Social Media Strategy for Entertainment Marketing Strategy

The Script

The story of how Entertainment & Content

companies deliver blockbuster social media

marketing success.

Written by

CitizenNet

Contents

[FOREWORD] 1.

[BEFORE THE CURTAIN:]

“Setting the Stage and Setting Objectives” 4.

[ACT 1:]

“Know the Audience” 8.

[ACT 2:]

“Filling the Back Rows” 10.

[ACT 3:]

“Filling the Front Rows” 22.

[ACT 4:]

“Opening Night – Driving Tune-In and Monetization” 30.

[APPENDIX:]

Infographic of Entertainment Benchmarks 35.

Patented technology for Social Media Advertising 1.

[FOREWORD]

SETTING: The ‘not-too-distant’ future. Interior apart-

ment. A video plays on an open laptop. A man using

a remote control pages through TV listings on a big

screen on the wall while a woman seated next to him on

the couch looks at her smartphone.

VO:

Imagine a not-too-distant future where channel surf-

ing and surfing the internet have merged. Instead of

“searching” with Google or Netflix, users will find

content such as articles and videos through a “recom-

mendation engine” like Facebook’s Newsfeed. Clicking

on content will launch a separate viewing experience,

where your favorite Funny or Die clips live right next

to the latest episode of Game of Thrones or an arti-

cle on your industry from the Wall Street Journal.

Comments, Tags, and Likes from your social network

will surface within the content or even a real-time

chat with friends currently watching the same thing.

Authentication brings all your subscriptions together.

This viewing window may have an app that lives in your

OTT device, or you could simply share from your smart-

phone to the bigscreen on the living room wall.

More people already discover more new content that mat-

ters to them via Social than any other channel1. As

the world evolves to a scenario like this, marketers of

content, be they YouTube stars, TV Networks, Publishers


of Articles, or Movie Studios, must adapt. This guide

provides current best practices, benchmarks, and rec-

ommended strategies that have propelled CitizenNet

to be the world leader in social media marketing for

Entertainment Brands. Whether your objective is driv-

ing tune-in for an ad supported channel (online or of-

fline), or increasing engagement with branded content

within Social -- this guide is for you. Enjoy!


S ocial media is the perfect venue for marketing entertainment

properties and other types of content. This is where people

go to talk about what they like, and to learn what their friends

like that they may also be interested in. What better place to suggest a

new show or movie? Combined with the fact that marketers can target

specific, expressed interests and deliver video natively hosted right in the

middle of the content and social media becomes a powerful channel for

entertainment and content marketers.

However, to make the most of the opportunity, marketers still need a

strategic approach that leverages all of the available tools. Over the past

five years, CitizenNet has built deep expertise in the Entertainment ver-

tical, working with a wide range of marketers covering a wide range of

objectives. In the first half of 2015 CitizenNet marketed 15 Top Earning

Box Office Movies - more than half of all weekends. This guide distills

this expertise and shares our strategies in a practical and applicable way.

“When people ask me if i went to film school, I tell them, ‘No. I went to films.’”

-Quentin Tarantino Oscar-winning screenwriter


[BEFORE THE CURTAIN:] “Setting the Stage and Setting

Objectives”

With any marketing campaign, properly defining objectives is essential

for success. For publishers of content, the ultimate objective is mone-

tization, which is typically achieved by driving viewership. Where the

content is consumed, however, can range from offline viewing, views on

owned platforms, or views on network platforms like YouTube.

Branded Content and Online Viewing

For publishers creating content with integrated sponsor branding, any

view that can be verified has monetary value. The value increases as

publishers are able to provide additional insights and ongoing engage-

ment with viewers. Because the content is itself the promotional vehicle

these publishers do not need to drive views on a separate ad supported

platform to make revenue. Often, these creators rely on online channels

for wide reach and frictionless sharing, and objectives typically focus on

efficient reach (a large number of impressions, often targeting unique

reach with a large number of individuals) and completed video views.

YouTube has a built in advertising mechanism that creators can use to

drive traffic to their channel and views of their content. Most YouTube

users are not logged-in however, so the insights about the viewers are

not totally accurate and it is difficult to gain a complete understanding

of unique reach / unique impressions as the same person may watch

the video multiple times. YouTube does make it easy to refer viewers

to other online platforms however, with typical strategies beginning


by targeting appropriate viewers on YouTube to drive a view there, and

then using clickable links at the end of videos to direct users to another

online destination or App download for ongoing engagement.

