Burger Conquest

How To Post As Yourself On Facebook Page You Admin

Posted on 09/21/2014 by Rev

How To Post As Yourself On Facebook Page You Admin

Somethings in life just don’t make sense, like why do you park in a driveway and drive on a parkway or why does quicksand work slowly? We may never know the answers to these questions and may be forced to ponder indefinitely about how much deeper would the ocean be, if SPONGES didn’t grow in it? Might be best to just move on and go back to eating that Cheeseburger.Unless of course your question is “how do I post as myself on the Facebook page that I admin?”

I’ve wondered for years what is the magic secret to unlocking the super power that lets me, Rev Ciancio, make a comment on my Burger Conquest Facebook page and not just post as the entity itself. (I’ll be my Mom is proud to know that she raised an “entity,” at least in the sense of a third person.) There really are times when you’re engaging with a brand on their Facebook and a little human touch would be appropriate. You could take the route of ending a post with your initials to signal that it was you, like “Thanks for the suggestion! I will go eat that Burger. – RC” But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why you can’t.

Well somebody at Facebook finally heard us, and thanks to a recent update, you now can post under your own name on a Facebook page that you admin. Along with your newly found Facebook Super Hero powers, you can now also now use your social media utility belt tag in your friends to pages on that same post. The Evil powers that be no longer prevent you from tagging your BFF, Mom or your friend’s dog (with a Facebook profile) into a post on your page.

Here’s a step by step “how to post as yourself on Facebook page you admin” instruction using a Flipagram video post I recently made to the Burger Conquest Facebook page after a visit to Fanfare Eatery myself.

That being said, if you don’t admin a Facebook page and are here for the Burger Hero Shots, here’s a Fanfare® Signature from Fanfare Eatery in Fairfax, VA.

Fanfare Eatery
http://fanfareeatery.com
13061 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy
Fairfax, Virginia 22033

The Fanfare® Signature with Cheese – Two 4oz Angus Steakburger patties from Burger Maker topped with American Cheese, Bacon, Grilled Onions, Lettuce and FANFARE’s Special Sauce.

1. While in your browser, find the post on your Facebook page. Underneath the post, but above the comments, you’ll see your pages profile photo as an Icon. Place your cursor over the icon and a pop will confirm which account your comment will come from. The default setting is your page.

2. Click the icon and a drop down menu will appear. From here you can choose to switch to your personal profile or another Facebook page.

3. Click on the account you want to post from to confirm. Then you can type into the comment field. Below you will see that I switched from Burger Conquest to Burger Maker.

The advantage to posting as another Facebook page is that you can tag in other Facebook pages. In this case, I wanted to tag in Fanfare Eatery.

4. The advantage to posting as yourself on a Facebook page you admin is that you can now tag in your friends. The day I went to Fanfare Eatery, I was with my friend Mike so I wanted to include him in the post.

If you want to share a post from another Facebook page you can also use this function to choose which account you want to post from. Here’s an example.

1. Let’s say I want to share this Hot Wing promotion from the Fanfare Eatery Facebook page to the Burger Conquest page. Click share underneath the post.

2. A pop up will show with options. Inside the share drop down, choose “On a page you manage” and in the drop down below it, choose the Facebook page destination.

3. In the drop down to the right, choose which account you want the post to come from. Then type in the message and click “Share Photo.”

That’s it. Now you can share and post from any account you admin. Try your best not to have a bunch of conversations with yourself. That’s creepy and we will know you are just shooting for Facebook karma and the last thing we need is another negative adjustment to their algorithm.

And now for more photos of all delicious Food at Fanfare Eatery. This place has good Food, including their Oreo Sliders. Yes those are a real thing.

Posted in Burgers, Hamburgers, Social Media, Virginia | Tagged bar, best burger, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, ciancio, david, facebook, fairfax, fanfare eatery, french fries, glory days grill, gourmet burger, great burger, greenbriar town center, hamburger, post on your page as yourself, restaurant, rev, review, social media, virginia | Comments Off

How To Easily Clean Your Grill Without Burning Yourself

Posted on 09/19/2014 by Rev

How To Easily Clean Your Grill Without Burning Yourself
– Mr Grill Brass Grill Brush Product Review

There is just nothing like cooking Food on a grill. It doesn’t matter if it’s charcoal, propane, wood fired, smoke, butane or a simple campfire – fire make Food good! It doesn’t even have to be Meat, even Veggies taste great when made they are Grilled. There’s something a special almost atavistic like calling to cooking for your friends and family outdoors. The smell, the accomplishment, the taste, the satisfaction … it’s all a great feeling.

But you know what sucks about Cooking a grill? Clean up. Yeah, scraping the build up after an awesome meal or the rust after a long winter almost makes us just want to grab the Rotisserie Chicken from the Grocery Store or order Ribs from the local BBQ joint. But we are grillers and we are meant to sear over fire. We may not like it, but we just can’t let a little grill residue stop us from the great tastes.

That’s why I suggest you pick up a brass grill brush from Mr. Grill.

There’s really two advantages to the product, as compared to other grill brushes:

1. Brass bristles – most grill brushes are made of stainless steel and not only do they wear down over time, they can also scrape up your grill surface.

