If you were handed a flyer at an event with a $1 bill attached to it, and it said "Follow me on Twitter" would you be more likely to follow?

This was something a club I'm a member of discussed recently. We were looking for ways to make others aware of our science fiction convention, but ways that would be easy to implement and have a lot of bang for the buck. What we came up with was personalized chocolate bars!

Most people remember chocolate. Even though the wrapper will be thrown away, usually. But we are going to put "More at" with our URL, hoping we'll at least get some hits out of curiousity.

Expecting Twitter activity is even more reasonable, given your target market and the fact more of them are likely to have the ability to access Twitter from their phones. I would think the dollar would have more impact, though. It's cash.

Pens I can get wandering around just about any festival, but people don't hand out cash very often. Or full-sized candy bars to people who aren't 1) under 52" tall and 2) wearing a costume and holding a plastic pumpkin. I wouldn't think it was an insult, but I'd be less likely to think chocolate was an insult.

If you're asking about me personally.... I would be more likely to check you out, but less likely to follow you. More likely to check you out because you caught my attention by doing something out of the ordinary. Less likely to follow because my mindset would be "if this guy needs to bribe people to follow him, he can't be that good".

Also bear in mind that following doesn't mean I pay even the least bit of attention to your tweets. I may just add you to a list of gazillion people that I am marginally interested in and never look at. As for pens... I have more cheap and tacky pens than a person could ever want.

Well I don't actually have them cos I have thrown them all away. But a pen will not get my attention, and in so far as it would, you'd better off just giving your URL than saying "Follow me". If you just tell me the URL I might be intrigued and look it up, but if you add "Follow me" that'll activate my resistance-to-marketing gene.

That's me. I don't know how other people would react, but I guess quite a few may share that particular gene. But maybe social media junkies think differently to most people.

Your best chance of getting me to follow would be just showing me why I'd want to read what you have to say.

If you handed me a dollar attached to a flyer, I would take the dollar and throw away the flyer. Personally I am less likely to toss a pen and having it on my desk I might check out your twitter account. Personally I would think a twitter contest follow me and be entered to win $1,000 or an iPad or something else.

You can do the same promo across all the schools you visit in the month.

I don't think giving out a dollar is a good idea... yes some people may see it as an insult, some may not. For me, it's okay if I'd get a dollar, but that's just me. So I think the pen would work better; it's a safer choice among your options.

Why would I choose the pen versus the dollar? Each time I see or use the pen, I'm like being reminded to check your Twitter or to follow you if I haven't followed you yet. The dollar?

I'd probably even forget receiving it once it's in my pocket. Other than a pen which I think is very commonly used as a token or freebie, you could also attach some other worth-keeping tokens depending on your target audience. For social media people, maybe they'll appreciate other simple stuffs like pins, or catchy key-chains, etc.With that "Follow Me on Twitter" text.

The flyer should be noteworthy too so that people will be interested of what you're campaigning and they won't just throw the flyer away and keep the token or throw both away.

As a writer who has gained a little bit of popularity online for writing horror articles, I am approached by a lot of budding horror movie directors, no-mane stars, writers, and websites. At least twice a week, I have someone contacting me and requesting that I review their site, follow them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. I only follow those people and groups that I am truely interested in.

If you want ot follow me, that is fine. If I want to follow you, it means that you have done something that I think is worthy of following you. If I am drawn to check out your work, and I like what I see, I will consider following you.

Mind the fact taht I have dumped a lot of people that I followed in the past on Facebook and Twitter because of them delving into an area that I cannot support. If a person starts posting comments that are ultra liberal or ultra conservative, I don't care. If the person starts into some kind of male dominanace, homophobic, racist, or otherwise demeaning schlock, they are getting dropped.

While I allow anyone to read the articles that I write online and for other print publications, I am very selective about who I follow on Facebook or Twitter. Many have even commented about my Twitter account taht I have more friends that are fellow writers than I have in any other field. If I have worked with someone, and liked their work, I will follow them.To go along with this post, I had one company offer me a decent sum of money (before the laws changed and regulated gifts like this) to write a review of their movie, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

To define decent, it was about two weeks worth of work. I told them that I needed to see their product first. Trust me, it was one of the worst movies that I have ever seen.

I walked out, and never looked back. I believe that follows on Twitter and friends on Facebook should be earned. There are too many that give them out to everyone.

You pick who your friends are offline. You should spend more time picking your friend online.

I would instead bring a dollar and a laptop/smartphone, allow them become a follower through your internet connection, and THEN give them $1. Otherwise, you'd be giving $1 to people who likely don't even have a twitter account (like me! ).

I haven't even read the other answers-I want to give one totally unswayed by them. I did many events on a campus of 40,000 when I was a student, well before Twitter,and I can tell you this: Think about these two words: Junk Mail. And these two: Lost Pen.

