Taking Crowdsourcing to the Next Level

I had the most interesting experience last night. I was DM'd (privately messaged on Twitter) a few days ago and asked to attend a special Social Media event at Blue Coast Burrito downtown. At first I was a bit skeptical, but curiousity got the best of me (and they offered free food and margaritas!) and so I went.

Several active tweeters were there (probably 20-30), along with some other people, and we were told to mingle and enjoy the treats for a while. Long story short... Blue Coast Burrito initiated a crowdsourcing moment and tapped into a room full of marketing and tweeting professionals to discuss how social media can be used in social business. We had some great discussion with several opposing views, and the restaurant got some great ideas.

THEN they brilliantly tapped into our resources once again to help promote the restaurant. They asked us to compete with each other to spread the word about restaurant specials. We were all tasked to tweet specials and ask our friends to retweet us. Anyone who retweets us tweeting the special while in Blue Coast Burrito restaurant gets the special!

For example, if you get seated at Blue Coast Burrito and tweet:

Doing now! RT @cleverkibitzer: One free appetizer @MargaritaLoft if you RT this while dining there (good Dec 2-11) #BCBApp

You get a free appetizer. If you tell your friends about it, they can retweet it too and get the special. 

Blue Coast Burrito took crowdsourcing to a whole notha level (SNL reference) with this one. I'm sharing this with you not only because it is a great story in being resourceful, creating, and smart, but because it reinforces how valuable EOK's crowdsourcing is. WE should be doing things like this.