2. 18″ handle – Mr. Grill’s handle is made out of solid oak and it clocks in at a foot and a half long. What makes that so great? Most grill brushes are 12″ or shorter which means you have to put more leverage and your back into the scrape. That 6″ grill scraper is the absolute worst! And you can pretty much forget about cleaning the grill if it’s still hot as you’re risking serious burn. Even your standard Webber Grill is 22.5″ which is almost twice the length of a standard grill brush. Mr. Grill allows you a longer reach without having to bend over into getting the grill clean.

I recently had some friends over and decided to grill up a couple packages of Schweid & Sons One-Percenter Mini-Burgers. The One-Percenter is made of us fresh ground, Certified Angus Beef® USDA Prime. Only 1.5% of the cattle in the US meets the grade for both CAB & Prime. I think it’s one of the best Burgers out there and jokingly refer to it as the “Cadillac of Ground Beef.”

Mr_Grill_Brash_Grill_Brush_Review_Schweid_and_Sons_On_Percenter_1588

USDA Prime clocks in at around 75/25 lean to fat ratio which means it’s juicer and in terms of grilling, that means it’s going to be a little messier due to run off. That also means potential flaring which if not cooked properly, Ground Beef can get stuck to the grill surface. Best to have a good cleaning solution ready.

Mr_Grill_Brash_Grill_Brush_Review_Schweid_and_Sons_On_Percenter_1595

For me, I was also grilling Bacon and even though I was using my awesome non-stick camp griddle from Coghlan’s, I still got grease everywhere.

This was my first use of Mr. Grill’s brush and I have to say that the grill was cleaned easily and in only moments. I’m not going to make it sound like it made scraping the grill fun but it was definitely was easier to clean with this brush than any other one I’ve ever used. It reached all the way to the back of the grill, removed the residue with ease and did not require to me to lean all the way over and put my back into cleaning off the grill’s surface.

Full disclosure, I was offered the Mr. Grill bush in exchange for an honest review. Full further disclosure, I work for Burger Maker, the company that makes Schweid & Sons Ground Beef. We cook A LOT of Burgers and it’s obvious I am huge fan of eating them. You tell me but I think you can trust my opinion of the grill brush.

Do you know of a product that makes grilling better and more fun? Tell me about it on Facebook or Twitter.

Posted in Burgers, Grilling, Hamburgers | Tagged bar, bbq, best burger, brash grill brush, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, ciancio, david, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, grilling, hamburger, mr. grill, one-percenter, product review, restaurant, rev, review, schweid and sons | Comments Off

The NYC Good Beer Passport – Survey Results

Posted on 09/13/2014 by Rev

The NYC Good Beer Passport – Survey Results

i_love_new_york_beer_heart_nyc It’s official, you like Beer. But not just any old Beer, you like Craft Beer and when possible, you want it made locally. At least that’s what I can gather after the 4th year in a row of organizing a Beer passport that’s focused on the great Bars, Restaurants, Shops and Breweries around the Big Apple.

The 2014 NYC Good Beer Passport, with a lot of help from Beermenus, offered 48 Craft Beers from 48 businesses around NYC from July 1 to September 1 for only $35. If you made it to all 48 locations that’s a whopping $00.73 cents a beer. Not only is it a great value but you found out about all kinds of great places to drink great Craft Beer in all 5 boroughs. But wait, that’s not all, tell ’em what else they did!

By purchasing a NYC Craft Beer passport you helped local businesses at a time of year when business takes a dip due to summer vacations. You also helped to raise money and awareness for great local charities like Food Bank for New York City, as well as the Heritage Radio Network, home to Beer Sessions Radio. You beerrific efforts also spread the word of great local Craft Beer focused organizations like the Good Beer Seal, July Good Beer Month and the NYC Brewers Guild. In essence, by drinking local this summer, you helped local. (Scroll to the bottom to learn more about each.)

So with that, I asked everyone who purchased The NYC Good Beer Passport to take a few minutes of time and give their feedback. I was hoping a few of you would be up for helping us understand the effects and improve future versions. But not just a few of you responded, nearly 40% of people agreed to participate. Keep in mind that number is based of the purchase population and some of you bought multiple passports. Either way, that’s a huge sample size and I appreciate the time you took to fill it out.

So how about we take a look at what you had to say!

CUSTOMER SURVEY RESULTS

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

TOP 5 FAVORITE PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS

Alphabet City Beer Company
St. Gambrinus Beer Shoppe
The Owl Farm
Proletariat
Mission Dolores

_________________________________________________________

TOP LOCATIONS YOU WISHED HAD PARTICIPATED

The Jeffrey
The Ginger Man
Top Hops / Blind Tiger / Alewife / Fools Gold (all tied)
Rattle N Hum

_________________________________________________________

TOP SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE PASSPORT

Longer redemption period
Additional passports at other times of the year
More details like a map
Smartphone app instead of punchcard
More participating locations
Expand outside NYC (Jersey City most commonly asked for)
More bars offering flights
Public events / meet ups planned around the passport locations

_________________________________________________________

MY FAVORITE SUGGESTION
“I would sooner improve the wheel.” – Dylan H

You are awesome. Who needs a wheel when you have the NYC Good Beer Passport?!?!

_________________________________________________________

THANK YOU!
So from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of my awesome partner Beermenus, as well as all the great organizations, Bars, Restaurants, Brew Shops and Breweries, thank you, especially the 5 redemption locations who dedicated a lot of time and effort to making sure people got their Passports. Thank you for supporting local, appreciating local and being a local. I read every single tweet and Instagram post with the #GoodBeerPassport and tried to respond / like/ retweet as many as I could. A special thanks goes out to The Beervengers who started a blog just to track their progress on the passport. It’s a pretty fun read if you have the time. Lastly a big high-five to Marc from Branch Marketing Collective for not only designing the poster but also joining me on almost every place I visited on the passport.

