Blog, Twitter

How @Flipbooks Hit 200,000+ RTs / Ultimate Guide to Getting #ReTweeted on Twitter by @Flipbooks

Thank You Diana For Finding the Picture!

Thank You Diana For Finding the Picture!

UPDATE ~ On February 7th (Super Bowl Sunday! ;-) ) at 1:53Pm I received my 200,000th RT which made me the 22nd person to achieve this.  #BIGTHANKYOU to all of YOU! (and BIG SHOUT OUT to @The_Tech_Update for being the 200,000th RT!!)  Now read, learn & DO these steps and you too will see a MASSIVE increase in RTs! B

UPDATE ~ On December 19th at 7:03pm I received my 100,000th RT which made me the 29th person in Twitter History (Huffington Post) to achieve this.  A #BIGTHANKYOU to all of YOU! (and BIG SHOUT OUT TO @cherluvya for being the 100,000th RT!!)  As I’ve said before & I’ll say it forever, your Twitter presence is only as strong as those you follow and become FRIENDS with! STOP looking at how many followers people have and look at TwitterLists(How To Use TwitterLists by Mashable) *Tip anybody with over 1000 TwitterLists are GOLD!

Now get this….

The 28 other ‘brands’ on Twitter who achieved 100,000 RTs had an average of 929,886 followers each. I on the other hand had only 15,023.  So what does this tell you about the POWER OF RETWEETING and SAYING THANK YOU…….

This is unchanged ~>

Here is an article that has gotten me well over 250 Re-Tweets (RT) by one of my favorite sources of information Fast Company ~>  ‘Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter’….and believe it or not, after I wrote this blog was the very first time I ever read it! lol  What I’m going to share with you isn’t Science, but simple tips to help increase the amount of RTs you get.  So who am I to tell you how to get an RT? Well…. onDecember 6th I celebrated my 80,000th RT which according to this article ~~>http://dailyrt.com/profiles/drt-all/ Ranks me 31st most RTed person/brands in the Twitterverse, so I think I know a thing or two….  ;-) So if you’re serious about “succeeding” on Twitter, I’m going to HELP YOU reach a higher level of RTs GUARANTEED!

1. Say THANK YOU!! I can’t stress this enough. This is AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF TWITTER! And this is the part of  Twitter I miss the most. I don’t care who you are, or who you THINK you are, say THANK YOU! I used to do my BIG SHOUT-OUTs (groups of 10) and did them for every RT until I  hit 150+RTs/day and it became so stress full & time consuming (had to type names manually at that time) that I had a semi-break down! lol  Personally I think until you get 100+RTs/day you should be saying Thank You to everyone.  (Exceptions & Alternatives are at the bottom of page)

2. #B-Tips It doesn’t matter how many followers you have if they’re not listening. Build friends, not followers. B

My first Tweet was sent on May 13th 2009 at 7:49pm. So for me to reach an average of 384 RTs/day (now-a-days 500+ daily) with only 14,000+ followers, obviously I’ve tried my best to keep in some sort of contact with people (usually w/ the RT to show I care enough to see what they’ve said & am thinking about them) I suggest you concentrate on friendships instead of how many people are following you.  This is Social Media btw…

This isn’t a step, just should be common sense.  Take care of your inner group of people who RT you the most first.  And en-less you’re a major news source, you should be RTing people.  If you’re not RTing in my opinion you’re just “stealing” Tweets from certain people and Tweeting them for yourself and that’s that!!

3. Killer content. And how do you find killer content? By following YOU, ya you the one who’s reading this!  Twitter is about sharing information gathered on Global scale.  A mind blowing amount of information is in each & everyone of our time-lines if we just LOOK. And of course you are only as strong as the people you’re following.  (and the people in my stream are the BEST!)  I’m not going to go into detail on how to find these ’gems of the Twitterverse’ I’ll save that for another post.