Alternatively, Facebook and Instagram require login so utilizing native

video on those platforms can provide better insights on the individuals

who engage, as well as provide accurate data on unique reach / impres-

sions. Facebook also offers publishers the opportunity to re-engage

video viewers with subsequent videos in a series for example. Of course,

both give marketers the opportunity to send viewers to other online

destinations like streaming platforms or app downloads.

Twitter does not offer native long-form video, so video views there are

essentially ads for video content hosted elsewhere.

Advertising / Ticket Sales Supported Content and Offline Viewing

For most content creators, the goal is driving views of content on offline

screens (TV, OTT, and Theatres) and monetization is through advertis-

ing or ticket sales. For these content creators, driving online views is

only the beginning.

In working with these types of advertisers we have developed a “full

theater” approach that has generated success in driving ticket sales and

views.


Filling the Back Rows: Wide Awareness

Big budget movies hoping to win the weekend, or network TV shows

hunting strong ratings, need to ensure that their target audience is

aware of the movie/show. The key is identifying the widest relevant

audience. Through the pre-planning research discussed in the next

chapter, advertisers can identify broad categories of interests for use in

creating wide awareness and generating insights that drive targeting

for ongoing campaigns. Tools like Facebook’s Reach and Frequency

Buying make it easy for advertisers to focus on new, unique users within

a target. Twitter’s Amplify and Publisher Network also make it easy for

advertisers to extend their reach with relevant targets. Detailed strat-

egies and tactics for achieving this Wide Awareness are discussed in

subsequent sections of this guide.

Through granular segmentation, even during this initial phase, adver-

tisers can gain insights on which sub-segments are the most responsive.

This insight is vital to success in ongoing phases for deepening engage-

ment and efficient scaling.

Filling the Front Rows: Deep Engagement

Awareness is not enough, audiences must not only be aware of the

release date, but also desire to see the content. Through refining cre-

ative and focusing targeting based on analysis of campaigns in the initial

phase, marketers can build deepening engagement with the most im-

portant audiences. After identifying which audience sub-segments are

most engaged, advertisers can predict those groups most likely to re-

spond to subsequent messaging and target these specifically for ongoing

Awareness is not enough, audiences must not only be aware of the release date, but also desire to see the content.


campaigns. Those audiences that have already engaged can be re-tar-

geted to deepen engagement and ensure that this show is top-of-mind.

Channel specific tactics will be discussed at length.

Balancing Reach and Response

Through ongoing iterations in creative and ongoing refinement in tar-

geting, for both Awareness and Engagement campaigns, advertisers can

achieve wide awareness and deep engagement without wasting money

creating awareness or overexposure with un-interested people. This

delivers optimal results for any budget. It is important to remember the

two separate objectives (Wide Awareness, and Deep Engagement) and to

use different strategies and tactics for achieving these objectives. More

details on the best tools and tricks are discussed later.

With clear objectives in mind, let’s move on to the strategies and tactics

that deliver the awareness and engagement necessary to drive the action

of tune-in and ticket sales.


[ACT 1:] “Know the Audience”

Understanding the target audience is the key to results with any adver-

tising campaign. The same is true for Entertainment companies. Most

content producers have a strong understanding of who they are creat-

ing the content for and who they expect it to resonate with. While this

knowledge is invaluable in developing targeting strategies, one must go

beyond typical broad demographics to achieve blockbuster results.

Beyond Demographics

Although demographics like age and gender are widely used for de-

fining an audience, there are other powerful ways to segment the

audience. A Horror film should care more about finding people who

like Horror films than they do about reaching a specific age range.

Furthermore, fans of “Vampire Movies” can often be very different from

fans of “Slasher Films” both of which are meaningful sub-genres within

“Horror.” Creating rich, meaningful profiles of the target audience helps

with targeting, which amplifies performance.

Social media offers rich information on user interests more easily and at

a lower cost than most traditional research methodologies. There are

many options for social media listening / analysis / research tools (See

Inset: CitizenNet’s Audience Analysis and Prediction). Regardless of

what tools you use, even freebies like Facebook’s Audience Insights Tool,

it is vital for advertisers to conduct prior analysis of their target and to

develop an understanding of relevant sub-segments.