Participating Locations:

508 Gastrobrewery
Adobe Blues
Alobar
Alphabet City Beer Company
Ambrose Hall
Banter
Bar Great Harry
Bar-Coastal NY
Beer Culture
Bronx Ale House
Carroll Place
Clinton Hall
Coopers Craft and Kitchen
Distilled
Draught 55
East Village Tavern
Glorietta Baldy
Gun Hill Brewing Co.
Heartland Brewery – Empire State Building
Houston Hall
Idle Hands Bar
Jimmy’s No. 43
John Brown Serious BBQ
Keg No. 229
Little Town NYC
Malt & Mold
Mel’s Burger Bar
Mission Dolores
Pacific Standard
Proletariat
Pushcart Coffee Chelsea
Randolph Brooklyn
Route 66 Smokehouse
St. Gambrinus Beer Shoppe
Singlecut Brewery
Sunswick 35/35
Taproom 307
The Brooklyneer
The Bronx Beer Hall
The Double Windsor
The Gibson
The Pony Bar HK
The Pony Bar UES
The Queens Kickshaw
The Owl Farm
The Vanderbilt
Two Door Tavern
Woodrow’s

About Beermenus
We created a way to browse and search beer menus so you never have to wonder where to find your favorite beers. We also keep a list of the best upcoming craft beer events.

About The Food Bank For NYC
Food Bank For New York City recognizes 31 years as the city’s major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs. As one of the country’s largest food banks, our mission is to end hunger in New York City by organizing food, information and support for community survival and dignity. As the city’s hub for integrated food poverty assistance, Food Bank tackles the hunger issue on three fronts — food distribution, income support and nutrition education— all strategically guided by its research.

About Heritage Radio Network
There is no network like the HeritageRadioNetwork.org. No one brings together food and culture content like we do. Support HeritageRadioNetwork.org and you support the most progressive voice for food and culture radio in America. HeritageRadioNetwork.org is committed to archiving, protecting, and advancing our country’s rich food culture through programs that give voice to America’s leading food professionals, farmers, policy experts, artists, and tastemakers. The marriage between radio and Internet allows us to transmit our message like never before. The Internet gives our followers the choice of when, how, and where they listen. We have over one million listens a month and reach over 200 countries around the globe. Our social media outlets and podcasts keep our tech savvy listeners engaged, while the easy-to-use website is accessible to all. All of our shows are entered into a permanent archive creating a database of discussions on food and culture. Our archives provide an enduring record of national culture in its most basic form, food. HeritageRadioNetwork.org is a 501c3 non-profit organization that relies on the support of listeners like you!

About The Good Beer Seal
The Good Beer Seal endeavors to separate the wheat from the chaff by identifying bars that serve quality craft beer and demonstrate a commitment to the community in which they do business. A Good Beer Seal Bar is independently owned and operated and has a unique sense of place; making it more than just another watering hole. A Good Beer Seal Bar is destination-worthy. In addition to offering at least 80% craft domestic/ special imported beers, a Good Beer Seal Bar engages its staff and guests in educational offerings regarding the history and originality of the beers it serves. A bar that earns a Good Beer Seal will be active in its local and global community through responsible stewardship and charitable actions. If The Good Beer Seal is on the door, good business practices, good atmosphere, and good beer is inside.

About The NYC Brewers Guild
The mission of the New York City Brewers Guild is to advocate for and promote awareness of its local brewing members; to increase the visibility of local beers through marketing, events, and consumer education; and to foster a healthy, ethical, and growth-focused craft beer industry throughout the city. A 501[c]6 nonprofit business association, the NYCBG was founded to advance New York City’s brewing industry and thereby lessen human misery.

About Burger Conquest
Burger Conquest is a blog written by sales marketing strategist, David “Rev” Ciancio about Hamburgers, Craft Beer travel and marketing. Rev has written about more than 600 Burgers, been featured on numerous different TV shows and named an “Expert Burger Taster” by The Learning Channel. Burger Conquest is also the home to The Burger Week an annual delicious celebration of all things Burger in New York as well as South Florida.

Posted in Bar, Beer, Brooklyn, East Village, Harlem, New York, Queens | Tagged bar, bars, beer flights, beer sessions radio, beer stores, beermenus, breweries, burger blog, burger conquest, charity, cheese, ciancio, craft beer, david, foursquare, french fries, good beer seal, google maps, heritage radio network, July Good Beer Month, ny beer, nyc, nyc brewers guild, restaurant, restaurants, rev, review, The Food Bank For NYC, The NYC Good Beer Passport | Comments Off

How To Use The New FourSquare App – To Find a Great Burger

Posted on 09/11/2014 by Rev

How To Use The New Foursquare App
– To Search and Find a Great Burger

Foursquare is now two apps, Foursquare and Swarm. One is for getting recommendations, the other is for finding your friends who are sharing their location.

Confusion over? Chances are no, you’re still a little cloudy. I agree, it’s pretty confusing considering Foursquare used to do both at the same time. However the people behind Foursquare decided these were too different of needs and split them into two apps. Either that or they got the server that housed Foursquare wet and it split off another Mogwai. Hopefully they are able to keep from doing uploads after midnight so we don’t end up with a Gremlin app that lets you check-in and simultaneously destroy a small town around the holidays.

