Party City’s Halloween Tricks And Tweets

In one of those wacky crystal ball-type of studies, Americans are predicted to spend more on Halloween this year than they did last year. According to economists, Halloween is always popular in tough economic or political times as it provides a “welcomed break from reality.” We could argue that strong hallucinogens provide the same effect without having to conform to a specific time of year, but the point is that Halloween is just one of those holidays where everybody gets to act like a big, silly kid. So social media marketers are hauling out the big guns this year to help scare our troubles away – and it makes perfect sense that the country’s largest party supply retailer is jumping on board early to lure in shoppers.

The folks at Party City have really kicked up the company’s online and social media presence this Halloween season, and the timing couldn’t be any better. Party City’s Facebook page has links to articles on Halloween decorating ideas, a costume fashion video and a cool virtual dressing room where you can put a jpeg of your face on some costumes available at Party City without ever having to leave your laptop.

Party City also has taken to Twitter to scare up some business with a cool promotion called Trick-or-Tweet. The promo invites tweeps to participate in a scavenger hunt on the company’s website. Party City will tweet clues daily to its followers and the first responses win gift cards to the store. The chain is using Twitter to hand out promotional codes to customers that provide discounts on selected items at its online store, too. Promotional codes via Twitter are a great social media marketing trick, regardless of what time of year it is. The Twitter page also deserves a look simply because of the conversational tone and friendly interaction Party City has with its followers.

Odd and perhaps inappropriately sexy costumes aside, everybody can agree Halloween is fun; so it’s cool seeing companies like Party City using social media to entice ghosts and ghouls looking for a good time.