“We always start with strategy,” says Chizoba Ezeh, manager of digital marketing and social media at Disney/ABC Television Group. “Always. We start with strategy and the creative flows from that.”

In Thursday’s PromaxBDA Master Class, “Digital First, Social Always,” Ezeh, who has worked on campaigns at ABC including the TGIT lineup of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, holds firm that marketing strategy and digital engagement are always top of mind at ABC, with the promo often coming second.

She says that strategy starts with these three questions:

-How to keep the audience engaged during a long hiatus?

-How do we turn fans into super fans?

-What is the appropriate amount of messaging?

For TGIT, for example, ABC ran a withdrawal campaign during the off-season of those three shows, talking to fans every day on social platforms as well as on-air spots. The ABC team simply followed fans’ existing conversations about missing their favorite shows and they noticed them using words such as “withdrawal” and “addiction.” The team used “that spark of gold” to respond to the conversation that was already happening. So in the hiatus before the shows’ midseason returns, ABC ran PSA-like creative across ABC’s own air and social sites.

Ezeh stresses that while they want to keep the attention of its audience, it’s always important to create a “sense of longing” during the hiatus as well through social and shareable content. For ABC, that content was video, which her team finds to be slightly more popular than the other oft-used options of GIFs, photos and memes. The offseason campaign started with social at its core, according to Ezeh, and spread from there to other platforms.

Robert Rodriguez, head of digital media at Fox Deportes, says his channel “likes to be winners by losing.” His team posts more than 50 things per day, ad he says combing through those posts (some of them not entirely winners) to find the winners is what helps him and his team grow. Finding the posts that get shared, retweeted and commented on, according to Rodriguez, is how they craft their next move - following the form that has just worked and improving on it.

Fox Deportes was the first Spanish-language network to partner with Twitter Amplify to bring sports content to viewers, specifically with Champions League. The plan worked well, according to Rodriguez, because Twitter followers could see up-to-the-moment game updates and videos along with the network.

In the sports business, Rodriguez says, having great relevant content and being able to share highlights in real time is a big advantage for Fox Deportes as well.

Rodriguez adds that Fox Deportes’ new responsively designed website allows its content to be accessible to fans whenever, wherever, and that also helped drive the channel’s digital success.

Luis Morales, senior manager of social media at Fox Deportes, says Fox Deportes’ strategy includes much more than just soccer.

“How do we stay in the game by posting original content and doing something special for all sports?” That includes F1, MLB Hall of Fame and the NBA as well as keeping up with athletes who are involved in political issues, such as LeBron James and others.

“You have to be more impactful in less time,” says Morales, adding that thinking creatively surrounding games (not just during) makes the biggest difference. Timely posts that engage fans directly after a big game can promote the brand more than anything else.

“We have to learn from our competition, but we also have to learn from you – our audience,” said Morales.

See the trio’s digital-first tips and tricks and the full video on demand at promaxbda.org.

[PromaxBDA is the publisher of Brief and Daily Brief.]

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