CLICKZ — Virgin America's two-for-one, airfare-to-Mexico offer on Loopt garnered the fifth-best revenue day in the airline's three-year history, according to the companies. On Tuesday, they told ClickZ, "thousands of people" flocked to a designated taco truck in San Francisco and Los Angeles to check in and take advantage of the eye-catching offer. Of those onlookers, according to Loopt, 1,300 checked in using Loopt's Star program, and 89 percent then downloaded the coupon after receiving an e-mail confirmation. The coupons expire after Sept. 30 and are good for flights to Cancun or Los Cabos...

CLICKZ — The Gap's special last Thursday on Groupon went viral and was wildly purchased, but it wasn't merely due to the lucrative 50 percent offer. A marketing mix involving social media, affiliates and an ad on Digg supplemented Groupon's e-mail program in the effort. Marking the group-buying platform's largest national effort to date, Gap offered $50 worth of clothing on Aug. 19 for $25 in 85 U.S. and Canadian markets. The campaign made $11 million, while sometimes selling 10 Gap "Groupons" per second over the course of the day. By late morning, the company says, it was selling 534 Gap offers per minute - representing its most successful campaign by far...

CLICKZ — Hyundai’s "Uncensored" campaign for the 2011 Sonata, which started July 5 and continues through August, began with TV spots and concludes with driving events in 10 major markets. But the bulk of the campaign is social media, with YouTube and Facebook being used to provide opportunities for consumers to comment on the Sonata and competitive cars in an effort to drive sales. Uncensored is a testimonial campaign, but the testimonials don’t come from satisfied customers; they come from prospective buyers who drive the Sonata and compare it with other cars on hidden camera. TV spots feature clips of those comments, and on YouTube extended videos and outtakes are also available...

CLICKZ — JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater's high profile exit via the plane's inflatable rear exit chute garnered lots of coverage across a wide range of online and offline media platforms. Despite his expensive and illegal departure that delayed waiting passengers, lots of people identified with Slater's "I-can't-take-this-job-anymore" approach. While the public connected with Slater's story, his actions showed a general lack of concern for passengers. As a result, this incident hasn't tarnished JetBlue's brand. Slater's story has lessons for social media marketers. It was a trending topic on Twitter and, since quitting his job, he's amassed over 200,000 fans on Facebook, a number many businesses will never attain...

CLICKZ — So far, most of us have been thinking about social media as a marketing tool. But have you thought about it as a product? "A product?" you might be asking, "Do you mean something like a new Web service or app?" Astute question, but no: I’m not talking about creating the next Facebook or Twitter. I’m not talking about giving everything away. I'm talking about actually making money from what you’re probably giving away for free right now. Think about it: even if you sell widgets, there’s probably value you can add for your customers by supplying information about how to better use those widgets. If you’re a service business, information itself is your business. And if you’re your own personal brand - I’m talking to you celebrities or digerati out there - then information about you is your business...