Identifying Sub-Segments of the Audience

A major motion picture may find different response rates from differ-

ent audience groups based on marketing the film using the stars of the

movie / the actors, the director of the movie, the genre/sub-genre, the

elements of the story-line, or the special effects. For example, The Fast

and the Furious Seven (Furious Seven) focused on fans of Vin Diesel,

Paul Walker, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson separately as ways to identify spe-

cific areas of strong response. Additionally the film tested fans of other

racing / action movies and video games, and Hispanic Audiences, not to

mention fans of previous films in the franchise. Testing each of these

areas led to valuable insights that improved performance. This segmen-

tation also often results in ideas for different creative executions.

Behavioral Segmentation

In addition to the Interest-Based segments described above, there are a

number of tools for behavioral segmentation. DataLogix provides in-

sights on Facebook and Twitter Users who are heavy Movie-Goers, VOD

Watchers, DVD Purchasers, Video Game Players etc. These audiences

are based on DataLogix research into purchasing activity using credit

card info. Additionally, advertisers can target users who visit local movie

theaters, or target users who are specifically on a WiFi network in the

evening (see inset on using Location Targeting for Activation).

Researching different groups and developing strategies for segmenta-

tion before campaigns begin allows advertisers to gather insights during

initial campaigns that drive results in later campaigns.


[ACT 2:] “Filling the Back Rows”

As discussed above, Entertainment properties of all kinds have multiple

objectives, but the first, and potentially the most important is creating

awareness. No advertiser can afford to reach everyone in the world,

much less with enough frequency to make an impact, so the key is

defining how “broad” is broad. Typically this is driven more by budget

restrictions rather than what is available within the targeting platforms.

Facebook reaches 85% of most demographics every week. Instagram is

the #1 mobile activity for young millennials, and Twitter reaches over

300 million highly connected tastemakers every month, but which of

these are those most important to create awareness with?3

Early Testing

How many people shoud you reach? The easy answer is, “everyone who

cares about the content you are promoting.” As discussed in the previ-

ous section on Audience Research, Social media offers rich information

on users, and using this research, advertisers can make good projections

on which segments matter most for the success of a campaign. Based

on this research, best practice is to use very broad targeting across a

wide number of segments to gauge which groups show the most en-

gagement as an indication of which groups care the most about the

content. Typically this is done with 10% or less of the total budget. This

also represents an ideal opportunity to test multiple creative themes for

identifying which audiences respond best to which creatives.


Ongoing Expansion

Based on the results of early testing, advertisers can identify

which groups are the most responsive defining those groups with

Demographic, Interest-based, and behavioral labels. For example,

“Young Males with interest in Science Fiction movies and accessing on

Mobile.” Additionally, advertisers should catalog each of these audienc-

es including the Cost to Reach them (Cost Per Thousand Impressions

[CPM]), the Engagement (either Engagement Rate or Click-Through-

Rate [CTR]), Cost Per Engagement (either by calculating metrics using

details above or other metrics like Cost Per Video View [CPVV]) and

the total size of the audience available on the platforms (# of Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram Users). If creative testing was executed this is an ide-

al table to capture which creative performed best for each group.

With this information it becomes much easier to prioritize the audienc-

es based on budgets and overall objectives. Achieving full saturation

with the most efficient audiences is paramount. Tools like CitizenNet

make it easy to add together “unduplicated” audiences for actual unique

users. Even without those tools, advertisers can get general ideas of the

largest and most meaningful audiences for their targeting. Other au-

diences can be prioritized based on gaps in the overall media plan (e.g.

using Instagram to deliver younger audiences that TV may be missing).

Typically, advertisers will use an additional 50-70% of their budget in

reaching these large groups with a low frequency during this phase.

Below is a discussion of different channels and the recommended

Tactics and Tools used in executing these campaigns.

Early testing prioritizes some audiences for reach and others for frequency


Facebook

Facebook has a few key characteristics that make it ideal for advertisers

promoting video content. Foremost, it has wide adoption and heavy

usage. Facebook typically reaches 85%+ of every demographic every

week. The average user spends nearly 40 minutes per day over almost

20 different interactions. This creates plenty of opportunity for engag-

ing with the target.

Secondly, Facebook offers robust video capabilities. Most entertainment

campaigns are using video ads promoting video products. Facebook

offers video targeting at the same price as static banners with no premi-

um. Additionally, Video content is well integrated into the Newsfeed,

the focal point for Facebook interaction. There is enough user gen-

erated video content in the Newsfeed that users do not immediately

assume a video is an ad. More than 60% of the video views on Facebook

take place on a mobile device, and in the Mobile Experience the video

ad fills the entire screen. Facebook’s auto-play videos give brands the

chance to capture the user’s’ attention without charge during the first

3 seconds, but they also offer the opportunity to track viewership by %

of video completed, or 10 second views etc. Although auto-play videos

begin without sound, advertisers can use subtitles to increase engage-

ment, and when a user clicks on a video it launches into a player with

full-sound. Not only does Facebook provide insights on the viewers who

engage with videos, but it also offers the ability to re-target only those

users who viewed the video.

