In my industry of film, Movies and television shows live or die by social media. On television, the big 5 launced 25-30 shows of which only 6 will likely survive.
Nowadays, no one will watch a movie or start a TV Show without first asking their peers, on facebook or twitter which show to check out. An interesting example is how TNT made Dallas re-cast the number 1 show on cable. They came in facing a tough situation in that not many people of todays generation, were familiar with dallas. What TNT did was to partner up with facebook using their timeline feature to link it up to the when the original show used to run in the 70′s to present day. Telling the story through one of the central characters, J.R Ewing. the page went from 30,000 fans to over a million in months and eventually to the coveted spot of the number 1 cable television show.
When it comes to film, opening day is critical, all the social campaigns must market heavily towards that opening weekend. In the case of the Girl with the dragon tattoo, the social media director Julie Roads created a campaign around a blog hunt, where she commissioned 11 bloggers to right about an issue dealt about in the movie, such as abuse. And in the blog mention the films website and also place clues that led to the next blogger. The winners of the hunt would receive Amazon gifts and movie tickets etc. Total website impressions was over 2.5 million and 500 blog hunt winners.
According a conference i attended in New York last year at the Tribeca Film festival, Future of Film lunch series, industry leaders believed that TUMBLR would be one of the major social media sites where the industry is headed, especially for filmmakers.
Tumblr allows users to post multimedia posts in short blog format. Some people that social media is helping the movie industry in a time where pirating has hurt it badly. Films like Paranormal Activity went viral on twitter and recieved most of their reviews on twitter.
Youtube is ofcourse absolutely essential in social media campaigns for television and movies. In order to run a successful campaign these days with social media one has to start early, use as many avenues as possible, such as twitter page, facebook page, youtube page and blogs. Then the key is to stay relevant and engaged throughout the campaign. Share responsibility and stay mobile and instant, which means constantly creating content and updating the fans. If done right, a well done social media campaign could be all that is needed for a successful premiere and ratings for the show or film.
Sources:
http://futureoffilm.tumblr.com/
http://mashable.com/2012/11/30/social-media-entertainment/
http://gigaom.com/2010/04/14/anatomy-of-an-indie-films-social-media-campaign/
http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/social-media-viral-marketing-film-industry/
Hi Arnold,
Your Dallas example was very interesting. I’m wondering what other TV shows will be revived in this manner? If we think of all the TV shows that have gone off the air, what ones would lend themselves to a revival in this manner? In my mind I keep thinking there might be a cost savings from reviving old content than from creating new content. For example, if a now off the air show is revived, could previous fans be reignited as fans? Perhaps using them as influencers? And the basic story line is in place, but would just needed to be updated.
A few shows that come to mind, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, etc…
Perhaps there is a business niche for developing a criteria for making this determination.
Thanks for sharing this.
Tim
Great post! I agree that social media is huge in the film industry. I see films being advertised every time I get on Facebook and Youtube. I also see aspiring actors and actress posting films they have done on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube which is bringing exposure to the films and shows they have done. Social media is taking over in every industry.