Here are a few tips to help you move tickets via twitter.
1. Don’t forget: Tweets about tickets on sale should always include a link. Will you ever catch Fishtown’s @johnnybrendas posting linkless? Not on your life!
2. Last-minute tweets with a code for a special offer will help boost walk-up sales. The Pew Research Center’s 2013 report on arts organizations and digital technologies points out that with more people delaying decisions on how to spend leisure time, there’s a decline in advance sales and an increase in last-minute box office sales. Twitter helps capture those last-minute decision-makers. Check out a 2013 Reverbnation study of 470 music venues around the world: They reported that at least 75 percent of tickets are sold at the door.
3. Make sure “buy your tickets today!” isn’t the only tweet your followers hear from you — or you won’t have any followers. A February 2013 Chicago Times op-ed on arts organizations and social media quoted ArtsJournal editor Douglas McLennan, who said, “One of the biggest mistakes arts groups make is treating social media as just another way to blast information on their activities — essentially a vehicle for free advertising.” Throw in exclusive info, behind-the-scenes content or nearby dining recommendations.
4. If you’re going to use Twitter, do it right. A 2011 social media audit of the arts and culture sector commissioned by Theatre Bay Area found that organizations that tweet more than four times per day and do not replicate Facebook content on their Twitter feed have more followers and a higher rate of engagement. Look at @worldcafelive for a feed of a whole lot of personal back-and-forth conversation (followed by more than 13,000 people).
5. The 2013 Pew report touted the power of social media as a word-of-mouth marketing tool for arts organizations. Encourage audience members to tweet about the show to increase your visibility with their peer groups by putting your hashtag out there, featuring select tweets in a program insert, or displaying a “Twitter wall” at your event. Philadelphia’s Mann Center has its promoter @TheArtsinPhilly ask followers for a tweet of an exact phrase to enter to win a pair of tickets. The results? Even better than a retweet, the @MannCenter and its advertising source sit back and collect Twitter mentions.
Courtesy of our friends at Canary Promotion– http://www.canarypromo.com/