Eric Cedo - Getting Social

Social Media + Oscars = And The Winner Is..."James Franco"

About 70% of Oscar viewers tune in annually to see what the stars are wearing. About 20% view to see who actually wins the Oscar for "Best Cinematographer", "Best Visual Effects" and "Best Animated Short". The other 10% watch because they are married to someone from the first two categories of viewers.

Regardless the reason for watching the 83rd Annual Academy Awards one thing is clear, viewers were tweeting in masses. Social media chatter and the Oscars now go together like Charlie Sheen and Coke induced diatribes.

And the most buzzed about celebrity? James Franco, followed by Anne Hathaway according to Mashable. In total it is estimated the Oscars were mentioned in nearly 1.27 million tweets and 1.9 million Facebook status posts.

And the Oscar for highest trending movie during the Oscars goes to 'The "F"ighter':

 

 

Social Media + Movie + Oscar Buzz = "The Social Network" copy-cats

I usually post about movie marketers using social media in their campaigns. BUT, the Oscar-nominated movie "The Social Network" flips the script - a movie ABOUT social media. FastCompany has this funny article on other Tech/Social Media movies that should follow this trend.

Toy Story 3 + Social Media = Mashable's Top 5 List of Winning Social Media Campaigns

Mashable's list of 5 Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From contains some brands you might expect: Gap, Starbucks, Mountain Dew, AOL (okay, I didnt' see that one coming...did you?).

One surprise to me is Toy Story 3 coming in 2nd on the list. PLACE EXCERPT HERE:

Aside from traditional banner ads and billboards, Disney created viral videos including fake, vintage-style ads featuring the new characters, an iAd featured on the iPhone 4, and a Facebook Page complete with a built-in ticket-buying app.

Nice to see that movie marketers are starting to get "social media" right. With a universally loved brand as Toy Story has become engaging an audience intelligently through social strategies shouldn't be that difficult. At the same time the possibility exists that things could go horribly wrong (Skittle's anyone?) making the risk/reward for studios very high. The fact that you only get one weekend to make a first - and really - last impression makes the movie marketing stakes much higher than for brands that have time enough to "rebrand" should things go awry.

As with any successful social media campaign, the same rules apply for movie marketers;

• know your audience extremely well and cater to them in niches...not in bunches
• keep things light and fun...should be easy to do when you are a "child's play thing"
• be real...even when you are promoting fictional people in fictional stories

But most importantly, provide content that is why I call "share-worthy". Keep your content - blog posts, videos, games, etc - easily accessible by going to where people are (read: don't put all the good stuff on your website where no-one really goes to anymore). Social media marketing is only social when it is someone else marketing the product (or movie) for you!

Social Media + Movie Marketing = Powerful Punch

Some interesting tips in this article on social media in film marketing. A few excerpts:

Movie fans and visitors love behind the scenes marketing of movies

“You have to type what’s going on behind the camera for fans all over the world,”  Bennett explained. “It might be the director of photography on how he lit the shot, or in the case of Peter Jackson in King Kong, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter; he was literally posting photos of prop guys, costume fittings with actors, on the scene location scouts activities and video blogs. Jackson built this buzz that topped a million fans, who were already engaged in the process and the movie by the time he finished it for distribution.”

“You need to target your community groups, mobile interaction, action platforms, and set your goal,”

While these nuggets are pretty relevant to just about any social media campaign, be it film or otherwise, this one is very specific to film marketing:

"The concept is Production is the new Promotion, and the sooner you engage your audience the sooner they are going to grab onto it, and follow the different phases to the point where you get to your last news release or airing."

 

Susan Boyle + YouTube + TV Shows = New Model for Stardom

If you haven't seen Susan Boyle...you will...soon. The 47 year old singing sensation shocked the world with her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent. The shocking thing wasn't her voice, which by the way is AMAZING. What was shocking was the package the voice came in. A humble villager with a less than "made for TV" face and wardrobe. She stunned the judges, stunned Britain and will soon be stunning the world.

