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Dear Faithful Readers,
“Selling It…” frequently highlights cutting-edge ideas teams are using to convert social media fans into new ticket sales. With social media creating a form of two-way communication between teams and their fans, it is imperative to constantly be on the lookout for innovative ways to keep the lines of contact open. By keeping the dialogue flowing, teams are able to transition casual fans into additional revenue. Read on to see how the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to utilize social media to bring an increase in traffic to their personal website and local sponsor locations as well as new ticket sales for the team.
Enjoy the Feature,
Chantelle Neep
[email protected]
P.S. We would love to hear your feedback! If you have a great idea/program your organization has recently done out in the industry, Email Me and i'll feature it in an upcoming issue!
PROGRAM TITLE
Tampa Bay Lightning: "Seat Seeker"
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OBJECTIVES
The ticket buyers of today prefer easy, quick, impersonal transactions to waiting in line and interacting with the ticket office. This makes it more crucial than ever for teams to find innovative tactics to increase site traffic and subsequently boost online ticket purchases. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team who has a strong social media following, they sought to take advantage of their followers by creating an innovative program that would redirect fans back to the team’s website and be compelling enough to keep them there.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
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To achieve their objective, the Lightning embraced the power of the Twitter hashtag through the creation of a modern day scavenger hunt called, “Seat Seeker”. Lynn Wittenburg, Vice President of Brand Management for the Tampa Bay Lightning said, “We were really looking for a way to create a buzz for our upcoming games, bring in more followers, direct people to our website and brand the hashtag, #BeTheThunder.”
In order to participate in ‘Seat Seeker’ fans were first required to follow the TB Lightnings twitter page, @TBLightning. On a scheduled ‘Seat Seeker’ game, the team makes an announcement on their Twitter page instructing followers to tweet #BeTheThunder. The team reveals a new clue when #BeTheThunder is tweeted 200 times. Each time the amount of tweets reaches the next threshold, a new clue is released via Google Maps which is located on the Lightning home page. As the tweets come in, Google Maps zooms in, slowly revealing the secret location of the hidden tickets for that nights game. The faster the tweets come in, the sooner the location will be revealed and the first fan to the location wins 2 glass seat tickets for the upcoming game.
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“'Seat Seeker' takes place once every other month. We strategically chose games that typically wouldn’t sell out, in an attempt to bring in fans that normally would not attend our games,” says Wittenburg. The scavenger hunt has allowed the Lighting to achieve a new interaction level with fans that engages their attention, gets them excited about the team and brings more traffic to their homepage and sponsor locations.
The winners of 2 glass seat tickets for 'Seat Seeker' - Click the above photo for more information on the promotion
MEDIA
The Lightning used social media and their personal website, specifically the promotions page, to promote 'Seat Seeker'.
PARTNER
The Lightning used local sponsor locations as places to hide the glass seat tickets. Sponsors included: McDonalds, Florida Blue and the Tampa Bay Times. "Not only are the fans happy with Seat Seeker, but so are our sponsors," says Wittenburg. "Our sponsors are really enjoying being apart of this program and have seen an increase in traffic and publicity since beginning 'Seat Seeker'."
RESULTS
‘Seat Seeker’ increased Lightning Twitter followers from 33,000 to 68,400. ‘Seat Seeker's’ best day included 471 total unique tweets per zoom and 70 new followers in just 5 hours. Also, on the days when ‘Seat Seeker’ took place, the #BeTheThunder hashtag was trending in the Tampa Bay area. “With a high level of fan involvement and sponsors willingness to participate, 'Seat Seeker' has surpassed our biggest expectations,” says Wittenburg.
Additionally, on game days when ‘Seat Seeker’ was in progress, the Lightning saw an increase in ticket sales, even though they had initially anticipated a lower attendance rate at those specific games.
Along with an increase in ticket sales, 'Seat Seeker' has provided a direct connection to their team website. The average time spent on their website during ‘Seat Seeker’ was 7 minutes and 8 seconds, which far surpasses the average time spent on a site. There were 1,558 views and 4,264 page visits which proves they found a way to drive traffic to the team website as well as a compelling enough reason for visitors to stay on the site for an extended period of time.
LOOKING AHEAD
With ‘Seat Seeker’ off to a great start, the Tampa Bay Lightning are looking forward to continuing the social media game next season. The Lightning are constantly trying to push the envelope to come up with new and creative ways to involve their fans and sponsors within the Lightning organization. They are hopeful that ‘Seat Seeker’ will continue to bring in even more Twitter followers and traffic as well as additional ticket sales in the future.
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