Classification of tools for promoting films in social networks and the Internet/Классификация инструментов продвижения фильмов в социальных сетях и Интернете

To develop the right promotion strategy for a movie, it is important to take into account the dynamics of a user interest in it.

There are several areas in which it is advisable to use certain digital tools, depending on the genre of the film and the target audience for which the film is intended, to choose the most relevant channels for placing advertising materials. It is also necessary to take into account the period of time when the film promotion takes place.

Robert Marich, an American business journalist and analyst, gives a classification of advertising types in new media in his 2013 work «Marketing for Moviegoers: A Desktop Book of Strategies and Tactics».

1. Official website. This type of a movie promotion involves creating a stand-alone web page, or placing a movie page on an existing popular site or social network, for example, Facebook
2. Sponsorship or social media marketing is linked with Facebook, Myspace, Twitterfor movie and contest pages
3. Flash- advertising. In this case, the promotion tools are advertising on site pages and viral advertising.
4. Multimedia advertising. Banner ads on the Internet with multiple interactive touchpoints (such as audio recordings, videos, and likes). Points of contact are measures of a user activity, and they are used to view the conversion rate in the future.
5. Placement of trailers. Basically, free placement of movie trailers on various sites. Exclusive trailers may include paid accommodation.
6. A viral campaign. This method involves placing content that arouses a great interest of users and a desire to share it with the social circle. The most common channels for hosting viral campaigns are social networks, forums, blogs, communities, Internet information portals, video hosting sites, and photo hosting sites.
7. E-mail. Provides for the use of third-party email services. However, it is not always effective in modern communication campaigns, as users filter mass e-mail messages.
8. Mobile phones/wireless phones. The means of communication that are most appropriate for getting information about sessions in the nearest cinemas are often located on websites.
9. Virtual on-line. This group includes various ads or themed places for virtual communities and online video games.
10. Search engine marketing. This group includes search engine optimization (SEO) to increase traffic for movie-related web pages, as well as buying keywords on movie-related topics.
11. Behavioral marketing. The user is identified based on search queries that relate to the subject of the movie and visits to movie pages. Then, marketers involved in promoting the film influence the target audience with the help of email- mailing lists and banners.¹

Based on the time period during which mass advertising of the film takes place, they select:

• Pre-premiere promotion of the film, or promotion of the film before the official release date of the film on movie screens.

During this period, it is advisable to use such tools for influencing the audience as posting trailers on various online platforms, as well as writing comments and reviews to trailers and press releases on film portals, forums, and social networks.

• Promotion of the film from the moment of its release to the penultimate day of screening in cinemas

During this period, it is necessary to help attract that part of the target audience of the film that does not have a formed attitude to the film and the desire to watch it. To solve this kind of problem, it seems necessary to use the maximum number of digital tools for promoting films. The most effective element of the communication strategy of this period is referral marketing, which contributes to greater awareness of the audience about the features of the film. Due to this fact, it is advisable to use social media platforms and information resources about the film industry. ²

In relation to the digital channel which is used to promote the movie, the tools classify:

• Promotion of the film on the Internet services and the Internet portals. In this case, the most popular digital tools are: writing reviews, banners flash- multimedia ads and banners.
• Promotion of the film at film forums. In this case, the film is promoted by writing reviews.
• Promotion of the film on third-party sites that are partially related to the film industry or not related to the world of cinema at all. The most relevant means of promotion are contextual advertising, flash- banners, multimedia banners.
• Promotion of the film on the official website.
• Promotion of the film in social networks. Social media platforms use advertising posts of the film in various thematic communities, and involve opinion leaders and bloggers in the film’s advertising campaign.

By the target audience that the ad is aimed at:

• Advertising for legal entities (Business to business)
• Advertising for individuals (Business to consumer)
• Social or political advertising (the target audience is the whole society)

Depending on the goals that the tools are aimed at achieving digital, select:

• Means of online advertising aimed at raising awareness about the film and forming the image of the film.
• Means of online advertising aimed at attracting viewers to watch a movie or go to the cinema for the premiere.
• Means of online advertising aimed at buying a movie theater ticket, purchasing access to watching a movie in an online movie theater, or other paid video resources.