Think like your audience would think: If you were a college kid and someone handed a flyer and a dollar (attached but easily un-attachedy) to you with no strings attached, what would you do? There are no strings attached and there's no obligation to even look at the site. The cash in the wallet and flyer in the trash.

Thanks for buying me a Diet Coke. You wouldn't be the first to be handing out flyers on a college campus. I might even walk by three or four times over the course of time.

Thanks for a quick lunch. Neither the pen nor the flyer would be good choices for you. Your business is online.

Your audience is already going to be looking at a computer--why divert their attention? A pen that costs you $1.00, after setup fee and all, might stop writing and/or disappear. There are consultants who can build a buzz on Twitter because they know how to do it.

And it's all on intuition. I just pulled in as followers two nationwide television shows with almost cult-like loyal fans in the industry of the business I'm working with that have huge ratings. Followers--targeted followers--have begun to appear from Hoboken to Honolulu.

And across Canada. But it wasn't quite that simple. And even then, how many followers you have doesn't mean anything, really.

There are ways to get people to notice you without them actually being "followers. " Your $100 could be better spent on a public relations consultant who knows what they're doing.. But if you've been to all those campuses already, the first thing you better do is Break the Ice yourself and not have an essentially blank page as your home page. Go to http://freezecrowd.com and ask yourself this: "If I look at this page, knowing nothing else, how the hell would I know what freezecrowd is?"

Ultimately, you'll want to drive traffic to the site, not to twitter. Twitter is just the latest form of marketing. Check into Twitter's widgets, too.PS: Why not go to McGill?

This answer just saved you $100.

I would follow you. You $1-giving nutcase! :P I think this has viral potential.

I think the pen would be the better idea. I would probably take the dollar and forget about the Twitter, but if it were on the pen, I would remember, and so would anyone else who saw my pen or borrowed it, or whoever I might tell about it. In other words, your possible exposure (and follower) per dollar would be higher with a pen.

The pen would be present the next time I got near a computer, assuming I put it in my pocket, which is most likely, whereas who knows what I would do with a flyer and a dollar. Probably buy a candy bar and throw out the flyer. Of the two choices, I vote for the pen.

In answer to your specific question, I would be more likely to follow you on Twitter with the dollar idea. But, with that being said, how about instead of giving out $1 bills, hand out fliers that say "Follow me on Twitter! I will be giving out 4 $25 gift certificates (or 2 $50 gift certificates) to 4 (or 2) lucky random winners from my following list."

I know you are targeting colleges, so perhaps gift certificates for larger food chains, Walmart, etc. May be appropriate. My son is a college student and he is always THRILLED to get food gift certificates. College students are usually broke and could use some money or help:) People love contests and chances to win things!

Just a thought!

I think most people would take the money and run, since they don't have to perform an action to get that dollar. A similar (but perhaps more effecive tactic) might be to deposit $1 in someone's PayPal account after you see that they've followed you on Twitter. Since they now have to go back and make a conscientious effort to not follow you, they may be more apt to just stick with you.In either case, I'm sure you'd attract attention, but not necessarily an engaged follower who will truly be reading and interacting with your content.

I honestly have to say, I would certainly monitor your feed and decide if I wanted to. But no adds if you don't make the cut. I will say that the dollar thing will work on 80% of the population in my opinion.Chocolate... not so much.It have been my personal experience that misrepresentation can kill business.

The candy bar with a URL on it- no matter how descriptive the wrapper is- will lead some people to check it out, find there is no more candy to have, and bail. Not to mention the info is on something meant to be discarded, which I would think is an undesirable association.

I have been in similar shoes trying to recruit members for an organization at a "info fair" public type event. There are a few nuggets of wisdom I have gained, and I have come up with a successful plan that is quite repeatable. The first thing you need to know (and may already know): "Here, have a flyer" is the direct equivalent to "Here, let me give you some junk mail."

Now money on the other hand... Money gets peoples' attention, but different people will perceive $1 differently. Some see it as a usable amount of money (do a load of laundry, buy a beverage). Others will see it as very very inconsequential ("I have enough money and don't particularly need an additional dollar.") The other Mahaloan is correct that in giving somebody something of value (whether it's requested/desired or not) does invoke the reciprocity rule.

If someone accepts your dollar, most will feel a sense of obligation to return some favor (probably to at least check out your twitter page once and decide whether to follow you at that time). You could have them show you on their phone that they are now following you. But the dollar is not enough - you must have compelling content that is practically concise and relevant to your target market.

But maybe a dollar is enough. Cognitive Dissonance theory and research suggests that giving someone a small reward (say $1) to do a behavior they might not normally do (follow this guy I just met and don't know well) might be a REALLY good idea. Say someone initially doesn't have a favorable attitude to following you on twitter.