What's even more stunning is the rate at which her celebrity is spreading. She's currently (as of 10:00 am, Tuesday, April 21, 2009) the number one trending topic on Twitter, her video has been viewed over 40 million times in only 10 days and she's clearly on her way to greater things. (Simon Cowell is already trying to figure out her first album deal).

This forumla of talent + TV Show exposure (no matter how limited it may be or where on the globe it occurs) + YouTube (and really social media in general) appears to be the new formula for instant stardom. The entertainment industry has for decades "created" celebrities with little or no talent but with a nice look and a commercial vibe. Social Media is changing all of this. Viral celebs are often average (or even below average) Joes and Janes. Some are amazingly talented (Susan Boyle). Some are simply the right fit for the right audience with the right medium (Fred). In either case expect celebreties to be "created" by you and I with the power of social media. Hollywood's celebrity "creation" days are either over or just got a heck of alot easier.

YouTube Going Hollywood?

From a post on PSFK:

Google have announced that their video-sharing site YouTube will start to offer movies from major studios. CNET reports that the tech company has struck a deal with Sony Pictures, one of the largest Hollywood film studios, which allows YouTube to post full-length movies. Apparently YouTube said that it would add two new tabs to the top of its site - A ‘Shows’ tab which allows you to browse shows by genre, network, title and popularity and a ‘Subscriptions’ tab which will allow logged-in users one-click access to the latest content from their favorite creators.

Hollywood's version of "viral video" errrr "audio" - Christian Bale rant opens up door for movie viral campaigns

Whether or not Christian Bales' recent rant captured in audio form and posted on youtube (warning: this audio contains about 1,000 occurances of the f-bomb) was authentic or staged the fact still remains that, as reported by Adam Ostrow on Mashable.com, the video..errrr...audio caused a great deal of buzz in social media circles and especially amongst the twitterati.

What this also means is we can fully expect similar "leaks" from hollywood sets to hit YouTube soon as production companies, already struggling to keep budgets under control and cutting back on marketing spend, try to generate early buzz for their movies through social media.

In the past movies like Cloverfield used online buzz to generate box office sales. However, the tactics used were a combination of virtual reality gaming, online ads and social media pr. This may be the first case of an unauthorized leak of on-the-set goings ons that resulted in a nice traffic boost for the upcoming Transformers movie.

So for those movie marketers considering not so "accidental" viral tirades at an attempt to boost buzz, beware: the line between cool viral video and really pathetic attempts to con people is a fine one indeed. Don't forget that social media is rooted in authenticity. "Fool me once..." well you know the rest.

Shaq tweets = Shaqueets - Athletes getting into the Social Media game...during the game

NBA stars Charlie Villanueva and Shaquille O'Neal are making headlines this week...but not for making the Sportscenter's Top 10 for amazing dunks or making half court shots at the buzzer. Both are trend setters amongst athletes in an unexpected domain: social media participation during a game.

According to this ESPN article, Charlie Villanueva (@CV31) is addicted to twitter and has been asked by the Milwaukee Bucks to not tweet during games. Shaquille O'Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) made headlines for a third quarter tweet during last Saturday's game against Washington. According to the article unlike Villanueava's coach, Scott Skiles, Shaq's coach Alvin Gentry didn't mind the mid-game tweet. 

"As long as he gets 25 (points) and 11 (rebounds), he can do whatever he wants. He can Twitter, Facebook, Myspace," said Gentry, who also has a Twitter account set up by his daughter.

This opens the door for athletes, teams and sponsors to capitalize on utilizing social media tools such as twitter and facebook for marketing and promotion opportunities. Many sports purists will complain that the practice is a distraction and can take an athlete's mind out of the game focusing instead on self-promotion. I offer a different opinion. 

During just about every halftime, sideline reporters interview athletes courtside. It's also a frequent occurance for managers to talk to broadcasters during the game such as baseball coaches in-between innings. The practice of using social media tools to communicate what's taking place on the field is social media for the sports masses. It's peer to peer, in a sense, from the athletes to the fans without a traditional broadcaster (ESPN, NBC Sports, etc.) as the medium.

