Scavenging Our Way to Facebook

What happens when a bunch of social media influencers get together on a Wednesday morning to play a scavenger hunt in one of the most interesting areas in Jerusalem? A tremendous amount of social media buzz, of course!

Israel ScaVentures recently held an influencers scavenger hunt in Shuk Machane Yehudah. The cool thing about this scavenger hunt is that it is the first one the company has produced which is played entirely with an app. Teams wander around the shuk with tablets and search out interesting spots and fascinating people. This is not a game for introverts, as my teammate pointed out. You need to ask sellers and customers random questions and enlist their cooperation to complete your missions.

My teammates and I asked people to write their names in various languages, took creative photos next to shuk landmarks and answered questions about people, stores and products. And because we are all social media mavens, we weren’t satisfied with simply completing our missions. We also took selfies in various sections of the shuk and we made sure to let all our followers know where we were in real-time (or shortly thereafter).

When I told someone where I had just been, she commented that she had seen the story about the scavenger hunt on Instagram, courtesy of Fun in Jerusalem. And when I told another friend about it the next morning, she had already seen all the pics I was tagged in on Facebook. In short, we scavenged our way to Facebook!

It’s easy to see digital marketing as a tool which stays in the confines of certain social media platforms. But out-of-the-box thinking can help you spread the word even further. In the digital realm, consider WhatsApp groups, SEO and the still effective email groups. Or go even further and think about how offline events can promote your product or service online. How can you get social media influencers to see what you do and let others know? Speak at a conference, organize a party or attend networking events. Get creative and think about how to reach social media influencers IRL (in real life).

And because I know you will ask, I highly recommend Israel ScaVentures. I have been on every single influencers scavenger hunt over the years, as well as a number of regular scavenger hunts. They are always fun and educational. The Shuk Dash App is more experiential than educational. At the end of the game you feel like you are a real local, and you have a greater appreciation for the diversity and color of the city of Jerusalem.