Word-of-Mouth and Social Media
It’s always interesting to watch a creative marketing people think outside the box, utilize non-traditional methods and hit a marketing grand slam. It can be an awesome motivator for others as they see someone else take a chance and achieve phenomenal success. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, its something that sets the affiliate marketing culture on its ear.
Take for example the recent movie Paranormal Activity:
Paranormal Activity The Movie
If you happened to be on Twitter this weekend, you may have noticed that a movie called Paranormal Activity was #1 at the box office and in the trending heavily. Its different from most Hollywood films, and here is why— Number one – it was made by a virtually unknown director for approximately $11,000. That’s peanuts for a film. Most films cost in the millions to make. A large studio bought the movie, planning to re-do the story with some major stars and a huge budget. Those plans were scrapped and the film was released with a few minor alterations. The studio created a small promotion budget, forcing the movie’s marketing team to come up with some some pretty creative ways to get the movie in front of a small, but potentially vocal target audience and then encourage them to recommend the movie to their friends.
That’s where Twitter comes in…
Taking a page from the Blair Witch Project, the film became a viral hit almost even before it was released. People spreading the buzz, word of mouth were primarily those involved in Social Media and they gave the impression, that the film was a “true” story, rather than a Hollywood blockbuster. Audiences reacted exactly as hoped and told their friends about the film. I saw it on Twitter constantly in the days leading up to the release of the film. Folks on Facebook began sending updates to their friends and posting on their walls demanding that the movie be released in their towns. The rest as they say, is history. The film has already earned $62 million just in limited release, it isn’t even on all screens yet!
This is a case study in how social media works, and how it can drive invaluable traffic to your blog. More traffic of course means more hits and more money in your pocket. This is certainly a non-traditional way of marketing, and a total ‘outside-the-box’ situation. Have you considered thinking outside the box for your blog or affiliate program yet?
As affiliate marketers, we don’t make movies, although I have always secretly wanted to be in a horror film! LOL! However, there are some fantastic marketing ideas to be garnered from the promotion of this film. The lesson here is, when done properly, word of mouth through social media marketing can bring the type of traffic you only dream about. And, you don’t have to do anything but whisper the thought in the form of Twitter or a Facebook update. Your friends and followers are actually doing all the work, you’re just the facilitator!
Think about ways that you can leverage social media or other innovative methods to drive traffic to your websites and offers. Not every outside the box idea will end up being a success, but you just might hit on one that will help you rise above the competition.
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Word-of-Mouth and Social Media…
It’s always interesting to watch a creative marketing people think outside the box, utilize non-traditional methods and hit a marketing grand slam. It can be an awesome motivator for others as they see someone else take a chance and achieve phenomenal …
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