If you want to check-in to places, share your location or photos and find your friends while competing for Mayor Crown badges, use Swarm. You’ll want to use Foursquare now as a recommendation engine to find places, businesses and things to do. It’s like a highly customizable version of Yelp in app form that will not only learn your preferences over time but also source suggestions based on your network. Pretty cool eh? Let’s dig in.

Here’s a step by step “how to use the new Foursquare app to search” instruction using photos of a Burger I recently ate with my buddy George (who also happens to be my lawyer) at the Pound and Pence in NYC’s Financial District.

Pound & Pence
http://poundandpence.com
55 Liberty St
New York, NY 10005

The London Burger – a 10oz Certified Angus Beef® Steakburger from Burger Maker cooked with Fullers Beer and topped with Onions, Thyme, Cumin, Gouda Cheese & Caramelized Onions.

Download the Foursquare app onto your iPhone or Android device.

1. Open the app on your phone, you’ll be on the search screen.

2. If you’re located in the area where you want to find something, skip down to #3. If not, tap on “Within 1.0 miles of you.” You will be taken to a map screen where you can physically drag to the area you want to find a Burger. You can make the area larger or smaller by swiping two finger tips on the screen together or apart. You can also search other areas by taping “Search for a location” and typing in a city or a neighborhood. Once you’ve honed in, tap “Done.”

3. Once you’ve chosen, you’ll be taken back to the main screen. Here you can scroll through the main categories like Lunch, Dinner, Coffee, Fun and more. Popular laces in your search area that fit the category will start to auto-populate. You can also type out a more specific search, like “Burgers” by typing it into the “Search Foursquare bubble.

Need more than 1 qualifier? You can type it into the search at the same time. I was looking to take my buddy George out for a Burger and Beer, so I searched both words.

Want to narrow down your search by price, features, whether you have checked in there or not and other qualifiers? All those options are available to help you customize and narrow down your search.

4. A list of places that fit your search will populate the screen. In this case, I found Pound and Pence, an authentic English-style pub known for great food in a relaxed atmosphere.

5. Once you’ve selected a location you can find all of the following information to help you:

Address
Description
Phone Number
Menu
Hours
Reviews
Tips
Map with travel time
Link to delivery

and just about anything you need to know about the business.

BONUS TIP
If you are already at the location and want to share a photo and or leave a tip or review of your own, you would do it from this screen as well. Just check-in by hitting the Swarm button or tap the review button in the upper right corner. The Foursquare app allows you to share multiple photos at once.

EXTRA BONUS TIP
Constantly searching for the same thing or just want to customize your recommendations? Tap “Profile” in the lower right corner and then swipe the top of your profile to the left until you see your tastes. Tap them and you can select things you like.

Want to know some of my suggestions and tips on where to get a good Burger (and other tasty eats)? Check out my profile on Foursquare.

Posted in Bar, Beer, Burgers, Certified Angus Beef, Financial District, Gourmet Burgers, Hamburgers, New York, Social Media | Tagged app, bar, best burger, best burgers in nyc, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, burger maker, cheese, ciancio, david, foursquare, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, how to, nyc, pound and pence, restaurant, rev, review, social media, swarm | Comments Off

The Cattle Call – Chef David Forbes from Joe’s American Bar and Grill

Posted on 09/11/2014 by Rev

The Cattle Call – Chef David Forbes from Joe’s American Bar and Grill

The Cattle Call – All the beef that’s behind the people who make & connect us to the Burgerverse.

I have been in the business and worked at Joe’s for 20 years. I have a passion for training and developing my people, and finding innovative ways shake up American food.

Name: David Forbes

Website: http://www.joesamerican.com/

Where do you live: Attleboro, MA

Favorite style of Burger: Traditional American with a twist

Favorite Childhood Burger: Wendell’s in Norton, MA

Burger that haunts your dreams at night: The Blue Ox Sin Burger.

What is the one Burger you’ve always wanted to try but still have not: Mac Attack from Boston Burger Company.

The secret to making a great Burger: Starts with the great grind of meat.

Under no circumstances whatsoever, what should NEVER be put on a Burger: I think you can put anything on a burger, but my definition of a burger is beef.

If you could eat any Mythical Creature which would it be: The Liger from Napoleon Dynamite.

If you could have a Burger with anyone alive, or dead, fictional or real, who would it be and where would you take them: I’d take Dale Earnheardt Jr. to Joe’s American Bar & Grill.

Name one Burger in LA that for once, people should get off a plane and go eat instead of In-N-Out: I have never been to California!

Please use this space to talk about or plug anything else you want: We have come in 2nd place in Boston Magazine’s Battle of the Burger three years in a row, we are really looking forward to claiming number one next year!

Posted in Boston, Massachusetts, The Cattle Call | Tagged bar, best burger, boston, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, chef david forbes, ciancio, david, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, interview, joes american bar and grill, Massachusetts, restaurant, rev, review, tavistock, the cattle call | Comments Off

How To Become Mayor In Swarm App

Posted on 09/06/2014 by Rev

How To Become Mayor In Swarm App

What’s up with the new Foursquare and what is Swarm? If you’re like me (and just about anyone else who doesn’t work at Foursquare), you’ve probably had or have this question. If you’re really like me, you also want to know what happened to badges and why can’t you be the Mayor of a location anymore. For some of us, badge hunting and Mayorships were what made the game of Foursquare pretty fun. At one point I was the Mayor of NYC and those are some pretty big bragging rights as far as the social web goes.

