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Social media best practices for Hollywood films and their applications in China

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Social media best practices for Hollywood films and their applications in China

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Content Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and Their Applications in China by Yiqi Ling A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) July 2014 Copyright 2014 Yiqi Ling Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Dedication I’d like to dedicate this thesis to my family and many friends. I am especially thankful to my parents, who have supported and encouraged me throughout the process. I also dedicate this thesis to my many friends that helped me and offered me advices. I will always appreciate the work they’ve done for me. Also, thank you Ryan Gosling for being a bird when I was a bird and your never ending support. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis committee members – Prof Jerry Swerling, Prof. Kjerstin Thorson and Prof. Aimei Yang – for their patience, advice, enthusiasm and motivation. Each of them helped me perfect my thesis in a variety of ways and I couldn't have done without them. I’d also like to thank Prof. Matthew Le Veque and John Koch for accepting my interview and offering valuable insights for my thesis. Their insights shaped the direction of my thesis and helped me to form my conclusions. I’d also like to thank my friends, Ian Rapport and Sam Sineni, for helping me edit and proofread my thesis. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Table of Contents Dedication Acknowledgements Abstract Preface Chapter One: Film Publicity in the U.S. I. Introduction: The Film Industry in the U.S. II. Film Publicity and Marketing in Hollywood Chapter Two: The Best Practices For Film Social Media Marketing in the U.S. Chapter Three: Film Publicity in China I. Introduction -- The Film Industry in China II. Film Publicity and Marketing in China III. The Hollywood/China Relationship Chapter Four: Social Media Marketing in China I. Social Media in China II. The Unique Practices in China/ Case studies Chapter Five: The Best Practices For Film Social Media Marketing in the U.S. Chapter Six: Conclusions Bibliography Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Abstract This paper examines the convergence of film marketing and social media in China. More specifically, it explores best practices for U.S. film social media marketing and to what extent these practices could be applied to China. China is the biggest international market for U.S. filmmakers and marketers; however, the uniqueness of China’s market characteristics often creates challenging wrinkles for western marketers. This dissertation aims to seek solutions to this problem by analyzing three questions: What are best practices in the use of social media in U.S. film marketing? To what extent are those practices applicable to the Chinese market? Are there any practices that are unique to China? The key issues discussed in this paper include the origin, development and current situation of the U.S. and China film industry; traditional and modern film publicity and marketing in Hollywood and China; differences and similarities between U.S. social media platforms/audience and Chinese social media platforms/audience; best practices for film social media marketing in the U.S. and to what extent these practices can be applied to China; as well as the unique practices in China. Through comprehensive and detailed secondary and primary research, six best practices are concluded for film social media marketing in China. Among these six practices, five are derived from the U.S. film social media best practices and one is unique to China. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Preface Research Methodology In terms of research methodology, qualitative primary research consisted of a series of interviews with both U.S. and China-based public relations/marketing experts and practitioners to extract insights and draw conclusions. Interviewees include Matthew Le Veque, public relations veteran with expertise in digital and social media communication at University of Southern California, John Koch, Chief Creative Officer of ID PR, and Xuling Liao, Marketing Director of 20th Century Fox China. Additionally, two focus groups and one survey were conducted to fully understand the differences and similarities between U.S. and Chinese moviegoers/social media users. The first focus group was conducted among ten participants (five female and five male), who were both moderate to heavy social media users and moderate to frequent moviegoers between 18-34 in China. The second focus group was conducted among ten participants (five female and five male), who were both moderate to heavy social media users and moderate to frequent moviegoers between 18-34 in the U.S. The survey was distributed to 223 moviegoers in China to further analyze their movie-watching behaviors and social media habits. The Hollywood/China Relationship China is the world’s second largest movie market and the largest international movie market for Hollywood. According to IBISWorld’s China Cinematic Industry Report, in the first half of 2013, cinemas in China generated $1.8 billion, and the industry is forecast to continue growing strongly at 13.8% annually over the next five years to $6.9 billion in 2018. The thriving market draws an exciting picture for Hollywood. China and Hollywood have a long history of cooperation and collaboration. In July 1897, James Ricalton, an American film Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China showman from Maplewood, New Jersey, embarked on his journey to the far east and brought the first U.S. film to China. Soon after that, the wave of imported American films swept over China - - Of the 250 cinemas in 1930, only 50 to 60 screened Chinese films and the rest showed US films? 1 . However, the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 ceased the import of Hollywood films to China, and the outbreak of the Korean War directly led to the ouster of American movies. China re-opened its gate to the Western world in 1986. In February 2012, China and the United States signed an agreement to open the imported films market. Based on the new policy, China agreed to raise the number of imported films to 34 annually on a revenue- sharing basis 2 . Social Media As a Marketing Tool For Movies (in the U.S.?) The Blair Witch Project, a low budget independent movie in 1999, introduced digital marketing approaches to the industry and marked the start of Hollywood’s digital publicity era. Since The Blair Witch Project, digital media technology and facility had been largely improved and revolutionized. Unlike traditional media, digital media channels are able to establish a direct and interactive connection between movie marketers and moviegoers. Now including websites, email, video games, smart TV, smart phones, tablets, the type of media channels [used by movie marketers?] movie-marketing materials were mushrooming. Digital channels such as websites and online forums had brought film marketing to a whole new era, yet before the development of social media sites, it was difficult for film marketers to directly engage and interact with moviegoers. Another reason why social media is important for film marketers is that a large majority of moviegoers are active social media users. A survey 1 Global Hollywood and China's filmed entertainment industry, Wang Ting, 2006 2 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-‐mulls-‐upping-‐film-‐quota-‐678697 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China conducted by Nielsen Research Group in 2012 indicates that 41% of moviegoers age 18-24 use social media to discuss movies; 40% of moviegoers age 25-34 use social media to discuss movies; and the percentage among moviegoers age 35-44 is 34%. Nielsen states that moviegoers “are spending more time and consume more content via social media platforms and are more actively engaged in the online dialogue with films.” Social Media Landscape in China Need some sort of transition. E.g., “In comparison, China….” China has the largest netizen population in the world. According China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)’s 2013 Internet Report, China now has 591 million Internet users and 460 million mobile web users, indicating a steady growth from 420 million netizens in mid-2010. Along with the growing web penetration is the flourishing of the Chinese social media industry. There are an estimated number of 597 million active social media users in China. Instant Messaging (IM), Social Networking (SNS), Blogging and Microblogging are among the most popular online social activities that Chinese netizen engage with on a daily base. The top 10 social networking sites in China, according to We Are Social, are Qzone (712 million users), Tecent Weibo (507 million users), Sina Weibo (500 million users), WeChat (300 million users), Pengyou (259 million users), 51.com (200 million users), Kaixin 001 (113 million users), Renren(172 million users), JiaYuan (73 million users) and Douban (172 million users). Findings from thesis survey among Chinese moviegoers indicate that Sina Weibo, WeChat and Douban were their three most widely used social media sites. Therefore, this thesis focuses on studying these three sites. And what about use of social media and movies in china? Make this section parallel with the above Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Chapter One: Film Publicity in the US I. Introduction: The Film Industry in the US Film is one of the most influential elements of American popular culture. It entertains us, inspires us, and sometimes teaches us important life lessons. Good movies intrigue us—we laugh, we cry, we resonate with the movie characters, and, often, we come to a new understanding of the world around us. The United States has one of the oldest film industries (and largest in terms of revenue), and Hollywood is often in sync with the images, culture, and values of the United States. According to a report released by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), the production and distribution of motion pictures and television programs is one of the nation’s most valuable cultural and economic resources, 3 providing $104 billion in total wages in 2011. This chapter will cover the birth, development, and current status of the Hollywood film industry. The First “Movies” Working in Palo Alto, California, in 1872, Eadweard James Muybridge, an English photographer, used his newly-invented tripwire technique to produce a series of images of a galloping horse in order to determine whether or not a horse has all four legs in the air during a race. 4 This experiment later became the most celebrated moment in his life, as it marked the beginning of motion pictures. One year later, Muybridge used a zoopraxiscope, an early device he created to display motion pictures, to project these brief segments of motion onto a screen for an audience. This was the beginning of projected motion pictures, which arose from a series of 3 http://www.mpaa.org/Resources/92be6469-‐1d3c-‐4955-‐b572-‐1d3f40f80787.pdf 4 Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film history: an introduction. New York: McGraw-‐Hill, 1994. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China stills taken by a number of different cameras run together rapidly to create the illusion of motion. Another cinematic pioneer, Etienne-Jules Marey, invented what might be considered the first truly portable moving picture camera in 1882, a “machine-gun”-style affair that photographed twelve plates in rapid succession onto a disc. The Rise of the Studio System and the Birth of Hollywood If the achievements of Muybridge and Marey helped lay down the technological foundation for the film industry, Thomas Edison and G.W. Griffith brought the industry to a whole new level. Edison was perhaps the most ambitious and ruthless of the early film moguls; by August 1897, Edison had secured three motion picture patents by issuing lawsuits against his competitors (Film marketing, Finola Kerrigan). 5 In the wake of his commercialization of film, other pioneers, such as Lois Weber and Thomas Ince, rapidly crowded the new medium. But it was D.W. Griffith, who is credited with innovations including crosscutting and close-ups, who pushed the American film industry at that time into high gear. 6 By the late 1920s, some Hollywood filmmakers had realized that, in order to defeat rivals such as commercial radio, the sound system in movies would have to be revolutionized, and thus marked the end of the silent era and the beginning of a whole new stage of development for Hollywood films. Lee de Forest, the pioneering inventor who created the vacuum tube, the television picture tube, and the modern optical sound track system that was used in talking pictures for most of the twentieth century, became the first person in history to bring synchronized sound to films. And with the help of said technology, Warner Bros. was able to 5 Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film history: an introduction. New York: McGraw-‐Hill, 1994. Print. 6 Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film history: an introduction. New York: McGraw-‐Hill, 1994. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China make the first feature film with a talking sequence: The Jazz Singer (1927). When that film resoundingly clicked with the public, a new era was born. By the mid ’20s, luxurious movie theaters had basically replaced nickelodeons. 7 Thousands of movies were issued by the Hollywood studios from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. Despite the economic depression in 1929, audiences still rushed to the theater to watch the novel sound films, which greatly stimulated the American film market. Throughout the 1930s, despite ups and downs in attendance, the overall trend of moviegoing increased. In order to meet the growing audience demands, a more effective movie-producing model—the studio system—was born. The studio system was, in essence, an approach that the five Hollywood “majors” at that time (MGM, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia, and Universal) used to control the motion picture industry. 8 Each major studio established a generic identity that differentiated it from its competitors. Warner Bros. specialized in intense action and gangster films, while MGM preferred musical movies and Universal rapidly became known as the home of horror films. The New Hollywood The mid-twentieth century witnessed the birth of a wide variety of films and filmmakers. Independent films, the types that were produced mostly or entirely outside of the major film studios, exploded in popularity. Additionally, starting with Universal’s purchase by the talent agency MCA in 1962 and moving through Paramount’s takeover by Gulf & Western Industries 7 Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film history: an introduction. New York: McGraw-‐Hill, 1994. Print. 8 Turow, Joseph. Media today: mass communication in a converging world. [5th ed. New York: Routledge; 5 edition , 2014. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China in 1966, mergers, corporate takeovers, and buyouts also took place and changed the industry. 9 The merging of major studios was the result of rising production and marketing cost during that period, and it indicated a trend toward hyper-conglomeration, in which the studios became more and more reliant on media organizations that controlled vast empires of television, print media, and, now, Internet outlets. Hollywood Today Today, Hollywood dominates the international market in entertainment media. In YEAR, all of the world’s top one hundred grossing films were Hollywood productions. 10 According to the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO), across the twenty-seven member states of the European Union, nineteen of the twenty top films by box office revenue for 2007 were U.S. films or US/European co-productions. The same is true in Asian countries like China, which has become Hollywood’s most important international market due to its huge growth potential. However, despite its global popularity, some observers look at today’s Hollywood with dismay. In his bestseller, Hollywood vs. America, Michael Medved calls Hollywood as a “poison factory.” He argues that Hollywood “assaulted the country’s most cherished values and befouled American’s moral value.” Some of the other strong criticisms lodged against the Hollywood film industry include that it narrows down cultural diversity, it represents a leading part of American cultural colonialism, and that its commercialization has detracted from it artistic value. 11 II. Film Publicity and Marketing in Hollywood 9 Dixon, Wheeler W., and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. A short history of film. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; 2nd Edition, 2008. Print. 10 http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=non-‐us 11 Turow, Joseph. Media today: mass communication in a converging world. [5th ed. New York: Routledge; 5 edition , 2014. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Traditional Film Publicity and Marketing “You can fool all of the people of all the time … if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.” – Hollywood producer Joseph E. Levine Overview Promoting and marketing films used to be a breeze. Filmmakers printed posters, bought advertisements on television, radio, and billboards, ran trailers in theaters, and organized red carpet premieres that attracted large media attendance and coverage. But now…? This section will describe and analyze the most commonly used traditional marketing approaches in a detailed and specific manner. Traditional Tactics i) Theatrical Trailers Trailers are the first step in promoting a movie to its target audience. By offering moviegoers a touch of the humor, special effects, and plot twists of an upcoming film, a theatrical trailer provokes moviegoers’ desire to go to a theater to watch the whole film. However, showing trailers might sometimes risk giving the audience too much of a film’s content. According to the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), there has been an increasing amount of customer complaints about trailers contains “spoilerific” content. For example, all the promotional trailers for 2012’s The Amazing Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Spiderman together showed 18 percent of the movie to audiences before it was released, according to IndieWire. 12 ii) Posters Like trailers, movie posters create an urge of “wanting to see” a film in the minds of moviegoers by communicating the essence of the film and highlighting unique selling points such as the cast, genre, or other elements. They are the first glimpses of a movie. A good example of how a movie poster helped sell a movie is that of Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The poster, depicting a person swimming in the sea while a shark ascends toward him, is terrifying. It sells the terror and the intensity of the film. It gives the audience members a sense of the film’s storyline and triggers their desire to know more. One final aspect to mention about posters is that they can be sold, thereby creating an ancillary revenue stream not available with trailers. 13 In general, however, these sales are supplemental to those of other merchandise, and it would be rare to factor this revenue into the overall equation. iii) Television Commercials Television advertising is one of the most popular mediums for movies with large marketing budgets. It is viewed as one of the most effective marketing tools. It is compelling because, on average, US households are spending five hours and eleven minutes watching television every day, according to the BLS American Time Use 12 Discuss: Are Movie Trailers Too Long? National Association Of Theater Owners Want Shorter Promos. (n.d.). The Playlist. Retrieved June 28, 2014, from http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/discuss-‐movie-‐trailers-‐are-‐too-‐long-‐national-‐association-‐ of-‐theater-‐owners-‐are-‐seeking-‐rules-‐to-‐enforce-‐shorter-‐teasers-‐20130529 13 Marich, Robert. Marketing to Moviegoers a Handbook of Strategies and Tactics, Third Edition.. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Survey conducted by Nielsen Media in 2013. 14 In addition to their wide coverage, television commercials could help film marketers reach demographically concentrated audiences. For example, Disney film marketers normally run commercials on Nickelodeon because it reaches teens and children; sports-themed films are advertised on ESPN, as it corrals sports-minded male viewers; and television channels like Lifetime have an audience mainly consisting of females, which makes them the right destination for romantic film advertisements. iv) Newspaper Advertising Daily newspapers are mostly local in their geographic coverage and, thus, are the prime platform for marketing tactics such as listing theater dates and times. However, in this digital age, a very small number of moviegoers are still in the habit of turning to a local newspaper to find theaters and show times, as all of this information can be easily located online. In August 2009, Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc., the top two US theater chains, announced their plans to reduce or eliminate small-type listings showing the start times for movies at individual theaters. 15 This was mainly due to the decline in newspaper penetration rate, which dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 38 percent in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center. Demographically, those who are sixty-five and older are still the majority of newspaper readers. And the percentage 14 American Time Use Survey Summary. (2014, June 18). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved June 27, 2014, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0. 15 Shea, D. (2009, August 21). Movie Theaters Cut Listings From Newspapers. The Huffington Post. Retrieved June 28, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/21/movie-‐theaters-‐cut-‐listin_n_265337.html Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China of adults who claimed they read a newspaper “yesterday” declined for all age groups in 2012. 16 v) Public Relations Public relations is a cost-effective complement to advertising and media buying. Advertising, no matter how clever, funny, dramatic, or aesthetically pleasing, is self- promotion. As moviegoers become more resourceful and skeptical in the modern age, their behavior is less likely to be influenced by advertising. Public relations is not paid advertising, it is earned media. Through strategic and targeted media pitching, public relations professionals generate free media coverage for films. And compared to advertisers, the media is still trusted by moviegoers, which gives public relations more credibility. Media pitching is not the only activity in public relations. Traditional PR tactics also include press kits, press junkets, reviews, talent interviews, and management tie- ins and placements; these are still considered important elements in PR campaigns for films today. However, the advent of digital and social media has fundamentally changed the landscape of film PR. Challenges and Problems with the Traditional Approaches i) Decline in Credibility John Koch, the Chief Creative Officer at ID PR, a fully integrated entertainment PR agency, pointed out that the biggest challenge for traditional film marketing approaches is that “There is a natural skepticism of traditional methods from the 16 Newspapers: By the Numbers | State of the Media. (n.d.). Newspapers: By the Numbers | State of the Media. Retrieved June 27, 2014, from http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/newspapers-‐stabilizing-‐but-‐still-‐threatened/newspapers-‐by-‐the-‐numbers/ Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China public.” Mr. Koch stated, “When it comes to choosing a movie to watch in theaters, 90% of us will trust recommendations from friends, 75% will trust recommendations from the general public, and 50% will trust advertising. So you have a 50/50 shot of having someone invest in you if you are using traditional marketing approaches like advertising.” In addition to the growth of skepticism toward advertising, there has also been a trend of falling trust in the media among moviegoers. According to a study released by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press in August 2012, for the second time in a decade, the believability ratings for major news organizations suffered broad declines. The average positive believability rating across the thirteen news organizations listed in the study, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today, is 56 percent, while the average rating ten years ago was 71 percent. Several reasons have led to the public’s dwindling faith in media, one of which being the increasingly popular “get-it-first-and-correct-it-later” practice among media organizations. In order to compete with social and digital media sources, traditional newspapers have to be faster and more instant than they were in the past. The need for speed has seriously threatened accuracy and quality and has sacrificed the trust that authoritative news organizations had been building for decades. Declining media credibility indicates that some traditional PR approaches, such as media pitching, might not be as effective as they were in the past, which drives an urgent need for more innovative and efficient marketing approaches in this digital era. ii) Communication was a One-Way/Top-Down Process Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China News coverage, critics’ reviews, posters, trailers, and television advertisements— everything in traditional film marketing is generated and distributed by the film marketers. With the budgets they are allowed, marketers and PR professionals can create promotional materials with the key messages they want to communicate to potential moviegoers. This might sound compelling, however it is a linear and limited kind of communication that occurs in a straight line from sender to receiver. The problem with this is that the sender is unable to get feedback from the receiver and interact with him or her, which is much needed in order for the sender to evaluate and improve the key message. Two-way communication, on the other hand, allows information to flow in both directions. It is more difficult and slower than one-way communication, but it is more accurate, resulting in less mistakes and problems. iii) Rising Cost of Paid Media The film sector ranks as the fifth-largest category for paid advertising on a national scale, trailing the automotive, drug, cell phone, and fast food restaurant sectors. Filmmakers and studios spend roughly $3.6 billion a year for paid media in the United States, according to Kantar Media. About three-quarters of that media spending is for television commercials, via broadcast and cable. The cost of advertising a mainstream Hollywood movie has increased 105 percent since 1994, contrasted against a mere 29 percent increase in domestic box office revenue. 17 iv) Privacy and Counterfeiting Hollywood is currently embracing digital distribution windows to a greater degree than ever before. Fritz Friedman, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Publicity at 17 Lieberman, Al., and Patricia Esgate. The entertainment revolution bringing the moguls, the media, and the magic to the world. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Sony Pictures Entertainment and a professor at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication, brought up the concept of electronic sell-through (EST) in his class Strategic Entertainment Public Relations in a Digitally Converging Environment, saying, “Electronic Sell Through (EST) is no longer a necessary experiment, as well as a strategic move, considering the fact that [the] digital landscape is becoming increasingly critical for film distribution.” EST, which was once an exception to the traditional route for movie distribution, is becoming the rule and is widely accepted by major studios, including Sony, Fox, and Paramount. The rise of digital media has effectively narrowed the white space and helped Hollywood stay afloat. However, it also gave birth to Internet downloading tools, such as BitTorrent, that make Hollywood films globally available through illegal piracy. According to a report published by NetNames, 18 during January 2013, 432 million Internet users worldwide explicitly sought infringing content, such as pirated movies, television, music, and software. In three key regions (North America, Europe and Asia- Pacific) that make up the majority of the Internet world, the number of Internet users that have consumed infringing content is 327 million. This figure increased by 9.9 percent in the fifteen months and represents 25.9 percent of the total Internet user population in these three regions. The damage online piracy has caused is more obvious in Hollywood’s international market than the domestic market. As researchers from Wellesley College and the University of Minnesota point out, “longer lags in international market – which facilitate more local pre-release piracy – depress theatrical box office receipts, even after controlling for film and country fixed effects.” 18 Sizing the piracy universe . (n.d.). NetNames. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://illusionofmore.com/wp-‐ content/uploads/2013/09/NetNames-‐Sizing_Piracy_Universe-‐Report-‐2.5.pdf Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Their research findings indicate that the international box office returns in their sample were at least 7 percent lower than they would have been in the absence of pre- release piracy. This has obviously presented a big challenge to all film studios and moviemakers trying to make ends meet in their overseas markets—the advance publicity of traditional marketing approaches often requires huge paid media spending, while overseas revenue is largely affected by the online piracy. Under the pressure of all the above-mentioned challenges, film marketers urgently need to apply their limited marketing budgets to more strategic and effective approaches. The convergence of social media has brought good news for silver screen marketers and helped shift the gloomy situation of the film industry with its cost-effective marketing approaches. Film marketing in hyper-social world i) Digital media overview i. Birth – The Blair Witch Project (1999) In 1999, Artisan Entertainment launched a web-centric marketing campaign for its faux documentary The Blair Witch Project. This low-budget ($22,000) movie surprised the public with its blockbuster box office results ($248m). It was not the first movie with a found-footage theme released at that time, neither was it the first piece of American horror to brand itself as a true story. There was one thing that was unique about The Blair Witch Project: its hyper-social marketing approach. Even 15 years later, many marketers and scholars still consider The Blair Witch Project Campaign as the best viral campaign of all time. In addition to a website that was built to sketch the background details of the ‘story’, directors Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick circulated rumors and fanned the flames of the story to make it look ‘real’ through online forums. This campaign created so much buzz in advance that it grossed $1.5 million on its opening weekend. Its official movie website is still active and has received 21,222,589 hits to date. The unexpected success shocked the industry, and this campaign marked the start of Hollywood’s digital publicity era. ii. Development and current situation Since The Blair Witch Project, digital media technology had been largely improved and revolutionized. This gave birth to new marketing approaches that deliver promotional materials in a more efficient manner. Unlike traditional media, digital media channels are able to establish a direct and interactive connection between movie marketers and moviegoers. Website, e-mail, video games, smart TV, smart phones, tablets… the type of media channels that consume movie- marketing materials were rapidly increasing. Film trailers were no longer exclusive to theatres; they could instead be easily found on film’s official website and other online forums. Old-fashioned publicity that used to “get space” in traditional media has rolled into cyberspace where it covers the online landscape and wireless handheld devices like cell phones, tablets, and MP3 players. Movie critic and reviewing websites became critical as an increasing number of moviegoers were referring to these sources before they make their movie watching decision. ii) Film marketing in a hyper-social environment i. The developing landscape of social media Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Media channels such as websites and online forums brought film marketing to a whole new era. Before the development of social media sites, it was difficult for consumers who were not tech-savvy to watch and share trailers and film clips in “unofficial” spaces. The earliest online social networking activity could be traced to back to 1997 when people started to record their daily lives and thoughts through blogging. In 2003, the very first social networking website called Friendster was opened to the public in the U.S 19 . Soon after that MySpace was launched, which attracted a large amount of users. The happy days for MySpace didn't last long. One year later, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at his Harvard dormitory room, and it has become the most popular social networking site with monthly active users of over 1.23 billion in December 2013 20 . Another commonly used site for social media marketing, Twitter, started running in 2009 and had more than 241 million active users in February 2014 21 . Film marketers noticed web users spend one out of every four minutes online engaged in social media such as Facebook or Twitter. These ready-made platforms can quickly bring together moviegoers, which is crucial since marketing impact should be concentrated just in front of the theatrical premiere. Moreover, for films geared for the tech-savvy youth audience, social media is the most 19 The Brief History of Social Media. (n.d.). University of North Carolina. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html 20 Facebook reports $2.6B in revenue, 1.23B monthly active users, beating estimates -‐ GeekWire. (n.d.). GeekWire. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.geekwire.com/2014/facebook-‐reports-‐2-‐6b-‐revenue-‐1-‐23b-‐monthly-‐active-‐users/ 21 Twitter Passes 241 Million Monthly Active Users. (n.d.). TNW Network All Stories RSS. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2014/02/05/twitter-‐passes-‐million-‐monthly-‐active-‐users-‐x-‐million-‐mobile-‐users/#!zTQz2 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China effective way to reach them. Therefore, the budget allocated for social media spending of these movies can be 10 percent to 20 percent of the total media budget. For films geared to children and adults who are not glued to digital and social media, the allocation runs in the 5 percent to 10 percent of the total media budget 22 . Currently, the most commonly used social media platforms are instant messaging (IM), social network sites (SNS), microblogs and blogs. Instant Messaging (IM) IM is a computer application that allows synchronous text communication between two or more people through the Internet. Parties at both ends of a conversation see each line of text right after it is typed and sent (line-by-line). Thus, IM is more like a written telephone conversation than an exchange of letters (Bambooweb 14 Dictionary, 2008). IM is a combination of email, chat rooms, pagers, telephones, voice mail, caller ID and bulletin boards with a multiparty "chat" model (Chung & Nam, 2007). As a relationship-building tool, IM has been used for entertainment, work, and team relationships (Ramirez and Broneck, 2003). In addition, IM has been found useful when discussing topics that are uncomfortable to talk about in face-to-face situations (Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001). Social Network Sites (SNS) SNS are "web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and compile their list of 22 Marich, R. (2013). Marketing to Moviegoers a Handbook of Strategies and Tactics, Third Edition.. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China connections and those made by others within the system" (Boyd & Ellison, 2007, p. 211). SNS enable users to connect with each other by creating personal information profiles, inviting friends to have access to those profiles, and sending messages and comments back and forth to each other (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). From another point of view, SNS are virtual collections of users' profiles (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Those personal profiles can include any type of information, such as text description, photos, audio or video (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). The profiles can be shared with others to create lists of companions and to maintain contact with them (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). The lists show each user's network, that is, the user's profile or updated messages are accessible by individuals included on the user's list (Lenhart, 2009). SNS allow a varying amount of flexibility in communication style (Murphy, 2005). Microblogs The microblog is considered a "mini blog." It is an online platform where users post short messages of up to 140 characters and share with others within their social networks (Murphy, 2008) comments about what they are doing, reading, watching online, or any other topic (Martinez, 2009). People use microblogs to describe their current status and daily activities in short posts, and to seek or share information (Java, Song, Finin, & Tseng, 2007). Anyone with an internet connection or a mobile phone can use microblogs through text messaging or web browsers (Johnson & Yang, 2009). In microblogs, users can subscribe to one's feed and become that person's "follower" (Honeycutt & Herring, 2009). On a microblog interface, an individual user can see the messages published by those Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China he or she follows, while his published messages can be seen by his followers. Microblogs are now becoming important social media for self-expression, interpersonal communication, information seeking, and social sharing. Blogs Blogs are special types of websites that usually display date-stamped entries in reverse chronological order (OECD, 2007). On these sites, blog owners can share their feelings, photos, ideas, issues, and opinions (Huang, Chou & Lin, 2008; Riva, 2002). Blog users can also "develop an individualized web presence that reflects facets of their personal style and idiosyncratic intellectual approaches" (Oravec, 2002, p. 622). A blog is like an online diary that usually is managed by only one person, but that provides the opportunity for blog readers to interact with the owner by adding comments (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Bloggers can select personally contextualized information, present individual viewpoints, and invite critical comments without any pressure from external agendas (Blood, 2002). Anyone can publish on the site and their voices can be heard, communicated, and connected (Jung, Youn, & McClung, 2007). ii. How does social media work? Social media is playing an increasingly vital role in film marketers’ daily job. To summarize the best practices on social media, one must first understand how social media works. Members of social media sites maintain profiles, real or fake, connect with each other, and interact. In addition to updating profiles, one major Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China function on social networking sites is “friending,” a mechanism by which people acknowledge relationships with and keep up with their friends or acquaintances 23 . Social media provides a platform for customers to voice their opinions and reviews on products, brands, and in this case, films. Unlike film sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, reviewing and rating is not the central element in social media. The value of social media for film marketers and publicists lies in the conversation that’s happening among social media users, which could have the potential to reach out to thousands of other social media users. iii. Why is social media important to film publicity? 1. A large majority of moviegoers are active social media users One of the key market segments sweeping into the theater nowadays are teens and young adults 24 – the demographic group that also accounts for the majority of social media active users. A survey conducted by Nielsen Research Group in 2012 indicates that 41% of moviegoers age 18-24 use social media to discuss movies; 40% of moviegoers age 25-34 use social media to discuss movies; and the percentage among moviegoers age 35-44 is 34%. Nielsen states that moviegoers “are spending more time and consume more content via social media platforms, and are more actively engaged in the online dialogue with films.” Another finding indicates that the number of moviegoers who watch movie previews online increased from 47% in 23 Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2009). Marketing in the groundswell. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press. 24 Newswire . (n.d.). Newswire. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/popcorn-‐people-‐ profiles-‐of-‐the-‐u-‐s-‐moviegoer-‐audience.html Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China 2010 to 53% in 2012; and the percentage of people who watch movies previews through their mobile phone has climbed from 6% to 15% during that period. 2. Social media marketing is cost-effective As it is discussed in the last chapter, marketing for films can be expensive. Traditional marketing approaches such as TV commercials or newspaper advertising are expensive, and cost continues to skyrocket year-after-year. Compared to traditional marketing approaches, social media marketing is much more affordable. Take Facebook as an example. Some of the major items in Facebook campaign budget will include a social media strategist, which costs $52,000 a year; a community manager, which costs $93,600 a year; micro-site build, which costs $15,000 a year; a mobile application, which costs between $20,000 and $150,000 depending on the functionality of the application; and ongoing moderation and measurement using third-party specialists, which costs $30,000 and $80,000 per year. Therefore, in total, launching and managing a Facebook account costs an annual estimate of $390,600. While for traditional marketing, just a print ad could cost between $50,000 and $100,000 25 . 3. Social media word of mouth largely influences moviegoer’s movie watching decision One of the most captivating social changes brought forth by social media and internet technology is the increase of word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth (WOM) is no news to the film marketers and publicists. Nevertheless, the advent and 25 How Much Should an Effective Facebook Marketing Campaign Cost? -‐ Boostlikes.com. (n.d.). Boostlikescom How Much Should an Effective Facebook Marketing Campaign Cost Comments. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://boostlikes.com/blog/2013/10/effective-‐facebook-‐marketing-‐campaign-‐cost Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China popularity of social media has given the industry new challenges and changes. The enormous scalability of social media has enabled opinions of a single individual to instantly reach thousands, or millions of consumers. Unlike offline word-of-mouth, online speeches that are published on review sites, discussion boards and blogs are persistent and even more influential. The Hollywood Reporter (THR), along with market research firm Penn Schoen Berland, published a poll regarding social media and its influence on moviegoers’ behavior. The research examined 750 social media users ages 13 to 49. The results revealed that more than half of the respondents consider social media sites as important tastemakers in determining their purchasing decision, and that one in three social networkers has decided to see a movie in a theater because of something they read on a social networking site 26 . Chapter Three: The best practices for film social media marketing in the US I. Best Practice #1: Impact is highest when efforts are integrated – social media marketing should be supplemented with other digital assets to establish a seamless online presence. Marketing is the process of selling or promoting a product or service to an audience (clients, customers, or consumers) that wants or needs that particular product. In any successful marketing model, the audience should always be at the top of the hierarchy. As the audience becomes more sophisticated and connected, marketing approaches should be integrated and designed to contain the same messaging throughout all media assets. The 26 THR's Social Media Poll: How Facebook and Twitter Impact the Entertainment Industry. (n.d.). The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/facebook-‐twitter-‐social-‐media-‐study-‐302273 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China marketing of film, a special entertainment product, is no exception to this. Even though this paper discusses the best practices for film social media marketing, social media should seldom be isolated. Instead, it should almost always be part of integrated marketing communications. Rather than just creating brand presences, brands want to be presences. To do this, they must synergize their marketing efforts across various media in real time around central hubs. From Twilight to The Hunger Games, it is not difficult to see that most successful Hollywood integrated film marketing campaigns have applied similar frameworks: an interactive website as the central hub and cornerstone of a campaign; and other digital media such as e-mail, mobile apps, and social media as supports that bring different elements to the integrated mix. Case study: Despicable Me 2 (2013)’s “Missing Minions” campaign “Missing Minions” is a marketing campaign orchestrated and executed by NBCUniversal on its 27 different digital properties (including USA Network, Bravo TV, DailyCandy, NBC Sports, and Syfy) for Despicable Me 2. Three weeks prior to the film’s release, a new Minion was “set free” each day. It all started when movie fans spotted the first Minion on the Facebook cover photo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, a television show produced by Bravo. The movie fans were encouraged to find the rest of the missing Minions and, as an incentive, every Minion found equated to an entry for a chance to win a sweepstake trip to the Universal Orlando Resort and free movie tickets. For the next 20 days, more Minions were found in unexpected and hilarious ways on different social media channels. And they all drove consumers to the official “Missing Minions” website (missingminion.com), the central hub of the campaign. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China II. Best Practice #2: Market film as a brand – find the Unique Selling Point (USP) and consistently communicate the USP through social media messaging. In his book The Marketing Imagination, Professor Ted Levitt, a renowned marketing expert and the editor of Harvard Business Review, mentions that creating a “Unique Selling Point (USP), or Product Differentiation, is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.” For consumers, a USP is something recognizable and memorable in that it is the way through which they remember and relate to the brand. For instance, when we think of Apple, we think of simplicity, innovation, and creativity; when we think of Marlboro, we think of blue jeans and a heavy truck – we think of a “rebel” who stands up to authority. USP can be a kind of spirit or attribute; it can also be a simple brand spokesman or icon, such as Geico’s gecko or McDonald’s’ Ronald McDonald. Similar to companies and products, each movie has its own distinctive persona and unique selling point. This could be one of the cast members; the director; something about the story; or the location where it is set. Disney animations are often associated with their cartoon characters and princesses; and science fiction films like Avatar and Transformers are known for their spectacular special effects. The power of a well-defined persona only comes into play when coupled with strong branding and storytelling skills. Social media is a great tool for storytelling. In order to build and strengthen an emotional connection with the audience and drive tune-in, it is the movie marketers’ job to promote personas through strategic social media narratives and initiatives. Despicable Me 2 (2013) and the Minions Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China For many people, when thinking of the movie Despicable Me 2, the image of jabbering, pill-shaped Minions pops up in their minds. This is not a coincidence; this is the result of the movie’s cohesive and consistent publicity based around the Minions. When the first installment of Despicable Me was released in theaters, marketers noticed an unforeseen passion among audiences toward these little yellow characters. To capitalize on the existing popularity of the Minions, six months before the second movie’s release, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment created the “Despicablimp,” a 165-foot-long aircraft emblazoned with a mammoth image of a Minion, to tour the sky. The “Despicablimp” made its official debut by flying over USC’s Galen Center while Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards were being held there. It had logged about 20,000 miles across the US when its journey ended in San Francisco. Social media was heavily integrated into the “Despicablimp” initiative. Minion lovers were encouraged post pictures of the blimp using Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr while incorporating the hashtag #despicablimp and to see their pictures appear on the interactive map found at despicablimp.com. The “Despicablimp” command center also has videos, fun facts, interviews with the pilots, and a Twitter “Despica-feed.” The Facebook and Twitter accounts for Despicable Me 2 are also highly “Minion-ized” – from the page layouts to the content of posts. There are also many contests featuring the Minions, such as the Halloween Minion Costume contest and the Minion Cupcake Contest, that increase social chatter and engagement. Overall, NBCUniversal’s cross-portfolio publicity involving the Minions helped Despicable Me 2 rake in $142 million at the box office on its opening weekend. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Additionally, the Minions have become one of the most popular and profitable lines of merchandise for Universal Pictures. Inception (2010) and the spinning top Another example of movie branding and storytelling can be found in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film Inception. Besides the mind-twisting plots and a great cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, the creative marketing campaign centered around a spinning top also wowed moviegoers and built momentum for the movie. The spinning top is the totem of the character played by DiCaprio in the movie, and it helps him determine if he is in a dream or real life. The marketing team started the viral campaign by launching an intriguing website (www.mind-crime.com) featuring only a spinning top. The top began spinning one year before the movie’s release and did nothing but enticed fans. Meanwhile, on Facebook and Twitter, the conversation around the spinning top was heating up as fans posted their opinions about the meaning behind it. It finally fell over in December when the website was opened and the first teaser trailer was released. The spinning top played a vital part in Inception’s pre-release campaign, triggering people’s interest of the movie and creating social buzz about the meaning behind the image. III. Best Practice #3: Let your audience experience the story – use digital and social media to create a virtual world that melds the movie world with reality. The movie industry is now more competitive than ever. In order to break through the clutter of an increasingly-crowded movie landscape, movie marketers are forced to come up with ever more creative and attention-grabbing PR stunts. Whether it is Twitter’s 13 districts from The Hunger Games, or the Facebook debate over “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” from Twilight, most successful viral social media Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China marketing campaigns for U.S. films have one major strategy in common: they resonate with the audience by making the movie universe appear to exist in today’s world. Movies are not real. Yet, by melding movie worlds with reality, marketers are able to create scenarios that draw attention, generate press, and spark social media conversations, which could ultimately help movies cut through all the clutter and noise and drive tune-in. Case Study: The Dark Knight Rises The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is the final installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman film trilogy, after Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). The movie grossed over $1.081 billion worldwide, ranking as the ninth-highest-grossing film of all time. In addition to its diehard pre-existing fan base, the interactive digital and social media viral campaign launched by Warner Brother contributed to the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight Rises. When the official website for The Dark Knight Rises was launched in May 2011, Batman fans were confused because it featured nothing but a black screen accompanied by an encrypted audio file. Baffled yet intrigued, hardcore fans took to social media platforms to discuss their conjecture about the audio. With the help of professional audio programs, they finally unveiled the riddle – the audio spelled out “#thefirerises,” which led them to a Twitter account that featured an image of actor Tom Hardy as the super villain Bane. In April 2012, three months prior to the movie’s release, the marketing team continued its viral campaign. This time, they brought Gotham City to real life. The official website for The Dark Knight Rises turned into an eight-page police report on a Batman investigation. The film’s Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Foley states in the confidential report that “With Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Harvey Dent Day fast approaching, the Mayor is assuring the public that the Gotham City Police Department will redouble its efforts to apprehend Batman.” Fans were asked to help the Gotham police in the Batman investigation by locating the Batman graffiti that has been planted around the world. A list of addresses was provided on the website, and within an hour, pieces of graffiti had been found in Melbourne, London, and Shanghai. For every piece of graffiti that a fan found and tagged on social media, Warner Brothers also unlocked a frame of the trailer, which triggered the fans’ passion for helping the police track down Batman. This buzz-driving campaign was considered one of the best PR stunts in film marketing. It invited fans into the Batman world and gave them the motivation to share their discoveries across social networks. IV. Best Practice #4: Social media language and voice should be conversational, concise, and align with movie’s personality; and social media content should be engaging, and contagious. i) Language and voice – conversational, concise, and align with movie’s personality Like brands, movies have unique personalities that decide the tone and voice of social media language. The language of Despicable Me varies greatly from that of Inception due to their different genres, personalities and target audiences. However, no matter what style and tone a movie’s social media account employs, it should be conversational. This is even more obvious when marketing to Millennials, among whom acronyms, abbreviations, and other slang terms are frequently used. It is okay to use “LOL” once in a while, however, it is still important to obey the rules of accurate grammar and precise wording. In addition to being conversational, the message should be brief and concise. John Koch, the Chief Creative Officer at ID PR, offered his tips for social media messaging and Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China language for films in an interview: “When I draft a social media post, I always keep in mind that ‘less is more.’ I prefer plain language, so that I wouldn't risk excluding many readers with technical jargon and specialized vocabulary. I believe that it is not about how elegant your language is; it is about making your point clear and brief, so people would understand it, and respond to it.” ii) Content – be engaging and contagious For years, social media strategists have been studying the motives behind “sharing.” Marketo’s 2012 study “Contagious Content” gives several reasons for why people share content online: 27 • The content gives them something, such as a deal, a discount, or the opportunity to win a prize. • The content offers advice about a common problem their friends and family might be facing, such as how to remove stains or maximize their tax returns. • The content warns about a danger or problem, such as a product recall. • The content is amusing. For example, funny pictures, quotes, and videos. • The content is inspirational. • The content allows them to declare support or unity for a cause. In general, one could say that there are two kinds of motivations for sharing content: rational and emotional. The former refers to the motivation behind sharing content that is rationally valuable and relevant; the latter refers to the motivation behind sharing content that is fun or emotionally appealing. Movies are a special type of 27 "Contagious Content." Marketo. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2014. <http://www.marketo.com/_assets/uploads/Contagious-‐ Content.pdf?20130404160501>. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China entertainment product made to resonate with audiences’ emotional states and needs. Hence, it is easier to trigger sharing through the second motivation. For example, for Toy Story 3’s digital media marketing campaign, Pixar and Disney created a series of authentic-looking vintage toy commercials. Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, a main character in the movie, was featured in the commercial. This '80s-esque toy commercial was created to appeal to the nostalgic emotions of young adults in their mid-to-late twenties who grew up sleeping next to bears like Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear. The commercial paid tribute to their memories and created connections amongst audience members who participated in social chatter and engagement by sharing the videos with their friends of the same age. There are also several types of posts that are frequently used by marketers to attract engagement and increase share rates. Social Media Contests Social media contests or sweepstakes are interactive and help spread a movie’s message to larger groups of people. However, they aren’t as easy to host as they may seem to be. A contest should be designed to appeal to the motivations and needs of the movie’s target audience or have an incentive that is related to the movie. Before Warner Bros. released Man of Steel, it held a Facebook contest to brand its movie and build anticipation for the upcoming launch. Warner Bros. asked hardcore fans to upload photos that demonstrated how they were the biggest Superman fans. Warner Bros. then invited the Facebook community to vote for who they thought the most diehard Superman fan was. The winner got to be featured on the Man of Steel Facebook page as “Fan of the Week.” The contest received wide participation, and, Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China with the addition of voting, participants were motivated to share their photos (and the Man of Steel brand) with their Facebook friends to generate the most votes. The user- generated photos were also broadly shared on other social media sites to create more visibility for the upcoming movie. Social Media Polls According to NewBrandAnalytics, 28 traditional surveys are losing appeal among marketers, who are now turning to social media polls in an effort to understand customer experience. Compared to traditional surveys, social media polls are cheap (they are practically free) and they help movie marketers access a massive audience of social media users. Simple examples of poll questions used for movies could be questions like “Who is your favorite character?” or “Where do you want the movie’s premiere to be?” These are both questions that can engage an audience, building real relationships and adding value. User-Generated Content The social media campaign for The Hunger Games helped Lionsgate turned an online fanbase into a box office miracle. Danielle Depalma, the strategist behind the success, says in an interview with Fast Company that in terms of social media posts, fan-created content “seemed to work the best.” User-generated content is favorable among social media users, as it is real, original, and compelling. Spreading user-generated content on social media is the art of communicating with your audience without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. 28 "4 Facebook Poll Tools for Your Social Media Strategy -‐ Jeffbullas's Blog." Jeffbullass Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2014. <http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/07/01/4-‐facebook-‐poll-‐tools-‐for-‐your-‐social-‐media-‐strategy/>. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China The social media content for Anchorman 2 is a great example. Instead of overtly promoting the movie, Paramount Pictures created and delivered content that was entertaining, amusing, and mostly created by movie fans. The official Tumblr for Anchorman 2 served as a central hub for the marketing team to post original content and curate fan-generated content. On the Facebook page for Anchorman 2 (3,464,900 Likes and counting), there is also much fan-generated content, such as Ron Burgundy Memes. V. Best Practice #5: Employ timing techniques – schedule posts around the time when target audience visit social media to maximize ROI. For most users, the enormous amount of data and resources they receive on a daily basis via social media often leads to the problem of information overload. Therefore, it is critical to study when target audiences are on social media and to aim to schedule one’s posts for around that time. After identifying the demographic of the target audience, picture their daily lives — are they students that have access to social media after school? Or stay- at-home moms that have connections to the Internet all day? Or white-collar workers that have 9-5 jobs? All of these factors can help determine the best time to post on a page. There are many studies on the best time to post on social media. For example, a study conducted by KissMetrics reveals that spikes in CTR (Click-Through Rate) on Twitter occur during noon to 6 PM; and 5 PM is the best time to tweet, as 6% of all retweets occurred around that time. Also, the best day to tweet, according to this report, is midweek and on weekends, when CTR is generally higher than on other days of the week. On Facebook, the most sharing is done on Saturday and the best times to share during the day Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China are around noon and a little after 7 PM. 29 However, secondary studies should only serve as a reference when posting – not a guide. To reach the target audience on social media at the right time, film marketers still have to conduct primary research on when the audience visits social media during the day. Chapter Three: Film Publicity in China I. Introduction -- The film industry in China After a century’s exploration and development, the film business in China has gradually become mature and professional. Both the revenue and size of the film industry is growing dramatically. According to IBISWorld’s report 30 on China Motion Pictures industry, during the five years to 2013, total revenue of the Cinema industry in China has been increasing at an annualized rate of 36.8% to total $3.6 billion. In the first half of 2013, 417 new movie theatres were built with 1,962 new movie screens; the total number of screens surpassed 15,000 nationwide. The flourishing film industry is driven by the rising household disposable income and the increasing demand for leisure and recreational activity in China. Despite such a high growing rate, the film industry is still relatively unsaturated. There are an estimate number of 13,000 theatres in China, one for every 220,000 people. While in the United States, there is one screen for every 9,000 people 31 . The market share concentration in China’s Motion Pictures industry is also comparatively low. There are about 2,175 enterprises in the industry, most of which are small-scale and operate locally. Unlike the Hollywood model in the U.S., few 29 The Science of Social Timing Part 1: Facebook and Twitter Social Networks. (n.d.). The Science of Social Timing Part 1: Facebook and Twitter Social Networks. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/science-‐of-‐social-‐timing-‐1/ 30 IBISWorld. (December 2013). IBISWorld Industry Report 8931: Cinemas in China. 31 Perkowski, J. (2013, March 1). China's Film Industry. Forbes. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jackperkowski/2013/03/01/chinas-‐film-‐industry/ Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China enterprises own chain cinemas and operate in several regions. The top four industry participants are estimated to hold a combined market share of over 39% in 2013, representing a low industry concentration level. Globally, China has overtaken Japan as the biggest movie market after the U.S. A recent Ernst & Young report even predicted that the U.S. movie box office would be eclipsed by China in 2020 32 . This chapter covers the birth, development and current situation of cinema in China. It also examines the opportunities and challenges within this industry, as well as its love-hate relationship with the Hollywood. i) Early cinema (1896 -- 1929) As Yingjin Zhang describes it in his book Chinese National Cinema 33 , the early period of cinema in China can be divided into three phases. At the first stage, films was as a new entertainment technology possessing an enormous appeal to Chinese audience and hence viewed as a potential tool to make money by the filmmakers. During that phase, films were intimately wedded to traditional theater (Jinju or Xiqu) and modern drama (Xinxi or Xinju), the latter widely known as the “civilized play” (Wenmingxi) from the late 1900s to the early 1920s. After years of development, movie gradually became a form of narration. Filmmakers began to explore the commercial value of the Cinema industry. They established film schools, launched film magazines and published film books. They incorporated with production companies with clear objectives and invested in 32 How the global box office is changing Hollywood. (n.d.). BBC Culture. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130620-‐is-‐china-‐hollywoods-‐future 33 Zhang, Yingjin. Chinese national cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China distribution and exhibition chains (Zhang, 2004). The concept of studio system began to sprout. One of the most influential “studios” to emerge in the early 1920s was Star Motion Picture Company (Mingxi). Finally, in the third phase, films studios in China were burgeoning. Serial titles and cheap imitations began to flood the market. The ferocious competition among studios overwhelmed the market and resulted in financial ruin for innumerable companies in Shanghai. One important milestone during this period was the release of The Burning of Red Lotus Temple (Huoshao Honglian Si), the first martial art film roaming the screen to the audience’s amazement. Overall, by 1920s, Chinese cinema had become a new form of entertainment, a unique type of art and an emergent cultural industry. However it was still not a full- fledged business. There was no vertically integrated system, and the operations of investment, production, distribution and exhibition of films were conducted separately by different organizations. In terms of film technology, especially camerawork and post-production, Chinese filmmakers still relied heavily on Hollywood expertise. ii) A Golden Age Period (1930-49) By the end of the 1920s, the “suicidal acceleration” in production had led to the bankruptcies of many small studios. United Photoplay Service (Lianhua) was launched during this critical time, with the mission of “reviving national cinema.”