Where else? Guess what its right in front of you! Every Tweet contains articles or blogs that have an archive, recent post and usually MOST POPULAR.  Obviously DiggStumbleUpon yada yada… are AWESOME sources of info for the community.  Search around you’d be amazed what you’ll find!  And get subscriptions and/or RSS of articles you enjoy reading.  I do CopybloggerAdAge and way too mention! lol

4. DON’T REMOVE PEOPLE FROM THE RT.  Look for Tweets that have been RTed 3 or more times. While leaving yourselves 12-15 characters, so another RT can be achieved. Why?  A) This means it’s great content. B)When people see friends in an RT, they’re more likely to RT it. C) Great way to make new friends since its likely someone you’ve just RTed you’ve never met.  *I like to follow anyone I RT & people who RT me.

5. Make your Tweets sound RT worthy by adding descriptive words, excitement and purpose! One of the masters on Twitter is @Twitter_Tips.  You don’t see as much ’copy & paste’ over there.  K, think about it like this….your Tweet is actually a news/magazine headline more or less.  Look at the copywiting, structure etc… of those junk magazines beside the check out isle. I’m gonna leave it at that….but adding ‘Beautiful’, ’in the World’ or ‘ ! ‘ has gotten me a few extra RTs I’m sure ;-)

Expanding on tip #5, remember one of  Twitter’s most important features is the keyword searches. The more useful keywords you use (while avoiding duplicates) the more likely you’ll get seen. And that brings me to my next point. Add your source if its from a reputable feed.  This also builds creditability to your Tweet, and ads  VALUABLE KEYWORDS. Example, you’ll see me adding (TIME), (LIFE), (Mashable) and a great one that hits two keywords (Yahoo! News).

6. FIGHT FOR IT! You need to put the effort in to make what you just RTed SIMPLE for the next person and the next person and so on…to RT as well.  And it’s the little things you do that make it all the difference! K, so at the end of our names there is ( :@Flipbooks ALWAYS REMOVE IT! Remove any periods ( . ) located before links *since obviously the sentence ends* as well as at the end of Tweets.  Next look for ‘and’  & switch it to ’&”FYI doing this double (RT @….. via @……) is a waste!  **I’ll be going on a rant soon on how RTs are being performed on a later date…lol**

Here is a very good example of me fighting for RTs, which JD ‘@earthxplorer‘ Andrews & I got!

RT @earthXplorer“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind”  ~Dr. Seuss (138 Characters)

What I did ~>

RT @earthXplorer Be who you are & say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter & those who matter don’t mind ~Dr Seuss (128 Characters = 12 characters left for possibly two RTs per Tweet)

7. Use #Tags, but don’t over abuse or use them incorrectly. I’m going to be brief since this subject is VERY IMPORTANT and needs to be discussed with it’s own blog. Think of #tags as a community & a place to anchor your brands message.  Too many #tags (more than 3) and you look spammy, while releasing too many Tweets consecutively to the same #tag gets you ignored and possibly blocked from Twitter searches.  You should be doing a keyword search judging flow of timeline prior to Tweeting.

#B-Tips If your user name is too long and/or difficult you should change it. If its to long you’re robbing yourself of extra RTs and if it’s too difficult there leaves too much room for error. Refer to this article by @Kim ~>   How to Change your Username on Twitter

8. DON’T USE 2 or especially 3 Links in 1 Tweet.  That’s called mass confusion & no one wants to put out that kind of effort validating EVERY link so they can RT ya!

9. According to http://TweeSpeed.com provided to me by my very good friends @ScottATaylor there are approximately 20,000 Tweets per minute.  The question is who reads yours and which of your friends are likely to RT it?  And although this next tip will annoy those not using Twitter effectively (under 1000 friends in their stream) sending out 2 Tweets consecutively will increase the likely-hood you’ll be seen by your friends.

10. Another thing to take into consideration is Tweeting during busy times.  From my experience 4-6:30am, 4-6:30pm & 10pm-12:00am PST are all peak times for me to obtain followers.  As one of my closest friends@Paul_Steele says, depending on what country you’re Tweeting in the peak times and subjects (eg. TV shows) will repeat themselves weekly.  Regardless you want to be Tweeting when the majority of your closest friends are on.

11 . Have I failed to mention I’ve Tweeted over 35,500 times and sent over 5000 DMs in only 208 days with an average of 177.2 Tweets sent a day….basically like someone who should be in the Internet Rehab Center? lol  No you don’t need to Tweet like a mad man/woman to get RTed, but you do need to Tweet on a consistent basis to keep up with whats happening and to maintain friendships.

