Category: Marketing

“Froning” Case Study

Video on Demand release can be successful with a built-in social media following
At Quiver we are often asked how films can achieve success online through self-distribution. This case study will tell the story of “Froning, The Fittest Man in History,” a film that was in the number one spot in three genres on the weekend of its release. Creators Heber Cannon and Kevin Daigle harnessed the celebrity power of Rich Froning and the massive social community around CrossFit to create an instant hit. They also held several screenings of the film at crucial times to create buzz around its release.

“Froning” tells the story of Richard Froning, four-time winner of the CrossFit Games and winner of all three stages of competition three times in a row. Cannon describes the story as “Real superhero stuff. The subject of the film is physically cable of amazing things.” Froning is also the most dominant athlete in the short history of CrossFit. He was instrumental in bringing CrossFit into the mainstream as a sport with top athletes. Cannon says that 95% of the film was created by his small crew, and it was modeled after an action-based “Michael Bay or Marvel movie.”

Social media & “Froning”
CrossFit and the CrossFit Games have a massive social media following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. CrossFit has nearly 3 million likes on Facebook, 796k followers on Twitter and 1.7 million on Instagram. CrossFit Games has 1.7 million likes on Facebook, 595k followers on Twitter and 1.3 million on Instagram. In addition, the community is very strongly engaged to these social media accounts. CrossFit also has a presence on Snapchat, Periscope and YouTube. Cannon and Daigle let all of their fans and followers know about the film through these various outlets. They also created a website (Froningfilm.com) and a Facebook fan page that would update fans on screenings and platforms to find the film.

Cannon was able to build anticipation for the film using its large social media community. “Froning” premiered at the 2015 CrossFit Games in July, and tickets sold out in 10 minutes. On the same weekend, a trailer of the film was released live at the CrossFit Games on the jumbotron. In September 2015, the trailer was released online. At this point only 500 people had seen the film at the CrossFit Games, and thousands of people started talking after its release. Word-of-mouth about the film spread further as four more screenings were held across the United States. Cannon pushed the film hard across all of the social media platforms in October when it finally became available on iTunes. Several involved people shared their clips online so many different people were talking about the film all at once.

The anticipation worked. The morning following the release of “Froning,” iTunes called and asked who they were and how they were doing “this.” “Froning” was number one in the independent, documentary and sports categories on iTunes, and held onto that spot for a month after its release. It was number 8 overall on iTunes during that first weekend. The film is still selling well today with no traditional or paid marketing – just word of mouth from social media. Daigle estimates that close to 100% of the CrossFit world has seen the film.

Takeaways
– Get on social media. Most key are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
– Success can come from leveraging social media marketing a film on iTunes. Build a community of fans invested in your film and use them to create a buzz around your release.
– Use events related to your film to build world-of-mouth such as the CrossFit Games
– Strategically release media such as trailers and clips relating to your film on social media to get people talking about your film before, during and after your release.

If you are interested in releasing your film on video on demand platforms such as iTunes, please email info@quiverdigital.com for more information on our services.

Indie Film Marketing Part 5: Setting Goals

Welcome back to Indie Film Marketing tips from Quiver! Here is today’s tip:

Set specific goals for your marketing campaigns. If you are running a social media campaign, have a target fan or follower count after it has ended. You can also use each network’s analytics to judge the success of the campaign. If you are running an email campaign, pay attention to open and click-through rates. This is the best way to know if your promotions are effective.

For more social media tips, check out our last marketing post here.

[INFOGRAPHIC] Video On Demand Statistics

The infographic above shows that spending on video on demand platforms has increased in the last few years by 60%. Educated, young and wealthy people such as millennials are the most heavy users of VOD platforms. The platforms most frequently used are iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Netflix and Vudu. These people rent and purchase spectacular and amusing films the most in comparison to thrilling and other films on iTunes. Therefore action and adventure films are some of the most profitable on iTunes.

 

Indie Film Marketing Part 4: Social Media

This month’s independent film marketing tool is one of the most creative and fun: social media! Many films, small and large have used this ubiquitous form of technology to form viral campaigns that made their films successful. Today we will introduce some strategies that may include things you are already doing to market your film and how you can use social media to generate more buzz.

Website & Platforms

It is absolutely essential that your film has a website and at least a Facebook page, Twitter profile and Instagram. Snapchat and Pinterest are also great platforms to leverage depending on your film’s audience. Click here for a list of cheap web hosts to start a website, and all social media platforms are free to create pages and profiles on.

Facebook Page

It’s a good idea to make your film’s page visually with profile and cover images that are unique. Get creative with the design of these images. Facebook Apps can be used as games to invite and share other fans to like the page. You can also use these to create engaging contests. Photos and videos are the best content to share on Facebook.

Persona marketing

A spin on the social media profiles for your film is to create a profile for a character. This is best done on Twitter, and works especially well if they have a distinct voice and appeal to a certain audience. There are many profiles for TV and movie characters online including the Mad Men cast and TED the stuffed bear.

