Supermarket chain uses Twitter to engage customers in marketing campaign

German discounter, Lidl, gives customers the power to bring down the prices of certain products by tweeting about them.

In the last few years, Springwise has written about a number of innovations harnessing the power of Twitter. This Reddit user programmed a Raspberry Pi computer to automatically tweet every time his internet connection dropped below 50 mbps, thereby broadcasting the erratic connection from his service provider. And this initiative raised money for charity by auctioning off a viral Tweet to the highest corporate bidder. Now, German discount supermarket, Lidl, are using the social media platform to publicise their ‘Social Price Drop’.

The industry first social media initiative encourages shoppers to lower the price of products using Twitter. Customers Tweet about one of four selected products using the hashtag #LidlSurprises. The more social media posts published, the further the price of the product is dropped in the four weeks running up to Christmas. The promotion, designed for Lidl by agency 360i Europe, runs from Monday 21st November to Saturday 17th December. The campaign started with Christmas lobster, which had a starting price of GBP 5.99. A new product will be announced each Monday, with reduced items appearing in-store each Saturday. Georgina Hall, head of communications at Lidl UK says of the initiative, “The Social Price Drop is a first for any supermarket in the UK, and we’re incredibly excited about giving our customers the power on Twitter to lower the price of some of our finest festive products.”

How else can brands use Twitter to inspire excitement, drive engagement and reward customers?