Many people dread Tax Day. It’s a deadline nobody wants to miss! Get your money from the big guy, Uncle Sam, or give your money to the lunch time, lunch money bully, Uncle Sam! But Uncle Sam brings you one thing that the lunch money bully wouldn’t, sales and freebies from neighboring businesses. You got that right, FREE stuff! Who doesn’t love free? Ghosts love free things, why shouldn’t you? As Ghosts, we feel its our duty to inform those that we haunt of these free deals! Check out the list of companies that are rewarding you, no matter how you filed!

Arby’s- Free Curly Fries or Potato cakes today! All you have to do is mention the deal!

Boston Market- There Tax Day promotion is the “Big Rib-bate” special: Two rib meals for $10.40 on Monday, April 15. This offer includes a 1/4 rack of St. Louis Style BBQ Ribs with mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn and freshly baked cornbread. Once again, just mention it! No coupon needed!

Bruegger’s Bagels- They are offering their Big Bagel Bundle for just $10.40 ending today April 15. The Big Bagel Bundle includes a baker’s dozen of Bruegger’s bagels and two tubs of Bruegger’s made-in-Vermont cream cheese. You’ll need a coupon, which you can get from Bruegger’s Facebook page .

California Tortilla – Free queso and chips on April 15. Just mention the secret word? It’s a very unexpected secret word for this Tax Day Special…. “1040″

Chilis- Go to their facebook page and download or show the coupon on your smart phone to your server for a free appetizer or desert. Just got to purchase an entree and mention/show the coupon to your server and BOO! free appetizer or desert!

Cinnabon- They are offering two free Classic Cinnabon Bites on April 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m at participating locations! So check before you go, other then that, no coupon needed. It’s first come, first serve basis so get there early! 60,000 were given out last year!!

Great American Cookies- This Tax Day, Great American Cookies are offering customers a free Birthday Cake Cookie at participating U.S. locations nationwide. Only one per person will be given so no need to be greedy!

HydroMassage – Free massages between April 15 and April 19 to help you slowly and relaxingly get over Tax Day. Get a coupon for a free massage at HydroMassage Website and be sure to call ahead to schedule! Use the map to make sure that you are going to a location that is participating!

Office Depot- They are allowing their customers make 25 single-sided black and white copies and offering up to 5 pounds of shredding for free till May 1. No coupon is necessary, and the offer is valid in stores nationwide but be sure to mention the Tax Day discount before completing your transaction!

ooVoo – They are promoting the “Tech Refund.” It works like this: until the end of they day, April 15, go to ooVoo.com/Android to select a wireless carrier and preferred phone model. The new, preferred phone model of your choice will come to your mailbox (just like a refund from Uncle Sam for all those mail-in filers!) Even though a new two-year activation required, and there are other restrictions, but this deal is “scary” good!

Panda Express- A free single serving of its Samurai Surf and Turf at participating locations April 17 for all you, taxpayers! You can only get it if you show this coupon!

Sonic – Half Price all day on drinks, iced tea and slushes at participating locations!!

There you have it, our friends! Free stuff for your hard work!!!

#TeamGhost

** News
————————————————————
Boston Marathon: Our thoughts and prayers are out to those who are affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy. If you or a loved one is trying to locate somebody directly affected by this tradegy and having trouble doing so since all cell phone service is off in Boston and surrounding areas, Google has put up a Person Finder for those locating loved ones. #prayforboston

Beware: Google may often be helpful, but last week they were fooling everyone:

With April Fool’s Day coming and going, we should all remember to take every product release announcement on April 1 with a sense of uncertainty especially those coming from the Tech Kings, such as Google, Twitter and Sony. Google usually pulls out the big tricks every April Fool’s Day to fool their consumers with outrageous product announcements, this year being no different. So without further ado, Google’s “new” products.

Google Nose – This is currently on the Google beta click here to see (http://goo.gl/1P7Bd) . The plan was for Google to make you look real funny out in public tricking you into believing that your phone, tablet, or computer can actual smell a certain way if you bring it close to your nose. Try it on your friends, it might just work!

Youtube Shuts Down- This is the internet proclaimed best prank by Google. They started a “Best Video Ever” contest telling its users that they are going to shut down the site for 10 years, relaunching in 2013, in order for them to sort through every video and crown one lucky video as “Best Video Ever.” Shockingly, many people believed it, taking it to the comment board pleading for them not to go through with this plan. FOOLED! Check out the video message from the “Contest Director” here (http://goo.gl/X2xMw) .

Google Maps Update – Go to Google Maps and find your treasure!! Although, it was technically a prank, you can turn your Google Maps into a treasure map. See what your town or city would look like had it been on a treasure map. Who knows?! You might just find where Captain Kidd’s buried the treasure! To enable this, look on the top right side of the map and you will see “Satellite,” hover over it and you will see the treasure option, then boom! your new treasure map!

Gmail Blue – Google makes you believe that if you download this and upgrade it onto your current version of Gmail, everything will be blue. Don’t believe us? Check out the tutorial (http://goo.gl/wb1hU) .

Twitter and Sony got in on the fun as well!

