Fringe Preview Retweet & Facebook Experiment Results

With only one Socks preview to go before Edinburgh (and one headline slot tonight in Nottingham, for which we might risk some Boo Lingerie material, who knows) the Socks have been delighted with the response, and indeed the audience numbers, for the preview gigs. But how did our Retweeting experiment go? Our Retweeting experiment, you ask?


Courtesy of Catherine Read, a shot of the Socks' daytime preview in Derby on Sunday

We put out the invitation for various towns to Retweet our local shows, and then we waited to see how those Retweets turned into bums on seats. Here were the results

Beverley - 16 retweets = Sellout show
Bath - 8 retweets = More than half full
Manchester - 1 retweets = Smallest audience
Guildford - 14 retweets = Sellout
Bedford - 15 retweets = We'll find out tonight

The one show that bucked the trend was Derby, the daytime preview (photo of whch you can see above) which was a sellout despite us not tweeting it at all. So, on balance, maybe this experiment proves nothing.

Talking of promotional experiments, we've taken the gamble on a Facebook ad. We've set the limit at £5 a day, meaning that after less than a dozen people have clicked on the ad, it'll disappear. It hasn't resulted in any big upswing in ticket sales, which are progressing steadily as we'd expect. However the ad has had a noticeable effect on the "Reach" of the Socks' Facebook page, whatever that really means. Check this out:



A 5440% increase in reach? Surely that can't be bad. For the record, if Edinburgh ticket sales increase by a commensurate 5440% I shall be buying the moon with 4 hotels.





The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre present not one but two new shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2012: Boo Lingerie - A Socky Horror Show every night at 10.40pm and Chunky Woollen Nits - The Family-Friendly Hour at 11am. Tickets are now on sale, book now!

See all other Socks tour dates in the Scottish Falsetto Socks Gig Guide.