SOCIAL MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA
Whether producing independently or as a part of a larger news organization, journalists are increasingly being required to promote their stories online and on social media. Promotion of your video, especially if it is a long-form doc- umentary film, should begin as soon as you start production. It is too late to build an audience after you have exported your final cut, and it is short- sighted to only rely on your current fans or viewership.
“We aggressively look for places where people are. That’s a big shift in a short amount of time,” says Pam Johnston, Director of Audience Development for Frontline.
It wasn’t very long ago where it was like, we’re on television and we’re on our Web site, and if you would like to find us, that is where you can come visit us. I think that there’s been a shift, which is: if you want them, you better go get them. Not only do we spend lots of time and attention cultivating our social media audiences on Twitter and on Facebook and on Instagram, but we’re always developing new communities. Is Pinterest right for Frontline? There’s a lot of people there, a lot of women there. Does it make makes sense for us? We need to be really smart about where we spend our limited time and limited resources.
Documentary films can take months or years to report, shoot, and edit. Social media can help journalists to report their stories, develop an audience for their films, and remain active and relevant, even if they are not produc- ing daily news stories. During the production of deepsouth, Lisa Biagiotti and
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Figure 6.21 We used social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to promote deepsouth before the film was completed.
I were dedicated to building a strong social media presence well before the release. By the time deepsouth was completed, we already had built an avid following and an audience hungry to see the documentary. With no market- ing budget, we sold out our world premiere screening in Washington, DC. Our social network has brought the film to dozens of cities throughout the United States, the UK, and South America.
Special features first. When DVDs first became popular, they were often pack- aged with features such behind-the-scenes films and bonus material from the movie. Today, an effective and important strategy for building an audience is to release this “extra” material in advance of the film’s completion. This material can be shareable, discussed, and promoted by your followers online. More importantly, it can help to build momentum for your film.
For deepsouth, we used the Jux.com blogging platform to release material from our film. Jux allowed us to post updates from the road, raw video teaser clips, trailers, and research that we had compiled. Additionally, as interest for the film grew, we used the site to reach out for more sources and data. The site worked two ways: it brought the film to a growing audience, and it brought
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sources and communities to us. Our site was integral to building a grassroots marketing campaign that resulted in filling most of our screening events.