Repost: Thanking your Blog Audience & Social Media Fans

This article was originally posted in November 2014.  The topic and content are both still very relevant.

The holiday season is the perfect time for bloggers and marketers to reflect on their online audience engagement strategy.

It's generally accepted that thanking your blog visitors and social media fans is the key to building an active online community which can add valuable content and credibility to your marketing efforts.

In her blog post When Should You Thank Your Social Media Fans? Julie Neidlinger of Todaymade writes:

"Without letting your fans know you’re thankful for their participation and for even being an audience, it’s easy for you to be forgotten without another thought." 

Julie further points out the importance of not being a "robot".

"Telling your fans thank-you should be automatic, but it shouldn’t be automatic. That is, you should have an automatic reaction of being thankful, but not use automation to carry it out. If you’re going to thank your fans for a retweet, don’t turn into a robot. Take the time to do it personally. Make sure you come up with a way that is a personal thank-you when possible."

So while there is no argument from most bloggers and marketers that their online audience is vitally important. The challenge is how to thank blog readers and social media fans in a personal AND cost effective manner.

That's where txtMovies can be a great resource. Bloggers and marketers use txtMovies to send a personal, custom message with an Amazon or Redbox digital gift codes by text message, email or tweet.  Here are a few examples:

• You want to increase the number of comments on your posts. Offer a $5 Amazon gift card for the best comment. 
• You want to encourage email newsletter signups. Offer a free Redbox Movie to the next 50 people who sign up. 
• You want to increase comments on a Facebook timeline. Offer a $5 Amazon gift card to the person who made the comment with the most "LIKES".

By engaging visitors and fans with personal outreach and a valued gift, you stand a greater chance of creating "word of mouth" and an enduring positive association with your blog and brand.

As Julie Neidlinger points out:

"Genuine thanks directed to specific people rather than a generic audience is not the trend; it’s expected right now."

Happy Thanksgiving!  Please share with us the most creative ways you engage and thank your blog readers and social media fans. We'll send Redbox movies to each person that knocks our socks off!

About txtMovies
txtMovies is a leader in delivering Redbox and Amazon digital codes as a form of appreciation. Current clients include major universities (Ohio State, University of Michigan, University of Iowa), nonprofits (Livestrong Foundation, Code for America, Lifewater), healthcare organizations/professionals (Children's Hospital of Orange County, Kaiser Permanente, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, family physicians), religious institutions, restaurants and market research companies.

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txtMovies is Saying 'Thank You' to Volunteers Through Twitter Campaign

txtMovies works with many organizations who rely on the support of volunteers, so we understand the power of volunteerism. This holiday season, we’re thanking those who are serving others this holiday season by rewarding them with free Redbox movies.

In the upcoming weeks, txtMovies will be scanning Twitter for opportunities to reward individuals who are sharing their volunteer experiences. To make sure we can find out about your volunteer experience, use the hashtag #givingback with a tweet about your volunteer experience.

txtMovies will randomly choose individuals to reward with a free Redbox movie code, which will be sent via twitter direct message after the user follows instructions in a tweet they receive from us.

We can’t wait to hear the amazing things volunteers are doing! We’ll see you on Twitter!

About txtMovies
txtMovies is a leader in delivering Redbox and Amazon digital codes as a form of appreciation. Current clients include major universities (Ohio State, University of Michigan, University of Iowa), nonprofits (American Red Cross, Livestrong Foundation, Code for America, Lifewater, State of North Carolina, Association of Fitness Studios), healthcare organizations/professionals (Children's Hospital of Orange County, Kaiser Permanente, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, family physicians), religious institutions, restaurants and market research companies.

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How to Give Amazon Instant Videos as Gifts

It’s a well-known fact that Amazon is the undisputed leader in online shopping with over 1 million products available via 1 day shipping.

Less well known is that Amazon is quickly becoming the go to source for streaming of the newest movie releases and current TV shows all available on demand via its Amazon Instant Video service.

"For most movies, you'll see two prices: rent or buy (own). 

Rentals start at $2.99. If you rent, you'll have 30 days from when you rent to start watching, and once you start watching, most movies have a 24-hour window to finish watching. Once the rental is over, the movie will automatically disappear from Your Video Library.  

Buying a movie or TV show means you can watch it as many times as you want, now or later, subject to terms of use."

According to Amazon, instant streaming is available on the web, hundreds of TVs, cable set top boxes, Blu ray players, Amazon Fire TV, Fire HDX, Fire HD, iPad, PS3, Xbox, Wii, Wii U and Roku.

All of the videos whether rented or purchased are stored in your Amazon account in the Your Video Library, so you can access them anywhere you go.

With such a large library of digital content, it’s no wonder that many organizations would like to give the gift of Amazon Instant Video but according to this thread on Amazon's customer service site, there is no easy way to “gift” Amazon Instant Videos, at least until now….

Here’s how to easily give Amazon Instant Videos as a gift using txtMovies.

Step 1: Create a txtMovies account.

If you don’t already have a txtMovies account you’ll need to set one up and fund it with $5 Amazon gift cards. (If you’re already a txtMovies customer simply place a reorder for Amazon gift cards using the reorder link.)

Step 2: Find the Movie or TV show on Amazon.

Find the movie or TV show you want to send as a gift on Amazon and in the lower left beneath the image of the video click on the SHARE by Email icon. 

In the pop up window copy (highlight and CTRL~C) the movie title and link.

Step 3: Send your gift using txtMovies

Open your text movies account, select Amazon codes and enter the email or phone number of the recipient. Copy and paste the link to the movie or TV show in the Customize Your Message section with any message and click "Next" send the link and codes.

Once you've sent your gift, the recipient can redeem the Amazon gift codes in their Amazon account and rent or purchase the video(s).

It's that simple to send Amazon Instant Video gifts by text message or email. Using txtMovies to deliver the Amazon gift codes makes it easy to purchase and deliver gifts to multiple people at the same time.

About txtMovies
txtMovies is a leader in delivering Redbox and Amazon digital codes as a form of appreciation. Current clients include major universities (Ohio State, University of Michigan, University of Iowa), nonprofits (Livestrong Foundation, Code for America, Lifewater, State of North Carolina, Association of Fitness Studios), healthcare organizations/professionals (Children's Hospital of Orange County, Kaiser Permanente, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, family physicians), religious institutions, restaurants and market research companies.

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