I liked badge hunting and Mayorships so much that it once got me banned from earning them.

Perhaps that’s how this happened…

But I digress.

Foursquare recently took checking in and finding your friends and broke it off into a new app called Swarm. Swarm works just like Foursquare used to in terms of checking into places, seeing where your friends are located but has removed badges. There are still Mayorships but they work differently. Now a location can have multiple mayors based on your own friends network. If you are the person amongst your friends on Foursquare who has checked into a location more than anyone else, you will receive a crown. Once you have that crown, you can add it to check-ins in the app.

When your friends see you in their feed, they will see the little crown on your check-in and be instantly aware of your boss status.

Badges work much in the same way now. You don’t earn them by playing a check-in game and unlocking them, they appear when you go to make your post. They are based on the type of location you are checking into. You can then add them to your check ins. See the little Burger icon to the lower right my profile pick below?

Here’s a step by step “how to become the Mayor and use badges in Swarm app” instruction using photos of a Burger I recently ate at the White Star Bar in Jersey City, NJ.

White Star Bar
http://www.whitestarbar.com
230 Brunswick St
Jersey City, NJ 07302

White Star Cheese Burger – 8 oz. Pat La Frieda burger, Balthazar bun, American cheese, Thick Cut Bacon and Caramelized Onions with a side of Fries.

First off, you’ll need to find out how close you are to becoming the Mayor amongst your friends.

1. Search for the location you are looking to become the Mayor of in Swarm. In this example, we’ll use Idle Hands Bar in NYC since I am one of the owners.

2. Just below where it says “view in Foursquare,” you’ll see how many check-ins you have in that location. Tap the arrow on the right side. You’ll be taken to a screen that shows you the Leaderboard.

Looks like I have 6 more check-ins to do to beat Marc, which will be pretty hard to do since he is also one of the owners. Jay from East Village Eats, I am coming for you.

3. Check-in, check-in, check-in but remember, only one check-in per day counts towards your Leaderboard count. If you’re not in the top contenders list, Swarm will show you where you rank against your friends in that category. See below when I checked into White Star Bar in Jersey City for the first time. It showed me that I need to catch up with Josh the Foodie Magician if I want to be the top with check-ins at restaurants.

If you want to add a badge or your newly found Mayor crown to your check-in, follow along.

1. Click on the location you want to check-in to on Swarm. Along the top you will see the badges.

2. In this example, I was checking into White Star and eating a Burger, so I wanted to use the Burger badge. Tap on the icon you want and it will be added to your profile picture.

3. If you want to add text or a photo to you check-in, add them below the badges and then tap “Check In.” You can also share your post to Facebook and Twitter from this screen.

4. The badge, text and photo will appear along with your check-in.

Now everyone knows that I went to White Star Bar and ate a Burger. Probably not much surprise in that.

Know of a good Burger in Jersey City or anywhere in NJ for that matter, that you would recommend? Go here and tell me.

Posted in Bar, Burgers, Gourmet Burgers, Hamburgers, New Jersey, Social Media | Tagged app, badges, bar, best burger, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, check in, cheese, ciancio, david, foursquare, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, how to, jersey city, mayor, new jersey, restaurant, rev, review, swarm, white star bar | Comments Off

How To Use Hashtags To Instragam Like A Boss – Tags For Likes

Posted on 08/30/2014 by Rev

How To Use Hashtags To Instragam Like A Boss
– TagsForLikes App

Have you ever looked at someone else’s Instagram account and wondered how they got so many followers when they’re not even famous? Every single post has likes for days, in fact it seems like they have all the likes. Well nobody likes a person who’s jelly so let me show you how to avoid going to Jelly School.

Chances are they have great content and great looking photos. Without great imagery that draws you in and engages your eye, you have nothing. But let’s assume you’ve figured that out already and are looking to get more likes, more followers and more engagement. What you need are hashtags and you don’t just need them, you need to hashtag like a boss.

A hashtag, according to dictionary.com, is “a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it.” Hashtags make it so that messages, or in this case images, can be grouped together and searched. The idea being that people who are interested in looking at pictures of delicious Burgers on Instagram, can search the hashtag #Burger and see a stream of Burger photos.

If you use can master the use of proper hashtagging, you will gain more likes, more followers and more engagement. I do this with the help of an app called “TagsForLikes.” It allows you to search and save popular groupings of hashtags that make sense to put under photos that fit a certain theme.

Here’s a step by step “how to hashtag like a boss using TagsForLikes” instruction using photos of a Burger I recently ate at Smashburger in Paramus, NJ.

Smashburger
http://smashburger.com/
556 Rte 17 North
Paramus, NJ 07652

“New Jersey” from Smashburger with Applewood-Smoked Bacon, Blue Cheese, Grilled Onions, Haystack Onions, Lettuce and Mayo on an Onion Bun with a side of Veggie Frites.

1. Download “TagsForLikes” to your mobile device on iPhone or Android.

2. Open the app and you will be in the Categories page.

3. Tap in a search for the theme you are looking for which in this example would be “Burgers.” TagsForLike for the most part is not that granular so you have to think a little more broad stroke so we will use “Food.”

4. When the category comes up that you are looking for, tap on it. It will take you to a page with a group of hashtags.

5. Tap “Copy Tags” and they will be saved to your clipboard. Tap “Categories” and then “Cancel.” Next tap “Custom.” You will then be taken to a screen where you can create your own customized hashtag grouping by tapping “New Custom.”