So I hope these tips where of assistance to you and I want to thank each and everyone of you for all your support and RTs! B

Other Notes ~

(Exceptions & Alternatives to Tip 1.)

If you are a “hard core” user of  Twitter I don’t feel the need to say thank you all the time to your best friends because its more of a “you know I’ll hit ya back soon enough my friend” kind of understanding.  I even feel uncomfortable when people who always RT me say thanks when I RT them….I think I’m the one who should be thanking them more often!

As an alternative to saying ”Thank You“ to everyone I also feel an INDIVIDUAL Follow Friday (#FF) are awesome!  Adding people who inspire you to your Twitter Lists is a sign of appreciation as well.  Writing a blog is ideal cause not only does it make a great introduction but brings traffic to your web site. (btw if you are on Twitter for business and don’t have a blog you’re wasting your time on here!)

* I do read each message everyone sends me but now I hope those of you who wonder why I don’t get back to you and/or respond to every Tweet understand the amount of effort it takes for me to deal with 1500+ RTs &50+DMs/DAY.  I would also like to mention that at busy times all the RTs & ‘@s’ don’t show up on my Seesmic app & occasionally it freezes and I’m slammed with 25-50 RTs at once. lol

*  Some people on Twitter are obviously not just rude but STUPID! I don’t care when friends RT a few Tweets then ‘copy & paste’  some of my Tweets to share with their inner group.  I do however get PISSED OFF when I follow my keywords and notice someone who has never RTed me in there life and in their Twitter stream they’ve literally stolen everything I’ve worked so hard to find.  This gets you BLOCKED immediately and if you’re really un-lucky a public lashing by me!

* Yes there was a POF banner on my pic at one point.  lol I figure its a form of social media so I’m writing another blog titled ’How POF Prepared Me For Twitter’.

* And yes as mentioned I do contract work. BUT only for large companies who are serious about ~> “There is a big difference with being on#Twitter & being noticed onTwitter” ~Blair “@Flipbooks‘ Semenoff  I know without a doubt, that if I can accomplish these Twitter goals by myself…..then I’ll teach your Team to be just as strong, and in some cases stronger!  If your ‘brand‘ is ready to be cutting edge and excel immediatetly with this AWESOME Marketing Tool that can only get bigger, then you’ve come to the right place.  I DON”T offer one day group seminar. We are creatures of habit.   And that’s why I offer ‘Twitter Brand Control‘ course which is conducted over 5 days long 24 hours a days plus other consultation throughout the contract.  If you’d like to know more please submit a request to Info@TruActionFlix.com

flipbooks

Movie Premiers a great way to use Flipbooks

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Flippies Simpsons Movie

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Fun Works Star Wars

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Flipbooks have been used to attract movie goers since the beginning of it’s creation.
Look at a film preview, it consists of exciting short clips usually under 5 seconds compiled to make the 30 second TV spot.   The ideal flipbook would consist of exciting clips, list  new URL’s, promote interactive web sites, coupons for food, movie premier & DVD discounts and even the smell of popcorn.  That`s what we can provide for you at TruAction Flix. (check out our TruBenefits section and select ‘Movie Premiers’)
The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has the largest collection in the world consisting of over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, flipbooks

Fashion Flipbooks? Yes Chanel, Lacoste & Louis Vuitton used Flipbooks

chanel-flipbookYa, that’s right even the fashion industry has taken advantage of this useful advertising tool.  Luxury designer Chanel created two flipbooks , one of which in ‘03 &  the other in‘06. The sequence chosen: shows drawings of a a necklace and then flowers flowing into a girl with a Chanel hand bag.lacoste

Lacoste flipbook titled “Style on Skin” used a clip from a recent commercial in which a man is waking up half dressed from his bed.

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                                                                          A little comedy was added in this ‘06 Louis Vuitton flipbook……the image shows a groom building  the Eiffel Tower with designer suitcases for his newly beloved wife.

 

As you see flipbooks can be used to promote anything.  The ideal flipbook would not only consist of  dynamic clips but promote new perfume lines (by adding scent), new websites/social media sites & provide discounts on products (tear off coupons)……that’s the essence of what the TruAction Flix Flipbook can do for your brand.

