Here's why social media is proving to be an ideal medium for film promotions
Decreasing prices of mobile data is another reason why social media platforms have become crucial as a medium for marketing films.
February 12, 2019 / 18:34 IST
The multi-starrer Total Dhamaal, releasing on February 22, is setting the stage to tickle audiences’ funny bone with a unique strategy for promotion. The movie producers recently released a spoof of the film’s trailer on social media in four different languages to reach out to a wider audience.While rolling out the spoof trailers could be a new idea, especially in India, using social media to market films isn’t. In fact, it is one of the most effective ways to market movies in our country, according to a 2018 study by Ormax Media.According to the report that tracked the performance of four social media platforms, Facebook and YouTube are the most effective media in driving the buzz at 67 percent and 51 percent respectively. Television acquired rank three at 43 percent.The impact of social media on box office collections is also high. The combination of Facebook and Instagram has 21 percent contribution to the first day box office collection. They are followed by YouTube at 18 percent.The contribution of television and in-theatre entertainment stood at 13 percent and 9 percent respectively. Along with appeal and the power to drive buzz, digital media lead in their box office impact as well, the report said.Talking to Moneycontrol, Chirag Gander, co-founder, The Minimalist, a design, digital and advisory firm, said, “The kind of conversations that are happening on social media platforms definitely drive footfalls.”He added that earlier a few experts from traditional media reviewed films. But now, everyone is giving reviews and audiences tend to look at those instead of reviews by a few experts. "Because of such conversations, it is really important to have good social media campaigns. It is important to have a good social 'listening' team. These things help in getting better footfalls. Currently, the voice of people matters more than the voice of individuals who are on top of the chain," Gander said further. Reiterating the same argument, a recent report by Kotak Institutional Equities also suggests that good reviews on social media buoyed films like Simmba, Baaghi 2, Badhaai Ho, among others.On the other hand, Thugs of Hindostan tanked at the box office despite scoring the highest opening-day revenue due to negative reviews.Social media platforms like Facebook also collaborate with marketing platforms like Paytm and Book My Show. It sends out promo codes and discount codes which also helps in increasing footfalls in theatres.Social media is used by movie promoters to create awareness about the film or/and about a character from the film. For Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani, the marketing team had released an animated series of eight parts called Blazing Bajirao to create buzz around the film. Similarly, for Salman Khan’s Sultan, a video was released on social media of the actor’s transformation from Salman to Sultan.Actors starring in the 2014 film Happy New Year had customized their Twitter handle with their movie names. Shah Rukh Khan had changed his handle to @charlie and Deepika Padukone to @mohini so as to connect with moviegoers.“With the number of people increasing on social media every day, its impact is increasing a lot. The best part about social media is you can target people specifically in order to get more engagement” said Gander.While promoting the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jab Harry met Sejal, Facebook had created an automated personalized response from the actor for his fans who would send messages to him on Facebook Messenger.Another example that was pointed out by Gander is of the #PadMan challenge. He said that the film was publicized by influencers on social media, with its trailer receiving 20 million views on Facebook.Cost-effectiveness of social mediaExperts say that social media strategies are not only proving successful but are also cost-effective.“The amount people generally spend on traditional media is way higher than what they spend on digital. The amount spent on digital is half than the amount spent on traditional,” said Gander.He added that the content on social media can also be churned out really fast.Apart from the promoters of films, actors use social media to create a buzz around their films. For instance, Alia Bhatt gave a sneak-peak into her upcoming film Kalank through her through Instagram stories.Decreasing prices of mobile data is another reason why social media platforms have become crucial as a medium for marketing films.
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