“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~George Bernard Shaw 
et's Be Frank is a relatively new retail store in San Francisco's Marina district. In an increasingly competitive retail hot dog environment in San Francisco, Let's Be Frank differentiates itself from the pack by selling grass-fed beef hot dogs and ingredients from locally produced suppliers, from vegetables to buns to ice cream sandwiches sold as dessert. And like many forward thinking retailers, it's already established a social media marketing presence with a Twitter profile and a Facebook fan page. 
Let's Be Frank recently created a promotion to achieve a goal of reaching 1,000 Twitter followers with an announced prize of 2 free 3-day passes to the Outside Lands Music Festival at Golden Gate Park on August 28-30 which has a value of $450. Unfortunately, as of yet, the business has failed to achieve it's goals, and quite frankly, looks in danger of not doing so by the time the festival occurs as it has added only about 100 followers since the promo was announced on August 14. 
The great thing is, that Let's Be Frank has created a promotion that has significant value. The bad thing is that it's execution is not accomplishing its objectives. If I were in charge of running the promotion, here are some additional tactics I would use to accelerate the acquisition of Twitter followers. Almost all of these ideas extend the messaging to additional media at a very low financial cost. They merely take some planning and some time & effort.
- Give good content: To date, most of the tweets and Facebook posts have been very narrow in scope, falling into approximately three content buckets: a) product descriptions; b) "help us to 1000 flwrs;" and c) "Twofer Tuesday" promos. Why not also provide much more of the wonderful story-telling that makes this company different from the other dozen or more hot dog retailers in San Francisco? I'd start by reposting the great content found at the bottom of its homepage which includes stories about the farms it buys from, press coverage and video features, and then work to develop additional stories about its founders, its employees, its customers and any and everything that make this company unique. Favorable customer reviews and tweets are also good ideas. These are all of the assets that make this company different and worth following, and as a person who is passionate about local and sustainable foods, I KNOW there is a ton of material to share;
- Follow new people: One of the most simple tactics to increase your Twitter following is to start following others. So far, Let's Be Frank is following only 68 friends and has added only about 30 since the promotion started. Social media marketing works best when there is an open dialogue with your customers (for good and for bad). Let's Be Frank could increase its relationship building by asking its 368 Facebook fans to share their Twitter handles. Then it could seek out new followers by following people who live within 5 miles of its zipcode. To accomplish this, it could use any of the many services that help you identify Twitter users within a geographic area such as Twellohood, LocalTweeps, or TwitterLocal (this article identifies 9 potential services to use);
- Send a press release to SF food blogs about the promotion: Grub Street San Francisco, Eater SF, Bay Area Bites, and SFoodie are all blogs that report on the San Francisco Bay Area food scene. Even with the demise of printed newspapers, bloggers still have the same needs as news reporters, and that is to find newsworthy stories to publish. A press release is the way you can help them do their jobs with greater ease and thereby increase the odds that you will be mentioned;
- Put a huge ad about the promotion on its website: If you have news to share, why wouldn't you share it on your homepage? Not only is it a way to keep your site content fresh and to give your visitors something to look forward to, but it's another missed opportunity to communicate your offer in a channel that you control. Check out how Peet's Coffee is currently promoting its latest limited availability product offering;
- Add its web url to its Facebook fan page: [this is the .5 idea] Let's Be Frank could facilitate visiting the corporate website by adding a link within its Facebook fan page, as it does in its Twitter profile. This could be a little more important than normal, given that its Twitter name is @letsbefranksf and its home page is www.letsbefrankdogs.com (not exacly the same);
- Send out an email newsletter announcing the promotion: When I first visited the Let's Be Frank website, I signed up to receive its newsletter. To date, I've not received one. An opt-in email list can be one of the greatest assets a retailer owns, if only it uses it wisely and to communicate its authentic story, news and increase value propositions (such as a chance to win $450 in concert tickets);
- Pass out a slip of paper to every retail customer announcing the promotion: I ate at the store yesterday, and while the store does have a whiteboard that said "follow us on twitter," I was never informed of the promotion or chance to win $450 in concert tickets either verbally, or in any active way. Handing a simple sheet of paper (also called a bag stuffer) announcing the promotion with my change could help spread the word among walk-in customers;
- Have a easel backed display near the cash register announcing the promotion: A counter sign, usually placed near the cash register, can also draw in the attention of walk in customers;
- Partner with the Outside Lands Facebook Fan page to announce the promotion: I don't know whether this is feasible, but the festival has a Facebook fan page as well, with 13,654 fans!. A request to share the promotion on the site could easily be accomplished with a quick email, or a guerrilla campaign where Let's Be Frank posts a note to the Outside Lands fan page without permission could expose thousands of interested people to a way it could potentially receive free tickets to the event.
With just some more planning, a few more hours of work and the foresight to create an integrated campaign across media, I believe that Let's Be Frank could have hit a home run with this promotion and easily achieved its goal of reaching 1,000 Twitter followers before August 28. In the meantime, I'm going to go do my part to increase my chances of winning by retweeting "help us to 1000 flwrs @letsbefranksf! Once there, we'll pick a random flwr for 2, 3-DAY PASSES to OUTSIDE LANDS-$450 value! Hurry!" What other tactics would you recommend to help Let's Be Frank achieve it's Twitter follower goals?