Acuta and Social Media – Twitter 2 of 2

Posted on January 14, 2013 by The Big Acuta

I must say for one, some interesting partnerships have come from Twitter at the same time I have NOT taken advantage of the “Possible” parternships available via Twitter. As the BigAcuta I’ve made direct parternships with @MYUSOC and @Women_Hunt_Too. In both cases we probably would never had known about each other it if wasn’t for Twitter. I KNOW there are many many more I SHOULD be contacting but I just haven’t taken the time to do it…

I’m going to focus the @MYUSOC relationship. Jim Hanlon and Dan Leonard have been outstanding to work with. MyUSOC (US Outdoorman Cental) was Acuta Knives very first partnership. Dan and Jim called my if I remember correctly on or about April 30, 2011. We had “Followed” each other Twitter. They took the initiative to call me. They were interested in having and knife sponsor and won’t you know I was interested in ANY kind of sponsorship. Through our joint partnership I’ve given away knives on almost on a monthly basis. I’ve also been “THE” knife sponsor on several of their hunts. One in particular was a televised bear hunt provided Fox Harbour Outfitters in Nova Scotia.

You might ask why give away knives? Lets look at one of the knife give aways with US Outdoorman Cental. One of the monthly giveway winners was Roy Langley or as I like to call he “The Most Interesting Acuta Man”. The knife Roy won was “The Blue Whale”. In a short amount of time, Roy and I made contact with each other. I was working in Washington State at the time. Since I was so close, I made plans to spent a day traveling up to Canada (right acroos the border) to have lunch with Roy. Spending time with Roy was far more interesting for me than for him. I can’t say enough about the time I spent with Roy.

Roy has become a key person in Acuta Knives. Just what has Roy done?

He’s purchased several knives
He’s designed new knives – Which are awesome. I just haven’t been able to bring most to market as of yet.
He’s provided valuable insight into what is going right and how we can improve
He’s enabled expansion of Acuta Knives into Africa (Ghana for example)
He’s basicallly always there!
Most of all he’s just a great person.

As Forrest Gump would say “Giveaways are like a box of Chocolate. You never know what you’re gunna get.”

Acuta and Social Media Series – Facebook 2 of 4

Posted on January 7, 2013 by The Big Acuta

Well Oct 26th, 2011 has arrived now….

Now comes “The Now What do I do?”. I started of course by posting a couple of post on my own. Here was the very first post I made.

First Post on Oct 26, 2011

“Just starting on the Acuta Knives Facebook page. I’ve been meaning to do this for long time. The page will change quite a bit over time as I learn more about how to create a great Facebook page. I hope you enjoy it.”

The first post not from me was from my Mom! Isn’t that special. I had just sharpened some knives for her.

My Mom’s post on Oct 26^th, 2011

“I cut myself with the knives you sharpened. So what’s new?

Ah the memories!

Next thing to do is get some fans quickly. I paid for a couple of advertisement with “The Big Buck Club”. Big Buck Club had 450K followers at that time. Now they are almost up to 600k. How do they get so many followers? Something for us to think about in the future! If I remember correctly Acuta Knives gained about 750 members from those first couple of ads. With each of the promotions we had knife giveaways. And Bob Hinchman was the first of many Acuta Knives contest winner.

During the first promotions we gained some loyal fans that are still very active today. Fans like Elgin Elledge, Tammy Smathers, Jayla Spotted Bear, Eric Webster and Dean Hardison to name a few. Pretty awesome!

Shortly after the first ads we started to offer Facebook auctions. FB auctions at that time was unique. We were one of the first to have FB auctions. We also were one of the first to have giveaway contests. A few others were having giveaway contests before Acuta Knives, but not many. I just love the fact Acuta Knives was able to get our knives in the hands of people link Bob Hinchman. I like to think we continue to push the envelope of new things. We continues with periodic auctions and contests.

Here is a list some things Acuta Knives has done via Facebook since we started:

Long Term to Hourly Auctions
Contests and Giveaways
Recognition Knife Giveaways
Magna Acuta Societatis
Conference Calls with various people
Informational Series
- Unique/Different Animal Series
- USA Constitution Series
- Miscellaneous information series
Quote of the Days series
2013 Wilderness Babe Calendar, which didn’t work out… Bummer
Muzzle Loader giveaway – Long Term Contest
Monthly Newsletter which died out due to my lack focus

I can honestly say the Acuta Knives Facebook presence has made all the difference in the growth and expansion of Acuta Knives. The people I’ve met and associated with has been nothing short of INCREDIBLE. I just can’t say enough about the people. Chapter #4 of the Acuta and Social Media Series will be all about you the fans.

Acuta and Social Media Series- Facebook 1 of (2-3)

Posted on January 2, 2013 by The Big Acuta

The History of Acuta Knives on Facebook and the effect of Facebook and Friends will be a series of short articles. I won’t bore you with one long article. Besides I probably can’t write a long article anyway. It always work better for me when I break down a problem into smaller managable bites.. Otherwise I’ll just get frustrated and overwhelmed.

In the beginning there was Light! Oh wait a minute wrong beginning.

I started “wanting or thinking” about a Facebook page almost as soon as Acuta Knives was formed in Dec 2010. My biggest problem was my own self confidence. I felt like “What the HELL was I going to post and why would anyone what to interact with me”. So I PROCRASTINATED and PROCRASTINATED… Then I took Step 1 and eliminated one of the PROCRASTINATIONS. I created the Acuta Knives Facebook Page on May 10, 2011. Now long-term Acuta Fans would say No you Didn’t!….. Now I didn’t say I published the page so everyone could see it on May 10. I only said I created the page. I went through another 5 months of trying to figure out WHAT THE HELL I WAS GOING TO SAY OR DO. It’s kind of like waiting to have kids until you’re ready to have kids. If you waited until you’re ready, it would never happen. It’s basically the same thing.

Well October 26th, 2011 rolls around. I still don’t think I have a clue. I still don’t know what the HELL I’m going say or do. BUT…. I finally followed Nike’s lead, Just Do It! So I made the Acuta Knvies Facebook page ive and available for everyone to see. Although I must say it was after a “brain storming” session with my good friend Rick Odekirk (Odekirk Chiropractic) or as some people know him, “The Little Acuta”. Rick and I back then spend some quality “Guy Time” once a week solving World Hunger at our local Old Chicago restaurant. More on the effect of Brain Storming Sessions at another time.

So October 26th, 2011 is the official Launch date of the Acuta Knives Facebook Page.

What the Launch ment to Acuta Knives in the next Article.