Summary

To help generate more internet buzz concerning the return of the Hollywood Black Film Festival, a social media strategy was needed. Not only was a strategy needed, but also someone to implement it who understood both the HBFF audience and the indy filmmaking community.

 

The Approach

  • Use social profiles ( Facebook and Twitter) as an arm of customer service so that attendee concerns and questions could be handled before the festival. Filmmakers and festival attendees were made to feel festival coordinators were available and open to responding to questions online  in a timely manner.
  • Created branded hashtags and promotional phrases to use for Twitter and Facebook ticket giveaways. Contest participants were required to use hashtags and certain phrases to be eligible to be chosen for giveaways.
  • Coordinated Twitter chats with festival coordinators, actors, and filmmakers to generate online buzz concerning the festival and to establish an online rapport with festival attendees and filmmakers selected to participate in the 2011 fetstival.  Twitter chats were also used to gain not only gain HBFF new followers but also those that participated in the chats.
  • Generated custom landing tab to welcome new visitors to the HBFF 2011 fan page with a video and encourage them to sign up for HBFF newsletter.
  • During actual festival, photos were taken and videos were shot of festival attendees and posted quickly to social profiles to give fans and followers a  feel of what was going on in real time.  Videos included testimonials from screening attendees and filmmakers about their HBFF experience.
  • Created a YouTube playlist of trailers for the HBFF YouTube channel to help promote individual films selected to participate in the 2011 festival. The playlist was then shared via social profiles and further shared by fans and followers.
  • Participated as a festival panelist concerning online marketing and filmmaking

 

 

Results

  • Thanks to consistent posting of a variety of content and information to the HBFF fan page and consistent engagement with fans and related pages, likes increased 149% from September 30 to October 31. In addition post views increased 319% and post feedback increased %503.
  • Twitter followers rose 100% in 30 days due to an increased amount of tweeting, twitter chats, use of hashtags, and giveaways. Filmmakers, actors, festival attendees, and film supporters began engaging with HBFF online like they never had before via the Twitter profile.
  • Set goals for the number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers were not only met but surpassed.
  • Overall a strong and engaged online community was developed that helped create the online buzz about HBFF through word-of-mouth.