(Zhang, 2004.) It was a strong impetus to the flagging Motion Pictures Industry and marked the first “golden age” of early Chinese cinema. Representative works produced by United Photoplay Service include Memories of the Old Capital and Wild Flower, both of which broke box-office records at that time. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China In 1931, Japanese troops occupied the Northeastern China, taking away a substantial part of United Photoplay Service’s theater chain. Despite the Japanese occupation and depression, filmmakers in China did not cease their profession. Filmmakers and enthusiasts gathered together in Shanghai’s Foreign Concessions, which was known as “isolated island” at that time, for filmmaking. Making films wasn't easy. Filmmakers had to draw a fine line between their artistic ambition and the pressures from Japanese government. Eventually, the war was over and the film industry welcomed its second “golden age.” A dozen classics were born. Filmmakers started their own studios, producing films of high artistic quality and immense emotional appeal. Famous films at that phase include Crows and Sparrows, Spring in a Small Town and Night Inn. (Zhang, 2004.) iii) Film as a propaganda tool for Communist Party (1949-78) The golden stage didn't last long. Since the Chinese Communist Party founded the PRC in 1949, filmmakers and studios were under complete control of the Party, and film were deployed as the Party’s weapon of propaganda. Most films during this period were war-themed, with a typical storyline of the Chinese Army defeating the enemies to eulogize the Communist Party. The situation for the Motion Pictures industry worsened when the infamous Cultural Revolution broke out in 1966 and all feature films were suspended and censured. Overall, the period between the establishment of the new China and the end of Cultural Revolution was a dark stage for all filmmakers, studios and the whole Motion Pictures industry. Film art was fused with revolutionary politics and cinema functioned Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China all too extremely in propagating the socialist spirit and consolidating the power of the nation-state at the expense of the nation-people. This is a huge loss for the film industry, as well as a loss for China. iv) The post-Mao period (1979-89) After President Mao’s death in 1978, a wave of reform reinvigorated China. Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who advocated economic reform, modernization and liberalization in China, the Motion Pictures industry gradually recovered from the ultra-leftist’s suppression. Emerging from the new waves of reform and opening-up were new cinematic reflections on national and regional cultures. Filmmakers and studios were able to explore new genres and themes, which drove a blooming film industry in the early 1980s. Film had again become the most popular entertainment in China. During this period, a group of young filmmakers, such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, started to cut a figure. Their innovative film experiments in narrative and style had revolutionized the cinematic industry and broke into international markets. v) New cinema (1989- Current) During the early 1990s, Mainland Chinese filmmakers were largely influenced by Taiwan films and Hong Kong films. A growing number of Taiwan and Hong Kong films were been channeled to Mainland China, which al received high acclamation among Chinese audience. In 1999, Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wohu Canglong) captivated the Western world and achieved global success. Since that, the film industry in China has become more globalized, as an increasing number of Chinese films have entered the Western art-house circuits. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China At the turn of the millennium, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). This marks the beginning of a new era for Chinese films, an era of Hollywood integration and invasion. In 2002, Columbia Asia partnered with China Film Group to produce Feng Xiaogang’s Big Shot’s Funeral, which was released during the Chinese Lunar New Year, grossed RMB ￥38 Million (US$6 Million) in domestic box office. This was Hollywood’s first attempt to explore the enormous film market in China. Meanwhile, domestic filmmakers and studios were trying to apply the business model of Hollywood to the local market. Filmmakers started to invest more on film production and promotion to produce blockbusters. Zhang Yimou’s film Hero (2002) was a successful example. With an astonishing production expense of RMB ￥250 million (US$31 million) and a marketing cost of RMB ￥15 million (US$3 million), Hero hit a record in domestic box office with a total revenue of RMB ￥242 million (US$40 million) and marked the beginning of made-in-China blockbusters. II. Film publicity and marketing in China i) Brief History i. The government regulation and administration When films were first introduced to the Chinese audience, the demand largely exceeded the supply. The Chinese were so intrigued by this novel entertainment that they would watch any films, regardless of theme, style and content. The biggest problem for the Motion Pictures industry at that time was to made new films in the shortest possible time with the lowest production costs. Due to the lack of competition, it was unnecessary to market and promote films to the audience, and all the films being made were huge successes. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China The film industry was also heavily controlled and regulated by the Chinese government. The industry was government owned and operated, with the government owning the studios and financing, producing, distributing and exhibiting production. Therefore, the marketing and publicity of films were also supported and managed by the government. The film industry continued to thrive under the government’s powerful regulation and administration. ii. The origin of the film marketing With the reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China’s film industry gradually revived from the Cultural Revolution stagnation and embarked on the progress of industrialization. The lucrative industry attracted a large number of business pioneers and investors. They financed the filmmakers and boosted the whole industry. With the increasing number of film works being made each year, the industry became more saturated and competitive than ever, hence the marketing of films became a key issue. Film companies started to make and distribute film posters. Companies with bigger budget would also advertise on newspapers and run commercials on TV channels. In addition, filmmakers started to focus on movie themes that were popular among the audience during that time, such as the early martial arts-themed movies. iii. Turning point China’s entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was a turning point for the Motion Pictures industry. The increasing number of imported Hollywood films intensified the competition. It also gave local filmmakers and marketers the opportunity to observe and study the marketing model behind the Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China success of Hollywood films. As it is mentioned earlier, Zhang Yimou’s Hero is the first Chinese movie to borrow the Hollywood big-budgeted production blockbuster model. It also attempted to adopt Hollywood’s marketing approaches. After a long period of intense media hype, Hero premiered on Dec. 20 th , 2002 at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square, which is often used as the meeting place for the Nation People’s Congress for legislative and ceremonial activities and rarely functions as venue for commercial events. This controversial site selection, of course, attracted wide media coverage and built momentum for the movie’ official release date. Hero grossed RMB ￥98 Million (USD $16 Million) in one week and a total RMB ￥242 million (US$40 million) in the domestic market and an equally extraordinary record in East and Southeast Asia. ii) Current situation and problem Overall, the modernization of Chinese film marketing has just begun. From the introduction of the marketing concept, to the exploration of marketing approaches, film marketing in China is still relatively young and immature. Many of the unethical, underhanded and illegal practices from early stages haven’t been eradicated fundamentally. This section describes several key existing problems in China’s film marketing. i. The Invasion of Online Water Army One of the most rampant and egregious practices in Chinese film marketing is hiring Internet water army (Wangluo ShuiJun). Internet water army refers to the group of people who are paid to grade and review the film to create fake ratings online. It originated from online forums, where part-time workers were hired to Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China post topics around certain products/brands to increase the brand awareness among the forum users and to enhance online word of mouth for products and services. As online rating was becoming an important part of film’s word of mouth, major producers and studios in China started to hire PR agencies that provide said service to create fake ratings in major movie review website such as Douban Movie (Movie. douban.com) and Mtime (www. Mtime.com). Despite the fact that this practice is extremely unprofessional and unethical, it is a widely accepted tactic to promote the films in China. In 2012, the marketing team of the Last Supper, a film directed by Lu Chuan, first publicly admitted to the use of Internet water army to raise the rating on Douban. "Since we choose to stand under the sun, there's no need to hide [the fact]," Jing Li, a staff member worked for the Last Supper’s marketing campaign, wrote on her personal Sina Weibo account. Li later explained to the media that her team were forced to made this unprofessional move, as a competing film, 1942 by Director Feng Xiaogang, had earlier hired water army to attack the Last Supper on Douban. “There’s nothing to hide,” she said. “If the water army didn’t start it so crazily, our team wouldn’t have joined in.” The vicious competition caused by the use of Internet water army severely erodes moviegoers’ trust in online film ratings, as well as creates an unhealthy atmosphere that undermines the efforts by ethical public relations professionals in China. The invasion of Internet water army indicates an urging need for stricter policies to ensure fair competition in the Motion Picture industry and protect the rights of Chinese moviegoers. In a hope of eliminating said practice, the China Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China International PR Association released guidelines shortly after World Consumer Rights Day - March 15 - that specifically bar marketers from hiring Internet water army to change the online movie ratings. However, law regulation can only serve as a guideline, the real change calls for a higher ethical standard in PR professionals in China. ii. The shortage of professionals Along with the thriving economy in China is its booming PR industry. According to a survey conducted by the China International Public Relations Association in 2012, the annual turnover of the Public Relations industry had grown by approximately 24% in 2012 compared to 2011 34 . In addition to international players who have business branches in China, an increasing number of local brands and companies were starting to realize the value of PR in Integrated Marketing Communication. However, while the need for specialized and strategic PR counsel is growing, the number of professional public relations practitioners remains scarce. One of the major reasons behind this situation is China’s incomplete PR education system. PR was initially introduced as an elective course for students majoring in Marketing, Advertising, Journalism, Business Management, or Administration Management, at universities such as Peking University and Beijing Normal University. It wasn’t until 1994 that PR became an independent major. Currently, PR education still places priority to theoretical knowledge, even 34 中国公关业 2011 年度调查报告. (n.d.). 中国公关业 2011 年度调查报告_ 百度文库. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=S5Y76r6zezkbjx3_TAvvLA59FTzoKdpcs85rRg2quM_eGtKhkea0RyVEso1TnioSn8HWfQxMOn_P _wfBMQZI5Z0gk_yazoN7pRtrj-‐6Hp8K Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China though it is an industry that requires extensive practice and experience. Prof. Meiqin Huang, a veteran PR educator at Tongji University and the author of Public Relations, said during the interview “The PR major is young in China. Scholars and educators like me are still exploring an effective and systematical education system that could meet the growing need of PR practitioners in different industries. Currently, all PR courses are very broad -- there are no courses that are designed to tailor the need for a specific industry, say, Politics PR, or Entertainment PR.” For the Motion Pictures industry, the lack of specialized PR education courses as led to the shortage of professional film publicists and marketers. “Most fresh PR graduates came to the studios knowing nothing about film and film publicity, and this is a big problem for us.” says a publicist in HuaYi Media, one of the biggest film conglomerates in China. Besides the shortage of PR students, retaining and securing talented staff in is another major problem for most PR agencies in China. Compared to other countries like United States, employee loyalty is comparatively low in the China’s PR industry. It is very normal for PR practitioners to bounce from one agency to another because of higher salary, according to the publicist in HuaYi Media. III. The Hollywood/China Relationship i) Brief History In July 1897, James Ricalton, an American film showman from Maplewood, New Jersey, embarked on his journey to the far east to screen a program in Shanghai, China. The short film he exhibited was an episode from an early Edison film shot, and it soon Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China became phenomenal in China. Local newspaper in Shanghai described the film as “an American electric light shadow play,” which was “marvelous and illusionary, all beyond expectations.” Many believe that “Dianying (electric shadow)”, the Chinese term for “film”, may have derived from this moment 35 . Soon after that, the wave of imported American films swept over China. After World War I, U.S replaced France to become the major supplier of China’s imported films. Of the 250 cinemas in 1930, only 50 to 60 were Chinese films 36 . By the late 1930s, Hollywood films have already taken over 75% of the Chinese film market. And Charles Chaplin, an American film icon during the silent era, was widely acknowledged and loved among the Chinese moviegoers. However, the found of the PRC in 1949 ceased the import of Hollywood films to China, and the outbreak of the Korean War directly led to the ouster of American movies. During that time, The Communist Party treated films as a propaganda tool to rule the Chinese public, and Hollywood was an ivy poison that stood in their way of dictatorship. Starting from November 15, 1950, American films were completely banned in Mainland China. (Xia, 2002.) It wasn’t until two decades later that China finally opened its gate to Hollywood. Major studios such as Columbia Corporation, the 20th Century Fox Corporation and the Disney Company soon found their Chinese business partners and begun the Sino- American cultural exchange. 35 Wang, Ting. Global Hollywood and China's filmed entertainment industry. Evanston: Northwestern University, 2006. Print. 36 Wang, Ting. Global Hollywood and China's filmed entertainment industry. Evanston: Northwestern University, 2006. Print. