One Friday night in 2011, I was on Twitter when I suddenly started seeing a flurry of tweets from friends in Boston about a concert they had been to that night.

It was a ‘secret show’ given by Amanda Palmer, and as I watched dozens upon dozens of tweets flying by, I decided to see what the big deal was.

What Amanda had done was organize a ‘secret show’ by giving away tickets to the show.

In order to be eligible to win tickets, you had to go to Amanda’s Get Glue profile and leave a comment sharing your favorite experience at an Amanda Palmer concert.

The show was a wild success, and Amanda holds these ‘secret shows’ often, using social media to connect with her fans and create an amazing experience for them.

Now, the Skeptical Marketer will hear this, and immediately spot the big problem: She didn’t sell any tickets! Hello! And not only did she not sell any tickets, she gave all the tickets away to her biggest fans, the people who would likely be the ones to buy tickets from her!  All this rocker chick did is leverage social media to lose ticket sales! Right? (more…)