If you haven’t yet tuned into FOX on Tuesday nights you’re missing out. Whether you’re a tween, grandparent, or neurosurgeon, Glee has made quite the name for itself. It’s not just because of the talented young stars, their seriously booming voices and totally cool choreography. It’s because Glee combines both traditional media with social media. Actually making people want to tune-in at showtime, rather than letting the DVR pick up, yet another series you’ll forget to watch.

Maybe I’m biased since social media is kind of my thing. But let’s think about this? You have a show that isn’t sure to be hit (a sitcom musical!?) and week after week you find the ratings flying off the chart. It’s on FOX, not HBO or some other premium channel. It has typical commercials and is an average hour length show. So why does Glee work? What makes it so special?

The answer is … it’s social television.

What Glee has done better than anyone is combine two worlds: the online world and the traditional media world. Although clearly a TV show, Glee took itself to the next level by making its social channels just as important as it’s weekly time slot on FOX. Glee has a karaoke app, a Twitter account, the actor’s Twitter accounts (live tweeti ng during the show!), a Facebook page, Gleek of the Week contest, The Glee Project, songs and episodes on iTunes, and much more.

In an interview with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo he stated, “people feel like they have to watch the show while it’s going on because the community is tweeting about the show and the characters are tweeting as the show’s happening so [they have to] watch it in real time.”

Glee has removed itself from typical sitcom syndrome and actually turned each week’s episode into a live event. To me, they have created a truly integrated and social show experience. If you miss a show, you’re missing out on the conversation both online and offline.

For example. When the MTV Video Music Awards happen – do you DVR it and then watch it a week later? No. If you care, you watch it the moment it happens so you can participate in both the online and offline conversations. Same goes for sporting events. You would never not watch the SuperBowl just to watch it days later and hope that you could have the same type of social conversations. It just wouldn’t happen.

Glee has taken traditional media and married it flawlessly with social media, in a way that it actually feels like the show could not exist without the other. So I ask you, why haven’t more shows adopted this strategy?

This month we had an interesting date on the calendar – 4/16. With 16 being the square of 4, a certain “bright-eyed” marketer realized that 4/16 could be Foursquare Day. His idea was to make 4/16 a day to celebrate and promote Foursquare- the mobile location sharing application that’s sweeping the globe. Foursquare is a mobile application that lets you know where your friends are and let your friends know where you are too. Users earn points and “badges” for using the service, making it into a game. Businesses benefit from being promoted through Foursquare location sharing and from the data Foursquare provides on service usage. The story of Foursquare’s involvement in Foursquare Day illustrates 3 important takeaways for businesses.

1. Listen: Foursquare Day wasn’t created by Foursquare, but was actually the idea of a fan who posted the concept to Foursquare’s support forums. Another fan replied a week later with another great idea – that Foursquare create a special Foursquare Day badge. That idea became the rallying point for fans to start lobbying Foursquare to officially endorse the day. Two weeks later a fan’s Tweet to Foursquare’s Twitter account resulted in Foursquare choosing to engage the community and recognize the day. By listening to what people were saying and monitoring conversations, Foursquare was able to discover a new opportunity.

2. Engage: After that fan’s tweet was posted, Foursquare engaged their fans with another Tweet, officially recognizing Foursquare Day. This single tweet ignited a firestorm around Foursquare Day and as a result, a firestorm around Foursquare. In the three weeks that followed leading up to Foursquare Day, major news organizations from CNN to The Christian Science Monitor ran stories about Foursquare Day. Foursquare continued to stoke the fire of this opportunity leading up to Foursquare Day through further communication. By engaging, Foursquare was able to help realize the full value of an opportunity that was discovered by simply listening.

3. Measure: Throughout the whole process, Foursquare and the Foursquare Day team leveraged systems that enabled them to record changes in important analytics and metrics over time. The Foursquare Day website tracked the number of participating cities and businesses. Foursquare tracked the number of people signing up for the service as Foursquare Day approached. By measuring changes in metrics over time as they engaged, Foursquare was able to discover whether or not their communications produced measurable results.

Ultimately 290 cities in 35 different countries participated and 20,000 people signed up for Foursquare in the days leading up to Foursquare day. Press coverage literally spanned the globe. Just after Foursquare Day registered users reached the one million users mark. Imagine what listening, engaging and measuring can do for you! We’d love to talk with you about it and help you power the growth of your business. Drop us a line, we’re listening.

PS: We’re very proud to say that Portsmouth, NH was the #1 city for businesses participation on Foursquare Day. Check us out on the news:

Inbound Marketing is not a passing trend; it is a shift. It is a shift in the way brands communicate because of a permanent shift in the way Americans buy (and buy nearly everything, by the way).

Inbound Marketing is best known as “a style of marketing that focuses on getting found by customers.” An estimated $20 billion will be invested in Inbound Marketing in 2010.

The MicroArts Internet Marketing team boasts five highly specialized practices focused exclusively on strategizing and executing Inbound Marketing tactics, each headed by a Practice Director, wunderkind within their domain. The practices include:

• Search Marketing Practice
• Social Media Marketing Practice
• Internet Public Relations Practice
• Conversion Rate Optimization Practice
• Lead Nurturing Practice

We are driven to be a recognized educational leader, helping brands making this shift. What’s more, we’re writing UBIQUITY, an Internet Marketing strategy book.

I am almost done playing the peacock. I promise.

I’m happy to report that our three largest client brands are busy flipping through their 2010 new revenue objectives. I’m eager to hear the results.

I’m excited. Most days, I can barely sleep. … Exactly the way I like to live life.