Finally, Facebook’s Video product also delivers the most advanced

targeting available on any platform. Facebook aggregates more than

10 years of user data as well as information from activity off Facebook

Facebook reaches over 85% of most demographics every week. The average user spends 40 minutes per day over 20 different interactions


(wherever sites have Facebook’s Open Graph integrated) as well as Apps

that use unified “Login with Facebook” features. Over 13 million web-

sites and apps use Facebook’s integrated login, including 35% of the web-

sites for the Fortune 5002. This is further enhanced through integration

with Nielsen for true “Apples to Apples” comparisons of GRPs with

Television, as well as the ability to leverage user-login data to manage

frequency, even across device.

Facebook’s Reach and Frequency Buying

Because Facebook users are logged in whenever they interact with the

platform, regardless of device, Facebook can control frequency bet-

ter than YouTube or channels that do not require login. Controlling

frequency gives advertisers the ability to create awareness with more

individuals, instead of repeating the message to the same user over and

over, even if they are not interested. Facebook’s Reach and Frequency

(RF) buys can be booked 1-28 days in advance to run for 1-30 days. This

tool offers a simple way to achieve wide reach and broad awareness with

a specific target. Recently Facebook lowered the minimum audience

size, so now RF buys only need to target an audience of 400,000 (previ-

ously it was 1 Million) so even advertisers with smaller budgets can use

RF buys!

There are however, a few limitations to Facebook’s RF buys. RF buys

deliver ads to the least responsive / least expensive parts of the audience

first. Without fully saturating the target audience, advertisers reach

the least valuable segments. To combat this, CitizenNet has developed

a specific solution to maximize Reach and Frequency performance (see

Inset CitizenNet’s Enhanced Reach and Frequency Buying).


Additionally, RF buys must be booked in advance and are essentially

non-cancelable (Facebook does allow cancellations, but only in special

circumstances and any advertiser that cancels too often will lose access

to the tool). Even though they are booked in advance and guaranteed

for delivery, they do not typically represent a discounted CPM for reach-

ing the same audience with Promoted Page Posts.

Finally, RF buys offer very few insights on which aspects of the audience

performed differently. For example, a buy targeting “Males aged 18-49

interested in comedy” will average the results of all users targeted and

it’s impossible for advertisers to see if 18-24 year olds were better or

worse than 25-49 year olds, or if those in major cities performed better

or worse than those in rural areas etc. Because RF buys require audi-

ences of at least 400,000 users, this may lead to averaging very differ-

ent sub-segments of the audience, making it hard for advertisers to see

opportunities to improve targeting. CitizenNet’s Enhanced Reach and

Frequency Buying (see Inset) can help with this problem. For non-Citi-

zenNet users, best practice is to create the smallest possible segments for

RF buys and run multiple instead of lumping everything together. This

will give better insights on performance. Be sure to create meaningful,

well crafted clusters based on real differences in the audience, and also

be careful not to set up overlapping buys if you are targeting a low fre-

quency and broad reach.


Twitter

Twitter’s ability to deliver against real-time conversations delivers an

ideal opportunity to create Awareness in a relevant context. Towards

this end Twitter has built specific targeting toolsets for finding new

relevant conversations and the users following them. In addition to tar-

geting keywords, hashtags, genres, and the followers of relevant actors,

or handles related to similar material, etc. Twitter delivers the oppor-

tunity to reach people actually discussing relevant content through TV

Conversation Targeting (TVCT) and Movie Conversation Targeting

(MCT) This feature makes it easy for marketers to know they are reach-

ing those users most engaged with the most relevant content.

Conversation targeting is a great way to extend the impact of offline

advertising as well. By aligning Twitter buys with shows that are part

of a TV flight advertisers can reach users on two channels to magnify

impact. Conversation targeting focuses on what matters most, interest

in a particular type of content, not demographics, which makes it espe-

cially powerful for entertainment marketers who are essentially selling

content.

Twitter’s Amplify product (see inset on Twitter Video) creates other

opportunities to reach audiences excited about other relevant content,

and Twitter’s Publisher Network extends Twitter Video Cards to over 1

Billion devices worldwide, creating the opportunity for extended reach

and broader awareness.