Clever marketers will find a way to sponsor Shaq's tweets at halftime and gain valuable exposure to Shaq's audience. How big is Shaq's twitter "channel" you ask...oh just a mere 391,000 followers at the time of this posting.

Twitter = Social Media Movie Reviews

Ever wonder how to use Twitter to decide which movie you should run out and see or rent? I ran across the site flixpulse today and it may be just what you're looking for. Flixpulse uses twitter threads to rate movies by user sentiment in tweets. There are three categories the tweets fall into..."Good", "Bad" and "Meh". Since tweets are brief (140 characters) you won't get a full review from users. Basically you'll get a "Just saw Bolt...really sucked" or "Watching Madagascar 2...very funny". What this site does give you is a quick look at how much the twitterverse liked or disliked particular movies.

If you're a production company or studio this is valuable information, not only for how people are viewing your current releases, but gives much needed real-time consumer sentiment about what people like or don't like about movies they are seeing or have seen. I've always felt that social media's greatest benefit to marketers may be consumer sentiment and market research for little or no cost. Sites like flixpulse do a fairly decent job of giving movie makers a quick snapshot of how well their films are being recieved...and it gives movie-goers a quick review from peers that may influence their movie choice.

Look for more sites like flixpulse to pop up tracking consumer sentiment for TV shows, Music, Games and other forms of media/entertainment.

10 Reasons I Love Twitter

Anytime I mention the word Twitter in a conversation I get one of two responses. The first response is “Huh???”. The second response is “I signed up for Twitter, like, a year ago and I didn’t really ‘get it’ so I quit using it.”

When given the first response I become the Twitter evangelist that I am, preaching the virtues of this fantastic tool (without mentioning the constant technical issues the Twitterati face on a daily basis). When I get the second response I typically give the “I know how you feel…I felt the same way when I first started using Twitter.”

I’ve run across many posts about the benefits - or the lack thereof - of using Twitter. I even ran across a pretty funny video called “Twitter Whore” on YouTube today mocking the Twitterati. I thought I would give my reasons for being such a huge Twitter fan.

1.) Connect-ability

I’m a pretty social guy. If most people that know me were forced into describing me in one word, I’m pretty sure it would be “connector”. I love to connect with people and help others make connections. I’m a firm believer you should, as Keith Ferrazzi puts it “Never Eat Alone”. With Twitter I’m able to keep a constant eye open for people in my area (Detroit) using the tool and then I typically will “follow” them to stay in touch with other social media junkies in the area. Since using Twitter I’ve received several resumes from potential new hires, received some solid business plans for start-up ideas, met potential new customers but most importantly connected with some great new friends.

Not only was I able to connect with people online but we’ve taken the party offline through the Detroit Tweetup Network - a monthly(ish) meetup of Detroit Twitter users. Social Media Guru Chris Brogan - @chrisbrogan - was a guest at a recent Detroit Tweetup, using the tool to connect with fellow Twitter users while visiting our fair city. No question, Twitter is an amazing way to find new ideas, new hires, new business, and most important new friends.

2.) Twitter as a CRM Tool

When meeting a potential new customer and sharing tools like Twitter with those that don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, I often take them to Summize.com to show the Twitter posts about their brand, industry or even themselves. At lunch today I looked up the term “tea” to a online tea distributor. The query returned thousands of “tweets” with the word “tea”. I began to reiterate how amazing it is to find tea enthusiasts (the vast majority of tweets went something like “just woke up and having my first cup of tea” or “I love tea” or “If I don’t drink my tea soon I’m going to explode”) in such a targeted form. People are basically identifying themselves as tea fans.

I’ve done similar experiments with a top marketing official with the State of Michigan’s Travel Bureau - Travel Michigan. I posted the question to my network “does anyone have a question to ask Travel Michigan rep” and within a minute I had several responses. “Where’s the best place in Michigan to find wine or visit wineries?” “Where do you recommend young professionals visit in Michigan?” “How does the construction surrounding the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit impact visitors to Port Huron’s Bluewater Bridge?” Needless to say the fellow I was with was stunned at the speed of the responses and happily answered all of their questions. How many ways can you think of to directly identify likely or like-minded consumers who want to engage in a two-way conversation about your brand?

