In the modern era, we live much of our lives online. For work, leisure, shopping, entertainment, the first place we turn is our screens, and like everything else, this trend has impacted moviegoer behavior. Just as online ticketing has become a must for cinemas, engaging with your audiences where they spend their time is an incredibly valuable tool.
Social media is everywhere, and for cinemas it’s a perfect tool, your personal megaphone to connect with your moviegoers, promote events and new releases, and foster community in your audience.
We’ve put together some key tips on how to make the most of your marketing by leveraging social media more effectively.
Crafting a great social media post
- Captions — keep captions snappy! An average of 150 characters is the ideal length, and you can drive intrigue by incorporating numbers like percentages, or using Top 5 style lists within your captions. (Just like this!)
- Creative — With images and videos, use bold and contrasting colors, and include your company logo in the corner of the creative. As a tip, Canva is a free, useful tool to easily make impactful creative assets.
- Embrace the Emoji! — Emojis help to infuse a little personality into your posts, and keep things visually interesting. Ensure every emoji serves a purpose: 💥 for emphasis, ➡️ to direct attention to a link. Encourage engagements like voting with 👍 and 👎.
- Call-to-action — Engage your community by asking questions, encouraging comments, or providing links to your website for your audience to click and buy tickets.
- #Hashtags — Hashtags help to increase the #reach of your posts, but make sure they’re relevant and topical, e.g. #movies when tickets go on sale. As a rule of thumb, stick to max 1-2 hashtags per post.
Your social media platforms
Now that you know how to craft the best social posts, where do you publish them? Each social media platform serves its own purpose, attracting unique audiences and requiring different content strategies.
- Audience: Skewing older — 25-54
- Best for: Building community with Facebook Pages or Groups
- Best use: Share engaging posts, videos, and images that create discussion with your audience
- Audience: Primarily younger —18-34
- Best for: Visual and interactive storytelling via high-quality images, stories, and reels
- Best use: Use relevant hashtags and location tags to increase discoverability
TikTok
- Audience: Younger —under 25
- Best for: Short, unpolished creative storytelling, brand awareness
- Best use: Create humorous and entertaining content that align with current TikTok trends to increase visibility
X (Formerly Twitter)
- Audience: News journalists, influencers
- Best for: Real-time conversations, trending topics, and customer service
- Best use: Reply to mentions, retweets, and participate in conversations using trending hashtags
- Audience: Industry professionals, job seekers
- Best for: B2B marketing, professional networking, thought leadership, and industry insights
- Best use: Share long-form content for thought-leadership, success stories, company updates
Free tools to jazz up your marketing materials
Creating marketing materials that catch your audience’s eye doesn’t have to be difficult. There are a number of tools available to help you create stunning assets with ease or to craft first drafts of copy with the aid of AI. Here are a few tools we recommend:
Canva: create eye-catching visuals using a wide range of templates and design elements, without needing advanced design skills.
Google Gemini or ChatGPT: AI-powered tools that enhance copywriting by generating engaging and tailored posts quickly for different applications including emails, social media, etc.
Unsplash: Provides free high-quality images that you can use in your marketing materials.
Grammarly: Helps you write clear and error-free content by checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
movieXchange Film: As part of your Veezi subscription, get free access to movieXchange Film for up-to-date film information and high-resolution, studio-official creatives: posters, stills, trailers, and more.
Content types to get your audience buzzing
- Short-form video — Snappy and engaging, short-form video is the perfect, digestible form of content for an audience on the go. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are designed for short (<15 sec) videos that are easily consumable and engage audiences. Sharing a brief video of a movie trailer or a sneak peak of your cinema’s events can grab attention, and encourage your audience to share your content with their friends.
- Static/images — A picture is worth a thousand words! A good image can tell a story in a way that text alone can’t. High-quality photos, and studio-official movie media via movieXchange can highlight the films you have currently showing, your cinema’s unique ambiance, and build excitement for special screenings and events.
- User-generated content (UGC) — User-generated content, elements that come directly from your moviegoers, can be valuable to show both authenticity and community. Sharing content created by your followers—as simple as reposting a moviegoer’s photo of their experience at your cinema, or sharing their positive review—can encourage not only that moviegoer to feel more engaged, but promote a sense of community and encourage others to visit as well.
- Stories — Instagram/Facebook Stories’ 24-hour lifespan creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Having Stories encourages viewers to keep an eye on your profile so they don’t miss out, and sharing a Story about a promotion or special event happening that day can prompt immediate action.
- Memes — Everyone loves a bit of fun, and adding relatable, sharable humor to your content can make your social media presence more engaging and personable. Sharing trends and memes about the excitement of watching a new movie, sharing popular scenes—or quotes—can resonate with your moviegoing audience.
Go forth!
With these tools at your disposal, you can turn social media into a secret weapon of your marketing. To stay updated with our latest marketing tips and insights, and join the Veezi community, follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn, and stay tuned for more!