The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historan Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has the largest collection in the world consisting of over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, flipbooks

Kelloggs’ “Astérix” Flipbook Series

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This full color flipbook series created in ‘96 for Kelloggs‘ Corn Flakes.  The flipbooks are based on cartoon characters Idefix, Asterix & Obelix.  Each flipbook is 25 pages in length, and are in French.  When manufacturing a flipbook for kids, it’s a good idea to look for a manufacturer who’s flipbooks are under 40 pages in length so kids can use them.

Check out the Astérix link and you’ll recognize who I’m talking about!!

This is the sequence of the scenes:

Idéfix a la chasse: Idéfix bites a roman soldier.

Les trophees d’Obélix: Obélix is sulking; Astérix gives him a pile of roman helmets.

Une belle amitie:Idéfix jumps into the arms of Obélix and Obélix falls on his back.

Un-like other promotional products found in cereal boxes, flipbooks are able to be shared and traded. Imagine how many kids would bring this form of advertising to school….  Flipbooks also provide ample space to promoteother products, URL’s, events, and  advertising campaigns.  Help increase sales with tear off coupons or even add scent. Another feature is the ’Action Coloring Book” these are just some of the many highlight available with the TruAction Flix flipbook.

The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has an amazing collection of over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, flipbooks, promotional products

BC Lions & LA Dodgers Fan Incentive Flipbooks

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                 Using flipbooks as fan incentive’s is a great way to use this product!  In ‘06 GameDay made up 10,000 limited edition flipbooks for the BC Lions in which 5000 were handed out FREE to early arriving football fans.  Giving away incentives not only shows appreciation but is an easy way to increase overall memorabilia and food sales…..the longer the fan’s are in the stadiums the more likely they are to buy.  The remaining flipbooks were sold for $4.99 and still to this day remain the top selling souvenir EVER for the BC Lions Football Club.

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In ‘08 the LA County Register-Recorder/County Clerk and the Dodgers did it right!  They took advantage of  not only this unique  collectible, the BUZZ marketing created but added value with the tear off coupon.  What they provided was a voucher for 50% off  reserve level tickets eligible for April/May ‘09 as well as $5.00 off souvenirs at The Top of the Park Team Store at Dodger Stadium….now that’s thinking!! 

ta-coupon  Our goal at TruAction Flix is to create the ULTIMATE fan incentive!!  How do we create an emotional engagement with fans?  Simple, by using clips like; bone crushing hits, game winning catches & other memorable moments in sports that should never be forgotten. 

Clips from all eras will help you achieve this goal…… depending on the demographic, older clips may be ideal.  Create maximum exposure by placing your Brands logo on generic covers, offer a limited edition series, as well as varying  the quantity of production ensuring your Brands flipbooks to be highly sought after!  Not to mention…….. providing fans’ a reason to interact while they attempt to complete their collection creating YOU FREE BUZZ MARKETING!!!  Let’s not stop there….add value with authentic autographs, coupons & winning tickets.  A main selling feature for our flipbook is allowing distributors to lower their cost per unit by selling advertising space.  K, we’re getting warmer on creating the ULTIMATE fan incentive, how about adding temporary tattoo’s & scent (scratch-n-sniff) and top it off with URL’s promoting new products & interactive web sites…….now that’s the ULTIMATE FAN INCENTIVE!! 

The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has the largest collection in the world consisting of over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, flipbooks

Harley-Davidson Flipbook Series

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In ‘02 Melcher Media created The Harley-Davidson Action Book Series.  The series consists of 6 flipbooks ranging from the assembly of the innovative V-Rod motorcycle to a record breaking jump.

Other clips include SPEED; a 0 to 175 mph drag strip pass, racing around a dirt track as well as ice racing on a frozen lake.  The collection ends with a  traitorous summit hill climb.

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Only 120,000 flipbooks were created and sell for $4.95Melcher Media chose to use a very common size of flipbook 2 x 4-1/4 inches.

One of the many advantages to the TruAction Flix flipbook is getting more with less.  The company’s patented, uniquely shaped product has action packed clips in just one flipbook!  This is the Ultimate Promotional Product; since it includes coupons, scent & ample space for URL’s not to mention lot’s of additional advertising space.  No company will set you apart like TruAction Flix!