6. Tap the text in the top bar to edit the category name, which in this case is “Burgers.”

7. Once you’ve changed the name, you can start to build your hashtag group. TagsForLikes will automatically include a couple of their own tags which you can copy over or delete. Double tap the screen and copy in the hashtags you copied from the categories screen. You can then also type in additional tags that relate to your subject.

8. DONT FORGET TO TAP SAVE!

9. When you are ready to use the hashtags on an Instagram post, just open up the group and tap “Copy Tags.” You can then include them in your Instagram post.

10. Remember to keep your tags relatable to the content. It’s bad Instajuju if you hashtag a picture of your Cat with #Burger if there is no Burger in the photo. But you can do things like “instafood” where you use “insta” and then add your category afterward. TagsForLikes lets you have many different groups so if you are posting French Fries or Burgers or Shakes or Hot Dogs, you can have a group for each one.

11. The last tip I will give you is this; Avoid using hashtags in with the text in your post. Post them as a comment. That way it’s easier on the eyes for people who follow or find you to read the message. It shows that you care and are a Instamaster.

Here’s my Burger hashtag group:

#burger #burgers #burgerlovers #burgertime #hamburger #food #foodie #yummy #instafood #foodstagram #foodporn #burgerporn #nom #yum #fresh #tasty #foodie #delish #delicious #eating #foodpic #foodpics #eat #hungry #foodgasm #foods

To show you an example of how using TagsForLikes can help you master the art of Instagram likes, check out this example. Here’s a post I put on Instagram of a Classic Smashburger. I purposely did not include any hashtags and at the time of this blog post, I had 69 likes.

To contrast, here is an Instagram post of a Schweid and Sons Burger that Stephen from Taproom 307 and I made at the annual Belgium Comes To Cooperstown Festival at Brewery Ommegang. On this one, I included by Burger hashtag group. At the time of this blog post, it had 97 likes.

And now for some #BurgerPorn; here’s a close up of the Burger.

Which by the way, I think we perfected the ultimate Breakfast Burger on this one. Try it for your self:

Schweid and Sons “Custom Blend” – Certified Angus Beef® Chuck and Brisket Ground Beef
White Cheddar Cheese
Thick Smoky Bacon
Dippy Egg, (aka over medium)
A piece of Romaine Heart Lettuce
Sriracha
Martin’s Potato Roll

According to my buddy Sean from The Bronx Brewery it was the “Best. Breakfast Burger. Ever.”

Have a question or want to share a Burger photo with me? Follow me on Instagram and include @BurgerConquest in your posts. I try to like every photo of a Burger I see.

For a comprehensive list of descriptions of all the regional specialty Burgers at Smashburger, check out BurgerWeekly.com.

Posted in Burgers, Certified Angus Beef, Festival, Gourmet Burgers, Hamburgers, New Jersey, New York, Social Media | Tagged bar, belgium comes to cooperstown, best burger, brewery ommegang, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, ciancio, david, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, hashtags, how to hashtag, instagram, paramus, restaurant, rev, review, schweid and sons, smashburger, social media, tags for likes, tagsforlikes | Comments Off

Where Is The Best Burger In New Jersey?

Posted on 08/28/2014 by Rev

Where Is The Best Burger In New Jersey?

The Burger Conquest started in 2008 when I ate a Burger at Arthur’s Tavern in Hoboken, NJ. When I ate that Burger, I knew I had to tell the world about it. At the time I was living in Manhattan, I was working in Weekhawken, NJ so most of my reviews were about Burgers in the city but the occasional NJ Burger made it’s way in here like the White Manna, Blitzburgers and Rossi’s Bar and Grill.

Since then the Conquest has taken me to places like Oregon, Amsterdam, Florida, London, Arizona, Argentina, Texas, Italy and more. Very recently though, I relocated back to the Garden State. Now that I am here, I am looking to eat more Burgers in NJ so I am asking you for help. I am looking for the best Burgers in New Jersey and I want you to tell me where they are.

Please submit your favorite Burger joint in the form below. I will take the top 10 or 20 or so and post them on the site. Together we will create the best Burger in New Jersey list. Maybe we will even put a little Burger crawl event together where we visit the best of the best.

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Posted in Best Burger in New Jersey, Best Of, Burgers, Gourmet Burgers, Hamburgers, New Jersey | Tagged arthur's tavern, bar, best burger, Blitzburger, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, ciancio, david, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, hoboken, new jersey, restaurant, rev, review, vote, white mana | 2 Comments

How To Schedule A Facebook Post – Habit Burger Grill Fair Lawn NJ

Posted on 08/20/2014 by Rev

How To Schedule A Facebook Post

Did you know that you could compose Facebook posts to your Facebook brand page and schedule them to go live at a later date and time? This means that if you needed a post to go live at a time where you were going to be in a meeting, asleep or enjoying a delicious Burger…you could write it before hand, set the time you wanted it to go live and go on about your day.

This is incredibly helpful when the timing of a post is crucial. What if you know that you get a high level of engagement in the middle of the night (maybe your content is relevant in another far away time zone)? This could help you to make sure you maximizing your posts.

Here’s a step by step “how to schedule a Facebook post to your page” instruction using photos of a Burger I recently ate at The Habit Burger Grill and a blog post I wrote about Certified Angus Beef. I’ll show you mobile first and then from a browser next.

