I was recently reading an article about how Wheat Thins used Twitter to generate buzz around their product.

They found their biggest fans—and surprised them. Wheat Thins began choosing a few lucky tweeters and surprising them at home with a free lifetime supply of the crunchy little crackers! (The agency studies a given fan’s personality on Twitter and other social media before arriving chez them. Chosen people are positive, responsive online and appreciate a good laugh.)

from adweek: humans attack delicious wheat thin clouds

The article goes on the say the point was how the brand used Twitter to gather data.

Twitter isn’t just for building followers and sharing tweets; it’s a rich data source for a brand’s life pulse.

I believe there is a more important point here. Take it offline. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn are great, but they are only an extension of our offline reach and experiences. We live and will continue to live in an offline world, which means for individuals and brands to be truly successful they  must create coordinated engagement programs that connect the online with the offline. This Wheat Thins promotion is one very good example.

They article does not go on to say what the net effect was but, if the agency did its job right they generated online buzz with those key Twitter users then amplified the result. The ultimate business objective of a program like this is to drive in store purchases.

I hope it worked.