Social Media.

In most cases, these meals on wheels rely solely, and thus heavily, on social media to get the word out about their location, specials, promotions, and meal rotations.

Twitter

The number one social media platform that food trucks use is Twitter. All the food trucks I’ve seen have a Twitter account and use that as their main source for announcing their location. There are about 20 food trucks in the Washington, D.C. area.  Each has about 1,000 to 5,000 followers, with 500 Twitter accounts listing them (normally under food or food tuck), with some people also following these created lists. In larger cities like New York and Los Angeles where there are too many trucks to count, they have a similar number of followers as those in D.C., but many have closer to 5,000. Between followers, lists, followers of lists, and people who retweet, a single location of one of these trucks can go a long way, creating a large circle of “word of mouth”.

Some trucks are doing a good job communicating with customers via Twitter. They spend time answering questions, thanking people for retweets and rewarding followers. One of the simple and easy rewards is free stuff. The Fry Captain randomly selects five followers a week to receive a free milkshake.

Facebook

Several food trucks also use Facebook, but it is more of a supplement to Twitter. Generally, they send their Twitter feed to their wall, and also give people a chance to write on their wall, share pictures, links, notes and reviews. Curbside Cupcakes currently has one of the best Facebook pages.

Geo-Location: Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla

I first thought that since food trucks are all about location, it would be natural for them to use geo-location services.  I was wrong.  For the food trucks I could find on these sites above, all of them said “Check Twitter for Location.” I think the problem is that geo-location is based on stationary places, not moving ones. Currently trucks that go to the same place every day can take advantage of these services.

Map trackers

A local blog source, called We Love DC uses Google Maps to pinpoint food trucks daily in a service called the Food Truck Tracker.  This makes it easy and convenient for food seekers to see if a truck is in their area.  A website called Food Truck Fiesta also devotes itself to mapping the trucks daily.

Blogs

When the local D.C. blog scene got wind that Red Hook Lobster DC was going to start roaming the streets of the District,  the blogs went nuts. In preparation for the opening, you could not look at any food blog without finding a mention of the new truck. The buzz also hit Twitter really hard. Local D.C. blogger WashingTina, tried the lobster truck on one of its first days out and said the line wrapped around the block and had a 30 minute wait! The blog buzz machine is starting up again for the new truck on the block, Eat Wonky.

Email?

Yes, Email. Although seemingly out of place, a few food trucks still utilize this service.  Curbside Cupcakes lets you subscribe via email, checking off boxes from a list of areas. When the truck comes through one of those areas, you receive an email letting you know where to pick up an amazing cupcake.

Promotion: Help from the Big Guys

Virgin America and Loopt teamed up to offer two for one tickets to Mexico from California if you checked into SFO, LAX or one of the listed taco trucks in San Francisco or Los Angeles during a four hour time span.  According to Tech Crunch, Loopt claims 1,300 people checked in at just one taco truck in San Francisco.

Food trucks have been come so popular, they have their own reality TV show called “The Great Food Truck Race” on the Food Network which “hopes to do for food trucks what ‘Jersey Shore’ did for tans.”

Final Thought: As demonstrated by food trucks, social media can play a large part in a business’s marketing plan–and traditional media may not even be needed.

What are your thoughts on food trucks using social media to promote their locations and discounts and to engage their fans and customers?

Get ahead of the game on this week’s Chatter Marketing: “Getting Your Holiday Email Ducks in a Row” with eWayDirect’s Bob Cloutier.

Learn How To:

• Get everything you need to do NOW to make your holiday sales take off
• Prepare your holiday email campaign
• Hit the ground running this holiday season

Don’t miss out on this great advice for the biggest shopping season of the year!

We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday at 2pm for this show. If you have any questions you would like Bob to answer, you can leave a comment here or send us the question through Twitter @ewaydirect.

Although not a visually stunning or very interactive email newsletter, the Hillsborough (and Chapel Hill) Wine Company fires off a series of newsletters that is compelling as the wines themselves. The email includes anchor tags that help you navigate through the email, rather than to their website itself. While this isn’t conducive to high click-through rates, it keeps you in one place.

The Hillsborough Wine Company gives updates on Case of the Week, which offers a special on a varied case of wine with a specific point of view in mind. Whether it be a region, particular flavor set, or even just a random assortment, you’re offered a whopping case of wine at a fabulous price.

On their website signing up for their newsletter is easy; just beyond the fold is an email input and check boxes for what you would like to receive news about, their weekly, reds, whites, regions, or just specific wines.

Give them a read, it’s an easy read and a great newsletter for local (or not) wine aficionados.

2. Threadless

Fast!

