How USA Uses Social Media and Gaming To Gain Viewers

Catch the Hash Tag Killer and win

By Kate Croston, Internet Service

This is a special guest post by one of our AnyMeeting users. Want to write for the AnyMeeting blog? Get the details.

So you want to market your business with social media? You’ve tried to get started on Twitter and Facebook, and it has been modestly successful. But you just want that edge. That little push that’ll put your company over the competition. Something beyond ads and discounts; beyond reward programs and loyalty points. There has to be something more.

There is. Social media is just that- social. People want to interact, to become part of a community, to feel like a family. They want to know people, not robots, and want more than just information. They want to experience. But how can you do that?

One example of truly using social media to the fullest is USA’s (a cable network) experiment. Using the show Psych, a crime/comedy geared towards 18-30 year olds, USA is both overcoming an obstacle and strengthening their fan base. Using social media, they are breaking the marketing mould.

First of all, they had to overcome a huge obstacle for cable television. Their moderately popular show, Psych, was airing months later than it was supposed to. There were all kinds of reasons for that, but the point is they were going to lose viewers. How did the company fight the loss? In a truly ingenious way.

You would assume that they would run commercials promoting the new date and time for the show. And you’d be right. But beyond the creative (and funny) commercials, they knew they had to do more. Social media was the answer. But how do you get people onto your site to even receive the Tweets or wall posts? The answer was truly inventive.

You make a game. That’s right, a game. An online, weeks-long, crime-solving game. And you use the real actors from the show. Sure, it takes some planning, a lot of creative programming, and a little screen time, but it will pay off. Big time.

Using the actors gives the game a gravitas. A reality. The fans don’t just play a game; they interact with the characters they love. They become part of a community, joining together to find clues and stop the Hash Tag Killer before he strikes again.

Best of all, every time they play they earn points towards online and actual stuff. So they keep coming back. But to join the game they must sign in using either their Twitter or Facebook accounts. When they join, they give USA permission to post to their sites. So, not only does USA get their participation, they also get to solicit their friends and followers.

Marketing at its finest. The fans get something, the company gets something, and everyone goes away happy. Not only that, but USA expands its network without any more effort. A fun game equals word of mouth, and more people to come play. After all, who doesn’t want to be Sherlock Holmes?