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China In 1994, China’s Ministry of Radio, Film and Television introduced the policy of importing ten Hollywood movies to China each year. In the same year, the very first Hollywood blockbuster import The Fugitive hit the screens of 57 movie theaters in six key Chinese cities. Despite the lack of publicity and marketing, The Fugitive grossed a box office of USD $820,000 in the first ten days, with an eventual total gross of about RMB ￥25.8 Million(USD $3.15 million) (Groves, 1994). The Fugitive was not the only successful case; movies like True Lies, Lion King and Titanic all caused enthusiastic sensations in Chinese theatres. The total box office receipts for the country in the first half of 1995 increased by 50% over the same period in the previous year. Total receipts from the Beijing market rose by 80%, and movie attendance in Beijing that summer increased by 70% over the level of the previous year (Fang & Cheng, 1997; Kuhn, 1995). The invasion of Hollywood films posed huge challenge on China’s domestic filmmakers. Through the 1990s, 70% of the domestic films failed to make their ends meet, 15% lost money, and only 15% profited (Wang & Ren, 1999). From 1994 to 1999, the national box office income for domestic films fell by 65%, and dropped further by 2001 (Chen, Kehong 2002). While the domestic films were struggling, the Hollywood films continued to boost, with a total box office of RMB ￥600 Million (USD $72.46 Million) in 1998 (Mao, Qiang 1999, 6). ii) Current situation An Exciting Picture The strict restrictions that Chinese government set on the ownership of cinemas invested by foreign enterprises in this industry have been loosened since 2004. Before Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China 2003, foreign investment could only enter the Chinese market by establishing joint ventures with less than 49% of shares. Nowadays foreign investors can hold a maximum of 75% of shares in joint venture in seven major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan and Nanjing. However, wholly owned foreign cinemas are still not permitted to operate in China. In February 2012, China and the United States signed an agreement to open the imported films market. Based on the new policy, China raised the number of imported films by 14 to 34 annually on a revenue-sharing basis 37 . Foreign film companies will also be permitted to take a 25 per cent cut of the box office, compared with 13% previously. This new policy draws an exciting picture for the U.S. film industry, as Hollywood and China filmmakers are collaborating like never before. Mutual Benefits The Hollywood-China cooperation not only brings financial profits to the United States, also benefits the Chinese film industry in several ways. First, watching Hollywood films broadens the cinema experiences of Chinese audiences and raises their expectations. As audience become more sophisticated, they are less tolerant of low-quality domestic films. The Hollywood challenge thus spurs local filmmakers to improve their technique, update their equipment and become less isolated from contemporary world cinema. Secondly, as the Chinese government opens up the film market to foreign countries, more Hollywood studios have established joint ventures with local Chinese film companies and helped financing films or co-producing them. In 2010, Sony 37 China Mulls Upping Film Quota by 10 (Exclusive) -‐ Hollywood Reporter. (n.d.). The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-‐mulls-‐upping-‐film-‐quota-‐678697 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Pictures teamed up with Chinese local director Jiang Wen to produce Gone with the Bullets, one of the highest grossing domestic Chinese releases with a total box office of USD $140 million world widely; DreamWorks founded Oriental DreamWorks with Shanghai Media Group in 2012, which created job opportunities and largely boosted the Chinese film industry. By collaborating with U.S. production companies, the Chinese filmmakers are able to observe and study advanced film production technologies, which would eventually benefit the Chinese film industry. Hollywood also brought its successful business models to China. For instance, Hollywood introduced the revenue sharing model to China. In the revenue sharing model, distributors and exhibitors negotiate the percentage of the box office receipts each will receive. Incentives are better aligned between distributors and exhibitors as they share the risk together. Dayang Film company was the first Chinese film company to apply the revenue sharing model to a domestic film, Rouge. Following Rouge, In the Heat of the Sun, Red Cherry and Warrior Lanling were also distributed through the revenue sharing model, and turned out to be fairly successful. The Love-hate Relationship i. The rampant piracy in China IIPA, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, summed up China’s principal problem with its overall intellectual property regime as “the absence of effective and deterrent enforcement that will drive the local copyright industries into the ground” and referred China as “the piracy capital of the world.” In its 2012 special 301 38 , IIPA points out that the Internet piracy (including streaming 38 2012 Special 301 Report. (n.d.). Office of the United States Trade Representative . Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2012 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China piracy and sales of hard goods online) remains the largest threat to the U.S. film and television industry in China. The overall piracy rate of Motion Picture/Television has witnessed considerable decline over the past year, however, online sale of pirated hard goods is increasing, given China’s explosively growing E-commerce. A recently released study conducted by LEK Consulting group and commissioned by MPAA found that U.S. movie studios are losing about $6.1 billion annually in global wholesale revenue to piracy, about 75% more than previous estimated losses of $3.5 billion in hard goods. Losses are coming not only from lost ticket sales, but also from DVD sales that have been Hollywood's cash cow in recent years. China is listed as the largest pirated market for U.S. films, causing a total loss of $280 million to the Hollywood studios. Although the Motion Picture industry is not the one that bears the heaviest copyright revenue losses in China, it is one of the most visible in anti-piracy actions in China. MPAA works closely with Chinese customs in investigating, raiding, and cracking down on pirate factories and smuggling. ii. Film censorship in China China has the world’s most rigid film censorship. This is partly due to the government’s arbitrary system, as well as the absence of an effective rating system. Hollywood films with too many violent or sexual scenes will be banned from entering China. Sensitive topics such as the discussion of Chinese Communist Party will also be strictly regulated. Many Hollywood actors and Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China filmmakers were defeated and frustrated by this huge cultural barrier as it puts the authenticity and artistry of Hollywood films in danger. In December 1996, several U.S. film stars, including Paul Newman, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, signed a letter to the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., stating that the Chinese government's restrictions on filmmakers and writers were "wholly unacceptable." The letter also urged Beijing to stop designating which Chinese studios could sign agreements to distribute foreign films. Chapter Four: Social Media Marketing in China I. Social media in China Overview China has the largest netizen population in the world. According China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)’s 2013 Internet Report, China now has 591 million Internet users and 460 million mobile web users, indicating a steady growth from 420 million netizens in mid-2010. Along with the growing web penetration is the flourishing of the Chinese social media industry. There are an estimated number of 597 million active social media users in China. Instant Messaging (IM), Social Networking (SNS), Blogging and Microblogging are among the most popular online social activities that Chinese netizens engage with on a daily base. This chapter examines unique social media platform and users in China. As the survey results indicate that Sina Weibo, Douban Movie and WeChat are among moviegoers’ most frequently visited social media sites, these three sites will be analyzed thoroughly in the first sector. For the purpose of studying how the best social media practice on U.S. social media platforms can be applied to those in China, this chapter will also compare Sina Weibo and Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Douban Movie to their U.S. equivalents (Since WeChat is unique to China and doesn't have a U.S. equivalent.) The second sector of this chapter – the social media users in China – describes and summarizes the scale, features and special behaviors of Chinese social media users. i) Social Media Platforms The top 10 social networking sites in China, according to We Are Social, are Qzone (712 million users), Tecent Weibo (507 million users), Sina Weibo (500 million users), WeChat (300 million users), Pengyou (259 million users), 51.com (200 million users), Kaixin 001 (113 million users), Renren(172 million users), JiaYuan (73 million users) and Douban (172 million users). All these sites serve different purposes and attract different kinds of users. For instance, Sina Weibo, the Twitter-like Microblog site, is the top platform for social dialogue and brand marketing; Renren is favored by college students and is often being described as the “Chinese Facebook”. Qzone is a social site derived from and closely connected to Tencent QQ, the Instant Messaging service with the largest amount of registered users; Douban is the open forum popular among Neitizens for music, books and movies; and WeChat is a mobile IM application with social features, and it is the fastest growing social media platform in China. Findings from survey among Chinese moviegoers indicate that Sina Weibo, WeChat and Douban Movie were their three most widely used social media sites. Therefore, this sector will start with a comprehensive study of these three influential sites – their scale, audience, and how Hollywood marketers could utilize them as approaches to reach Chinese moviegoers. i. Sina Weibo Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China When the CEO of Sina (NASDAQ: SINA), Charles Zhang, initiated the microblogging site Sina Weibo in 2009, he never thought this experimental attempt would one day become one of the Internet’s social network giants. In Sina’s 2013 Q3 report, Weibo’s advertising revenue skyrocketed by 125 percent to 43.7 million dollars, up 46 percent from its 30 million dollars the previous quarter. Non-advertising income, such as that from membership fees and game revenue, also achieved a remarkable result – a 121-percent increase to 9.7 million dollars. Sina Weibo’s increase in revenue is the result of an increase in daily active users. Among 600 million registered users of Weibo, 60.2 million are active, according to Sina’s 2013 Q3 report. According to Sina Weibo’s 2013 User Development Report, its user demographic is basically gender-balanced, with its users being 49.9 percent female and 50.1 percent male. In terms of age, Weibo users are comparatively young. The Post-90s, the generation born between 1990 and 1999, is the social network’s biggest and fastest growing demographic group. In 2013, 53 percent of Weibo users were part of the Post-90s, compared to 37 percent in 2012. Most Weibo users are highly educated, with 70.8 percent of them having backgrounds of some college or university education or above. 39 According to the report, 44 percent of Weibo users spend their offline time watching movies. These numbers and data have enormous implications for filmmakers and marketers. As a matter of fact, a handful of Hollywood celebrities already have active presences on Weibo. Ian Somerhalder, the lead actor in the CW’s The 39 Sina Weibo User Demographics Analysis in 2013 (4 Part Series). (n.d.). China Internet Watch. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/5568/what-‐weibo-‐can-‐tell-‐you-‐about-‐chinese-‐netizens-‐part-‐1/ Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Vampire Diaries, has over two million followers on Weibo and frequently visits China for sponsorship and commercial events. His co-star in The Vampire Diaries, Nina Dobrev, also has a strong fan base on Weibo (with over two million followers). Both of their Weibo accounts are managed by FansTang, a local Chinese PR and marketing company that monitors and maintains accounts on Sina Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms for Hollywood celebrities. Sina Weibo provides a cost-effective platform for local film marketers to deliver promotional materials – trailers, footage, and news – to a large crowd instantly. The marketing of Tiny Times, a Chinese drama film written, co- produced, and directed by Jingming Guo, is a great example of how to utilize and magnify the power of Weibo. After the movie’s release in China, there was dramatic debate between movie critics and the fans of the original Tiny Times book. Even though comments and reviews from critics were overwhelmingly negative, the movie became a trending topic on Weibo and across the Internet, which contributed to Tiny Times’ astonishing box office return of 500 million renbinmi (77 million US dollars) Sina Weibo vs. Twitter When describing Sina Weibo, many Western marketers like to simply call it the “equivalent of Twitter” or a “direct replica of Twitter.” Admittedly, the two sites share many similarities. For example, they both feature a 140-character- limited microblogging function. They are both considered central online hubs for celebrities and influencers to connect with their fans. Also, the hashtag function that is popular among Twitter users can be applied as well to Weibo. In order to Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China study how the best marketing practices on Twitter can be applied to Weibo, it is essential to compare the differences between these two platforms. Interviews with both Chinese and American social media experts were conducted for this topic, and the findings of these interviews are finalized as below. 1. Twitter has a larger scale Twitter has never disclosed its total number of registered users, according to Business Insider. However, Twopcharts, a company that has been monitoring Twitter registrations for years, states that the total number of registered Twitter accounts is currently 883 million, as of the end of 2013. Compared to Twitter, Sina Weibo only has 600 million registered users as of the end of 2013. This is mostly because Weibo does not have as many international users as Twitter does – most Weibo users are in China and Chinese communities outside of China. Besides the number of registered users, another key metric for measuring the scale of social media platforms is MAU (monthly active user), which reflects the number of people that actually use the services and create value for marketers and advertisers. Based on the numbers provided by Market Watch, 40 Twitter has an average of 225 million monthly active users as of the end of March 2014, a growth of 44 percent from a year earlier. Among these 255 million active users, 77 percent are from international countries. By contrast, Weibo only has 143.8 million monthly active users, approximately 120 million less than Twitter, as of March 2014. However, Weibo has a very high penetration rate in China. According to the 40 Twitter tanks as user growth falls short Earnings Results. (n.d.). MarketWatch. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/key-‐number-‐of-‐twitter-‐16-‐million-‐new-‐users-‐2014-‐04-‐29 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China latest research from DCCI, Weibo users account for 88.81 percent of total Chinese netizens. In terms of revenue, Weibo is also behind Twitter. According to Sina Weibo’s IPO filing documents, Weibo’s revenue in 2013 totaled 188.3 million dollars. In comparison, Twitter reported nearly twice as much revenue at the time of its stock market debut. Both companies turned in an operating profit for the first time in February 2014 –Weibo raked in more than 3 million dollars in profits on an advertising revenue of 56 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2013 41 while Twitter reported a 9.77 million dollar net income at the same time. 42 2. Sina Weibo is richer in media Instead of being the “Chinese Twitter,” Weibo functions more like a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, with incremental usage related to news, photos, videos, sharing, and learning about products. Fueled by its parent company, Sina Corp (NASDAQ: SINA), Sina Weibo is integrated with other services from Sina Corp such as Sina Video, Sina Email, and Sina apps and games. The practice of attaching videos, music, and animated emoticons to posts is also more common among Weibo users, according to a focus group conducted among Chinese filmgoers that are also active Weibo users. This rich web of media allows marketers and brands to create more sophisticated and visual accounts for their brands. As it is described in MSL Group China’s white paper Best Practices in 41 Weibo Turns Its First-‐Ever Profit -‐ China Real Time Report -‐ WSJ. (n.d.). China Real Time Report RSS. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/02/25/weibo-‐turns-‐its-‐first-‐ever-‐profit/ 42 Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) Earnings Q4 2013: Twitter Finally Turns A Profit, But User Base Growth Is Slowing. (n.d.). International Business Times. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.ibtimes.com/twitter-‐nyse-‐twtr-‐earnings-‐q4-‐2013-‐twitter-‐finally-‐ turns-‐profit-‐user-‐base-‐growth-‐slowing-‐1553580 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Chinese Microblog Communications, Weibo effectively synthesizes the most popular qualities of China’s existing social media platforms: the characteristics of social network services; the convenience and immediacy of instant messaging applications; the individual touch of blogs; and the variety of BBS discussion topics. 3. Weibo is more social “For many people, Twitter is more about sharing and reading than conversing with other users. Twitter’s platform doesn’t encourage group conversations,” said Willis Wee, founder of Tech in Asia in a blog post in January 2011. 43 Wee thinks that, compared to Twitter, Weibo is more social. One of its services that focus on social features is threaded comments. With threaded comments, a Weibo user can easily read different types of comments, which are properly sorted under his or her posts with just one click (i.e., hot comments, comments from verified users, or comments from people he or she is following). The threaded comment feature not only encourages and simplifies user participation but also makes it easier for marketers to monitor and manage the online conversation among their target audiences. ii. Douban Overview Having started as a forum for people to record their travel memories and diaries, Douban found a niche market and gradually expanded into China’s biggest interest sharing network service, integrating a collection system 43 Willis Wee. "What Twitter Could Learn from China’s Sina Weibo." What Twitter Could Learn from China’s Sina Weibo. Tech in Asia, 4 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.techinasia.com/twitter-‐could-‐learn-‐from-‐sina-‐weibo/>. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China (information about books, music, and films), an expression system (reviews of books, music, and films), and a communication system (offline events, groups, and discussions). In its 2013 Annual Report, Douban announced that its number of unique visitors had passed 100 million and daily page views had reached 160 million, which was almost double the amount as the previous year. Currently, it has around 60 million registered users and 26 million active users per month with the numbers growing steadily. Demographically, the core users of Douban are young adults from urban cities. Among registered users of Douban, 39.13 percent are aged 19-24, 40.63 percent are aged 25-35, and 12 percent are over 36 years old. 70 percent of users are from first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing and most users have high incomes and large spending power. Overall speaking, “Douban-ers” are well educated, brand-conscious, urban, between the ages of 20 and 30 with above- average purchasing power. Douban as a marketing tool for movies • Douban Movie Douban Movie (movie.douban.com) is one of Douban’s most famous and frequently visited products. It is the largest online movie community in China. Similar to IMDb, Douban Movie allows registered users to rate, review and create content related to film. All the user-generated contents are open to unregistered users, which means that moviegoers can read reviews and ratings without signing up. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China According to the thesis survey that was distributed to 223 moviegoers, 65% of the participants consider Douban Movie as a comparatively reliable source for movie information and review. Besides providing a platform for movie lovers to communicate and share their opinions, Douban Movie has a valued added service of ticket booking that not only allows users to choose their theater, but also their seats. Mr. Xuling Liao, Marketing Director of 20st Century Fox China, talked about 20st Century Fox China’s partnership with Douban Minisite during the interview. Liao said, “Douban Movie is the biggest online film community. The country's movie lovers gather here to communicate and share their opinions about movies. That is to say, a large majority of our films’ target audiences are Douban users.” • Douban Minisite Douban Movie provides reliable and professional movie information to moviegoers. However, for movie marketers, besides making sure the information on Douban Movie is correct, there’re not they can do with Douban Movie in terms of communicating and interacting with their target audience. To better satisfy marketers’ need, Douban Minisite was born. Launched in 2009, Douban Minisite offers service and applications for movies and brands to set up their own communication page – similar function to Weibo corporate pages. However, unlike Weibo corporate page that has to follow the standard page layout and structure, Douban minisite allows marketers to create and design their own pages. Douban Minisite has strong multi-media Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China function and can host not only images, videos, articles, but also discussion boards, events and polling. It is perfect platform for user communication and interaction. Douban V.S. IMDb Douban is an original and innovative local Chinese site; therefore it is hard to compare it to any US social media platform. Douban Movie (movie.douban.com) has some similarity to IMDb (imdb.com), which is blocked in China interesting!. Movie lovers in China usually turn to Douban Movie for movie ratings and reviews. Both sites feature movie information such as show times and tickets, movie synopses, cast and crew information, posters, and trailers. booking that not only allows users to choose their theater, but also their seats. 1. Douban Movie is more conversational IMDb has the world’s most comprehensive and powerful film database, which covers almost all movies that have ever been produced. In addition to having basic movie information such synopses or cast and crew lists, it provides other strong and authoritative peripheral resources such as set photos, posters, and official trailers. Generally speaking, IMDb provides a massive amount of data, offers standardized information, and works in the favor of film researchers and enthusiasts that want to have an in-depth understanding of films. Compared to IMDb, Douban Movie is more inclined to encourage grass- root conversations about movies. It is more open and conversational; any registered user can write reviews and voice his or her opinion. However, this also has a major defect – some film marketers in China use it as an Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China opportunity to conduct unethical and unprofessional public relations and media manipulation. Recent years have witnessed a distressingly sharp increase in Wangluo Shuijun, a group of Internet ghostwriters paid to post online comments with particular content. Soon after film marketers discovered the commercial profits Douban carries, Wangluo Shuijun invaded Douban, resulting in biased ratings and reviews. iii. WeChat There is no doubt that the mobile landscape will be the next battlefield for social media in China. More than 69 percent of the Chinese population accesses the Internet through mobile devices, according to CNNIC’s 2013 Report. 44 The number of mobile phone users in China reached 464 million by the end of June 2013, having increased by 43.79 million since the end of 2012. WeChat (Chinese: Weixin) is a mobile instant messaging application developed and owned by Tencent Holdings Limited (OTCMKTS: TCTZD). Launched on August 8, 2012, WeChat already has more than 270 million active users and more than 2 million public accounts, with a growth rate of 8,000 per day. According to Tencent’s 2013 Annual Report, MAU of WeChat increased by 124.3 percent on a year-to-year basis. This rapid growth was supported by the introduction of a series of new services and features, with Friend Discovery (Pengyou Quan) being one of the most important contributors. According to Statista, 74.5 percent of WeChat users engaged in Friends Discovery as of 44 Statistical Report on Internet Development in China . (n.d.). CNNIC. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/20 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China October 2013 45 . Friend Discovery is WeChat’s extended social function. It operates differently than Weibo. While Weibo users often find themselves overwhelmed by information reposted by influencers or followers, Friend Discovery is private and focuses on relationships with only the people one chooses to include in one’s circle. More specifically, if you have not added people to your network, then you cannot see what they are posting and vice versa. Internationally, WeChat is also showing amazing developing momentum. In The App World Report, released by GlobalWebIndex, WeChat came fifth with 27 percent usage globally, a remarkable achievement in just the two years since its release. WeChat is a unique, innovative mobile social networking tool. It is not a clone of any US mobile application. However, its marketing potential for films is huge, not only because of its massive user base but also because, compared to microblogs and other social networking sites, WeChat allows film marketers to engage in substantive and direct communication. It is notable that, unlike on Sina Weibo, where posts can be re-forwarded to create a viral effect, the trending effect is very difficult to replicate on WeChat. If film marketers can attract consumers to subscribe to a film’s WeChat account, then they will have a tremendous opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of audiences. ii) Social media users in China CNNIC’s 2013 Internet Report indicates that by the end of December 2012, China’s Internet users has reached 564 million, with a total growth of 50.9 million users compared to last year. The Internet penetration rate reached 42.1% in China, 45 China: WeChat user activities 2013 | Statistic. (n.d.). Statista. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/285378/china-‐social-‐network-‐activities-‐of-‐wechat-‐users/ Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China rising 3.8% over the previous year. The growth extent further contracted compared with the last year. By the end of December 2012, China has had 422 million mobile phone Internet users, 64.4 million more than that of the end of 2011. Among all Internet users, those using mobile phones to access Internet increased from 69.3% at the end of 2011 to 74.5%. Demographically, 8 provinces and municipalities had Internet users accounting for at least half of their residents. The number of social media users in China is growing at a rapid pace, a higher rate than any other county in the world. According to eMarketer statistics on Feb 2013, it is estimated that more than 55.7% of all Chinese Neitizens (a total number of 300 million) will have access to social media by 2014 (an increase of 16.6% compared to the previous year.) Averagely, Chinese online users spend at least 46 minutes on social networking sites every day. 4 out of top 5 social networking sites by users numbers in Asia are from China. Collapse this part with the similar section above Chinese social media user V.S. U.S. social media user i. Younger Demographically, social media users in China are younger than social media users in the United States. Enfordesk concluded in September this year, with 47.8% female and 52.2% male; 32.8% from age 25-34; 39.6% from 15-24 and 21.8% from 35-44. Users of China’s top social networking sites are quite young, about 80% of which are between 20-34 years old. ii. More Active Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Two years ago, Netpop Research, a market research and strategy-consulting firm based in San Francisco, conducted a survey that was designed to study the features of Chinese social media users. Research indicates that Chinese social media users are more active online than American social media users. On average, Chinese social media users spend 4.8 hours per weekday online, compared with 4.2 for their American counterparts. But less active on weibo than their equivalent on twitter? Not only does the general social media users in China spend more time online, survey finding indicates that for Chinese moviegoers, it is normal to spend 10-20 hours on social media, while the number for U.S. is less than 10 hours. Netpop added: “93 percent of Chinese broadband users 13 and up contribute online, versus 73 percent of U.S. users, resulting in totals of 382 million and 123 million, respectively.” The activities that were considered “contributing online” by Netpop include original posting, photo uploading, ratting or reviewing products, tagging articles, photos or videos, updating locations, writing blogs, commenting and reposting. One fascinating aspect of China’s digital landscape is how openly netizens take to the cyber-streets to offer thoughts, opinions and guidance. Of China’s 500 million online users, half claim to be active bloggers. Wow! iii. Easily influenced by Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) Finally, because many Chinese are somewhat skeptical of formal institutions and authority, users disproportionately value the advice of opinion leaders in social networks.interesting An independent survey of moisturizer purchasers, for example, observed that 66 percent of Chinese consumers relied on Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China recommendations from online KOLs, compared with 38 percent of their US counterparts 46 . Last sector glanced the successful example of Tiny Times, and how the film’s Key Opinion Leaders Marketing contributes to the success. Traditionally, KOL refers to the group of people that not only provide information to the others during interpersonal communication, but also act as “activists” that would influence others’ behaviors. Their role as information intermediary and message filter is vitally important in mass communication, and even more significant when it comes to Internet and Web 2.0 In China social landscape there are usually 4 types of KOL: 1) Celebrities/stars 2) Organization accounts/Marketing accounts: who publish news and sponsorship posts (Fashion insider, sports nation, healthy lifestyle, etc., ) 3) Gurus in one field: who are professional in a specific industry (Yu Jianrong, Gu Dabaihua, Shi Yuzhu) 4) Grass root celebrities: normal people but with strong personal branding (Fengjie, Du xiaoming, Da lantang) Chapter Five ：Social Media Best Practices’ Applications in China Best Practice #1: Impact is highest when efforts are integrated – establish a seamless online presence over web, mobile, and social media with consistent and relevant messaging. 46 Understanding social media in China. (n.d.). McKinsey & Company. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China However, Sina Weibo should be used in place of a website functioning as the central hub and cornerstone. This best practice in U.S. films’ social media is also applicable to China. However, the most frequently used model in the U.S. – film’s official website as the central hub while other digital and social media assets as supportive elements – is not applicable to China. In China, most moviegoers don’t have the habits of visiting a movie’s official website for movie information. Instead, movie review sites such as Douban Movie and microblogs such as Sina Weibo play a bigger role in the integrated marketing model. According to the thesis survey that was distributed to 223 Chinese moviegoers, only 13 percent visit film’s official website for information, while the percentage visiting Douban Movie is 65 percent and Sina Weibo is 57 percent. This unique social media habit was also discussed during the focus group conducted among moviegoers 18-34 in China. One focus group member mentioned: “I always get my movie information on Sina Weibo and Douban Movie. I think these two sites have already provided me with enough information so I don’t need to visit the website. I can even buy my movie ticket on Douban, why would I need to visit the website if I can easily get the information I want on social media?” Chapter three thoroughly examined Sina Weibo, Douban Movie and WeChat to give an overview of their unique functions and characteristics. Sina Weibo, which enjoys the highest popularity among Chinese moviegoers and is most frequently used by brands, is the most suitable platform to function as a central hub for films. First of all, Sina Weibo can easily deliver promotional materials such as trailers, footage, and news to a large crowd instantly. Secondly, it is rich in media. Besides microblogging, Sina Weibo supports incremental multi-media usage related to photos, videos, sharing, and learning about products. Third, it is a perfect platform to Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China host and circulate content from other digital and social contents and drive Weibo users to visit other digital and social platforms. Douban Minisite is suitable for collecting and circulating UGC contents. And WeChat allows marketers to provide audience with personalized content to deepen conversations about what is happening in other channels. Therefore, to create a seamless and strategic online presence in China, one recommended model for film marketers to follow is Sina Weibo as the central hub and cornerstone, while using other digital assets as supportive elements in the integrated marketing model. Best Practice #2: Find your film’s USP and consistently communicate the USP through your social media messaging. However, the USP that resonates with U.S. moviegoers wouldn’t necessarily work for the Chinese audience. This practice is also applicable to the social media environment and moviegoers in China. However, U.S. marketers MUST note that the USP that resonates with U.S. moviegoers wouldn’t necessarily work for the Chinese audience, as the Chinese moviegoers are completely different from the U.S. moviegoers in terms of language to culture. For Chinese moviegoers, U.S. films represent and symbolize big budget blockbuster franchise with stunning visual elements and world-famous Hollywood stars. Compared to local films, U.S. films universally enjoy higher popularity among Chinese moviegoers when it comes to movie-watching decisions at theatres. According to the thesis survey, 48 percent of the participants agreed with the statement “I love watching Hollywood films” while 66 percent agreed with the statement “I love watching Hollywood films in movie theatres.” A focus group member expressed his passion towards U.S. films during the discussion. “Hollywood movies are Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China what made me like movies,” he said. “It’s a culture so easy to buy in to. It’s cheap, it’s fun, it’s constant, and sometimes, for us Chinese moviegoers, the ‘Made in Hollywood’ logo is the Unique Selling Point itself.” So how will the usp need to be different? Any guidance? Best Practice #3: Let your audience experience the story – use digital and social to create a virtual world that melds the movie world with reality. This practice is applicable to China. However, it is important to conduct research on the target audience in China and study their passion points before planning and executing the campaign. The “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” debate that created buzz on Twitter and Facebook wouldn't necessarily receive the same popularity among the Chinese moviegoers. Another adaptation suggested is to use Douban Minisite, instead of movie’s official website, as the platform for launching and hosting these interactive campaigns. Douban Minisite offers cost-effective services for movies to set up their own communication page and create and design their own pages. Douban Minisite has strong multimedia function and can host not only images, videos, articles, but also discussion boards, events and polling. Mr. Xuling Liao, Marketing Director of 20st Century Fox China, described the interactive campaigns that were launched on Douban Minisite during his interview: “‘Douban-ers’ are creative content generators, and they are enthusiastic participators in online activities. Therefore, our marketing approach on Douban is not simply running commercials and posting movie trailers; we plan interactive movie-related online activities that could resonate with the users. And Douban Minisite is a perfect platform to launch online social activities. For instance, for Ice Age 4, we launched a campaign on Ice Age 4’s Minisite called ‘How can I save you! My dear pinecone!’ Basically, what we did in this campaign was we asked ‘Douban-ers’ to Photoshop Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China pinecone into a variety of incredible scenes. And when Life of Pi was released in China, we invited Douban users to participate in a similar online competition in which they were asked to Photoshop different objectives into the poster of Life of Pi. Within a few days, this competition had attracted more than 1,000 Douban users to participate, and a lot of interesting posters were reposted to other social media sites such as Sina Weibo, which magnified the effect of our marketing campaign and triggered second conversations.” Best Practice #4: Social media contents should be conversational, engaging, contagious, and must be relevant to the Chinese audience. Chapter three examined the differences between U.S. social media users and Chinese social media users. One key insight generated from the comparison is that Chinese social media users are generally more active. On average, Chinese social media users spend 4.8 hours per weekday online, compared with 4.2 hours for their American counterparts. 93 percent of Chinese broadband users 13 and up contribute online versus 73 percent of U.S. users, resulting in totals of 382 million and 123 million respectively, according to Netpop Research. The practice of communicating and engaging with films via social media is also popular among moviegoers in China. According to the thesis survey, 78 percent of moviegoers have interacted (comment, forward or post original contents related to the film) with one or more films’ social media accounts. China has probably the most unique and complicated social media culture. Social media gave birth to internet slang and phrases commonly used by Chinese netizens and local marketers. In order to create content that is contagious, it is important for U.S. film marketers to learn, understand and capitalize on trending topics and cultural phenomena. How do they do that? Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Partner w/chinese organizations? Hire specialists? Would be nice to make some recommendations here. Case Study: Love Is Not Blind (Chinese: Shilian 33 Tian) Love Is Not Blind was originally an online novel series on Douban by Bao Jingjing, who is an active Douban user and influencer. The movie Love Is Not Blind was adapted by Perfect World (Beijing) Production Co. and directed by Teng Huatao and set to release on November 11, 2011, known as the Singles’ Day in China. Challenged with the competitions from three Hollywood blockbusters -- Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Real Steel and Immortals -- Love is Not Blind surprised the film industry with an astonishing $7.99 million opening. In only six days, the film attracted nearly six million audiences and scored over 90,000 nationwide screenings, which accounted for 39% of total film screenings during that period in China. With a staggering total box office of over $62 Million, Love is Not Blind exceeded the estimated number by over ten times and is deemed a miracle in China's film industry. A big contributor to this low budget movie is its pre-release social media marketing campaign, which capitalized on the popular cultural phenomenon of the Single’s Day and the attention it attracted to instantly and virally spread film information among the target audience. In China, November 11 th is named Singles’ Day because the date 11-11 is reminiscent of the Chinese phrase -- bare branches (Chinese: Guanggun)-- for bachelors and spinsters. Many young and single Chinese celebrate the day with their single friends by going out to have a splendid meal, going to bars and clubs, watching romantic comedy movies, or, just making fun of their "Not-Single" friends. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Love is Not Blind was slated to release on the Ultimate Single’s Day (2011-11-11). To monetize on the topic, the marketing team planned and launched a series of online and offline activities to tie in with the Single’s Day discussion. The marketing team conducted interviews with young adults in eight major urban cities -- Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Chongqin, Changsha, Shenyang, and Beijing – about their single statuses and lives. These interviews were then collected and compiled into 14 different short videos. The marketing team unveiled one video each week, which was featured in the “Single’s Museum” as well as the Love Is Not Blind’s Weibo accounts. Within one month, the video series has passed 4 million hits online and caused a sensation on Sina Weibo and other Chinese social media sites. Over 670 million posts on Sina Weibo were related to Love Is Not Blind, and over 440 million posts on Tencent Weibo. Best Practice #5: Employ timing technique – schedule posts around the time when target audience visit social media to maximize ROI. Timing is as much an art as it is a science, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this practice. The day and time that attract higher social media attention and engagement rate could vary vastly from those in China. For example, according to the 2013 Corporate Weibo White Paper released by Sina Weibo and CIC, Weibo users are more active on Wednesday and Thursday, weekends and during 6pm to 11pm, while study conducted by KissMetrics suggests that CTR (Click-Through Rate) on Twitter spikes during noon to 6 PM and on weekends. The insight indicated in Sina Weibo’s whitepaper coincides with the thesis survey findings. Among 223 moviegoers that participated in the survey, 58 percent said they normally visit social media sites during 6pm to 10pm; and 79 percent claimed to spend more time on social media sites during weekends. However, besides timing, there are also many other aspects that decide Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China the engagement rate. Therefore, it is worth spending time on target audience’s social media habits, especially the time they normally visit social media sites to decide social media strategy. Best Practice #6: KOL is an important part of China’s social media culture and harness the power of KOLs is the key to achieve viral marketing for U.S. films. This practice is unique to China. While comparing Chinese social media users to U.S. social media users, one key insight generated from primary and secondary research is that Chinese social media users are easily influenced by KOLs. According to McKinsey & Company, 66 percent of Chinese consumers relied on recommendations from online KOLs, compared with 38 percent of their US counterparts. According to the thesis survey conducted among 223 moviegoers, 78 percent are following KOL on Sina Weibo, 57 percent on Douban, and 62 percent on WeChat. The significance of KOL in china makes them cornerstones of building social media accounts in China for films. “To the average netizen, KOLs are like the big brothers and big sisters that they respect and admire,” said Barney Loehnis, Head of Digital of Ogily & Mather Asia Pacific in an article posted on Ogilvy’s blog, “People look up to them to give them guidance and opinion, and in a nation of controlled sate media and a nation of single children, KOL’s play a crucial independent role – who doesn’t seek opinion from their siblings to provide a moral compass.” How do you find the appropriate opinion leaders for your topic? Case Study: Say Yes (Chinese: 101 Ci Qiuhun) Say Yes is adapted from a 1991 classic Japanese TV drama series of the same name, which was a hit at that time in Japan. With ￥30 Million ($5 Million), the movie Say Yes grossed RMB Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China ￥47 Million ($8 Million) on the first day box office on Valentine’s Day, and brought in ￥190 Million ($ 30 Million) in less than two weeks. In order to harness the influence and strong online presence of movie’s cast members, Say Yes maintained an on-going interaction with the Huang Bo and Lin Chiling on Sina Weibo. Besides the cast member, Say Yes also partnered with influential movie marketing accounts as well as other organizational accounts. For instance, Say Yes is filmed in Shanghai, and many tourist attractions in Shanghai are featured in the film. Therefore, the marketing team approached Le Tour Shanghai, the official Weibo account for Shanghai Travel and Tourism Administration, and the two planned and executed “Tour Shanghai with Say Yes,” an online tourist’s guidance that offers tips and recommendations for those who are new to the city. This part doesn’t seem that different from US. Explain a bit more how opinion leaders function differently in China? Chapter Six: Conclusion China has emerged as the second-largest market for movies and the biggest international market for U.S. films. Film box office in China hit $1.08 billion in the first quarter of 2014, more than the total for the entire year of 2009. Despite the rising price of movie tickets, visiting the cinema is an inexpensive form of entertainment compared with other leisure activities such as visiting theme parks. Driven by increased demand and rising cinema numbers, the industry is forecast to continue growing strongly at 13.8% annually over the next five years to $6.9 billion in 2018 47 . During Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to the US in February 2012, China agreed to enlarge its quota for revenue sharing imports of foreign films from 20 per year to 34 per year. Since its 47 IBIS World Industry Report 8932: Cinemas in China, December 2013 Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China decision to open up its film industry, major Hollywood studios and filmmakers have seized the largely untapped yet promising Chinese market. China’s thriving cinematic industry draws an exciting picture to U.S. filmmakers and marketers. As more Chinese moviegoers start to embrace social media platforms, U.S. movies and entertainment content providers must increase collaboration towards social integration in China. This thesis studies social media best practices for Hollywood films and how these practices can be applied to China. Secondary research of journals, trade publications, books and past dissertations, as well as case studies of successful film digital marketing campaigns, indicated that there are mainly four best practices for film social media marketing in the U.S. This thesis then proceeded to study the differences and similarities between U.S. social media platforms/audience and Chinese social media platforms/audience. Primary research, including one survey, two focus groups and three interviews, was conducted to examine how aforementioned practices could be applied to China. The findings are finalized as below: • Best Practice #1: Impact is highest when efforts are integrated – establish a seamless online presence over web, mobile, and social media with consistent and relevant messaging. However, Sina Weibo should be used in place of a website functioning as the central hub and cornerstone. • Best Practice #2: Find your film’s USP and consistently communicate the USP through your social media messaging. However, the USP that resonates with U.S. moviegoers wouldn’t necessarily work for the Chinese audience. • Best Practice #3: Let your audience experience the story – use digital and social to create a virtual world that melds the movie world with reality. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China • Best Practice #4: Social media contents should be conversational, engaging, contagious, and must be relevant to the Chinese audience. • Best Practice #5: Employ timing technique – schedule posts around the time when target audience visit social media to maximize ROI. • Best Practice #6: KOL is an important part of China’s social media culture and harness the power of KOLs is the key to achieve viral marketing for U.S. films. (Unique to China) This thesis thoroughly analyzes the unique social media landscape and audience in China to provide guidelines for successful and effective social media marketing to U.S. films in China. However, film marketing is much an art as it is a science, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to these practices. Film marketers should always conduct comprehensive research on target audience and social channels before applying these practices to their social and digital media campaigns. Yiqi Ling Social Media Best Practices for Hollywood Films and their applications to China Bibliography 1. Wang, T. (2006). Global Hollywood and China's filmed entertainment industry. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University. 2. China Mulls Upping Film Quota by 10 (Exclusive). (n.d.). The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-mulls-upping-film-quota-678697 3. 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Asset Metadata

Creator Ling, Yiqi (author)

Core Title Social media best practices for Hollywood films and their applications in China

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 07/16/2014

Defense Date 05/15/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag China,Chinese movie,film,Hollywood,Marketing,movie,OAI-PMH Harvest,practice,social media,social media marketing,social media strategy,strategy

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Swerling, Jerry (committee chair), Thorson, Kjerstin (committee member), Yang, Aimei (committee member)

Creator Email sophielingyq@gmail.com,yiqiling@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-442797

Unique identifier UC11287060

Identifier etd-LingYiqi-2701.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-442797 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-LingYiqi-2701.pdf

Dmrecord 442797

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Ling, Yiqi

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA