Busch Gardens Tweets for Prizes

By Amber Lester Monday, March 01, 2010

Remember when winning a promotion involved camping outside of businesses, participating in eating contests or creating crazy fan art? That day has passed now that social media has created another way for businesses to connect with fans.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg launched its new Twitter feed on Monday. If fans follow the park here, they have a chance to win prizes and discounts.

The park plans to use the Twitter feed to share the latest information and exclusive offers. “It will be the best place for the park’s online fans to find limited-time deals, deep discounts and last-minute offers on admission tickets, meal plans, behind-the-scenes tours and merchandise,” said Dan Dipiazzo, vice president of marketing for Busch Gardens, in a press release.

In its first two hours of tweeting, the park gave away two Platinum passes and two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines. Platinum passes are good for two years of unlimited admission to Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and seven other theme parks in the country. All the entrants had to do was click “follow” before the administrator chose a winner at random.

For its next promotion, the park plans to give away two tickets to “Behind the Scenes: A Roller Coaster Experience” when it gets 2,500 followers on Twitter. In the early afternoon on Monday, the feed had 1,313 followers.