2.2. Features of film promotion tools in social networks and the Internet

With the development of new media, in particular with the emergence of new and improved old social networks, the creation of modern mechanisms for informing and attracting audiences on the Internet, advertising campaigns for the film are carried out through the use of several promotion tools. To determine the most relevant communication strategy for covering an upcoming or existing release, you need to take into account the characteristics of the target audience, as well as the genre and key themes of the film.

Launch features «WOM» in social networks and other Internet resources as a film promotion tool. In Russia, the key element of the film’s advertising campaign has always been the process of «word of mouth». Reducing trust in the media and increasing it to the opinion of the person’s environment, as well as the high speed of information dissemination in social networks contributes to the development of the phenomenon of referral marketing on the Internet. In the first chapter, the definition of the term «word of mouth» in the field of cinema has already been announced, but here we will consider the principles of this phenomenon in the context of digital promotion. Social networks are a communication channel that causes sufficient level of audience trust. Its advantages are the availability of feedback and the absence of prohibitions on the dissemination of certain types of information. It is most appropriate to launch referral marketing during the second weekend after the film is shown, since the box office receipts of the first weekend and week are affected by the film’s promo campaign and advertising in cinemas. By the beginning of the second weekend, the effect of their use weakens, but viewers continue to share their impressions of watching the film. Volume of reviews, discussions, and recommendations for viewing the film («word of mouth») may identify by tracking conversations about a movie on the Internet, for example, using the tool Brand Analytics. Specialists involved in film promotion often resort to stimulating word of mouth. There are several ways to encourage referral marketing participants. Talk about taboo topics, highlight the originality of the film’s production process or its exceptional features, shock effect, and create prominent advertisements.³

Features of placing advertising posts in communities in social networks as a tool for promoting films. The analysis was based on the advertising practice of the social network Vkontakte, which is the leader in terms of the number of users and their level of engagement in Russia.

Features of types of advertising posts on the Vkontakte social network.

• Organic seeding

This type of advertising includes paid posts placed on the community wall. Using the Vkontakte advertising cabinet or third-party services, communities are selected for seeding advertising posts. The criteria for determining potentially effective communities from the marketing point of view are: community theme, region of users who are members of the community, gender and age characteristics of community members, community size, and reach.

• Targeting

This type of ads includes entries that are intended for a strictly defined target audience by the advertiser.

Targeting is used to place: advertising entries in the news feed and advertisements on the site’s pages.

Ads entries in the news feed are displayed for the user who matches the parameters specified by the advertiser in the targeted ad settings. The audience that isn’t a community subscriber also sees this type of ad post. When promoting movies, it is important to use universal recordings and recordings with a button. Universal records include ads created in the advertising cabinet or in the community itself. In the first case, the post will not be posted on the community wall («hidden post»). These ads often contain links to the trailer a movie’s promo site, or an online resource intended for buying a ticket/viewing a movie (or other materials linked to the movie).

Entries with a button include ads that contain the target action button. As a rule, this advertising tool contributes to a higher conversion rate than other social media advertising tools.

Creation Features promo site as a tool for promoting movies. A promo site allows you to generate targeted traffic. Creating a promo site is always aimed at increasing sales. Web sites may include biographies of characters, actors, film stills, and parts of the narrative, but they are intended for potential viewers, not for film critics and journalists. Movie promo pages can have a direct link to the purchase of movie theater tickets. With the advent of new ways and opportunities to promote movies, creating promo sites has lost its relevance. Many marketing strategists find it impractical to invest a large part of the budget in a high-quality website, the domain of which is also unknown to anyone. There are many movie-related web pages where it is more appropriate to post information about the movie premiere.

One of the most important elements of most film promotion campaigns in the Internet is the following: digital-the environment is placement of advertising banners that occupy a small part of the web page at the top or in other places. There may be several similar ads on the same web page, and in some cases, there may be two links to the same movie that are interrelated. There are two types of advertising banners: standard flash- advertising and individual multimedia advertising. Flash- ads are less dynamic and usually limited to just one click, but they are easy to create and place. Multimedia advertising, on the other hand, has several interactive features and often includes audio accompaniment, the ability to move parts of the banner. As a rule, the audience interacts more with multimedia advertising banners. You can use them to create mini-movie sites and post enough content to attract potential viewers. However, multimedia advertising has its drawbacks. First, the cost this type of ad is more expensive than the cost flash- ads, and secondly, some websites impose restrictions on unwanted multimedia features, such as floating elements, because users find them annoying.

