Phoenix Suns use social media to increase the value of suites

Much has been written on the difficulty of quantifying the value of social media ROI. Now, the Phoenix Suns are trying to gain value from social media in a new way -- by bundling it into suite purchases to help sales:

They're offering something called a Suite and Social night, in which a company gets 20 tickets to a suite for a game night along with six parking passes and catering. They also get the right to make two Facebook status updates about their company to the Suns 229,000+ fans, at least a quarter of which are in Arizona. They also have the rights to make three Twitter mentions on the @PhoenixSuns feed, which has more than 45,000 followers.

When you build a platform and have a community following, there are more ways to exchange mutual value amongst those participating. Many times that value isn't apparent as you build the community. The opportunities may come later, which runs counter to a lot of business thinking. It's hard to get people to buy into something where the positive outcomes aren't obvious.