Conversation Targeting focuses on what matters most - interest in other relevant content


Instagram

As of this publication, Instagram is just moving out of early testing for

their ad products, but it’s already well established that Instagram deliv-

ers a younger demographic that is less active on other platforms. Using

Instagram to create awareness with an audience that is less exposed to

other more traditional media outlets is a perfect fit for entertainment

marketers targeting younger audiences. Instagram’s high-impact visual

platform with looping video lends itself well to Awareness objectives,

but the shorter video length does require more creativity to amp engage-

ment.

Savvy marketers, like Lionsgate with the launch of Age of Adaline, have

used Instagram to create broad awareness, and then re-target those

users who engaged with longer form content on Facebook, building fre-

quency with a specific audience and deepening the relationship.

All of Facebook’s targeting options are now available within Instagram

and CitizenNet is proud to be one of the first Facebook Marketing

Partners to offer Instagram advertising.


CitizenNet’s Audience Analysis and Prediction

CitizenNet’s “Predicted Affinity” Audience model has

been proven to double the results that advertisers see

with social media. This technology leverages multi-

ple patents in natural language processing and semantic

analysis to predict audiences that will have a strong

positive response to specific messaging.

The system begins by analyzing a “Core Audience” of

high value targets. This core audience can be defined

as fans of a particular Facebook page or group of pages

(like similar film titles, the stars of the film, books

about similar topics) or the Twitter followers of a

particular handle or group of handles. Likewise it can

be built from a Facebook custom audience like website

visitors or an email list gained from previous market-

ing activities.

CitizenNet analyzes the current conversations this Core

Audience is having across the social web on Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere. From this data the

system can predict other areas of interest, demograph-

ics, and behaviors that can be used for targeting. For

example, the Core Audience might show strong overlap

with a particular YouTube channel, and then identify

content from that channel as interests for targeting on

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


This insight also helps marketers to identify themes

for creative assets. If there is strong overlap with

female celebrities, the marketer may choose images fea-

turing females from the content. If the audience shows

more overlap with action content, the advertiser may

pick more action oriented shots.

CitizenNet’s Predicted Affinity audiences help adver-

tisers scale and achieve reach without sacrificing per-

formance. In a recent example, CitizenNet’s Predicted

Affinity Audiences delivered 60% more reach at a near-

ly identical engagement rate resulting in 77 Million

more engagements than the marketer would have achieved

despite very robust targeting. In all, CitizenNet’s

Predicted Affinity audiences were responsible for 38%

of the total engagements.


[ACT 3:] “Filling the Front Rows”

Blockbuster success depends on developing two different audiences

with two different objectives. Marketers must create Broad Awareness

with the largest possible audience of people who may be interested in

the content, but additionally, they must create Deep Engagement with

the sub-segment of the audience who will become the Evangelists and

Ambassadors for the content. Because there is frictionless sharing in

social media, these Ambassadors can have a dramatic impact on the

earned exposures, and there is no better ad than a friend’s recommenda-

tion. It may be useful to think about the “front row” audience who buys

tickets in advance and brings their friends with them to see a movie, and

the “back row” audience who decides to see it last minute or with little

deliberation. It takes both to fill a theater.

To effectively deliver on both of these objectives, marketers must ap-

proach them differently. The large awareness audience should have low

frequency, so budgets can maximize reach (as described in the previ-

ous section). Those sub-segments of the audience that show interest

however, should have higher frequency, with more unique types of ad

creative. This deepens their enthusiasm and maximizes response. With

these audiences, a higher frequency is optimal, but marketers must be

have diversity in their creative assets to avoid exhausting the audience

by showing them the same ad over and over, boring the fans.


Creating Segments for Better Insights

Learning from the earlier awareness focused campaigns, advertisers can

identify sub-segments that deliver the best response. It’s important to

note that the native reporting tools within Social Media channels do not

provide much insight on different segments within one audience target,

so it is vital that marketers set up their campaigns initially to include

multiple different segments with different clustering characteristics to

allow for later optimization. For example, at CitizenNet we will often

create different audience segments based on users interested in different

aspects of a show or movie, typically including some of the following:

• Actors in the show

• Author of original book / IP

• Similar Movies / TV shows types or subject matter (these can be

very granular “Buddy Movies vs. Stoner Comedies” etc. We try to

create clusters similar to the category descriptions in Netflix

• Hobbies or Activities featured in the content

Setting up audience segments of between 500,000-3,000,000 based on

different keywords grouped by these categories can be a powerful way

to gain insights and even shape messaging strategy. For example, if the

“Actors” segment is large and has the strongest response, it indicates

that ads should feature the actors prominently, etc. Best Practice is to

create between 5 and 10 segments, ensuring that each of the keywords

included in that segment share similar audience characteristics (e.g. they

are similar in age and gender) as a way of creating appropriate clustering.


