Does Twitter Drive Impulse Spending?

Twitter might just be the golden ticket to mobile as online ticket services like SeatGeek and movie theaters are seeking out Twitter’s Promoted Tweets feature and embedded links to push sales.

Ticket search engines like Fandango, Movietickets.com and SeatGeek have found a reason to leverage Twitter’s Buy Now feature, as social commerce is becoming more commonplace.

“Twitter is already a real-time source for news, photos and video clips, so it only makes sense for the social network to enter the space of real-time ecommerce deals as it looks to broaden its revenue stream,” said Guillaume Lelait, GM at the Fetch global mobile marketing agency.

As Twitter’s Buy Now feature has been recognized as a good source for businesses who are looking to sell time-sensitive products, Lelait said, “Event and ticket providers such as SeatGeek can especially benefit from the growing spontaneous purchase trend, along with the online travel industry, and we see more interest from marketers to capitalize on the spontaneous shopping trend.”

SeatGeek is using Twitter’s Promoted Tweets to publicize Taylor Swift’s upcoming music tour and to incentivize Twitter users to download their app by giving them a chance to win tickets to Swift’s show. Also within the tweet, Twitter users can find an “Install” button for easy download of the GeekSeat mobile application.

Additionally, The Hobbit series upcoming film The Battle of Five Armies, which is set to hit theaters Dec. 17, has collaborated with Twitter on promotional tweets and included links to Movietickets.com, where users purchase tickets to the upcoming flick.

“It definitely has the possibility to take away some of Fandango’s business, especially if the ticket companies are offering special deals and pricing,”  Lelait said. “However, there is potential for Fandango to leverage Twitter for their own ticket sales as well, perhaps offering last-minute movie tickets at discounted prices to shows that aren’t at capacity.”

There could however be enough room for all players, as Fandango users already know what they are looking for prior to visiting the mobile app or website.

“While Twitter could become a nice complementary outlet for increasing ticket sales with an engaged audience, it’s unlikely that it will replace pure-play outlets like Fandango who cater to consumers who already know what they’re shopping for,” says Todd Herrold, senior director of product marketing for Kenshoo, a company that specializes in predictive marketing software. “These consumers don’t need to go to Twitter to seek out conversations to entice them to purchase concert or movie tickets; they simply need a place to purchase the tickets they’re already interested in, and Twitter is unlikely to compete with Fandango and its competitors for this slice of the market.”

Herrold did however note that as Twitter continues to claim more of stake in the commercial space, it platform will become a more central channel for pushing supplementary ticket sales.