The easiest way to describe the efficiency of the Threadless Newsletter. One of two newsletters to send the quickest and most reassuring emails, within 10 minutes of signing up. Others wait til their first circular. The company is based off of submitted T-Shirt designs which are later voted on, and printed for new shirts every week. So, unlike most newsletters which give revolving info on products you’ve seen in store, or items you might see every-so-often, you’re getting something 100% new, and “never before seen” in every newsletter.

And if you want to be a part of the Threadless news, it’s the easiest one of this whole list. An obvious widget on their right hand only asks for your email… no names, no address, nada, just your email.

3. Borders Book Store

I have had Borders’ emails for a while now. Adding on to their Borders perks rewards program, their emails are loaded with coupons, offers, and best of all rewards outside of their own rewards program. Sign-up is a breeze and the confirmation email is quick and reassuring, by clicking their Weekly Deals box at the top right of the website, or scrolling down to their newsletter sign up. Best of all, they only ask for 4 fields, making sign up easy and painless. Avid readers will love consistent coupons for anywhere from BOGO to 50% off single items.

4. Bed Bath and Beyond

The home shopping central’s newsletter is amazing. The emails based around their actual paper circular is loaded with weekly coupons, promotions, new additions, and even website functions like the store locator. While their sign-up tends to be slightly lengthier than others, the payoff when the emails arrive is by far worth it.

If you have a child going into College, or moving into a new apartment or home, BB&B’s newsletter is loaded.

I was taken aback only slightly by their newsletter, as I wasn’t sent a confirmation when I signed up. The only affirmation was a small Thank You after pressing the Submit button. If you’re not one for Email, you also have the ability to sign up for their Direct Mailings, which honestly you probably get anyways from the postal service.

The entirely HTML email is easy on the eyes and easy to actually shop through if you know you need home items. There are coupons for both in-store and online, so you can stay at home, or explore the store and still get the benefits of their emails.

5. Sports Authority

Sign up incentives – yes, please! Sports Authority offers a 10% Discount on your online purchase after you sign up. Which, even if you want just one email, that would be fine. Custom localized offers, product releases and updates are all done through their weekly. A full newly-updated, HTML email is laid out almost like their web page. The larger font and clear use of making the newsletter much more like an online store, your email turns into a sports shopping central.

Best of all the “shareability” of the Sports Authority is phenomenal, 3 huge buttons on the top right let you share by Twitter, or Facebook right off the bat!

Thumbnail Credit – JAIRO BD

Some networks (mainly smaller ones like E! and MTV) are harnessing this by hosting live Twitter parties on their websites to promote episodes. Loyal fans can also obtain extra perks by following actors from their favorite shows because they can tweet backstage photos or share insider knowledge about guest actors or plots. What’s on TV is being translated into a phenomenon on Twitter.

On Sunday night the Emmys brought the audience into the show. “For the first time in Emmy history” Twitter users where given a chance to send the Emmy Host, Jimmy Fallon, and his writing staff, 140 character tweets with jokes and comments about celebrity presenters using the hash tag “#imontheemmys.” Throughout the show Fallon read selected tweets and announced the Twitter handle/identity behind each one.

Here are three quick important marketing takeaways from this:

• By letting people have a chance write a part of the show, the audience will maintain greater interest in what they are watching.
• This Twitter promotion could lead to more followers for host and presenters, leading to a greater marketing power for them.
• For many Emmy viewers, this may have been their introduction to Twitter.

Although this Twitter promotion was a small part of the Emmys, it could be the next step in watching TV: letting the audience become a part of the writing staff.

Twitter is open to everyone to use and therefore everyone uses Twitter for different purposes and reasons. Everyone has different ideas on what the correct way to use it would be.

Everyone uses Twitter for his or her own purpose, and no matter what, someone will think you’re doing it wrong.

The great thing about Twitter is that there are no specific rules on how you must use your account. If you take a look and listen, you can hear the voices of religious icons, political junkies, media personalities, businesses, and the general public. Each one of these people uses Twitter differently, which brings up the questions: is there a correct way to use Twitter?

The truth is, there really isn’t. Some people use it very effectively and create lots of conversations, and some people just rant and complain. I feel that the whole point of Twitter is to connect with other people. I like to connect and engage in conversations. So, how can you do this? Are there strategies involved?

I went my favorite route and asked my followers: What Twitter advice and tips would you give?  What Dos and Don’ts do you have?

It seems that everyone has their own opinions, but the ones that stuck out the most are the ones that I’ve included here.  I, along with the help of my followers, have come up with a simple list of tips to help any type of Twitter use; from the newbie to the more advanced.

