Mike D. Merrill Blog

Coca-Cola Checks In with Facebook via RFID

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:00:28 +0000

It’s been exactly 100 days since I’ve blogged as I’ve been tied up with a new marketing role at ReachLocal. After seeing this video I had to share and applaud Publicis E-dologic for a pain-free way to integrate social sharing with Facebook.

Coca Cola – The Real Life Like – (2010) Israel

Talk about connecting the real world [...]

Paciugo Launches 4 New Gelato Flavors including one with Bacon

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:43:16 +0000

Paciugo is launching 4 new flavors in May including one with Bacon. I was excited to interview the co-founder of the local Dallas business with 43 locations and a talkable brand. [...]

Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Social on Twitter and Facebook

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:28:48 +0000

Today Baskin-Robbins is running their 31 Cent Scoop Night to Benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. I discovered this campaign last week on Twitter and have been impressed by the level of full integration across multiple channels. As a marketer and social media enthusiast, I’m always looking for ways to demonstrate what a well orchestrated and [...]

New LinkedIn Feature Allows You to Follow Company Profile

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:10:35 +0000

As I was going through business cards Sunday inviting people to connect, I noticed LinkedIn had recently added a new feature. The “Follow company” capability allows you to follow all of the updates to a company profile. Since I have a Business account, I’m not sure whether this is a free feature or not. However, I [...]

What to Share on Twitter

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:36:48 +0000

The 80/20 Rule of Twitter

Basically the premise of this is 80% of the time you should be talking about someone other than yourself or your business. The other 20% is you sharing your own content. When I look at a business new to Twitter I often discover they are primarily sharing their own content such as [...]

Thank You For Laying Me Off – How Social Media Changed My Life

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:06:24 +0000

It was February 9th, 2009. I arrived to work early that Monday morning to plan my week and get a jump on what was already a challenging sales quarter. Then around 8:15am an email came across my inbox from the CEO announcing an 8% layoff. Surely, the folks who were going to be let go were [...]

10 Reasons Why Having a Personal Domain Name Is Essential

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:46:42 +0000

I have had my own domain name of http://www.mikemerrill.com for over 10 years now. I initially secured it as a place to host my resume and as a unique way to differentiate myself when applying to business schools. Moreover, it provided the opportunity to brand my name with every email I sent. Oftentimes people would ask [...]

Greenz Offers New Low Calorie Meal Options

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:11:24 +0000

As someone who started the new year with the goal to lose weight, I’m always looking for new ways to lower my calorie intake. That’s why I was excited when Greenz asked me to sample their new Wellness Program they launched this year. I realized back in 2003 when I ran my first marathon that managing [...]

13 Ways Businesses Can Leverage Foursquare and Gowalla

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:59:58 +0000

Hello, my name is Mike Merrill and I’m addicted to location-based apps. The first step is to admit you have a problem. While the gaming aspect can be appealing, what’s keeping me up at night are the innovative ways companies will be able to take advantage of Foursquare and Gowalla to reward influencers and loyal fans. After [...]

Buy Local – The Power of Location-Based Applications

Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:32:52 +0000

As I was driving into work today I heard a story on NPR (KERA) about how Farmers Branch, TX is promoting their Buy the Branch program to help keep taxes low. One of the gentleman they interviewed talked about how they are developing a retail database of all the Farmer’s Branch retail services available. First, I [...]