So I’ve written, rewritten, self-promoted, blogged, tweeted, and facebooked all in an effort to become the Checkers Fan of the year. It all paid off. I’m now one of 16 finalists for the Charlotte Checkers fan of the year. I realized after meeting the other candidates and getting more information on what is in store for me the next couple months I have just now started this journey.

Without typing up the full two page sheet of instructions and guidelines that we were handed, I’ll summarize what I learned about the next phase.  This round of this contest is based on two things.  Getting people to come to games and supporting the team at different events.  There is a third factor, but that is kind of made up as we go along since this is a whole new promotion.  This is a learning experience for the Checkers as well as for us fans involved and I love the fact that they are asking us for ideas for prizes as well as for different contests they could have for us.  That is a sign of a great organization in my mind.

Already I have a million ideas running around my head.  Well maybe not a million, but not far from it.  Some of those ideas I’ll be posting over the next few weeks, while others I’ll save and keep as my secret weapons.  I don’t want any of the other candidates playing off of my strategies after all.  I will say that part of my “campaign” will be playing the social media card as much as I can.  Not sure HOW exactly, but I do have plenty of ideas.  Thankfully I have an amazing group of friends that are already lending me MANY ideas and much more.

In earlier blog posts I said I was looking for something that involved more creativity than my current job as a computer programmer.  Maybe this is that creative outlet and a chance to spread my marketing/ promotional/ abstract task implementation wings.  Plus it is a competition and I hate to lose.

My first phase of my social media blitz is this post.  While it may not seem like much, it is a subtle start.  I’ll also mention that I have created a micro-site within puttzy.com dedicated to the Checkers and hockey.  Checkers.Puttzy.com is now live and will hopefully fill with content very quickly.  The first things I’m planning on adding is a series of posts explaining the basics of hockey.  I’ll continue to write about my experiences here and keep that site very focused on just the checkers and winning the contest.