Month: April 2016
A new tourism campaign recently launched by The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development focuses on telling Montana Big Sky Country stories to draw in visitors. Their short film series features ordinary people who are chasing their own brand of adventure. Open Road, the first episode in the Sky’s The Limit series, was used to launch the Sky’s the Limit Open Road Sweepstakes.
Visitors are invited to follow adventure-seeking twin sisters Gale and Laura Straub as they road trip through Montana, making pit stops to explore hidden treasures along the way. Gale and Laura had been dreaming of a Montana road trip since skirting the state on a cross-country journey when they were 16 years old. “We always had it in the back of our heads to go back to Montana, but, as the story always goes, life got in the way,” says Gale.
Their journey begins with hot springs in mind, as Laura had never seen one (or swam in any natural body of water, for that matter). But the pair soon found themselves immersed in the richness and variety of Montana’s less-traveled roads and charming small towns.
“We hiked, swam, soaked in hot springs, camped, sat by the fire. We relaxed. We drove down empty roads and kicked up dust. I rolled a fragrant hop growing wild on the side of the road in my hands until it fell apart. We saw wild animals, mountain ranges, families of flowers, dozens of landscapes at every time of day. We talked. We were together,” said Laura.
The sweepstakes offers a chance to win a similar Open Road adventure as the twins experienced. A four-day suggested itinerary includes the following:
Day 1
Arrive in Bozeman, MT where you will pick up your rental car to start off your Hot Springs Roadtrip. Before you head to your first location, stop and grab a bite to eat at Western Cafe in downtown Bozeman. Then make your way to Chico Hot Springs Resort and Day Spa, just a short drive from Bozeman. Check in, relax and take a dip in one of Chico’s natural hot spring pools and then finish the day with dinner in the resort dining room.
Day 2
Wake up feeling refreshed and renewed with a bed and breakfast meal. Head over to The Chico Horse Barn and take part in a half day horseback ride along the Yellowstone River. Arrive back at Chico ready to relax again and enjoy a filling dinner.
Day 3
Check out of Chico Hot Springs Resort and Day Spa because it’s time to move out to your next spot. Your drive to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort will take you back through Bozeman where you can stop for lunch and browse around shopping downtown. After a scenic drive, arrive at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort where you can relax on property and enjoy dinner at the Mile High Dining Room.
Day 4
Prepare to be pampered on your last full day in Montana at Fairmont’s Whispering Willow Spa.Spend the rest of the day relaxing and exploring Fairmont’s property and one of a kind amenities.
The sweepstakes grand prize consists of vouchers and certificates with a total value of $3,000 that the winner can use at their own leisure. The sweepstakes runs till May 18. There are also 5 instant winners who will each receive a Mystery Ranch brand backpacking backpack.
The Picnic is the next film in the series which chronicles a group of adventurers who hike, swim, and bike their way up a mountain and back in a single day outside Bozeman, Montana. Other episodes spanning the state and all four seasons will follow, and all can be found at VisitMT.com.
Jenny Pelej, Montana Office of Tourism marketing chief, described the Sky’s the Limit Campaign stating “This campaign is all about personal connection, connection with the environment, connection with others and connection with our magical state”.
Last week Facebook hosted their annual conference for developers known as F8. This is where the social giant previews their newest and latest products and tools for developers. This 2-day event took place again in San Fransisco. So as I did last year, I registered to attend the conference via their live streaming site. Mark Zuckerberg kicked of the conference with a full 30-minute keynote presentation in which he revealed the company’s 10 year plan.
I wrote this blog post summarizing what was presented at last year’s F8 conference in which Facebook unveiled major plans for it’s Messenger app. Now the company claims that 900 million people and 50 million businesses are using it. It’s the second most popular app on iOS, and was the fastest growing app in the US in 2015. This video helped to kick off all the announcements for Messenger Platform at F8.
This year the big announcements where about Messenger bots. Bots became official and a few actually launched on Tuesday. Brands that develop them can now automate customer service support, guide e-commerce, and provide interactive experiences to users. CNN is already providing news, and Spring is sending personalized clothing recommendations with buy buttons. A video posted on the Facebook News page video shows how someone might interact with a 1-800-Flowers bot, which helps the user select a gift bouquet of roses and asks for details about the order.
Developers and businesses are now able to access documents to build bots for Messenger, which can be submitted to Facebook for review and gradual approval. So far other partners besides 1-800-Flowers.com and CNN include Expedia, Fandango, Philz Coffee and Shopify. The success of bots will likely depend on developers’ ability to make them useful for users, as well as brands’ ability to control them. Facebook also announced that within Messenger, users can now share Dropbox files and talk to friends using a small round window (so the rest of your screen can be used to message others–or if you have an Android phone, use apps).
Facebook is welcoming the business community to Messenger with a new set of business-friendly tools meant to help synergize communication with customers. First, Twitter handle-like usernames derived from the page’s vanity URL will soon appear directly on a brand’s page. Going forward, these usernames will be placed directly on a business’s Facebook Page, directly underneath the Page title with the @ symbol in front of it. Those Pages who don’t have a unique username will want to create one, and of course those who haven’t paid much attention to their vanity URL before may want to make some changes before this feature goes live.