Habit Burger Grill
http://www.habitburger.com
3101 Promenade Blvd
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
Double Charburger with Cheese, Mayonnaise, Lettuce and Caramelized Onions on a Toasted Bun with Tempura Green Beans on the side.

FROM MOBILE DEVICE

1. Download the Facebook Pages app to your mobile phone if you have not already.
*Note: You cannot schedule a post from the regular Facebook app.

2. Open the app and go to your desired page (in the case that you are managing more than one page, tap the 3 bars in the upper right corner and select your page.)

3. Tap the square at the bottom of the screen. A new screen will pop up giving you an option to choose what type of post you would like to create. Tap which type of post you would like to create, I chose to post a photo.

4. Create your message. You can include tags to other pages, location information, a web link and additional photos if you would like.

5. Once you’re done composing your post, tap the clock icon on the tool bar below the post. A scheduler will pop up. Scroll to the date, hour and time you would like the post to go live. Posts must be scheduled at least 15 minutes into the future. When you are done, tap “Schedule.”

6. You will be returned back to the composition view but at the bottom of the post, you will noticed that it says “This will be posted on XX/XX/XX, XX:XX (your selected date and time.)

7. Proofread your post to make sure it’s exactly what you want to post and then tap “Post” in the upper right corner.

8. Your post is now scheduled and you will be taken to the Activity tab.

9. If you want to make any changes, you do that while in the Activity tab. Tap on “Scheduled Posts” to view and alter.

10. Once you are done with your edits, tap “Save (title of post)”.

11. Once the post goes live, you will receive a notification in your personal Facebook feed.

12. Click here to see the post on the Burger Conquest Facebook page.

FROM BROWSER

1. Go to your Facebook page and compose a post. You can include tags to other pages, location information, a web link and additional photos if you would like.

2. Click on the clock icon on the tool bar below the post. A scheduler will pop up.

3. Click on the calendar icon to select the date, then type in the exact time that you would like the post to go live. Posts must be scheduled at least 15 minutes into the future.

4. When you are done, tap “Schedule.” A pop up will appear to let you know that your post has been scheduled. Click “Close” if it’s ready to go.

5. Click here to see this post on the Burger Conquest Facebook page.

Have you had a Burger from The Habit? Let me know what you think of it on the Burger Conquest Facebook page.

Posted in Burgers, Fast Food, Hamburgers, New Jersey, Social Media | Tagged bar, best burger, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cheese, ciancio, david, facebook, fair lawn, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, How To Schedule A Facebook Post, nj, restaurant, rev, review, social media, the habit burger | 1 Comment

What Is Certified Angus Beef®?

Posted on 08/16/2014 by Rev

What Is Certified Angus Beef®?

You’ve seen the symbol right? Perhaps at your local Grocery store in the butcher section or the Meat counter? Or maybe you saw it on the menu at your favorite Steakhouse or Burger joint. According to a 2013 Firebox Research and Strategy report, 94% of people surveyed recognized the logo. That makes it the #1 most recognized brand of Beef in existence.

We all recognize the logo and we assume that it probably means the Beef associated with the logo is better than the other Beef available but, what does it really mean?

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I recently got invited to pay a visit to the Certified Angus Beef® Education and Culinary Center to find out first hand. The CAB® ECC is located in the North East part of Ohio in the Micro City of Wooster, OH. According to the last US census, Wooster has about 25,000 residents and is most known for the being the home of the College of Wooster as well as an agricultural center for the state.

I got to spend 24 hours immersed in all things Certified Angus Beef® from understanding the brand, to their connections to Cattlemen, to learning about how they distinguish cuts of beef, to tasting the difference, I learned first hand the answer to the question, what is Certified Angus Beef® ?

And now I’m going to share it with you.

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Certified Angus Beef® is a trademark.
At the end of the day, that’s all that they own. They don’t own Cattle, they don’t own farms, they don’t have restaurants or any of that. They own a trademark but arguably, it’s one of the most significant trademarks in the business. But it’s not the trademark that makes the difference, it’s what’s behind that trademark.

Certified Angus Beef® has their own Doctor of Meat Science
I got to spend several hours with the enigmatic Meat Scientist, Dr. Phil Bass. Phil has a masters degree in animal science from Polytechnic State University and a doctorate in the same from Colorado State University. He doesn’t just love Beef, he is one of it’s most important spokesmen.

Dr. Phil broke down an entire side of Cattle, explaining which parts were which and what muscles are used for which cuts of Beef. Once we he was done fabricating and butchering section after section, he had a little surprise in store for us. Dr. Phil asked the class to reassemble the side back into it’s natural position. It was the largest puzzle I’ve ever got to put back together.

For Cattle to be considered “Angus” they must have at least 51% Solid Black Hair.
It starts with the Cow. Not all Beef can be graded by the CAB® specifications. It only applies to the Angus breed. For it to be considered as Angus, more than half of it’s hide must be a solid black color.

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Certified Angus Beef® only works with “farmers and ranchers across the country who are committed to caring for their cattle and producing safe, wholesome beef for your family and theirs.”
Certified Angus Beef® Vice President Mark McCully escorted our group out to Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute.

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While on the farm, we were introduced to Dr. James Kinder. He is a leading expert in animal sciences, including a deep history in extensive research on animal husbandry. Dr. Kinder walked us through how CAB® partnered ranchers humanely care for and breed Angus cattle for the program.