Facebook’s Audience Insights Tool is an invaluable resource for finding

interests to develop these clusters. Additionally Google insights will

highlight Movies or TV shows in a genre that may be useful for target-

ing. Amazon’s recommendation engine and IMBD are also great places

for inspiration.

Based on how these different clusters performed during the broad

awareness phase, Marketers can now begin to separate the “Front Row”

audience from the “Back Row” audience and use different strategies and

tactics to deliver against the different objectives.

For the Back Row audience, it is often largely about balancing high reach

with the lowest acceptable engagement. Based on testing in the ini-

tial phase, there are often indications about which audiences are more

interested than others, so delivering media to the largest groups with

some engagement is the best plan for this audience. Use insights from

the earlier campaigns to tweak messaging strategy and continuously

test and optimize creative during re-freshes to ensure it doesn’t go stale,

even as you are trying to reach new audiences. A good rule of thumb is

2-3 new pieces of content every week. Video content has a longer usable

life than pictures, so that number will change based on what is available.

For the Front Row audience, now is the time to explore what makes

them unique. Based on the different segments used in the initial testing

phase Marketers should try to find commonalities that suggest a partic-

ular messaging strategy or different ads. These insights also offer direc-

tion on expanding the audience. If the “author” segment as described

above is performing particularly well, advertisers should find other sim-

ilar authors that can be added to expand the audience. Based on these

learnings, marketers should look to build frequency with varied types

Front Row and Back Row audiences demand different strategies to deliver a “Full Theater”


of content including behind the scenes footage, interviews, concept art,

trivia, etc. All these different pieces help the Front Row audience feel

personally connected to the content, which encourages sharing, and

builds enthusiasm. Shareable content is particularly valuable as this

group is more likely to spread the word about the launch. It’s important

to find ways to add variety to the content here. High frequency with the

same trailer or commercial used in every other outlet can make them

apathetic.

All of the channel strategies referenced in the previous section make

sense during this phase, but with revised objectives (increasing frequen-

cy with the Front Row audience, and maintaining engagement while

achieving saturation with the largest possible Back Row audience).

Additionally, other tools work particularly well here.

Video View Retargeting

Facebook’s Video View Retargeting makes it very easy to retarget those

users who engaged with previous videos with new videos, or photos etc.

This is particularly useful for message sequencing which can dramatical-

ly increase engagement as users are actively looking forward to receiving

the next video that tells the next part of a story. This same functionality

on Instagram, or even targeting Instagram Engagers on Facebook and

Facebook Engagers on Instagram works very well.

Although not part of the native targeting tools, it’s possible to build

audiences like this on Twitter as well. CitizenNet has developed similar

capabilities for retargeting Twitter engagers, and has seen equally high

results.


Facebook’s Reach and Frequency buying tool is ideally designed for this

as well, giving advertisers the option to target the Back Row audience

with a low frequency, achieving broad penetration and awareness, then

using subsequent campaigns to increase Frequency with the Front Row

audience amplifying excitement (See Inset CitizenNet’s Enhanced Reach

and Frequency, for more insights on how to maximize this tool).


CitizenNet’s Enhanced Reach and Frequency Buying

Facebook’s Reach and Frequency Buying is a powerful

tool for marketers of Entertainment properties who

need to achieve broad penetration with a wide audi-

ence to create awareness for a TV show hoping for big

ratings or a Movie looking to win the weekend box of-

fice. There are however some limitations to Reach and

Frequency (RF) buys.

RF buys provide almost no detail around the performance

of different sub-segments within the target. For exam-

ple, an Adult 18-49 targeted buy delivers to that demo-

graphic, but reporting is averaged for males and fe-

males and all the age cells. If males respond at twice

the rate as females, the marketer will never know, and

so future targeting cannot benefit from this insight.

Additionally, RF buys deliver first to the easiest to

target and least expensive portion of the audience.

It’s very clear when using the Reach and Frequency buy-

ing tool that there are different breaks in CPM with-

in the audience (see image). Clearly Facebook deems

some users in this audience more valuable than others.

