AB

Tag: Social Media

  • Kanye West – New Slaves [Video] SoHo, NYC

    Kanye West – New Slaves [Video] SoHo, NYC

    “No one man should have all that power.” – KanYeWest

    Kanye West does it again! The world’s most interesting artist took it back to the streets and offered his mobile fans an opportunity at an exclusive sneak peek at his latest video for “New Slaves.” This guerrilla marketing tactic is a part of a larger 66-show campaign across the globe. There were several shows in New York City alone.

    I found out about it via Twitter and jumped up out of bed to get to SoHo. Someone tweeted about a live Kanye performance up the street in Williamsburg and I quickly found out that there were other shows going on in the New York area. I threw on some clothes and hopped on the train. You can already guess that it didn’t start on time. I struck up small talk with another guy there commenting on how we’re all suckers and even joked about leaving, but we both knew the truth: Neither one of us was going anywhere.

    Being there was literally like being a part of a huge social experiment. People flocked like sheep to each rumored video location in the city and any suspicious shadow in a building window or especially bright light in an alley attracted nearly every attendant to see if Kanye himself would pop out. It was sheer genius in my eyes. I envisioned some experimenter in a high rise building on the corner hurriedly jotting down notes about our behavior and I laughed to myself. As soon as the truck pulled up with the mobile show, everyone’s phone came out as they rushed to share the experience with their followers. Personally, I was active on Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and YouTube. That’s what marketers call a Social Media Grand Slam! (Actually, there is no such term, but if you see it out, you know where you heard it first.)

    This is definitely not the first, nor the last, posting you will see about Kanye West’s, “New Slaves.” Enjoy.

  • How ABC’s Scandal Makes Money off of Twitter

    How ABC’s Scandal Makes Money off of Twitter

    Everybody breathe.

    It doesn’t matter if you’ve just started watching ABC’s Scandal or have been watching since episode 1, no one can deny Shonda Rhimes’ creativity and talent in creating an infectious television series. Her characters capture our attention and the plot lines keep us begging for more week by week. She’s repeated this in “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Private Practice”, and now “Scandal”.

    Perhaps even more impressive is the show’s masterful usage of social media. If you don’t watch the show, I’m willing to bet you’ve gotten 140-character snapshots into the plot due to a friend’s tweet or Facebook status. Yes, this has a purpose! Every Thursday the show comes on, I’m simultaneously glued to my television and my twitter feed. Apparently, so are over 2,000 tweeters per minute when the show is on (according to Hollywood Reporter).

    What do those tweets mean for Scandal, ABC, and Shonda’s pockets?

    show-me-the-money

    While seemingly the entire twittersphere, including the actual Scandal cast, are talking about the show, our followers and their followers are watching. Their interest grows until they can no longer stand it and eventual search the show for themselves. Slowly, they meander from ABC’s website, to Netflix, to the their television sets on Thursday nights. This all equals advertising dollars for ABC. As they increase their viewership due to an excellent writing and a fervent following, the advertising dollars pile in because more and more brands will want to take advantage of the captive and highly engaged audience.

    I predict that the folks at Scandal and ABC will be researching ways to quantify and further monetize all the tweets they gather from their fans. I’d look to this show and others like it to set the tone for a new wave of television-meets-social-media advertising.