Facebook will also introduce new ways for users to start conversations with businesses. The first, Messenger Links, will enable consumers to quickly open a chat with the desired business by clicking a link in the form of short URLs with the format “m.me/username”. Codes will serve the same purpose, but come in the form of unique, Snapchat-like codes that users can scan in Messenger using their phone’s camera. The same codes can be used by businesses in ads, websites and other marketing materials. Messenger for business is about to get serious.
Of course Facebook is already looking for ways to use its new bots to monetize the platform, currently testing Sponsored Messages. They serve as a way for businesses to re-engage consumers who have previously started communications with them. Another ad type, Click To Message, would appear in a user’s News Feed and act as a call to action to start a conversation with a brand in Messenger. Here, the brand could personalize its offering based on the user’s bot interactions on a platform the customer is already familiar with, rather than sending the user to an unfamiliar e-commerce site where he or she might find difficulty navigating.
So we’ll see if brands start to integrate Facebook Messenger, and well as Messenger bots, for promotional marketing in the coming year. Will we be able to enter a sweepstakes or contest by a bot instead of an entry form? Any thoughts or plans you may have about this please share.
The major goal Mr. Zuckerberg revealed in this ten year plan is that he wants to bring the Internet, and increasingly cheaper and more functional devices and data centers, to the entire planet, making the world flatter and enlisting more people to become members of the Facebook society. That would be very nice.
Guitar players will really appreciate these three sweepstakes that are currently running from a company that calls themselves, Two Old Hippies. Our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes Services, is the administrator on all these promotions. The Take The Bedell Challenge just recently launched on April 1st where they’re giving away a Bedell Wildfire Guitar.
They are inviting people to visit any Bedell dealer now through July 31st and snap a photo or take a video of themselves with a Bedell Guitar. Then they need to upload it to Twitter or Instagram and include the hashtag #BedellChallengeEntry. One grand prize winner will be drawn at the end of the sweepstakes who will win a Bedell Wildfire which retails for $3,990!
We are again utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform for this of promotion since it just uses a hashtag as a means of entry. I wrote about this platform in last week’s post about the Yes You Cran Sweepstakes. Ease of entry is the biggest benefit of using a hashtag only entry, plus it provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtag and shows these posts in the gallery page as you see here.
The Weber Custom Sweepstakes is giving people a chance to design and win a custom instrument. Participants are invited to fill out a brief survey that would describe the custom instrument that they would dream of. One lucky musician will be selected to receive up to a $5,000 credit towards their dream acoustic instrument.
“I have always been inspired by players of all styles and experience levels,” explains Bruce Weber Jr. “We love building one-of-a-kind, heirloom instruments, that let the player show off their individuality!”
The Exotic King Koa Giveaway Sweepstakes is offering the chance for one winner to receive an Exotic King Koa Guitar that is valued at $8,000. Participants automatically receive one entry into the Sweepstakes when they purchase a Pursuit Concert Koa Guitar and complete and submit the warranty registration form to Breedlove Stringed Instruments. A mail-in option without purchase is also included.
Both of these last two sweepstakes run till May 31. So any guitar lovers out there, here are three different and unique chances to win.
For those of us in the northeastern part of the country you wouldn’t know it’s now Spring. I came back this weekend from a vacation at the beach in Mexico and woke up to snow on Monday morning. The vacation was very great though and the reason I haven’t written here for a couple of weeks.
One of our new spring promotions is the Yes, You Cran! Sweepstakes sponsored by the Cranberry Marketing Committee. They have partnered with the Compass Group to feature cranberries as the super food of the month in April 2016. The Compass Group is one of the world’s largest foodservice management companies and will feature cranberries in many of its U.S. facilities, which include school and university dining centers, business cafés, healthcare facilities and more.
Accompanying the superfood promotion is the Yes, You Cran! Sweepstakes. During the month of April participating Compass Group foodservice locations will be displaying promotional signage and serving recipes within their facilities. People who visit one of these institutions are invited to enter the Sweepstakes by taking a photo of one of these cranberry promotions that may include cranberry posters, signs, recipe cards, sampling events, demonstrations or dishes, and then posting it on Twitter or Instagram. Participants must also include the promotion hashtag, #YesYouCranSweepstakes and must follow the Sponsor on Instagram @USCranberries or Twitter @USCranberries.
A total of 20 weekly prize winners will each receive a $100 gift card. One of the winners from week four will be randomly selected and win a prize for the facility that they took their photo from who will win a catered cranberry celebration.
“We love that Compass is able to shine a spotlight on cranberries during what some may consider the off season. Cranberries are a versatile fruit that can provide unique health benefits to consumers all year long,” said CMC Executive Director Michelle Hogan. “And we’re particularly eager to reinforce this message across school cafeterias, since cranberries count toward the school foodservice fruit servings required for the National School Lunch Program.”
We are utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform for these types of promotions that just use a hashtag as a means of entry. This ease of entry is one of the biggest benefits of using a hashtag only entry, plus it provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtag and allows for those posts to be shown in the gallery page as you see here. It allows you to moderate the posts so that you may approve or disapprove them before they are posted to the gallery. You can read more about the benefits and drawbacks on this entry method by reading the post Alex Ditty from Seen wrote on this blog here.
It appears that they’re off to a good start with participation on the page. One additional benefit of using the hashtag management tool that I almost forgot to mention is that it provides a place to post the official rules that you need for any sweepstakes or contest. That should not be overlooked.