However, if an advertiser does not have enough budget

to completely saturate the target at the desired fre-

quency, the more expensive (and often more responsive)

audience is the one that’s missed. CitizenNet tests

consistently show that Reach and Frequency buys that


completely saturate the target audience enjoy much bet-

ter performance metrics than those that do not -- re-

gardless of the size or other targeting.

Based on these two insights, CitizenNet developed

Enhanced Reach and Frequency (ERF) buying. ERF ana-

lyzes a target audience, like Adults 18-49, and based

on the advertiser and their objective, will create

sub-segments that are predicted to respond differently

that can be executed as individual Reach and Frequency

buys (maintaining exclusion between the sub-segments).

These sub-segments provide insights on audience target-

ing (identifying different interest categories or age

cells / genders) and ensure that marketers completely


saturate the target, guaranteeing that the most valu-

able, and most response segments also see the ad with

the desired Frequency.

Although buying audiences in this way is more effi-

cient, it can be more expensive, purely looking at the

raw CPM. However, the response rates are so much high-

er that the overall Cost Per Video View, or other Cost-

Per-Engagement Metric is always more efficient than

Reach and Frequency buys that only saturate an incom-

plete portion of the target audience.

For non-CitizenNet clients attempting to achieve this

same result, we recommend analyzing your audience using

Facebook’s Audience Insights Tool and Ads Manager to

identify segments that are large enough for a Reach and

Frequency buy, but small enough to allow for complete

saturation with the allocated budget. Try segmenting

based on interests to better define the audience and

gain even more insight based on differing response met-

rics.


[ACT 4:] “Opening Night – Driving Tune-In

and Monetization”

Regardless of how much awareness or interest there is, unless people

actually take action and view the content, there isn’t really much point,

so this final section on driving action may be the most important.

However, because this builds on success from the previous two phases, it

is also in some ways the most straightforward.

It’s worth noting that different types of content, even within the

Entertainment vertical, have different monetization strategies with

different action objectives. While a major movie may be targeting

ticket sales at the weekend box office, Day and Date releases may be

targeting Video on Demand purchases (see inset Location Targeting

for Stimulating Action). Likewise, branded content may have multiple

objectives, like increasing subscribers for a channel on YouTube, AND

building views on any channel to fulfill guaranteed impressions. Some

of these objectives are more time constrained than others, and as such,

different marketers will approach this phase differently. For a “launch”

as in a typical movie or TV show, marketers may focus 50% or more of

their budget on the days leading up to the launch, whereas evergreen

content hosted online may balance the Tune-In messaging more evenly

with the broader awareness and deepening engagement objectives.

For those marketers aiming for a big launch, Twitter’s ability to target

real time conversations can be particularly powerful in conquesting rel-

evant conversations. For example a movie studio might target everyone

mentioning weekend movies, or even more specifically, they may target

Tweeters mentioning similar competitive movies opening on the same


weekend. Likewise, targeting relevant TV shows and those conversa-

tions is equally powerful for building momentum.

Facebook and Instagram’s tools for retargeting previous video view-

ers make it easy for marketers to re-engage with individual users who

previously showed interest, and to broadly target those largest audience

segments with meaningful engagement rates. Despite the platform or

tactic, it is important that messaging during this phase has a strong and

clear call to action and effectively communicates where and when users

can go to view the content, be it a movie theater or an online platform.

Typically advertisers will use many different creatives of many different

types to drive anticipation during this phase. Calendar invitations to

viewing parties, Countdown Clocks, and critic reviews are all successful,

and marketers will generally push out 7-10 pieces of new content during

this phase (typically a week or less), as opposed to only 2-3 pieces of con-

tent in previous weeks.

“It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring.”

-Tina Fey Emmy-winning writer


Video - Lights, Camera, ACTION!

For marketing entertainment properties, video is un-

doubtedly the medium of choice, and the options for

delivering high-quality video to targeted users have

dramatically improved in the last year, with Facebook

delivering ever increasing capability, Twitter launch-

ing new ways to deliver Video Cards, and Instagram

launching video as one of the initial ad types for the

advertisers.

FACEBOOK VIDEO

By now it is clear that Facebook video is a huge and

growing opportunity for advertisers, but it is a unique

environment with specific needs. Facebook counts any


view of longer than :03 seconds as a “view” which is

different than YouTube, where a “view” is typically

closer to :30 seconds, except for short clips.

All Facebook videos autoplay, so it is important

that advertisers make a compelling and striking im-

pression in those first few seconds to stop the user

from scrolling through their newsfeed. Because of

this scenario, Title Cards / Green Cards etc. should

be moved to the end of the video whenever possible.