Twitter Dos

Follow People. Follow anyone who follows you and people you’ve met in real life. This will help your personal community grow and will be useful when it comes to engaging in conversation.  As you follow people, they will start to follow you back, and will allow you to communicate across a broader scope.

Communicate and Interact. As you start to build your followers, you want to start talking to them. Twitter is all about connecting and communicating, so start simple. If someone tweets and article you find interesting, re-tweet it. That person will see you did so and will thank you. Just because you’ve never interacted with that person before, doesn’t mean you can’t talk to them. You want to make sure your conversation isn’t always about you. Don’t just shout into a room full of people; visit with them individually.

Be Yourself.  It’s really as simple as that. People can tell if you’re trying to be someone you aren’t, and they appreciate the honesty. No one likes someone who is fake.

Listen. This point is just as important as talking.

Be informational. The truth is you need to have a mixture of informational content and conversation. Too much in either direction is annoying and gets boring.

Have a good bio. You are given 160 characters to describe yourself and your Twitter feed. Be creative, have fun, but make it interesting. These 160 characters will help people decide if they want to follow you or not.

Use proper Grammar. No one wants to follow someone who can’t write a well-structured sentence.  Now I realize that it’s hard to do that in 140 characters, but the main point is to try to eliminate “text speak”. Avoid using words and phrases such as “ttfn” or “thnx” or “c u l8r”. They look unprofessional. I admit, I’ll use those short hand words when I’m joking around, but never when I’m trying to be serious.

Do maintain a proactive Twitter presence. If you’re going to take the time to go out and make a Twitter account for yourself, you might as well use it. I tend to unfollow people who only tweet once every week or so. What’s the point if you’re not using Twitter for its intended purpose?

Twitter Don’ts

Spam Tweet. Nothing is more annoying than being on the receiving end of an @ or DM message that you can tell wasn’t from a real person.

Don’t be negative. If your tweets ooze negativity, people will start to unfollow you really quickly. I mean unless this is your m.o.  If your business model for Twitter is to be negative, then go ahead.

Don’t post something every 5 seconds. If you post random tweets all the time, it can get very annoying for your followers.  Remember, you want to interact AND create meaningful content.

Don’t follow 900 people and only have 2 tweets. Nothing says “don’t follow me” than following every person out there and not interacting with any of them. I personally tend to avoid accounts like this.

“Don’t forget that social media is public media”- This one’s from Chris Brogan’s 50 Power Twitter Tips. Once you’ve put it out into the twitterverse, then it’s out there for EVERYONE to see. Remember, it’s hard to get it back once you hit “enter”.

I don’t claim to be a Twitter expert, so you don’t have to take these tips to heart. In fact, you don’t have to listen to them at all.  You may agree with some and completely disagree with others, and that is perfectly fine. I am a firm believer that there are no hard or fast rules on the proper use of Twitter. It’s up to you how you want to use it, but I think if you use the above tips as guidelines, than you’ll get everything you want out of your account, and more.

What other Twitter advice and tips would you share with people? We’d love to hear your responses.

I’ve included some links to some articles I read that also gave out tips on how to use Twitter if you would like to continue reading:

“50 Power Twitter Tips” Chris Brogan, chrisbrogan.com (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-power-twitter-tips/)

“Top 13 Twitter Don’ts” pcmag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2345283,00.asp)

“13 Twitter Tips and Tutorials for Beginners” twitip.com (http://www.twitip.com/13-twitter-tips-and-tutorials-for-beginners/)

“10 Do’s and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter” mashable.com (http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/twitter-brand-dos-and-donts/)

Now, more than ever, consumers want goods and services that meet their unique needs and tastes when it matters most.  By combining relevance engines with existing applications and systems, businesses are able to connect with customers in new ways and use mass personalization to provide individualized attention and build brand value by delivering what their customers want, when they want it.

Social Media Trends Demanding For Marketers

Social media continues to rapidly evolve and marketers are having a hard time keeping up with each one.  A survey from The Creative Group found that 65% of advertising and marketing executives say it’s somewhat or very challenging to keep up with social media trends.

Will FTC Online Tracking Restrictions Hurt CRM?

The FTC wants internet users to be able to opt out of behavioral tracking across the web, which some say could hurt online marketing and customer relationship management efforts. They will soon propose voluntary measures to curb online privacy abuses but the worst-case scenario is that that any rulings or legislation could have a detrimental effect on online advertising and marketing.

How Gap’s ‘Groupon’ Went Crazy Viral

ClickZ reports how Gap’s special on Groupon went viral and was widely purchased but it wasn’t merely due to the lucrative 50 percent discount offer.  “A marketing mix involving social media, affiliates and an ad on Digg supplemented Groupon’s e-mail program in the effort.”

