The Lightning Launch a Seat Seeker Initiative to Reward Active Twitter Followers with Tickets

The Tampa Bay Lightning recently celebrated the start of the 2011-12 season by creating a promotional platform that rewards fans for interacting with the team on Twitter. As part of the platform, entitled the Tampa Bay Lightning Seat Seeker, fans can follow the team's official Twitter handle (@TBLightning) to receive messages when free tickets are placed at secret locations throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Once the message is posted, Lightning fans are encouraged to use the hashtag #BeTheThunder to unlock clues that zero in on the location of the tickets. Once the location is revealed, the first person who finds the tickets wins them.

The Lightning launched a landing page to host the Seat Seeker initiative, which features a camera that zooms in on the location of the tickets every time a designated amount of tweets occur. The site includes a countdown unit that shows how many total tweets have been posted (240+ to date) and how many are needed to activate the next zoom.

The lucky Lightning fan who won tickets for the team's Opening Night game found them at a McDonald's location on West Kennedy Blvd., showcasing how teams can effectively benchmark and utilize the social media promotion to drive traffic and publicity to corporate partners' retail locations. 

Check it out below - a great, engaging tactic!

A special thanks to Caryn Switaj of the Tampa Bay Lightning for her insights and contributions to this column!

Athletics Departments Get Creative with Courtside Rotational Inventory

During national television broadcasts, University Athletic Departments are provided an opportunity to leverage their courtside rotational signage to promote "institutional messages". As a result, Universities have gotten pretty creative with their messaging tactics, promoting everything from social media channels to kids club initiatives to award nominations.

Check out a few screenshots that detail how the University of Wisconsin Athletics Department leveraged their LED scorers table display during a recent Wisconsin-Michigan State basketball game broadcasted on CBS.

A special thanks to David Cohn of the Wisconsin State Golf Association for his insights and contributions to this column.

Message: Promoting Lowe's Senior Class Award

Message: Promoting Special WI Men's Basketball Facebook Offer

Message: Promoting WI Men's Basketball Twitter Contest

Message: Promoting Badgers Kids Club

Message: Promoting Badgers' Varsity Magazine

Message: Promoting Fan of the Game Initiative 

Chargers Fans and Motorola "Tweet the Headline"

The San Diego Chargers have teamed up with Motorola to create an interesting "Tweet the Headline" promotion for fans. Motorola is giving away an H17 Bluetooth headset to the Chargers fan who tweets out the best 100-character headline using the hashtag #motoheadline following each Chargers game.

Each week, one submission will be selected to headline a story on the Chargers official website, Chargers.com, and will be featured on the Chargers' official Facebook and Twitter pages. The promotion is terrific because it is a simple, yet effective way to engage fans and incorporate partners via social media.

25 Ways Sports Organizations Can Utilize Twitter

Is your organization considering using Twitter as an online medium to connect with consumers, drive awareness for promotions, and receive feedback from fans? Are you looking for new ways to utilize Twitter as a messaging tool?

Partnership Activation created a resource that captures "25 Ways Sports Organizations Can Utilize Twitter" in an effort to help guide sports marketers and their respective organizations in the social networking space.

If you have a moment, please check out the enclosed document and share it with colleagues and friends in the industry. It is time that your organization takes advantage of the Twitter movement!