While there we got walk through a Temple Grandin designed cattle facility. Temple Grandin is one of the most important people in the history of the livestock industry as a leading American doctor of animal science. She is a professor at Colorado State University, best-selling author, an animal advocacy leader and a consultant to the entire business.

Her work has lead the industry to create humane living and growing conditions for animals. Among all of this, she also has a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized more commonly known as Autism. If you want to learn more you can visit her official website or see the 2010 HBO film that tells her story.

After meeting with Dr. Kinder, Mark walked us out into the lovely pasture at Ohio State ATI where we got to walk amongst the grazing cattle.
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So now that you understand the “Angus” portion of the CAB® brand, let’s talk about the “Beef” part.

Only Choice, Premium cuts of Beef or above can be considered for CAB® qualification.
Beef is graded into either Select, Choice or Prime with the latter being the highest of quality. Graders look at 2 main things: quality grades for tenderness, juiciness and flavor; and yield grades for the amount of usable lean meat on the carcass. There are 3 main grades given to Beef that is considered for consumption (taken from Wikipedia):

U.S. Prime – Highest in quality and intramuscular fat, limited supply. Currently, about 2.9% of carcasses grade as Prime.
U.S. Choice – High quality, widely available in foodservice industry and retail markets. Choice carcasses are 53.7% of the fed cattle total. The difference between Choice and Prime is largely due to the fat content in the beef. Prime typically has a higher fat content (more and well distributed intramuscular “marbling”) than Choice.
U.S. Select (formerly Good) – lowest grade commonly sold at retail, acceptable quality, but is less juicy and tender due to leanness.

Independent USDA Cattle Graders determine if beef meats CAB® specifications
No one who works for CAB® does the actual grading. It is only their job to uphold and market the standards. The USDA does this on their own.

Certified Angus Beef® has 10 quality specifications
Dr. Phil showed us exactly how the USDA graders determine whether the cattle is worthy of the CAB® brand by going through all 10 quality specifications. Grading is determined by the amount of external fat and it’s done a the ribbed surface between the 12th-13th ribs.

Marbling and Maturity
1. Modest or higher marbling – for the taste that ensures customer satisfaction
2. Medium or fine marbling texture – the white “flecks of flavor” in the beef that ensure consistent flavor and juiciness in every bite
3. Only the youngest classification of product qualifies as “A” maturity – for superior color, texture and tenderness

Consistent Sizing
4. 10- to 16-square-inch ribeye area
5. Less than 1,000-pound hot carcass weight
6. Less than 1-inch fat thickness

Quality Appearance and Tenderness
7. Superior muscling (restricts influence of dairy cattle)
8. Practically free of capillary ruptures (ensures the most visually appealing steak)
9. No dark cutters (ensures the most visually appealing steak)
10. No neck hump exceeding 2 inches (safeguards against cattle with more variability in tenderness)

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Certified Angus Beef® Brand licenses partners to sell CAB® Branded product
You can open a Grocery Store, Food Distributor, Butcher Shop or Restaurant tomorrow but you could not just start offering CAB® Beef to your customers or put their logo on your menus and catalogues. CAB® has a rigorous program to allow business of those types to become partners and offer up CAB® branded Beef. Quality is King in these parts so only those businesses who are committed to excellence in taste, flavor, freshness and safety are awarded a license.

Certified Angus Beef® does not make money through licensing
How much does a license cost you ask? It’s free. That’s right, if you want to serve or sell it, the only commitment you need to make is to excellence. Once that’s proven, CAB® grants you a license. The Ranchers and Producers pay a fee to CAB® and that is where they get their funding.

Certified Angus Beef® is a not for profit business
The company is subsidiary of the American Angus Association, and every dollar that comes into the company, is spent on maintaining, building and marketing the brand.

Included in that are amazing CAB® Steak Sticks from Gary West Meats when you visit the ECC. Trust me, these are incredibly delicious!

Certified Angus Beef® has a locator on their website
Ok. Now you understand what it takes for a cut of Beef to be labeled CAB® worth. So now what? Go to the certifiedangusbeef.com and check out their locator. It will help you to find Grocery Stores & Restaurants in your area that are licensed partners.

GO TASTE THE DIFFERENCE!

Certified Angus Beef Mission Statement:
Increase demand for registered Angus cattle through a specification-based, branded-beef program to identify consistent, high quality beef with superior taste.

TL;DR – I went to Certified Angus Beef® Education and Culinary Center and learned that CAB® is a trademark that is used to brand Beef with the highest quality and superior taste. Its obtained by working with cattleman and ranchers who care for their cattle and licensed partners who maintain similar standards of quality and safety.

I also took a selfie with cows.

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Certified Angus Beef® brand is not just a business, it’s about a passion for quality. I walked into Wooster, OH as a CAB® partner but I am leaving as a brand advocate.

– Rev Ciancio

Here’s a little bit of fun. It’s Dr. Phil Bass hour long fabrication session in almost it’s entirety, squished down into a :28 second gif.

Posted in Certified Angus Beef, Gourmet Burgers, Grocery, Ohio | Tagged american angus association, bar, best burger, best burgers in nyc, burger blog, burger club, burger conquest, cab, certified angus beef, cheese, ciancio, david, Dr. James Kinder, dr. phil bass, french fries, gourmet burger, great burger, hamburger, Mark McCully, nyc, ohio, Ohio State ATI, restaurant, rev, review, Temple Grandin, wooster | 2 Comments

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