29/09/2015 The Importance of Social Media and Film Events
Tucked away among all the glamor and glamor of the red carpet is someone with an iPhone and a backup battery on the hunt for the perfect snapshot and sharing it instantly with the world via social media. If the respective studios distribute AAA Passe, the social media team may even generate the reach-strongest content of the whole night.
Often, studios address the question of whether social media presence is needed live or on-site, or whether it is not enough to distribute press photos through their channels after the event. But if the fan should come first and there is a need for exciting content, the social media team with the permission to publish content without cumbersome approval processes can work wonders. Exclusive images and videos, fresh and unpolished event photos, and the ability to interact live with fans brings additional engagement and reach that can enhance the online hype surrounding the film.
Let’s take the example of Fifty Shades of Gray, one of the hottest films and a premiere that fans could not wait to see. Universal Pictures UK used Instagram to accompany the event. It started with photos that showed fans and press how they waited for the arrival of the actors. This was followed by close-ups and individual shots of the cast.Through this action, the number of Instagram fans grew massively. The Universal Instagram account is now the most popular Instagram account of all film studios in the UK.
Press events can also be very important for social media inquiries. A perfect example, with a social media team slot providing ample coverage during a press event, is the PRIDE campaign. A 45-minute Twitter Q & A with Andrew Scott resulted in the hashtag #AskAndrew becoming a trending topic in the UK. The tweets resulted in the highest interactivity of the entire campaign. Since Andrew Scott himself does not have a Twitter account, fans here had the first opportunity to directly communicate with the actor, to ask questions about the film and about himself. Pathé also planned to make video shots with Andrew, which were then distributed via social media channels as an alternative to countdown images, including in Sherlock fan groups,
Another example of creative social media opportunities during a junket is the Straight Outta Compton campaign, filmed by NME’s Live Twitter Q & A Session. NME and Twitter have jointly invited a select audience via social media to attend the event with well-known actors such as Ice Cube. Before the event, fans had the opportunity to submit via #AskCompton. The host chose the questions, and via Twitter’s Snappy TV Tool, the social media team was able to record short, filmed videos with the actors and respond directly to the Twitter questions via hashtag. With the help of video content fans could be present worldwide via Twitter at the event.
These examples show a few ways in which social media and PR can be tightly integrated with one another to further increase attention than a “standard” junk or community management can do alone. Although it may seem a bit scary at first glance to fill a 45 minute slot with social media, or to give a social media team an AAA pass for the red carpet, the content that can be generated by it is in In many cases priceless, exciting and quite PR-compliant. This can be an important part of a successful integrated campaign.