how important are social networks to producers and audiences as a form of film promotion

“How important are social networks to producers and audiences as a form of film promotion?”

Social networks are an important form of film promotion for audiences, social networks are a mainstream form of communication which can be accessed globally, this means possible fans from all over the world are able to be included in the film’s promotional campaign rather than only those in the cities were it is being marketed off-line. This also gives producers the possibility of reaching a larger audience. YouTube is where most trailers are now viewed and can be viewed more frequently than if the trailers are only shown at cinemas. An example of a trailer reaching a large number of people would be the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer which was seen by thirty million people within the first twenty-four hours of it going online, this is only taking into account the people who viewed it on the officer star wars YouTube channel and not including those who watched it on other channels on the site. This shows that the video that was seen by the most people in the shortest time was a film trailer, which shows how many film fans use the platform to watch promotional content.

Another reason that social networking is important for audiences is that they are able to build their own expectation through watching trailers, and reading online reviews. This puts them in a position to be able to have their voices heard and take an active role in the promotion of the film. However online reviews are not always important to fans, who are more likely to listen to the views expressed by their friends rather than ones put across by critics. They are also able to tailor their online experiences to suit them, choosing what to watch and what to read as well as if they want to take part in viral marketing campaigns. If a film does not appeal to them then they don’t have to see anything about it, but if it does than they can access all the content that is available online how ever many times they want.

Twitter is seen as one of the best ways to access exclusive information and is used by fans to follow filmmakers and stars in the hopes of being given information they would not be able to see otherwise. As well as twitter Facebook is also used for exchanging information about films and is also used to encage with films in a more social way, this could be through discussions on pages set up specific films.

A down side to social media for audiences is the possibility of a film being spoiled for them by too much information being made available, an example of this happening is the trailer for Batman vs Superman, which gave away a lot of things that where going to happen in the film that some people would have preferred to be surprised by such as the appearance of Wonder-Woman in the film. When watching a trailer you do not expect big plot points to be revealed and when they are it can cause anticipation for the film to decrease.

Social networks are important to producers as they can potentially reach a large audience for less money than printing posters and paying to show adverts at cinemas in different cities around the world. An example of social networks being used to promote films is the independent film Kung-Fury; this film was promoted on Facebook, which allowed knowledge of the film to spread without having to be paid for.

Social networks are also a benefit to producers as it allows their films to be promoted through viral marketing. Fans of the film will spread information about it, an example of this would be twitter being used to promote an upcoming film, when fans re-tweet they are promoting the film to the people who follow them who in turn may spread the promotion on to their own followers. The producers do not pay for this type of promotion so it is a cheap way to get fans to promote the film for them. An example of when this has been used was for Avatar, fans were encouraged to re-tweet a message from the Avatar twitter account by being given a free soundtrack if they did.

Producers can use social networks to establish connections with fans and keep almost constant communication between those making the film and the target audience. An example of a film that has done this is Tron:Legacy, a Facebook app was created called the TRONiverse, this app displayed videos, photos and posts from various sites in an interactive grid.

A marketing trend being used by film studios is the fake-campaign, campaigns that tie into the film that is being promoted that can go viral when put online, an example of this method being used to advertise an upcoming film online is the fake toy advert made by Disney to promote Toy-Story 3 for “lots-o-huggin bear.” An advert that made it seem as though the toy had really existed in the past.

However a down side to social networks for producers is that the studio cannot control publicity, this means that someone can post a negative review on to a social networking site such as Facebook, or YouTube and influence people’s view on the film before they have a chance to see it, which could make some not want to see the film anymore.

Another disadvantage of social networks for producers is that Audiences are able to tailor their online experience to their own likes and dislikes, which means producers are not always guarantied that their trailers will be watched or their posts read and re-posted. If someone does not want to watch a specific trailer than they don’t have to search it, unlike when trailers are shown at the cinemas and have to be watched.

In conclusion I find social networks are very important to both audiences and producers as a form of film promotion. They are important to film producers as they give the opportunity of reaching a wider audiences for less cost and they are important to audiences as it is a form of communication that is available to most people and can be used to see what they want whenever they choose.