Sit + Twit = Discount Ticket
A Chicago-area theatre uses social media to fill those last few free seats
By Eliza Bent
Mar 8 2:40pm
Despite knowing 'breves like omg + jk + lol (and despite employing them in real, non-electro life) I don't know a damn thing about Twitter.
Mar 8 3:30pm
...I mean I have Facebook. I e-mail, g-chat and Skype. But for whatever reason I don't want to Twit. But here I am! Now what?
Mar 8 4:42pm
Sorry. Correction. It's Tweet not Twit. Wouldn't Twit be funnier? Or that other 4-letter tw word. Heh.
Mar 29 12:30pm
Sorry for hiatus. At the Humana festival. So far so...ensemble-y. I'll be writing about it for the mag in a few months.
Mar 30 6:03pm
Still at Humana. Just met Stuart Carden. He's a cracker-jack Twitterer and associate artistic director of Writers' Theatre in Glencoe, IL.
Mar 30 6:47pm
Omg. Just heard about a neat-o program at Writers' Theatre called "Tweet Seats," or in my world, "Twit Sits."
Mar 30 7:02pm
This would be so perf to cover in "Strategies"! It's social media the way it should be used by organizations. Thx Stuart!
Apr 6 11:23am
Back in NYC. Apparently all the Twit jokes were made in 2007. Sorry I'm 3 years behind.
Apr 21 12:27pm
We're between summer issues in American Theatre magazine land...yay for vacation, staycation and spring cleaning!
May 10 10:30am
Back 2 life, back to reality. Contacting executive director Kate Lipuma at Writers' later today. She's the one who got the ball rolling.
May 10 10:31am
...along with marketing director Eleanor Berman. They wanted to up their social-media game...Well played. [wink.]
May 10 2:30pm
Just off phone with Lipuma. Great interview! Time for a peppermint patty break.
May 11 3:30pm
Ok, so the "challenge" is how to tell yr audience about last-minute open seats? Sending an e-mail to a big group is annoying/not feasible.
May 11 3:31pm
So Lipuma + co decided to Tweet about it. Here comes "the plan."
May 11 3:34pm
(Btw: Did you know that this is the 23rd "Strategies" I have authored? First in Twitter form. The revolution will not be televised.)
May 12 3:40pm
Plan: Every day around 3pm Writers' Theatre Tweets a code to followers to let them know about available seats that night.
May 12 3:41pm
The afternoon code on Twitter provides a discount. Usually tix are $40-65 but the Tweet Seats are just $30.
May 12 3:42pm
(Ummm, my rag-tag theatre pals and I could barely afford the $30 seats let alone the regularly priced ones. Split!)
May 12 3:57pm
Wait. Just read in Chicago Business that "in 2007 Glencoe was rated 6th among the 25 top-earning towns in the country by Money."
May 12 4:01pm
Way to go Glencoe! I always confuse Glencoe with Glendale. Is that weird?
May 12 4:15pm
Lipuma likens Tweet Seats to an in-person waiting list. "We're on the North Shore," she says, "so we don't get a ton of foot traffic."
May 12 4:16pm
Tix often come in pairs though some singles crop up. And usually not many tix at once. Says Lipuma, "Both our theatres are small."
May 12 4:20pm
(One theatre has 108 seats and the other seats 50. Très tiny!)
May 12 4:22pm
Lipuma told Chicago Business, "While the good news is that we play to 95% capacity, the scary news is that we play to 95% capacity." Heh.
May 12 4:29pm
Interesting side note (again from Chicago Business): Lipuma thinks free tix aren't as meaningful to people as affordable ones.
May 12 4:30pm
(If this were real time Tweeting I bet we'd get into a heated debate about free vs. discount tix...now!)
May 12 4:41pm
Lipuma mentions that it's not just young people using Tweet Seats. "The average age on Facebook isn't what we think," she warns.
May 12 4:42pm
"I read somewhere that visiting social media sites is the 4th most popular online activity. Even my mother follows me on Twitter!"
May 12 4:43pm
(My mom's on Facebook. Yet doesn't know how to text message. Where's the sense in that? Hi mum ;-)
May 12 5:00pm
(Then again, I basically have the sensibilities of an octogenarian. Born in the wrong generation. I love handkerchiefs and handwritten letters.)
May 12 5:14pm
For Lipuma socl media is ageless. Ooh and when Writers' doesn't have available seats they just post a "Check Back Tomorrow" msg.
May 12 5:17pm
Also noteworthy: when ppl buy tix, they buy them thru Writers' website. Not thru Ticketmaster.
May 12 5:30pm
Did you note that? Don't you hate those surcharges for buying advance tix? Cue heated debate (where everyone mostly agrees!).
May 12 5:35pm
"Our website contains everything about our theatre," says Lipuma. "Hopefully when patrons buy tickets through us," she says...
May 12: 5:57pm
Cliff-hanger! Leaving to see Sheila Callaghan's Lascivious Something. Will continue Tweet/write tomorrow.
May 13 10:21am
"Hopefully when patrons buy tickets through us," she says, "they also check out what else we have going on at the theatre." Smart technique.
May 13 10:24am
Ok, now for the "what worked" section. Obv what's working is that other theatres are copy-catting!
May 13 10:26am
Remember in Anne of Green Gables, "Copying is the sincerest form of flattery"?
May 13 10:29am
Omg when this article is over I will use my alias Twitter account to quote Anne of Green Gables EXCLUSIVELY!!!
May 13 10:41am
Ok, it's actually imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, coined by Charles Caleb Colton.
May 13 10:55am
Apparently George Bush said "flattery is the sincerest form of imitation" [insert ex-prez joke here]. Does Twitter have video/audio? "Fool me once" clip PLS.
May 14 11:00am
Re copy-catting. Lipuma has been asked by theatres around the country if they could steal the Tweet Seats idea.
May 14 11:03am
Says Lipuma, "It even happened at the TCG Fall Forum." Ooh shoot! That's not a dig on TCG, fyi.
May 14 11:07am
Now for the "what didn't" work as well section. "The biggest challenge is all the newness," confesses Lipuma.
May 14 11:09am
"I feel like we're all trying to figure out how to best use technology for our organizations. And I'm learning on the job what that is."
May 14 11:11am
Her and me both! "You can get a little obsessed trying to stay on top of things with this stuff," she laughs.
May 14 11:20am
Which reminds me I haven't put up a Facebook status message in like two days. Absolutely shameful.
May 14 11:35am
What's next? Ponders Lipuma, "We have to be careful about putting out a cohesive message. I wonder if soon enough," she pauses...
May 14 11:36am
"...we'll be advertising for a director of social media." At the moment, Lipuma and staff carry camera phones with them most of the time.
May 14 11:38am
That way they can capture behind-the-scenes moments they then blog/Tweet about, to give access to ppl who aren't physically at the theatre.
May 14 11:40am
"It gets complicated over who is the keeper of all this. It can be overwhelming!" Sure can.
May 14 11:50am
Durn. Speaking of overwhelming I've gotta get to writing that Humana article. (You can read it on tactile paper in print edition.)
May 14: 3:05pm
Double durn. I totes forgot about hashtags! Or hashish tags. Is that an old joke too? What's a hashtag anyway? Help! I'm trapped in Tweet-speak!
View our comments policy