Five Ways Not To Squander The Subject Line

As noted in recent Email Insider posts, e-mails are most likely to get opened not only when they are personalized, but also relevant to the recipient.  MediaPost offers 5 tips to make the most of your email subject line and ensure that your campaigns are destined for success.

I hope everyone has a great day. Remember to hang in there – the weekend is near!

• Your PPC advertisements will be displayed on both Yahoo and Bing SERPs
• You will be able to manage your PPC advertising on a single platform (adCenter)
• Your adCenter account will contain information about your Yahoo and Bing performance for each keyword and ad text as a whole…This means you won’t be able to monitor the performance of a keyword or ad just in Yahoo or just in Bing.
• Any PPC campaigns previously running in Yahoo will have to be moved into adCenter
• The transition is set for September – November, just in time of the holiday season.

With that being said, this transition is going to affect all of us and it’s time to get ready and prepare now. Here are some things that are going to change and will affect your existing PPC campaigns that you should fix ASAP:

• Ad Copy Lengths – Yahoo allows 40 characters in the headline of their ads while Bing only allows 25 characters. Also, ad descriptions can be up to 71 characters in Yahoo, while Bing only allows 70 characters. If you don’t make these changes, the ads will be shortened and set as inactive. You’re going to have to change your Yahoo ads so that they meet Bing’s ad text guidelines.
  • Tip: Revise your ad text now. This will give you time to test the new lengths and different variations of them.
• Match Types – Yahoo has standard and advanced match types which is different than adCenter which has exact, phrase, and broad match types.  This means that you will need to make sure that your Yahoo keywords are expanded to include misspellings, plurals, and apostrophes since Yahoo maps keyword variations for you and adCenter treats the variations as individual keywords. When bidding on the keyword “frame” in Yahoo, you can also receive traffic from queries for “frames” and “frme.” To get the same results from Bing, you will need to bid on the keywords “frame”, “frames” and “frme.”
  • Tip: Prepare a list of keyword variations now to add to your adCenter account when the transition occurs.
• Negative Keywords – adCenter allows thousands of negatives at the campaign and ad group level and while Yahoo only allows 500 at the account level, 1,250 at the campaign level, and 500 at the ad group level. You will now be allowed to add more negatives to your account to help with filtering unwanted impressions.
  • Tip: The account level negatives from Yahoo will now be set to the campaign level in adCenter so make sure to make any adjustments as necessary.
• Minimum Bids – With Yahoo, the minimum bid is $0.01, but the minimum bid in adCenter is $0.05. After the transition, any bids below the minimum will be automatically increased to $.05. Don’t worry! Your affected ads will be paused and you will then have opportunity to make any modifications.

In my opinion, the bottom line is that The Yahoo/Bing Search Alliance will create more customers, more sales opportunities, and give you, the advertiser, more control over your advertising dollars. All you have to do is fix a few things to your existing PPC campaigns and plan accordingly. I suggest you do so now and you can relax and enjoy watching your new favorite Fall TV show.

56% of shoppers to top e-retail websites who interact with social media websites have elected to “friend” or “follow” or “subscribe” to a retailer on a social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

-Source: Marketing Pilgrim – Study Shows Facebook’s Retail Appeal

Here are five prime examples of retailers approaching Facebook for their sales (in no particular order).

1. Ideeli

Ideeli is a members only (free to join) company whose landing page on Facebook asks you to join to become a member. Once you have joined, you’re eligible for up to 80% of shopping for certain items and get access to other great deals. Ideeli is an official sponsor of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week focusing on fashion, home, beauty, and travel.

Through their wall, Ideeli gives quick, efficient customer support addressing concerns and even general questions. If you Like the page, you have the opportunity to shop through some of their daily specials and start your order from Facebook.

2. Coach

Coach is one of the leaders in handbags for women, but they also offer luxury accessories and gifts for women and men including handbags, footwear, jewelry, fragrance, watches and more.

On their landing page, you’re presented with a very elegant welcome, with options below to see their new line of products and articles like “The History of The Tote“. Tabs include: Store Locator and Coach’s new Poppy Project, an entirely social engagement game where the more people tweet the hashtag #CoachPoppy, the more opportunities they have to find “Bags” and get free gifts all the while promoting a more natural product. Read more about the Poppy Project here.