Movie promotion also uses the following tools: SEM — search engine marketing. The peculiarity of this method is that

Features of situational marketing as a tool for promoting the film on social networks and the Internet.

The concept of situational marketing is used to characterize marketing campaigns that use current discussed information occasions that have become widespread in order to advertise certain products or services. This tool helps you both attract new audiences and retain your old ones. An ad for a movie can be linked to political and economic news, current holidays and significant dates, and well-known events from the world of culture. So the user, being in the information field of the topic under discussion, may accidentally see an ad for the movie. Using tools such as Google Trends, Brand Analytics you can identify the most discussed topics and events of the day / week/month. ⁴

Features of conducting contests in social networks as a tool for promoting movies.

Many professionals involved in SMM- promote films, create contests among users of social networks in order to increase interest in the film and user engagement.

Features of reviews and reviews for the film as a tool for promoting the film.

As a rule, critical articles accompany film screenings and premieres. A review is an advertising text that contains an emotionless analysis and review of the product of cultural activity. Quotes from some review authors can be used as advertising lines on banners, posters, and other means of promoting the film. Russian Internet users tend to read reviews before going to the movies. A well-written review: it can form a fairly complete picture of the film, as well as establish the film as a good one product of film production; provide a positive or negative attitude to the film; identify the theme and key points of the film; convince potential viewers to watch the film or contribute to the lack of desire to watch the film. It is important to consider subjectivity as a significant disadvantage of reviews. On film forums and movie sites, users often post evaluation articles that contain the author’s personal attitude to the film, actors, and director, which affects the objectivity of the written text. The reviewer should keep in mind that in their narrative they should interpret the film based not on your own interest, but on the needs of the target audience.⁵

Features of using opinion leaders as a film promotion tool. This promotion tool is a key element of a communication campaign aimed at successful reference marketing. An opinion leader is a person who has a significant influence on other people’s opinions, behaviour, and thoughts, and whose ideas serve as a guide for others. It acts as an intermediary between the product and the target group, which it also belongs to at one time. By engaging an opinion leader, you can achieve a better perception of the film by the audience for whom their opinion is important; the opinion leader adapts and interprets information about the film in the most interesting way. for the viewer, use the language. In the 1940s, Paul Lazarsfeld formulated the theory of «two-step information flow». According to its main provisions, information received from mass media is first accepted and assimilated by opinion leaders, then they pass on their interpretation of events to the rest of the audience. ⁶

Placement trailers and teasers as the tool promotions of the movie. Production and distribution of this type of advertising materials account for 4.5 % of the total budget allocated for film promotion, and the profitability of such an element of the marketing campaign is 20% of the film’s revenue.⁷ This method is the most effective, as viewers are most likely to watch trailers before watching the movie directly. As a rule, Russian distributors place trailers on resources that allow you to achieve greater coverage. In our country, such resources are Youtube, «Kinopoisk», «Rambler / Video», «Vkontakte»,»Instagram», «Facebook»and «RutubeHowever, Russian film distributors are not limited to the most popular platforms for placing video ads. So, a link to the movie trailer can be placed on one of the search services, such as Yandex, «Google»or «Yohoo! «. Some distributors prefer to post premiere trailers on their social media channels. A condition for placing a video clip on a free basis on the part of the platform owner is that the trailer is not available on other Internet resources, usually within a day from the premiere date. However, to get the most views, the trailer needs further promotion. Companies involved in the film process support trailers of large projects with material investments. Currently, there is no definition of the trailer structure that contributes to its success from marketing points of view. The creators of advertising videos do not adhere to a single concept, but proceed from the features of the plot, the artistic component of the film and its other elements that contribute to the formation of recognition of the film and interest in it of the audience.⁸

REFERENCES
Список литературы

1. Marich R. Marketing to moviegoers: a handbook of strategies and tactics. — 2nd ed. ed. Southern Illinois University Press / Carbondale, 2009.
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