ASA Productions & Enterprises is a fast-growing entertainment company. In 2008, they produced and distributed a successful Bollywood Horror movie, 1920. A sequel to the first, 1920 Evil Returns, was released on Nov 2nd, 2012. This is the first instance when the production house considered digital & social media for movie promotion. Although implied, they had no online presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. IntelliAssist was engaged for a period of 45 days to manage digital marketing.
An official Facebook page was created and first look of the movie was launched. To grow its fan base IntelliAssist quickly started promoting the page to targeted audience (age: 18 – 35 years, Location: India, Interest #Horror) with help of Facebook ads and sponsored stories. In parallel, an official fan page for Mr. Vikram Bhatt (writer & producer) and ASA Productions & Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. was created.
Custom Apps like Exclusive Stills showcase and Top Fan dashboards were used to enhance engagement. Active fans were recognized and rewarded; this in turn motivated other fans to actively participate and contribute. A picture contest (based on audience voting) was announced to create buzz and increase viral reach of the page. Content strategy revolved around announcements (news bytes, video upload etc.), sharing movie stills and creation of interesting polls. Although considered harmful for a brand, several fan-created posters were shared on the page; this helped in increasing the feeling of belongingness and the community appreciated the same.
One poster was created exclusively for Facebook; this featured entire team (cast and crew). It reached 1,27,482 people on Facebook page and spread virally to several other websites. The poster received encouraging feedback; this was eventually used in all print & outdoor media at the time of movie release.
Facebook promoted posts were used to promote YouTube videos. This trafficking strategy proved beneficial as two videos were meant for adult audiences and YouTube paid advertisement was not possible for the same. Facebook played a vital role in increasing video views for these videos. Also, good ROI on advertising campaign was recorded as not only fans on movie page increased but also other two Facebook fan pages were promoted on the platform.