Social Media Meets Traditional Media in “Glee”

Glee,” a new comedy series on FOX premiered on Wednesday, and with it came a slew of social media marketing tactics.  If you didn’t catch the premiere, you’re definitely missing out.

The show is about a high school teacher who takes over the school’s Glee Club and is determined to turn it into something great. The premiere caught a lot of attention as approximately 7.5 million viewers tuned in. And with all of the new social media techniques FOX is using in lieu of traditional advertising to promote “Glee”, I think the show will generate an even larger fan base by the end of the season.

Are you the biggest GLEEK?

This is what FOX is asking its viewers to keep the buzz surrounding the new series alive on the web. They have created the “Biggest Gleek Social Media Game” where users can earn points from activity across Twitter, Facebook and MySpace when they mention the words “glee,” “the biggest gleek game,” or any of the cast. On Twitter, fans can also use the hashtag #glee to gain points. You can also receive points when friends reply or re-tweet your Twitter updates, for linking to “Glee” with a personalized URL, by inviting friends to join, and by uploading “Glee” photos to Facebook. Fans can climb up the leader board in hopes of gaining the grand prize of a trip to LA to meet the cast. The contest ends on September 23rd, so it should be interesting to see the results.

MySpace Karaoke Contest

Along with the social media game, FOX also created a karaoke contest on MySpace. This contest is exciting and perfect for MySpace users, who tend to create and share digital music. Fans can upload their own versions of the songs heard on “Glee” in hopes of winning a prize. As an added bonus— for every entry, FOX is donating $1 to the GRAMMY Foundation®, a nonprofit organization that gives high school students across the nation an opportunity to receive music education. Right now there are over 2500 entries on MySpace, and the contest doesn’t end until September 23rd  so I’m sure there will be many more entries in the next few days. This is an innovative social media tactic and is definitely spreading awareness of the show in a fun way.

Tweet-Peats

With Glee, FOX is taking the concept of the re-run and giving it a social media twist. On Fridays at 9pm, you can watch a repeat of the newest “Glee” episode, during what FOX calls a “Tweet-Peat.”  During the episode rerun, the producers and cast of “Glee” are tweeting messages that appear at the bottom of the television screen as they are posted. Viewers can immediately respond to the tweets and re-tweet the messages as the “tweet-peat” is airing. This technique is a great way to get people sharing information about the show on Twitter with people who may not have known it was on. The interaction between fans and the cast gives the viewers a chance to feel a personal connection and hopefully convince their friends and family to watch. I hope FOX continues these “tweet-peats” for the whole season.

As a side-note, FOX tried this technique with another series, “Fringe,” but it didn’t receive much positive feedback. I think this might be due to the fact that “Fringe” is targeting an older audience who may not be on-board with the new social media wave. Also, viewers complained about the implementation of the “tweet-peat” commentary because the Twitter content took up a good portion of the screen. It seems like FOX is not ready to give up its experimentation just yet, though, so hopefully they can get these kinks worked out in the next “tweet-peat” and get the “Fringe” audience excited about social media integration.

Continuing the Conversation

FOX is doing a great job of incorporating social media techniques into traditional media. The social media game does a great job in attracting fans without setting unrealistic goals. Fans know that they might not win the prize, yet they are willing to participate in the online game and take the chance. FOX got the conversation started, but can they keep it going throughout the season?

It will be interesting to see how FOX continues to incorporate social media with Glee. It seems like a great opportunity to launch a “Tweet-a-thon,” to donate money to a certain cause for every tweet incorporating #glee. How would you like to see social media marketing integrate with more traditional media outlets? Do you like what FOX is doing to integrate social media into “Glee?”



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