Interview with the Winner of the Top Tweep Contest: Gus Gus Fun Bus

By: Kathryn Todd
Mike Arnold is the owner of Gus Gus Fun Bus, the winner of our UMSL Digital’s Overall Top Tweep contest. The name “Gus Gus” comes from the fat mouse in Cinderella. Mike finds it fitting as the mouse is “big, awkward, not too bright.” After getting married to his wife, Mike had eight children. When going on family trips, Mike had to take more than one van and figured “why not get a bus”. When he was younger, Mike’s father took his family to a lot of wineries, restaurants, etc. and Mike thought he could make a career helping others obtain those experiences. This company started almost three years ago and although he provides mostly winery and brewery tours, he also does other events such as weddings and birthdays. Mike loves getting to visit new places and get an idea of their atmosphere from his clients.
Mike utilizes twitter (@gusgusfunbus)where he has 1213 followers, Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GusGusFunBus) which has 707 likes, and Instagram (@gusgusfunbus)with 283 followers. His favorite social network is Twitter, where he utilizes a lot of customer engagement through re-tweeting a lot of local brands and related content as well as posting original content. Even if sometimes he uses the same content on multiple platforms, Mike makes each post individually to make his brand more personal. Mike’s social media strategy is to not have one and he advocates the fact that “it’s not all my
knowledge it’s just passing along other people’s knowledge”. Currently, Mike relies on social media and word of mouth to keep his company booked for weekends. He has reached out to a graphic designer he found on twitter who is in the process of creating the company’s logo. Although Mike isn’t formally tracking where his customers are coming from, he attributes a lot of his business to the social media interactions he has with local breweries and wineries. He retweets and mentions local businesses and promotes a “drink local eat local” lifestyle. He documents his experiences through both pictures and written content and also posts his personal content on these websites, even including some adorable #TBT pictures. With his kids growing up he is enjoying experiencing new places, including Ferguson Brewing Company where this interview took place.

Quick Facts:

Drinking Now: Ferguson Brewery’s Pecan Brown Ale (Recommended by a follower from the post-dispatch)
Favorite holiday beer: O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale
Popular Holiday Trip: light displays at Anheuser Busch and Tilles Park
Favorite Tweeps: @feastmag and @SAUCEmag