For years social media professionals operating in the Film and Television space have been discussing the incredible value of the second screen experience. Year over year, the average share of time spent engaging with a second screen experience on tablets or mobile devices has increased 719% since Q4 of 2011. For studios it’s one of the most powerful tools they can use to drive tune-in, and ticket sales.

However, I’ve personally watched the eyes of studio executives glaze over the moment “Second Screen Experience,” is mentioned and I get it. It’s some rather nebulously defined industry jargon, but that ends today! Let’s unpack the term together.

What It Is:

Simply put, the second screen is a companion experience to a Film or Television show in which a consumer engages in relevant, supplementary content on the web, or on a mobile device. This can be anything from a live Twitter-Chat during a show, or the release of an interactive app with BTS footage, trivia, polls, etc…

When done right the second screen experience helps build buzz, deepen consumer affinity, and extend the life of a studio release.

ADVICE FOR STUDIOS

Start Early

The most successful second screen experiences are populated with rich, interactive content, and the best way to secure these assets is to integrate them into the production process from the beginning. For years film productions have had b-teams that create content for DVD extras, but today the second screen is the new “DVD extras.” So it’s critical that studios use agencies with knowledge of social to help craft this content early on. (Side note: do they still make DVDs?)

Integrate it into the Movie Going Experience:

The assumption has always been that films can’t incorporate a real-time second screen experience with in-theater viewing. Not so! Disney Second Screen Live: The Little Mermaid encourages audiences to bring their iPads and enjoy an immersive, interactive, and mobile audience experience.

Watch the trailer below:

Nothing Is Too Small: Apps may be sexy but they don’t have a corner on the market of second screen experiences. When studios know their audience and cultivate their social media presence the results pay off in massive box office sales. Take this year’s hit “Fault in our Stars.” The studio leveraged the existing fans of the book to promote the film adaptation by using social media. They made them feel apart of the production process by sharing videos and photos of the movie taking shape. The creative was impeccable, and it made the consumer feel totally immersed in the filming process. They also ran an extremely successful campaign encouraging fans to pose with their copy of the book for a chance to win tickets to the premiere. The hashtag trended worldwide. The key takeaway here is that social media is now the second screen experience, it stokes anticipation, creates brand ambassadors, and most importantly drives ticket sales. So this is one party studio execs can’t afford to be late to.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.

Click below to tune into this Social CEO Webinar on Influencer Marketing where our CEO, John Bohan, is interviewed by Stephanie Newby, the CEO of Crimson Hexagon.

http://www.crimsonhexagon.com/knowledge-center/webinars/influencer-marketing-today-tomorrowWant more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.

In the Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell talks about “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point”. In essence that magic moment in time in which an idea, trend or product gains significant notoriety such as the rise in popularity of Hush Puppies in the mid-1990’s or the decline in NYC’s crime rate after 1990.

He attributes much of this incredible growth to three primary types of people.

The Mavens who are the experts in a particular subject matter. They are the computer nerds, the movie buffs, or the fashion-forward friends. They are the people you ask first when you need advice or help.

The Connectors are people that seem to know everybody. They have a vast network of friends and colleagues and are instrumental in spreading the word.

The Salespeople are the people that persuade others to jump on board. Their charm and gift of gab makes people want to believe them.Typically, the maven, the connector and the salesperson are different people with very different personalities and skills. And, for an epidemic to catch on, the three need to be working together simultaneously which often takes a lot of time and/or never happens at all.

Social Media has changed everything. Now Mavens, Connectors and Salespeople can all be one person.Or, said another way, Mavens can now be connectors and salespeople.To me, the Mavens in social are the top Bloggers, Photographers, and Videographers that create incredible content that spreads rapidly across social networks. The content goes viral, not because connectors or salespeople are the messengers, but simply because it is good content. Mavens can also authentically and creatively promote brands that they believe in.Malcolm Gladwell on Steroids = Influencer Marketing because it provides brands with the ability to reach that magic moment faster where their products and services spread naturally and generate a marketing life of their own via word of mouth and high visibility.By working with the right influencers, brands can bypass the need to have the stars (mavens, connectors and salespeople) align on their behalf and gain more control over their destiny.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.

I hate Tim Burton movies. Hate them. They’re all 45 minutes too long and Helena Bonham Carter’s lifelong search for anti-frizz shampoo has lost its luster. But I’ll be damned if Edward Scissorhands isn’t a gorgeous movie to look at. It’s the only movie that he’s ever made that doesn’t have a dark color palette, and its contrast of the washed out, pastel suburbia against the stark, black leather of Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) is striking.

Tim Burton did that on purpose. He knew that having a central character that stood out from the scenery was vital to keeping to his audience’s interest. At Socialtyze, we’re finding that same approach to contrast is paying off for our entertainment clients. After controlling for contributing factors like the number of people in a photo, the shot type, campaign type, and the gender of the people in the photo, we found that newsfeed ad photos with dark backgrounds performed 12% better. The reason for that is the same reason we couldn’t take our eyes off of Johnny Depp. Check out this Snickers post in the wild.

The (very) light blue background of Facebook provides a frame for the darker look of the Snicker’s photo asset. Your attention immediately is drawn there.

Now some might say that 12% isn’t a huge lift. But I would disagree, Facebook advertising is a game of inches. Any competitive gain has to be pushed, especially when so many of the creative factors didn’t pan out as successfully predictive. Shot type (up close, full body, etc.), for example proved to be essentially worthless when correlating it to its success.Using color psychology isn’t a particularly new trick to advertising, as our VP of Creative likes to remind me, primary colors have been the staple of movie posters for years because they’ve been proven to catch your attention. That same rule doesn’t seem to apply as completely to Facebook ads, but that’s most probably because of context. Where ads are served provides a more definitive opportunity to catch your eye.And at the end of the day, that’s what all of this fancy modeling, testing, and spending is all about. How can you, the entertainment brand, catch the eye of your customer. So be bold and choose dark colors.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.

My vote is Red Bull. I think they are head and shoulders better than anyone else in connecting with their consumers while building one the strongest beverage brands in the world.Check out Redbull.com and you’ll find content on Adventure, Motor Sports, Music, Extreme Athletes, Skateboarding, Surfing, Snowboarding, etc… You will not, however, find anything on the drink itself.When posed with the question of how do we market ourselves, Red Bull asked a different question:How do we make our customers lives better?Their answer was to create adrenaline-pumping content that M16-34 weren’t getting elsewhere. In addition, Red Bull found, connected with and supported the top extreme athletes in the world to help them to do what they do best. And, it was not necessarily the Shaun Whites of the world that they aligned with first. It was with the lesser known, yet nearly as exceptional, athletes that had relatively small but loyal followings. Once sponsored, the awareness of these athletes’ skills, death-defying stunts and sheer courage skyrocketed, right alongside Red Bull’s sales.Right now, I think there is a short window of opportunity for marketers to mimic the massive success of Red Bull’s marketing. They just need to be committed to asking and answering a different type of marketing question.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.