“Where are you going tonight dressed like that?” my dad said as I prepared to leave for the Zombie Pub Crawl dressed as a Hunter S. Thompson zombie. “I’m going out to eat braaaaiiinnnsssssss!” He wasn’t amused. My dad had never heard of a zombie pub crawl. He also has never heard of Twitter. Therein lies his problem. Social media has played a huge role in the success of this ghoulish event.
Taylor Carik, one of the original founders of the Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl, explains the use of social media in an interview via the Fast Horse blog.
“We already have an audience so we don’t use marketing. All of our communications tools are used to share information and our messaging…Twitter is used to answer questions and engage with our audience. Lately, it’s been a great resource for customer service and we’re able to provide real time updates about the status of tickets and drink lines during the pub crawl. Facebook is used for many of the same messaging and communication reasons, but people also can invite their friends to the pub crawl.”
Zombie Pub Crawl has struck a chord with twenty-somethings who love their social media just as much as they love dressing up in fake blood and tattered clothes with their friends. This past weekend over 18,000 zombie wannabes gathered in Minneapolis and St. Paul to find brains and booze. The turnout rate has continued to skyrocket ever since its inception seven years ago in Northeast Minneapolis when roughly one hundred zombies braved the streets.
Digital integration is helping to improve live events more than ever. I can’t count the number of zombies who cracked a smile when I scanned their ticket from the App in under 5 seconds or bowed in thanks when I searched and found the ticket they had forgotten to print beforehand. The key element was the digital ticket platform and knowing how to use it.
