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I am currently in India and have been observing the social media consumption in this part of the world. To give you some background, people in India have a celebrity smitten mindset. Even a beedi (a local cigarette) is sold with top Bollywood actor endorsing it. Also, India is a country where people prefer to pick up the phone and talk rather than communicating over emails. These two factors make it interesting how the consumption of social media is shaping the new promotional and communication channel.
Over here there is big use of mobile phone and Vodafone ( a local cell phone provider) passes along movie coupons (buy one get one free). If you SMS them in the morning, they text you back a coupon number. Then you have to stand in line register your name and phone number before you get the coupon. You then take this coupon to the BOX office and get your two tickets for the price of one. This is a powerful marketing practice in a nation crazy about its Bollywood movies.
A new promotion strategy being implemented by marketing savvy filmmakers is to create Facebook pages for films. Photos, links to news articles and YouTube videos are posted and even advice is solicited from fans on Facebook. Just recently Dabbang, a new movie was launched in India. It became an instant superhit, it has a Facebook page here. So, even though there is a Facebook facelift it has no minimal impact on the buzz created.
Some recommendations for the Facebook uplift here :
- Relevancy: Adding relevant information that pertains to the movie would really be a powerful medium to connect with the fans. Running a contest or even putting a video or free tickets would add a lot of flavor to this page.
- Exclusivity: Adding exclusive content would draw fans to the FB page. How about an interview with Salman Khan (the lead actor) himself?
- Star presence: There is lack of celebrity presence on the FB page. It would be interesting to have comments from the co-stars, directors and musicians engaged in the project.
It is interesting that FB has become a powerful social media tool but still has ways to go before it takes on Vodafone with its coupons. Nothing still beats a discount for a Tribe that is crazy about movies….
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