3. Adidas

Adidas has by far one of the most inclusive and customizable Pages that connects directly to your profile and adapts the page to each individual. This includes a tab titled Your Area. In Your Area, you get new specialized updates, photos, and video. At about 3.8 Million Fans or Likes, whichever you choose, Adidas’ wall stream is a combination of video, company updates, and even a promotion or giveaway every now-and-then.

4. Calvin Klein

By far my personal favorite, the Calvin Klein greeting page is laid out in a way that entices visitors to explore rather than to just “see what’s new”. It’s obviously a site catered towards men, noting that their Men’s line is their top retail. This one page caught my attention much more than the others, it gives you the option to search their collection right from the Page, and truly enjoy how powerful the Facebook engine can really be.

It’s smooth, seamless, and easily a great way to enjoy this designer without leaving Facebook.

5. Louis Vuitton

Another designer most notorious for their Women’s handbags, and their luggage, Louis Vuitton shows a phenomenally beautiful page laced with elegance, quality, and style, everything you would expect from a luxury designer. Titled, The Art of Travel, this Facebook page goes beyond their most-popular products and engages every customer type.

The Art of Travel approaches their Facebook page as a way to let customers know about the company, learn about select products and the way they work and even go “behind the scenes” at fashion shows & events.

What do you think about these five Facebook pages from retailers?  How could they do better? Leave a comment and let us know.

Thumbnail Credit – Mcdordor2001

A/B Testing

The easiest and most time-efficient way of determining the best path of action, A/B Testing compares ads that you have build with slight adjustments.

To take an example from Tim Ferris and The Four Hour Workweek, (I’ll paraphrase) Before releasing ads for his book and one of his first ventures selling herbal medicines online, Tim would build ads catered around a very small set of keywords. As the ads built up clicks (to a blank page), he would see which lead to the most click-throughs and adjust his ads for the final product release catered to those more specific words.

At the same time, he would be running ads with entirely different sets of keywords, color of text and images, and what kind of image it was. Ranging from changing the picture of a man to a picture of a woman, or even changing the font, he would get different sets of results, later combining them to achieve the most optimal ad.

Best part of all, running ads can cost you less than $200 for a successful testing campaign letting you dig in the budget for the optimal ad.

This change of testing goes the same for email marketing, and even direct mailings. Give it a slight change, and see how it performs.

Benchmarking

That word kind of sends a little shiver, it’s not exactly fun or enticing work  but it is necessary. The time consumption of statistical analysis and comparison to an external competitor is exactly what your company needs to get a competitive boost and inspiration to keep changing and adapting to new ideas.

I’ve talked about Social Mention and Share of Voice reports before, and using social mention as one way for benchmarking is a free and quick way of understanding where you stand as part of your competitors’ network.

Also, take advantage of Google Analytics‘ benchmarking features and be sure to interpret the data in a way that not only is based on the number, but what they mean as part of your company, and more importantly your culture.

How are you testing what you have? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Image by Alisdair

Look below for stories that I found interesting that you may have missed.

Facebook: ‘Live’ Video Channel Will Not Be About Showbiz

Facebook launched its live-streaming video channel, Facebook Live, but told ClickZ that it wants no part of show business, at least not for now.  It only plans to air events that either tie back to Facebook products or feature how people use the social site.

Gap Offers 25% Discounts for Foursquare Checkins

Gap is cutting 25% from the prices for all the clothes in its retail stores for customers who check in on Foursquare in connection with an event the chain is calling “The BlackMagic Event.”  Other retail stores also offer the deal to those that checkin at their location and is becoming a popular way to advertise, the theory being that a person’s friends can see when they checkin.

Lessons From The Top Brands On Facebook

According to new research from Forrester, the best Facebook marketers are maximizing their pages’ exposure, posting frequently, and encouraging fans to interact on many levels.  “Interactive marketers must ensure that their customers can find the brand’s page, that it has fresh and compelling content, and that once those customers are fans, they will able to participate in the community,” explains Forrester analyst and report author Melissa Parrish.

New Email Marketing Strategy

ExactTarget offers a list of tips for creating a successful email preheader text.  Click on the title to see the complete list.

eMarketer: Social Media Ad Spend To Hit $1.7 Billion In 2010

According to eMarketer, the ad spend on social networks this year is set to hit $1.7 billion, which is a 20% increase.  Half of those ad dollars will be spent on Facebook.   Twitter may also be in the running in the year to come if Twitter’s bid for resonance catches on.

National Geographic Society Deploys Email Campaign Encouraging Facebook ‘Likes’

The National Geographic Society will launch an e-mail marketing campaign this month, incorporating a Facebook “like” button, to support its feature documentary Restrepo. The goal is to encourage discussion about the film on social networking platforms and urge consumers to see it when it comes out in theater.