3.) Twitter as a Knowledge Base

Another group I follow on Twitter is the global Social Media elite. Following the likes of Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis, and Joseph Jaffe is like getting the “Social Media Journal” delivered to my front door. The wealth of information of cool new sites, cool new gadgets, new techniques and theories on using social media, etc. is phenomenal. And unlike receiving their RSS feeds in an aggregator I can reply back to have an immediate dialog about their tweet.

4.)  Twitter as my new E-mail System (well, not really, but kinda)
I love to DM (Direct Message). Why hassle with e-mail when I can direct message people I need to contact. For private messages DM is great. For the “I want to say something to you but I don’t really care if the world knows it” replies work as well. The obviously great thing about Twitter as a messaging system is that it is 100% opt-in. No DM’s from pill manufacturers or princes from Zimbabwe wanting to leave me a million dollars if I would only send them an e-mail back. For groups or virtual companies (like mine) Twitter is a great way to keep people in the loop either publicly or privately. Twitter will never replace my e-mail account but it does serve the direct messaging niche well.

5.) Public Relations through Twitter

Twitter can be a great way to communicate out your press release, your most recent blog post or if you are a publisher, your latest news, events, etc. Again, the people following you are doing so because (ideally) you have something of value to them. The opt-in nature of the medium means it’s not only acceptable to pass along information, it’s expected. Obviously abuses may and do occur, but as far as push mediums go, Twitter is probably the most news friendly audience you’ll find anywhere.

6.) It’s Free

Not alot to say here except…well…it’s free. You can’t beat that. And as for now it’s ad free as well. Uninterrupted opt-in two-way conversations brought to you commercial free. Sounds like the future of media to me!

7.) The Open API

Twitter not only has an open API but the creators go out of their way to encourage apps, new websites capitalizing on the tool, hacks and mashups. I don’t even use the Twitter website to keep tabs on my “tweeps”. I use a third-party client called Twitterfox (a Firefox add-on) to manage my twitterverse. This openness has ushered in a whole new world of cool sites and applications using Twitter as the web 2.0 “telegraph system” as quoted by Nicholas Carr, Author and Technologist.

8.) The Vernacular

I love saying things like Tweets and Tweetups and Twitterati especially in a room full of Twitter newbies. Some of my favorite Twitter jargon from the glossary:

• Dweet - a drunk tweet
• Tweeps - my Twitter homies
• Twittastic - something fabulous
• Twittard - a Twitter retard
• Twitterrhea - the act of sending too many tweets
• Twype - to type a tweet
• Twoogle - Twitter as the human Google
• Twouche - someone acting like a big fat jerk via twitter

9.) Simplicity

While other microblogging sites are emerging with new capabilities, pretty graphics and timelines and the ability to add emoticons (read Plurk.com) Twitter works because it’s just so darn plain. Yes, you can customize your profile background but that’s about as custom as it gets. With the open API Twitter has kept their tool pretty bare bones leaving the creativity and ingenuity to the developer network. Twitter makes it so simple to post and receive updates via SMS and IM, as well as place your personal timeline on your blog or website. The ease of use and the power of the tool makes Twitter one of the most exciting web 2.0 tools available.

10.) 140 Character Limit

A friend of mine once said “Sorry for the long letter…I didn’t have time to write a short one”. The art of getting straight to the point has been lost on the ubiquity of bandwidth and webspace. Even this blog post you’re reading should have been cut off about 5 paragraphs ago. Twitter encourages users to get right to the point. It even allows you to enter urls and with the right tools will shorten the link for you so you can get it in under the 140 character limit. Hopefully, being forced to capture your thoughts in 140 characters or less will trickle over to e-mail, phone conversations and lectures from your significant other (accept for my tweetheart, of course).

So there you have it. The 10 reasons I Love Twitter. If you are a marketing or PR professional and you would like to learn more about how you can use Twitter or have questions about other social media strategies, techniques or terminology, we’re here to help. Please send inquiries to ecedo @ braingainmarketing (dot) com.