Twitter’s “Twttr” – For $5 a month you can use the old Twitter, but its a free service if you use the new Twttr (http://goo.gl/nG06j) which provides a new interface and functionality of Twitter that dis-includes vowels. So no vowels. Yep, none. They believe that doing this will encourage a more efficient, dense form of communication. Riighhtt.

Sony’s Pet Products – “Animalia Line (http://goo.gl/6UPXM) ” is a branch of Sony that offers you pet friendly electronics. So ever wanted headphones for you cat? How about a K-9 TV? If this is something you are interested in, check it out!

Happy April Fool’s Day from Team GHOST!

**Fun Fact
Instagram Fun Fact! Do you know anyone who has an Instagram account but never posts any pictures? Well, studies show that 37% of users never upload any pictures, while 25% average 1-3 uploads, and only 5% upload more then 50 photos on average per month. Hard to believe, right?! Share with us on Facebook, if you are one of the 37%! We would love to know!

Just when we finally got used to the new Timeline launched in 2011, Zuckerberg has done it again!  Prepare yourself everyone, because your Facebook news feed is about to undergo yet another remodel. While many people may find this to be annoying or think of it as just another thing to get used to on the ever so complex social site, it actually obtains components that marketers, such as Ghost Post, will appreciate! With this new redesigned News Feed, Facebook will feature larger images and filtering capabilities.  If you didn’t already know, photos are one of the driving forces that make Facebook so engaging, and starting today they will become even more prominent! This is a big plus for us at Ghost Post as we work to create enthusiasm around our client’s brand by posting photos and creating a buzz! The big question is, what will Zuckerberg do next?

As we enter into February you may have already started questioning your New Years Resolution you made a month ago. Yes, it is true that many resolutions are easily neglected, but when it pertains to your business social media is a resolution that just can’t be ignored! A new social strategy is imperative to think about as you set your marketing goals and objectives in 2013. Social media behavior regularly stimulates brand interaction and greatly influences consumer decisions. It’s all about creating enthusiasm and building trust with your customers. Through the various social media platforms out there today you are now able to virtually access information throughout the world instantly, which ultimately allows you to share your products and services with people that were once out of reach. The more you talk and share with them, the more they trust you and the more likely they will keep coming back and continue investing money into your brand.  Social media is essential in today’s competitive marketplace and will really help boost your positive reviews. Social media is easily one of the fastest growing free benefits of technology today, and it’s your turn to hop on board this success train!

Ghost Post noticed a Gap advertisement on a Santa Monica bus earlier this week that linked back to Facebook and not the website. If you have not heard the news, websites are outdated and advertising through Social Media is the new necessity! In the past, having a static website online might have seamed like enough to keep your target audience happy but that is no longer the case in the 2013 expanding market. Competition is increasing and this static presence is a one way channel that needs to be updated.

Today it’s important to have an interactive, online presence to your business, and this is made easy through the many emerging social platforms. If your website is stale, customers will perceive your brand to be boring as well. Facebook and Twitter handle millions of users daily and gives businesses the opportunity to reach the entire network’s audience. Using hashtags or links to a Facebook Page, like companies such as JCrew are using in their advertising, can encourage customers, and even potential customers to talk about your brand. You have now taken your static option and made it interactive, creating enthusiasm around your brand!

There were always rumors about ghosts using radio waves to reach out to the living…. but we actually have a voice clip to prove it! Today one of our ghosts was sharing a story with Ryan Seacrest on 102.7 Kiis FM, focused on the interactions between men and women, and how even social media is seeing changes. Have you ever heard of #instaboob? Yea, neither have we…

This ability to share “voice notes” is something that sparked some interest in us. Could voice notes actually become an active part of social media’s future? Perhaps restaurants could leave a greeting, or a menu update on their Facebook page, or share a funny story.  Bands or musicians can upload clips for their followers and friends to hear a clip of a newly recorded song fresh from the studio, or someone at a concert could share a quick live feed of the performance they are watching. Websites like SoundCloud could potentially integrate themselves into the social media world…but we’ll have to wait and see!

Writing your social media strategy down on paper (yes, people still do use ink) helps keep things in order.  Creating a visual map of all content points will serve as a point of reference, as a compass and even as a to do list.  Discover what talking points your business has, map them out and then determine when and what you’ll be posting!  Stay passionate, keep organized and keep your posting consistent! #boo

Happy holidays from Ghost Media! The holidays are all about sharing, caring, giving, loving and eggnog-ing.  This morning our team floated to the jam packed Starbucks on Third Street Promenade.  We managed to rack up a pretty good bill and the tall order of the day (no pun intended) was the Christmas blend.  What does any of this have to do with social media you ask?  Well, sharing is caring and social media is so much more than promoting your brand or products.

Social media helps personify brands. We like to share the unimportant stuff like our team ordering coffee because the more you expose and the more willing you are to publish an honest diary of your day to day activities, the more attentive, loyal and engaged your audience will become.  So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka and a big boo from the Ghost Media team!  Keep your social media personal and remember that sharing is caring, even if it’s capturing your expensive coffee habit.