@umichfootball Private Event
Per MGoBlue.com
June 25, 2013
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The official Twitter account of Michigan Football (@umichfootball) will host a private event for all followers of the account on Tuesday, July 2, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Starting at 10 a.m., the official Twitter account of Michigan Football @umichfootball will go private, allowing only followers of @umichfootball to participate in exclusive and one-of-a-kind giveaways, live Twitter chats with coaches and student-athletes and more.
To reward fans of the largest single Twitter account following (139,924) in the NCAA, Michigan football will only allow followers of @umichfootball to participant in this exclusive event.
During the private Twitter event, followers will have the opportunity to win prizes, including season tickets, individual tickets to each home game -- including Notre Dame, Nebraska and Ohio State -- gift cards to M Den, merchandise, MGoBlueTV subscriptions and Michigan football experiences, including a tour of Michigan Stadium and more.
Scheduled to participate in the live Twitter chats are left tackle Taylor Lewan (@TaylorLewan77), quarterback Devin Gardner (@dg1two) and wide receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski (@JeffHecklinski).
To participate in the private event, follow @umichfootball on Twitter at Twitter.com/umichfootball prior to 10 a.m. on July 2.
...marketing approach.
Wow, that is the most creative way i have seen to get more followers. Great idea.
That's the point...
That's pretty smart.
Thanks for the heads up!
Let's think this through, guys. Seriously, what is the attraction here that would add thousands of followers?
- Opportunity to win prizes? Buy lottery tickets if you want that; either way, you're not winning, trust me.
- Tickets? I'm taking the under at 40 on the number of tickets given away during this thing, so good luck there.
- Players and coaches? Does anyone really think Lewan/Gardner/Hecklinski are going to tweet anything more fascinating than "Go Blue!!!"?
- Tuesday July 2 at 10:00am? Aside from it being really inconvenient, it's also really not TIMELY, as opposed to say, August 30.
This thing is so lame I couldn't restrain myself from tearing it down. Sorry.
I have been behind the scenes of professionally run twitter programs and every one of your assertions is incorrect. Legally, anything offered as part of an event like this has to be fulfilled and able to be validated.
but just howinhell can a twitter "event" be "private?"
Anyone can come to this big giveaway under a big tent, but the flaps come down at a given time and nobody else is allowed in. It's not exactly private, but it's closed to the public after a given time.
So much synergy jammed into this announcement. I wish being a Michigan fan these days didn't always feel like I'm being marketed to.
/getoffmylawn
The difference: Don Canham understood athletics. Dave Brandon understands how to successfully market bad pizza, and is using those same techniques in a very transparent way to gouge as much out of the fanbase as he possibly can. It's no coincidence that Dominos' advertising strategy over the past five years essentially boils down to "we acknowledge our product used to suck, but it doesn't suck anymore."
Remember, Canham was a successful coach who doubled as an incredibly savvy businessman. His business acumen is not as well documented, but he essentially pioneered the use of film to teach athletic techniques and created a business selling reels of instructional films to coaches. His business success and his feel for athletics were pretty much seamlessly integrated. Canham's marketing strategy was less transparently Business 101, and more Michigan 101. Nowadays, it reeks of buzzwords and strategies taken straight from syllabi at Ross. "The Michigan brand." You can see right through it. There's nothing uniquely Michigan about it.
I don't twitter, but I'd consider setting up an account just to see what this thing is about.