I used to dream of being a rock star. My older brother was a musician and I wanted to tour the country rocking out every night and relaxing every day. I dreamed of throwing giant concerts in packed stadiums with tens of thousands of people waiting to hear me play.
My thought was that I’d put on a hat and glasses and mill about in the crowd before the show. Moving through the crowds—disguised and sheepish—I would listen in on what people were talking about, see who was in the crowd, and get a feel for what it was like to be in the audience. If I was ever discovered, I thought, I’d hand out some backstage passes and all would be fine.
Finally, in fifth grade, when it came time for me to choose an instrument to play in the student band, I told my mother I would be learning the drums. She told me I would be learning the violin. And so it was. No concerts. No crowd. But twenty years later I can still bang out a nasty “Mary Had A Little Lamb” on the ol’ horsehair.
This project is a variation of my childhood “rockstar in the crowd” idea. It’s a fun project to do at popular public spaces such as sporting events, conferences, or public concerts. The point of this project is not to garner huge public attention or drive people to your website. The point, instead, is to quietly reward and thank your followers for their attention by seeking them out and giving them some sort of gift or gift certificate.
Here are a couple ways it could work.
Let’s pretend for a moment that you’re the owner of a chain of high-quality gelato shops stretching from Maine to D.C., called Morano Gelato. Your username is @moranogelato. Your shops offer WiFi, couches, and a “cool” atmosphere. People often take advantage of your hospitality by sitting and lounging while getting some work done.
To kick things off, walk into any of your crowded gelato shops and send out a tweet to all your followers.
| @moranogelato: “At the Boylston Street Morano Gelato. If you’re in here too, meet me at the fireplace to win a free year of coffee.” |
If someone shows up, you’ve got a winner! If no one does, your audience will be looking for you the next time they stop in.
If you would like to offer this sort of reward to your followers more often than it is possible for you to do on your own, you can delegate the contest responsibilities to the managers at each of your locations. Boloco (@boloco), for example, has a Twitter account set up for each of its locations, all of which could give away freebies to people inside the restaurant every month. This would incentivize repeat customers, create a fun atmosphere, build a Twitter following, and encourage rapid word-of-mouth “get-your-butt-down-here” marketing.
I promise that the Twitter-addicted winner of the giveaway will immediately tell all their followers what just happened. You’ll probably get a photo too! #FTW
OK, so you don’t own restaurants. Neither do I. Let’s say you’ve got a sporting goods store in Burlington, Vermont called the Outdoor Gear Exchange. Your username is @gearxcom. The next time you take in a game at UVM, take along a stack of gift certificates. At halftime, when everybody is loading up on hot dogs and beer, stand beside the escalators and send a tweet:
| @gearxcom: “At the UVM game in front of exit 5. Any followers here? Find me for $50 off!” |
When people show up, take a photo, send a tweet, and pass out a gift certificate.
Finally, let’s say you’re an average Joe attending a standard industry conference and want to drum up some followers for your Twitter account: @HCPDishes. Not everyone at the conference will know you and most won’t be following you. If you send a tweet, chances are that no one will see it. So, to gain some exposure for your tweet, piggy-back on the conference’s hashtag. In this case, you’ll need to send two tweets:
| @HCPDishes: “At the #moocon conference. Follow us to learn how to win a free stack of cookbooks!” |
Then, once you see that you’ve got people at the #moocon conference following you, and everyone is milling about at a lunch break, send out your next tweet:
| @HCPDishes: “I’m standing at the conference cheese table. First one to find me wins the books!” |
Notice that there is no hashtag in your second tweet. You don’t want to share that message with everybody at the conference—only those who took the time and interest to follow you. When a person shows up to claim the stack of books, shove the gentleman into the softened brie and run off with the prize yourself. It’s win-win.