Additionally, because videos begin playing in mute

we have noticed a dramatic improvement in engagement

through using sub-titling -- as much as a 85% lift (see

case study graph)! This is particularly important for

videos with voice-over, or where the dialog drives the

engagement - like dramas.

Facebook also offers the unique opportunity for video

sequencing with Video View Retargeting. Because all

users are logged in, marketers can know with 100% cer-

tainty that they viewed the first video in a series be-

fore showing the next. This provides powerful options

for creative storytellers!


TWITTER VIDEO

Twitter’s Video Cards are specifically designed for

video marketers, but beyond Cards Twitter has other ca-

pabilities worth exploring. Twitter’s Amplify product

matches brands to content creators with the opportuni-

ty to run videos before other high-value video content.

For example, one client, targeting Hispanic audiences

for a theatrical release, paired their shortest trailer

with highlights from a soccer match between two Latin

American teams. Twitter users saw a still image of

a scoring play with a description of the clip. These

clips hit Twitter very soon after the play, making them

timely and “must see” videos for fans. After launching

the video users see a brief pre-roll video ad (ads must

be :06 seconds or less). Because these units are pre-

roll, before premium content, they deliver very strong

engagement and can help extend a co-branding opportu-

nity or deepen the connection with an audience in a

“lean-in” environment.

INSTAGRAM VIDEO

Instagram’s highly visual environment makes videos

even more powerful. It’s important to remember that

100% of Instagram engagement is mobile, so the con-

text is different than what may happen on Facebook or

Twitter. In light of this, Instagram videos are sig-

nificantly shorter (max of :15 seconds vs. :15 minutes

on Facebook) - but they do loop, creating even more in-

teresting opportunities. Clever marketers have created

“animated gif” style motion graphics and images where


only 1 portion of the image moves, making for very com-

pelling looping images. Movie studios have done this

with great success working with images from their post-

ers. Remember, all Instagram posts are square, even

the videos, and Instagram does not allow framed hori-

zontal videos with black bars at the bottom, the video

must fill the square. Instagram content should be cre-

ated specifically for Instagram.


Location Targeting for Stimulating Action

Location targeting offers unique opportunities for ad-

vertisers to create hyper-relevance through understand-

ing the users’ context. This can be particularly mean-

ingful to Entertainment marketers targeting a specific

environment.

For example, with Social Media it’s easy to target

users specifically when they have a WiFi connection.

Knowing the user is on a higher-speed, more reliable

connection, makes it easier to predict a pleasant view-

ing experience for internet streaming or downloading

content. Additionally, Facebook’s GPS features track

users who haven’t logged out of Facebook, so it’s fair-

ly easy for Facebook to predict when users are at home

vs. at work regardless of the time of day. Targeting

users at home with a WiFi connection makes messaging

for streaming content even more relevant and likely to

generate a response, especially if they’re sitting on

the couch wondering what to watch!

In the same way, Facebook’s ability to target users

when they are not home can be equally powerful. For

movies opening only in specific cities, marketers can

build lists of the actual theaters playing the film

(particularly useful for IMAX theaters). Based on

this, Facebook targeting can deliver ads only to those

users within a 1 mile radius of the theater, like per-


haps those in the same shopping mall as the theater.

For even more granularity, advertisers can choose to

only target people who live in the area, but are out

shopping, rather than people who may be visiting the

area on work, and so are therefore less likely to par-

ticipate in a leisure activity like seeing a movie.

When combined with the other sophisticated targeting

mentioned in this guide, this type of location target-

ing can generate truly blockbuster results.


Curtain-call

This collection of strategies and tactics is proven to deliver success for

marketing entertainment properties. CitizenNet’s methodology honed

in on thousands of campaigns developed in conjunction with the best

minds at top studios and social media platforms.

Although this guide gives clear recommendations, it’s not an easy task,

and a lot can happen during a campaign. Contact us if you’d like to learn

how CitizenNet can deliver results for your business.

We hope you enjoyed the show!


[APPENDIX:] Infographic of Entertainment

Benchmarks

CitizenNet has a wide range of benchmarks across dif-

ferent demographics, different genres, etc. If you

would like to see something specific, let us know.




Citations

1 “Entertainment Discovery Study” by Milward Brown

Digital. Jan 2015.

2 SimilarTech.com Facebook Connect

3 Facebook & Twitter Self Reported Data