Some people won't take your dollar no doubt, but for those who DO, you get an added bonus. If you were to give them $20 (a high amount), they'd take your money, and might initially follow you, but in their mind, they are just doing it for the money, not because their attitude is favorable to you or your company/program. But when it's only a dollar, Dissonance Theory suggests they will feel conflicted initially (they took a dollar for something they don't necessarily care for yet), but will resolve the conflict by changing their attitude about your company toward the positive.

In their heads it will be "I didn't do it for the money since it's only a dollar, so I guess this guy actually is worth following. " Also in my opinion, most people will see pens as superfluous and not that important (unless it's some novelty pen that lights up etc...). We all have too many pens.

If you have the budget for some extra pens, it won't hurt to get some, but only do it if you have extra money. What you are looking for is favorable attitude change toward you and your company/organization. Pens and chocolate won't make a lasting impression, but pens at least put your name in front of peoples eyes that might not have heard of you.

When someone takes your dollar, the rationalization that they aren't following you for the money is likely to stick. You job then is to further engage your target. Engagement is a strategy that will help you out immensely.

I recommend you use an engagement tool. I've used small samples of free dessert effectively."Did you get to try our free dessert? " gets random peoples' attention (so will "have I given you a dollar yet?

"), but the secret is also doing the right thing next. Instinct says go into a sales pitch, but a better strategy is to ask the student some questions about their interests. If you have some relevant pictures and video at your booth, students are somewhat likely to express any existing interest about them, and you have qualified your prospect.

Once their interest is established, then show them something cool about how you or your product/organization meets that need. Then, get contact info (or have them get on their phone and start following you). The more personal you can make your interaction, the greater your success.

Think of it all as building a relationship with these students. Find the win-wins, and focus on them. Offerring one dollar can be an effective engagement tool that will help you break the ice.

Those who accept them (thanks to cognitive dissonance) are likely to also change their attitudes favorably toward you and your company/cause. Go get em! Here are a couple of relevant vids on the topic, and I didn't create either of them.

Cialdini (1st vid) is a famous persuasion researcher and author. The 2nd vid is a guy that seems to understand persuasion pretty well, but needs to hire someone else to handle his audio. Enjoy.

Pay me a dollar to ASK me to follow you on twitter. Nope. That's going to make me want to not follow you, and even unfollow you if I followed you already.

If you have such a low opinion of your twitter stream that you must PAY people to read it, then I'm not interested. What's his name (the guy married to that actress) who has over 2 million followers? I'm not following him OR his wife.

Why, because he put billboards all over LA when he was trying to get to number one. While we're on the subject: please feel free to follow twitter.com/mhartwell!

I probably wouldn't follow you, but you would get a funny look...

Getting perks such as money or food would probably get me to look at your Twitter page. But you can't just disregard content as a factor. If content isn't of any value I won't clutter my Twitter stream with your posts.

Incentive to follow you must be back by solid content or it's value is limited.

No I would not be more likely to follow just because of that.

Handing anyone money is going to get attention - whether it's $1 or $10, that green piece of paper is one of the best attention grabbers on the planet. I would absolutely be more inclined to follow. I don't view it as insulting that the amount is low.

If the bill was any larger, I'd be more skeptical that there was some sort of catch involved. Keeping the amount low and the call to action simple - I think it's a great way to gain attention (and followers) in a trendy and innovative way.

There is the reciprocity rule. When you do me a favor, I feel compelled to do something for you in return, even if I never asked for it. However, since you aren't asking them to follow you on the spot, there's a chance that the reciprocity rule will wear off.

People will just feel resentful at the guilt of having taken the dollar, but not wanting to follow you. On the other hand, if you can come up with a creative tagline that connects the dollar to WHY people should follow you on twitter, then you get two in one. You give them a reason to follow, and a little something that'll stay in their memory.

I wouldn't follow. I would forget about you once I spent your dollar on that candy bar. I think that the paypal idea or a contest to win the money might entice people to look but there is no guarentee that they will stay unless there something worth looking at.

I'm not sure what you do but couldn't you do a twitter only contest to promote your product? Or offer a free whitepaper or something if you can get the people to retweet about it. Also offer twitter only discounts.

I definitely wouldn’t be offended, but I wouldn’t take the dollar just because its an issue of integrity - I probably wouldn’t follow you and I'd feel guilty taking your money. I think the options discussed here are pretty good, I know that if you pass out $1 one hundred times, it’s better just to take that $100 and use it as a marketing opportunity (follow me for a chance to win $100)! And branding yourself on marketing tools (such as pens or chocolate bars, as discussed) is an infinitely better idea, as the flyer is more likely to just be trashed.

Pens often change hands. Are you looking to just gain followers or actually have people follow you that enjoy your content?

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.