Hey Sons of Anarchy Fans,
I didn’t realize Kurt was announcing the contest winners Sunday. We were at my sister’s celebrating my son’s birthday (he’s 5 now) and I was telling everyone about the challenge for Sons of Anarchy.
Seriously, though, I wanted to say something here on my blog for all the fans that aren't on #twitter.
Pimping #SonsofAnarchy and @sutterink has been, and will continue to be a blast. I know there are a lot of fans jumping on the M.C. Pony Express since 101 The Sons of Anarchy Series Premier! All with good reason, The Sons of Anarchy is the greatest dramatic production in the history of television. I made a statement to that effect several times, well before @sutterink (Kurt Sutter) ever replied to me on #twitter.
I was always conscious of the fact that he could at any time say, “HEY, stop your shit! You fucking cunt!” When I decided to hit #twitter, I decided I would go as hard as I could and as far as @sutterink would let me, lol. I don’t really have much of a filter and I trip myself up quite often. So, I’m a bit self-conscious about what I say usually. Not getting hammered for “spam” was a secondary concern. I thought about starting up a disposable acct just for promoting @sutterink and #SonsofAnarchy, just in case. I opted to continue using my original #twitter acct @Twisted_Shadow. I never really tweeted much before SAMCRO anyway so what the heck.
Pissing off @sutterink was the one thing that would have crushed me. I’ve never met the man in person, any of the cast or crew (to the best of my knowledge). I had only ever heard of Katey Sagal (I enjoyed Married with children a great deal) and Ron Perleman (my mom was/is a huge beauty and the beast fan). Why would he getting mad at me be a potential emotionally crushing incident? Well, Sons is his show. I try to treat my online interaction as I would real life. It may be just words on the monitor to some people but there is still a person on the other end of every post, tweet, what have you.
At first I was like a madman, perhaps even a bit psychotic in my approach. I typed every single tweet I posted. I downloaded #tweetdeck and set up the columns so I could see anything I thought that might help. I ended up with four columns, as my basic #tweetdeck feed and I would add additional columns as needed to keep up with other things that might help. I rarely ever checked direct messages because that only works when someone I follow is following me back. I do try to remember to check my DM’s every couple of days now.
I think I had less than 100 tweets when I started pimping #SAMCRO and @sutterink. Season three brought me some challenges because apparently while I didn’t get slapped with a skateboard for spam I did experience quite a few error messages. Which meant I had to switch my system up to get around the (what I called) blocks preventing me from tweeting the way I had been before. I didn’t use any sneaky tech programs or use one of those things where you pay them and they get followers for you (I’m a cheap bastard in most things). I had to get a bit more creative.
My entire philosophy for pimping #SAMCRO and @sutterink depended completely on reaching as many potential fans/followers in a single tweet. Once I had done that it was up to the new followers to add a few friends/co-workers to the bunch and they begin adding more friends. Simply tweeting “@sutterink, #sonsofanarchy, #SAMCRO and #SOA would only reach tweeps watching for those #hashtags. So unfortunately, for many people trying to help get the message out, it didn’t go very far. Once I realized this, I fought with myself over how to reach as many tweeps as possible. I had to stop thinking about it in order to come up with a solution. This is not something I normally do. Look at the number of followers for @Twisted_Shadow. Last Saturday or so I had a little over 200 (I think). I just checked I have like 375, that is a huge jump, for me lol. I’ve had this twitter acct for a several years now. I just never really tweeted much before Sons of Anarchy. I’m still under 9,000 tweets and Kurt has over 56.5K followers on @sutterink!
Believe me, #SAMCRO fans come from all walks of life. I found fans in some very unlikely places. Well, unlikely for me. I can’t say for sure how effective my efforts really were because quite frankly I never tried to track at what I did. I looked at how many followers @sutterink had gained and began tweeting that also. Sure enough every time I posted a tweet with how many followers Kurt had, I could go back and check a few minutes later and see another hundred, 200 or so more followers. I think one night during season 2 we (all the tweeps pimpin’) got a little over 1.2K followers for @sutterink.
Here we fans are settling in to watch 402 and I still wonder what is it about the show that drives us fans to practically drag people in front of a TV and say “watch, just watch for a minute.” Boom, they’re hooked. I can break down what I did in a simple easy to follow formula (for lack of a better word). I tell 3 people and get them to tell 3 people and those nine to each tell 3 people. ROFLMAO. To some of you that will sound very familiar, if you’ve ever been approached by an Amway salesman (or anyone selling a system like it). That is how they break down the system. I guess it really does work if you are pimping something people really want. Only instead of reaching 3 people, I needed to reach thousands. I do know of one celebrity for sure that started following @sutterink because of my tweeting to her. When she tweeted that she was now following @sutterink, I was ecstatic.
Once I figured out how to do what I wanted to do in a more effective manner I was rolling. Later I figured how I could pimp more effectively and not have to sit at the computer for long periods of time. LOL this isn’t actually funny but I came up with the concept after I injured my back and it freaking hurt to sit, stand and especially lay down. I could barely lift a nearly empty plastic cup much less having anything in it. That was agony. I think I did miss a few days tweeting for a short time. I’ve gotten used to it for the most part. Anyone that has ever messed up their back can tell you, it effing sucks. Sometimes it felt like a knife and other times it would feel like it was on fire.
Ahhh, started drifting, LOL. I do that now and then.
Being chosen for this opportunity is as much thanks to all the fans that jumped on the M.C. Pony Express and followed @sutterink on twitter and the Blog. I wouldn’t be having this opportunity if no one had begun following Kurt. I wish everyone could go on the trip.
I have a friend in Australia (thanks to #SOA) She’s a Huge #SAMCRO fan. and has been helping spread the word down under. It would crack me up because she always wrote: S.A.M.C.R.O but now the #hashtags have caught on almost everyone uses #sonsofanarchy rather than #SAMCRO. Personally, I like #SAMCRO. The Aussies’ are a season behind us in the states for some reason. FX, I expect that to be fixed, with worldwide satellite capabilities Sons of Anarchy should be able to be viewed worldwide on Tuesday’s; Wednesday night’s beyond the international date line (and I’m only partially saying that because she’s hot! I hope she doesn’t read this, lol. I would not want to embarrass her.) Then all the fans can discuss/chat about the episodes the next day essentially. Especially for our troops overseas, it is a very small contribution to ask in return for what the men and women in the Armed Forces do all too often without regard for their own safety during a time of war.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped watching the previews for the next episode of #SAMCRO. I have found that I enjoy the anticipation of what will come more than teasing myself with the previews. I guess for that reason I tend not to participate in the fan sites much. I dislike spoilers only slightly less than Musicals! *cough* Glee *cough*...
That’s another sticky point with me! In what fucking Universe does cancelling Terrier’s and Chicago Code, while Glee is renewed, make a bit of sense? It’s almost enough to make me freaking puke! I guess that’s why I’m not a Network Exec. LOL Drifting again but, gotta finish it now. WTF do NBC Exec’s think they are doing? Their lineup sucks year after year and any good shows they could have had they passed on or canned and put more crap on. Can NBC survive much longer?
This started as a simple thank you to all the fans of #SonsofAnarchy and @sutterink for making this trip possible. Sometimes it’s difficult to express how you really feel just saying thanks everyone doesn’t seem enough. Yeah I know, a three page (on Microsoft word) blog post might be a bit much. When it comes to #SonsofAnarchy is anything really too much?
