Why Social Media Marketing Is Necessary To Drive Film Distribution and Partnership Opportunities

1. The Viral Big Screen:
Why Social Media Marketing Is Necessary To Drive
Film Distribution and Partnership Opportunities
Presented to Universal Pictures
Presented By
Latoya Pinkney
Over 100 million conversations conducted on behalf of our clients
February 29, 2012
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2. Conversations
If You Can’t Beat 'em, JOIN 'EM
•The convergence of technology, lifestyle, choice and social life known as social media is unlike any other form of
media before it. Social media is about relationships and the interactions and conversations had within those
relationships. Social media marketing allows companies to bridge the gap and grow those relationships. Social
media allows consumers to instantly collaborate, share information and talk about the things they care about.
Consumers have now become communities of users who you must design networks for , these networks must
respond to their needs. These networks should foster participation and will return valuable social data to those
willing to take the time to pay attention and listen. Good or bad you can't stop people from talking about your
brand, and with the internet being in 1.5 billion homes worldwide the chatter is now spreading faster and wider
than ever before. Since the conversations are happening, why not be apart of them? Establishing a successful
social media community takes thoughtful management and daily monitoring. It's more than a one-time investment,
instead it should be seen as a long-term communication channel. Open up the conversation and listen to their
ideas. Speak candidly, invite potential customers to join in. Your consumer base is much larger than your
customer base and social media invites consumers to view your customer loyalty and the mutual respect between
your brand and your customers. Social media marketing is relevant and welcome. People want to hear from you
and want you to hear from them. People are open to it and in many cases expect it.
What brands should do when it comes to social media:
• Listen
• Analyze
• Start, join and grow conversations
• Manage you community – (Outreach to influencers, Outreach to loyalists)
• Social campaigns
• Long term social platforms that speak to users
• Let a professional, dedicated team work with a social media manager within your company. This partnership
will seek to analyze data, develop strategy, maintain a positive user experience and manage the account
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3. The Social
You Are The Center
Web
Of The
Conversation
Landscape
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4. Well Shoot… You Do Make Darn Good Movies,
That Resonate With The Public…
Social Media's Definitely For You!
• As the benefits of social media have been clearly defined in a broad manner the benefits
of maintaining a social media marketing campaign to the Film Industry are fundamentally
even more enormous. Social media will foster a conversation about the movie but also can
be used as a tool to further movie storylines when tied in with transmedia marketing.
Yes! you made a great film now social media offers you the opportunity to talk to your
movie's enthusiasts consistently in real time. Your product has inspired conversation,
spurred debate, and aroused emotion. Isn't it time for you to actively communicate with
consumers in a way where they feel engaged and comfortable enough to share their
investment into the stories you are telling?
• The rise of the never ending “Franchise”
Studios have huge investments in any number of simultaneously running film franchises
these days. Franchises offer 3+ installments of feature length films and tell a fascinating
story. Social media allows for that online/off screen story to continue with possible offerings
of new twists and turns.
Popular Universal Picture Franchises
• Chronicles of Riddick
• American Pie
• Bourne Franchise
• Child's Play
• Jurassic Park
• The Fast and the Furious
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5. What You Stand To
Learn From Social Media
Listening and learning from your consumers can help build long lasting relationships
where two-way honesty and authenticity are key.
Who’s talking and how they choose to connect.
How into your brand are they?
How engaged are they by you and how much do
they have to say about you?
Is feedback generally good or not so much?
How do they view the corporate brand?
Who are our brand loyalist?
Which loyalists are also influencers?
How to better connect to key consumers.
What are the strengths of these relationships?
The weaknesses?
The opportunities for growth?
Social media can help you put these into
perspective
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6. SWOT of Social Media
• With careful analysis of the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats you can
truly plan an effective campaign to reach your
core consumer and invite more consumers to
enjoy the interaction and entertainment that
Universal Pictures has to offer.
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7. A Dedicated Professional Team Can Help
Partnering with a professional,
dedicated social media marketing
team, like DEI Worldwide, is
invaluable to the Universal
Picture brand strategy .
• Consultancy
We help you understand the impact
that social media is having on your
organization and work with you to
implement the changes that need to be
made as a result.
Proactively plan, so to avoid
missteps. Identify possibilities for
issues and respond rapidly.
Responses should always be
thoughtful and speak directly to the
needs of the customers
• Research & Insight
We help you listen to conversations
throughout social media relevant to
your brand, products, services,
competitors and sector.
• Engagement
We help you engage in social media
by having meaningful conversations
with people and igniting positive word
of mouth. You will get an expert in
communicating your message across
many avenues in one cohesive
message.
Effectively mix marketing, PR
and customer service to engage
and build channels of
communication with consumers
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8. Mass
Conversations Buzz Viral Sensation
Attention
• As conversation and interaction increase buzz
begins to build. Can you feel it? Yes! That’s what
we call a viral sensation. Going viral can increase
ticket sales, drive distribution, sell merchandise,
dvds and spur transmedia licensing opportunities.
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9. Social Media's role in Transmedia Marketing
And Franchise Building
• More than marketing, social media can integrate fully as another transmedia outlet, in which stories
can consistently be weighed in on and storylines can deepen. Now more than ever the industries of
movie, TV, music, gaming, magazine/comic, book, merchandising are relying on an inter-connected
relationship to present the full story to the public. Avenues are explored online, offline, on screen and
on paper, each adding a new dynamic to the story to keep the consumer engaged. The already social
web is a strong platform to leverage relationships that seek to keep the consumer consistently engaged
in the story as it evolves and the conversations surrounding that evolution.
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10. How Do Your Competitors Feel?
Led to This
• “Paranormal Activity” was created on a budget of $15,000, and started out on 12 screens. But very soon a buzz surrounded
the movie, and Paramount decided to spend approximately $2 million on a social media campaign. This campaign included an
expansion of trailers, Facebook and Twitter pages, and within a short period of time, the movie had more than 1 million
followers/fans. From there the movie was screened at more than 2,700 domestic cinemas, ending with a worldwide box office total
of almost $200 million. More than anything, this is proof that a social media campaign combined with a viral social media buzz can
cause great things to happen, both to major movies and low-budget films. Everything is about marketing, and right now, social
media is where the market is. Now in it's third installment., the Paranormal franchise includes merchandise, music, magazines,
books, licensing, games, and has produced more than $750 million in income,
• 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" was extremely hyped for having employed a new technology to create the movie‘s imaging. Fox
invested in a fulll on social media campaign to fuel the conversatio naround the topic. The Utopia created in the movie was so
talked about the buzz went viral and catapulted the movie‘s sales. The results in its case were a $232 million opening weekend
and a total of one billion dollars in revenue by year’s end.
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11. In The End…
• The end result of a successful social media marketing campaign is a
larger, more passionate consumer network, where your message has
been clearly communicated and your brand is trusted. You have
humanized the conversation and invested in growing a community of
loyal brand enthusiasts, who will support the positive spreading of your
message…
Listen, fuel conversation, direct attention, influence more and more
networks, casually… SOCIALLY!!!
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