Meet me at Shakey’s … I don’t have Twitter

Lance Armstrong, center, in a yellow-streaked helmet and black shirt, leads a pack of cyclists on a three laps around Griffith Park. Armstrong brought the masses together by using Twitter, and they responded bright and early in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Zoo. (Source: LA Times)Gerry Tschopp, United States

“Let’s meet at Shakey’s after the game, then we’ll figure out where to meet up for post-game fun.” 

That was 1983 when there were no “Tweet Ups.”  I can recall pretty vividly: The best way for my friends and I to figure out where to meet for any parties after the big football game was to talk at the game, meet at the local pizza parlor then discuss  what the best plan of action would be. (Cell phones weren’t around yet either!)

My, how times have changed.  We all know the power of Twitter.  Nothing new.  What we now need to embrace is how it becomes such a powerful tool to inspire action. 

A clear example of this is Lance Armstrong’s recent visit to Los Angeles when he tweeted:  "Hey LA -- get out of your cars and get on your bikes. Time to ride. 7:30 tomorrow am. Griffith Park, LA Zoo parking lot. See you there."

His tweet attracted hundreds of cyclists from as far South as San Diego, in addition to news crews and many onlookers.  Why? Well, it helps when you’re Lance Armstrong and you have about 2 million followers on Twitter.  Yes, I know – in simple terms it’s a Tweet Up.  But the fact of the matter is that social media sites, like Twitter, allow us to pull communities together for the ultimate in Consumer Actionism.  

And we no longer have to rely on a mass appeal to engage consumers – we can craft a highly targeted ask.  Thanks to the communities that are built on multiple social media platforms – whether Twitter, Facebook or Linked-In, among others – we, as marketing and PR professionals, can micro-target our desired audiences.  There are wide-ranging groups – from sports enthusiasts, gamers, TV fan sites, celebrity fans.  You name it, you can likely find a base of consumers who are like minded – and therefore share a common interest that fits the needs of nearly any brand.

Is mass media still important? Sure.  But the ability to directly reach and activate a targeted set of consumers or stakeholders in what we deem the era of the Action Consumer allows brands to move from awareness and information to complete brand engagement.  Yes, we call them Tweet Ups – but it’s more than that.  And to be clear, you don’t always need the Armstrong/celebrity factor – just a compelling reason to entice consumers to get involved with your brands.  

And for me and my high school friends.  I’m happy to report that the last time we coordinated a get together, we successfully tapped into our high school group on Facebook.  But I’m sure a few still ended up at Shakey’s.