Greg Swan

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Last week in pictures

In Family on May 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm

Picked up this sweet Boots Randolph double LP at a garage sale…

Grant and I drove around downtown Chaska picking up litter…

My baby sister had a baby!

For Mother’s Day, we took my 80 year-old Grandma to Lowry Nature Center…

Weber Shandwick presents FireBell at MIMA…

Steph Agresta checks in on Foursquare at my office…

Grandma’s birthday…

Social Media Shepherds at The Beat…

Katie Couric takes my advice almost a year later to the day

In Armchair Marketing on April 26, 2012 at 2:02 pm

First she ripped off my Batman photo routine, and now she’s ripping off my ideas for an online Couric network.

Thanks to my favorite startup launch of 2012, TimeHop, I was reminded of this tweet from April 26, 2011 (a year ago today)…

Yesterday, Katie Couric and ABC announced the May 1 premiere of “Katie’s Take,” a weekly online show that will explore subjects such as health, nutrition, parenting and wellness.

While it’s not her own online company, per se, Katie is joining Tom Hanks and CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker in creating made-for-online content for key target audiences.

Traditional media is still important for the masses, but niche content — that can be highly customized and targeted — is so much more 2012.

Hey Katie, if you’re listening, you should start thinking mobile. #justsayin.

Batman watches over the Big Apple

In From the Road on April 26, 2012 at 12:36 pm

Batman overlooking downtown Minneapolis

In Me Being Stupid, mn on April 26, 2012 at 12:30 pm

A prediction

In Social Media on April 19, 2012 at 9:17 am

Shortly there will be an entire industry devoted to memorial/funeral videos and interactive tombstones using photos/updates culled from social profiles. What you tweet really will last forever.

Important SXSW 2012 Photos

In sxsw on April 6, 2012 at 12:48 pm

Angie seems to think something is going to fall on her head at any moment

Carl is tall

I found a Delorean

The plaided bearded men of Weber Shandwick

Angie’s leg

My Army (client) panel

Giant plate of cheese fries I ate entirely by myself

Me and a pinwheel

Matt Dickman amazed at my pinwheel

The epitome of SXSW

Danny and Steffen at their best

Run! Run!!

Batman goes to SXSW 2012

In sxsw on April 6, 2012 at 10:48 am

Me, Smokey the Bear and Batman

Batman and Baratunde Thurston

Batman and Hugh MacLeod

Batman and GW Bush

Batman and uhhh…this guy

Batman goes to space

Batman and uhhh…this thing

Batman and a hipster puppy

Batman and this squirrel thing

Tweets I would have posted if the wifi had been working on my flight to #sxsw

In sxsw on March 8, 2012 at 3:28 pm

Captain: “We apologize, but it appears the GoGo wifi on this flight is not working.” 75 #sxsw geeks groan in unison.

Not like 75 #sxsw geeks would have made any use from all tapping the dripping faucet that is satellite wifi on planes.

Once again rocking the “Daft Punk Tron: Legacy Soundtrack” + Remix albums whilst flying. Some of the most productive music made for headphones ever.

The MS Word spelling dictionary doesn’t like “unphased” yet it will allow “impactful.” Gross.

I’ve opened my web browser no less than three times out of habit. #404fail

Absolutely did not bring enough dead tree reading material to be on a wifi-less flight. I may settle for organizing my desktop (GASP)

And I just opened my web browser again. Apparently I have the attention span of squirrel in late-October.

I have 18 emails in my Outbox queued up to send once we hit the tarmac. Set inboxes to “INCOMING FIRE”

Oh great, the dog in the lady’s purse behind me is getting restless. Maybe it wishes we had wifi, too.

And I just opened my web browser yet again.

It has been a very long time since I flew in a plane this long that didn’t cross into other time zones.

CST = the superior time zone. Tell your friends. Perhaps CST-rolling people will be the meme of #sxsw 2012.

If I’d known I wouldn’t have wifi, I would have pre-scheduled all of these tweets.

Then I could tweet things like, “Flying over Oklahoma panhandle. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss it!”

Tommy’s Malt Shop introduces the Tommy’s Juicy Lucy

In Chaska on March 7, 2012 at 1:34 pm

Until Matt’s Bar and their AMAZING “Jucy Lucy’s” (only Matt’s Bar spells it w/o the “i”) move across the street from my house, I will gladly settle for Tommy’s Malt Shop in historic downtown Chaska serving up their new menu item — the Tommy’s Juicy Lucy.

I saw a post about new Spring menu items on their Facebook Group (they’re still struggling with a Facebook Page strategy) yesterday, and we immediately made plans to go sample them.

Tommy’s has two Lucy’s — the Tommy’s Lucy stuffed with American Cheese, fried onions and pickles, and the Smoky Lucy stuffed with jalapenos and pepper jack cheese, topped with fried onions and chipotle mayo. Both are served in baskets with frieds, and the Tommy’s Lucy is only $2 more than a normal burger.

All of Tommy’s burger buns are buttered and grilled, just like an old fashion diner. Their fries are always crisp (just be sure to ask for the sweet potato fries not to be too crisp – they sometimes overcook them a bit), and we’ve never had a bad meal there.

After being warned by both the kitchen manager and our waitress to be careful with our molten cheese-filled burgers, my wife and I dove into the oral orgasm that is the experience of eating two beef patties crimped around a puddle of piping hot cheese.

They were amazing. I’m not a food critic so lack the adjectives to share with you. Let’s just say, they were amazing.

Matt’s Jucy Lucy will always be the best. But I don’t live across the street from Matt’s, so this is more than sufficient!

(note to Brett and Emily, I would love to sit with you for an hour and volunteer some help in setting up your Facebook strategy and profiles. You’re missing out on great word of mouth and organic social media opportunities by not having your channels properly set up. Let me know! We love Tommy’s and are big advocates!)

Punxsutawney Phil celebrates his fourth year on Twitter, does interview with Mashable

In Armchair Marketing, In the News, Social Media on February 7, 2012 at 3:38 pm

I am the voice of Punxsutawney Phil on Twitter. I didn’t plan it this way, but I’m accepting it now.

As I neared the fourth year authoring the Punxsutawney Phil Twitter account (@GroundhogPhil), I cut my losses on attempts to hand the account over to the Groundhog Club and just went for it.

Read previous year’s posts and subsequent coverage here:

For 2012, it is clear the growing interest in animal based Twitter accounts (see @BronxZooCobra and @NYTChicken) amplified the general public’s interest in chatting with a forecasting rodent via 140 characters or less.

Building on three years of prognostication-related tweets, this year’s momentum was strong and resulted in even more big name coverage of Phil’s tweets. Like doing an interview with Mashable in character, for starters.

Again this year, The Huffington Post, The National Post, local media and weather sites again retweeted and/or referred to @GroundhogPhil’s tweets.

And the data was just tremendous. The RT’s were flying!!

In the spirit of good faith, I again offer up the account to the top-hatted groundhog bunch. However, given they’ve ignored this offer and opportunity for four years now, I’ve decided I’m happy to keep it until Phil predicts Twitter is a relevant audience for their event.

Long live @groundhogphil!

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