effort that incorporates Foursquare differently. Enter, Hop Czar.
Earlier this afternoon, a Tweet from Bridgeport, promising that Hop Czar 'will be unleashed tonight!', caught my attention. I'm familiar with Hop Czar, the beer. It was first introduced in 2008. Why then was Bridgeport talking about unleashing Hop Czar tonight?
