Social Media Week continued with an event showcasing the role of social media in the entertainment world, suitably hosted at the B.B. King Club on 42nd street.
If you consider that many people use their social network for entertainment, it is no surprise that the music-, film and fashion industries are busily embracing these channels.
Film
Matt Spangler, EVP of Content and Marketing for Tribeca Enterprises, outlined how the Tribeca Film Festival is using the social platforms. Unsurprisingly, Twitter is used to keep fans up-to-date and uses its own hash tag for the festival. Facebook gets posts that, according to Matt, don’t feel significant enough to go on their site. But with 120000 Likes it fits its purpose perfectly.
Tumblr (150000 followers) is all about memes and inside jokes. Instagram and Vine are becoming increasingly popular and will play a bigger role in the future.
Because it is a local event, it also employs FourSquare and recently EventBrite to offer mobile ticketing. Matt’s message is:”Participate!” That’s why the festival is offering a Social media toolkit for anybody who needs to learn how to use the new tools.
Cityscape
Tim Tompkins, President of Times Square Alliance, employs social media to capture the diversity and energy of New York, concentrated on Times Square. “Expect the unexpected” is Tim’s message. Last year’s solstice yoga sessions in the middle of the square or the New Year countdown are just two examples that underline this statement. Tim also pointed out that WiFi is freely available on the island of Times Square.
Times Square is one of the top ten most Instagram-ed places, a visual feast that sends out a different emotional message for everybody. That’s why Instagram and Tumblr play a prominent part in Tim’s social media strategy. Sometimes celebrities are enlisted to amplify that message. It is, as Tim says, about “building relationships and touching peoples’ heart”.
Music
Amy Hintz, CMJ’s marketing director, oversees NYC’s largest music event, the CMJ Music Marathon. Since the yearly event features over 1200 acts in 80 locations, Amy started using social media to help participants, fans and musicians to “cut through the noise” of the multitude of events going on.
Amy emphasizes that CMJ employs a holistic approach to social media. It is all based around music discovery, but it reaches beyond promotion. Twitter is used for real-time updates and Tumblr emerges as a growing platform. Instagram and Vine are also becoming more popular.
“We want to guide, not interrupt” Amy says. The new platforms are used to extend the brand discovery, to guide and connect.
Fashion
The annual New York Fashion Week (now known as the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week) is normally a closed event. Designers are apprehensive that their new ideas don’t leak to the public prematurely and like to keep themselves and their tribe locked in during the event.
But this attitude is now changing as Jarrad Clark, global director of production at IMG Fashion, pointed out. The event is not any more just about the seasonal delivery of new fashion. Today’s designers are not afraid to share their collection and to include the wider audience via social media platforms.
Marketing content can be repurposed and shared on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Shows are even live-streamed on Facebook, hash tags are used to interact with fans. Virtual versions of the events are created and shared; first reactions and opinions are aired in real-time between shows. Story boards on Pinterest tell their stories about designers and their collections.
That sounds all fast-moving and happening, just like the fashion itself. Seems that fashion is finally keeping up with technology.
