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!