Video ads

You can use clips from your film to advertise it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and more. Some of the best clips to choose are those that convey emotion or your trailer. You may want to consider using paid advertising on these platforms to share these clips. Videos are engaging and give the viewer a sneak peek at your content. Be sure to create unique hashtags for your film to use on the appropriate platforms. We recommend uploading clips to your film’s website as well as YouTube in order to publicize your website as well.

Events

If your film has a built-in niche audience (i.e. horror, pets) consider inviting influential bloggers to your premiere along with the press. They can conduct interviews with the cast, which can serve as great content to go viral. If you have celebrities or sponsor partnerships in your film, be sure to invite them as well so they can leverage their own social channels.  

Graphics, Memes & Quizzes

Create unique graphic content for your film that fans can share. This is part of experiencing the film’s story. A great example of this is the film The Hunger Games strategy to create a virtual Hunger Games where people online could join and compete against other districts. The best graphic content is customized and allows one to feel like they are part of the world like the badges of the  Hunger Games. You can also auction off the props in your film on eBay in an effort to create buzz. Creating quizzes that people can take centered around your movie  is also a great way to immerse your audience.

IMDB Listings

IMDB is a site millions of people use daily to look up films. Make sure yours has a page so people can find your movie. You can use this link to see how. It may also be worth it to invest in IMDB Pro. You  can also use the IMDB Top 10 or Top 50 Movie Lists to advertise your film among more popular ones.

Those are just a few ideas on how social media can help market your film. If you are looking for online digital distribution, email your inquiry to info@quiverdigital.com.

Indie Film Marketing Part 3: Email Marketing

This month’s independent film marketing tool is email marketing! Email marketing is one of the most effective techniques for building leads. In this case, leads are an audience for your film. In case you don’t know what email marketing is, it is as simple as sending an email to a contact list. Doing this consistently and in a way that provides value can help you build an audience of people interested in your films.

Continue reading Indie Film Marketing Part 3: Email Marketing

Indie Film Marketing Part 2: Paid Advertising

In today’s installment of movie marketing tips, we are going to cover digital ads for movie marketing. Today’s strategy will require you to invest a bit of money, but luckily studies show the results are worth it. We’ll go over Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads and YouTube Ads, as these are the most popular and effective in movie marketing.

Google Adwords
Google Ads are the most famous of digital advertising with the popularity of Google as a trusted search engine. If you are successfully able to leverage Google Ads, you can potentially attract anyone who is searching for movie times online or topics relating to your film to your film’s website or trailer in a matter of days. Another benefit is that the ads will show up at the top of search results for your film, so if there is any bad press that you’d like to hide, you can do so by investing in ads.

Authors Reggie Panaligan and Andrea Chen from Google Media & Entertainment said in a very interesting report called “Quantifying Movie Magic” with Google Search: “On average, moviegoers consult 13 sources before they make a decision about what movie to see. This active research and engagement is reflected in search query volume as well. Although the number of titles released declined 9% in 2012 vs. 2011, movie searches on Google are up 56% in this same period.”

In order to create an effective campaign, use the Keyword Planner to choose keywords related to your film. It is best to use targeted keywords with multiple terms so that you have the best chance at a high ranking. For example, if you are making a martial arts documentary, you can type this into the Keyword Planner to find more ideas for keywords along with how many people search for the term monthly. Choose wisely and invest in keywords that are relevant to your film, have low competition, and are not too expensive so as not to deplete your budget too quickly.

Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are growing in popularity, as Facebook is arguably the largest social network. Optimized Facebook ads that appear in users’ News Feeds are the most effective. The best performing Facebook ads are content that is inherently sharable. Facebook ads are also great for attracting fans on Facebook pages that stay.

With Facebook ads, you can define goals, such as direct traffic to a website, a video, collect emails or grow likes on a Facebook fan page. You can also target users by age, gender, location, and by what other pages they like, which allows you to leverage similar popular films. With Facebook ads, it is important to set a budget and adjust accordingly so that you don’t spend too much.

Twitter Ads
Twitter Ads are another avenue of paid advertising that you can use to promote your independent film. According to Twitter’s blog, Twitter was 3.5 times more likely to increase movie ticket sales when compared to audio, print, online display, paid search and TV. You may not be looking to sell tickets, but Twitter is very effective at word-mouth-awareness.

Here are some tips: Come up with a relevant and unique hashtag for your film, as well as a Twitter profile with compelling imagery and catchy copy. You can also use their new First View product, which combines Promoted Videos and Tweets to promote your film’s trailer. It allows advertisers to put trailers in the top ad unit on Twitter for 24 hours.

YouTube Ads
Over 1 billion people are users on YouTube, and 50% of them are watching more video each year. Thus if you are looking for an audience for your film, YouTube is no doubt the place to find them.

According to Marketshare, for the sample studied, YouTube comprised 4% of total US ad spend for the category—but generated 16% of marketing-driven revenue.YouTube has video ads, text ads and in-display ads, so there are many to choose from. YouTube ads are based on keywords, much like Google Ads. For a great in depth article on YouTube ads, click here.

Paid advertising is a great way to sell movies on iTunes for independent filmmakers. If you are interested in getting your film on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and other platforms, visit our site Quiver Digital to start the process.