The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has the largest collection in the world consisting of over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, TV advertising, flipbooks

Audi Q5 Flipbook Commercial

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Here is a recent  TV commercial for the Audi Q5.  The commercial is unique, calming and very effective at portraying Audi’s image using flipbooksOgilvy Johannesburg used flipbooks in a smooth & effective manner to make the commercial.

Blog, outdoor advertising

Sony Unveils the Worlds Largest Zeotrope

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What is a zeotrope?  It is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures….a lot like a flipbook!! lol

The earliest elementary zeotrope was created in China back in 180AD by the inventor Ting Huan.  All though it never become popular until the 1860’s when it was patented by William F. Lincoln.

In 2008 Sony built a 10 meter wide, 10 tonne zeotrope called the BRAVIA-drome to promote the Motionflow 200Hz. (VIDEO)  To create this illusion; first they chose pictures featuring a Brazilian footballer (soccer), they added 3 new frames per second  for a total of 64 images.  The purpose of this is to demonstrate that with increased frame rate, there is an increased smoothness in motion.   Sony’s zeotrope can reach speeds up to 50km/hr.

I think this was a great campaign because it relinquishes History, they broke a  Guinness World Record and the music is pretty kick ass too! lol

Blog, flipbooks

Post Cereal Hockey Flipbooks

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Ask yourself this….when your child picks out a cereal, is it for the prize or the best prize?? EXACTLY!

Post Cereal correctly used the concept on how flipbooks should be marketed.  They created an action packed Hockey series consisting of 12 flipbooks.  Although the covers are in color, they chose to use B&W clips.  The clips range from great saves, rock hard wrist shots,  glass shattering slap shots, exciting end to end rushes and so much more .

Some of the players featured in the series are; Johnny Water,  Jean Béliveau, Ron Ellis, Gilles Tremblay, Bob Pulford and “Gump” Worsley just to name a few.

When a company decides to create a series of that magnitude; you know their intention is to increase sales…….what hockey fan wouldn’t want to collect all 12?  How many boxes of cereal were purchased?  And more importantly, how many kids brought their Post Cereal Hockey flipbooks to school in the attempts of completing their collection? 

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Our goal at TruAction Flix is not only to increase ROI, but to create a long lasting impression.  Adults remember getting flipbooks, now it’s time for this Generation…..

Did you know that  nearly 50% of kids between the age of 6-12 after seeing a URL on TV or in a magazine proceed to the companies web site?  Wouldn’t it be a great idea to develop an entire online campaign using flipbooks as a catalyst.  How about letting the consumer vote on what the series will consist of……the options are endless!

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The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal Fouché.  Mr. Fouché has the largest collection of flipbooks consisting of over 5000 flipbooks.  If you would like to view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

Blog, flipbooks

Eroticism & Flipbooks

Eroticism in flipbooks has been around since the 1900’s.  And at one time they to faced prohibition……making this product highly sought after.  Employees of specialized shops such as The Rue de la Lune in Paris were some of the first to sell erotic flipbooks.

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Made in '88

 Here is a erotic flipbook video of a stripper created in the United States.  As recent as 2001, American publishing company PowerHouse produced Strip Flips by Leslie Lyons.

 

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We all know how “freaky” the Germans like to get! lol…..JK

That country has created the majority of erotic flipbooks, looking at this dated flipbook by Lebende Photographien is just an example of how old this type of advertising tool has been around.

Some erotic flipbooks are simply made by cartoonists in low production numbers and are more for a laugh than a turn on….

In the late ‘80′s and early ‘90’s German publishing companies continued printing flipbooks but increased the quality of footage, as seen in Erotic Mini Movie and Harlekin Geschenke’s Juke Box Strip.

Unique German photographer Wiebke K. Folsch has created a variety of flipbooks as recently as ‘07 to work in conjunction with his unique photography.

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No, TruAction Flix will not be creating erotic flipbooks….lol.  Several people have recommended we should, but  I feel it limits our ability to work with children as well as Blue Chip Companies.

The pictures and information was provided by flipbook Historian Pascal FouchéMr. Fouché has the largest flipbook collection in the world consisting over 5000 flipbooks.  To view more of his collection please visit www.flipbook.info, the site is available in both French & English.

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