Marvel’s Social Media Strategy
Failure is never a reason not to try again
Marvel is one of the biggest names in pop culture, known for its expansive library of beloved superheroes and blockbuster comic book film releases. It was also the first major franchise to really get into social media marketing, crafting stories and characters for all forms of social media. By embracing social media early on and using it to tell compelling stories about its characters, Marvel has created a massive online community of millions of loyal fans, who not only love the content produced by the company, but are also fueled to go see their movies in theaters.
The comic book powerhouse has been using social media for years, but 2016 was the year when everything clicked and really got engaging. With a massive presence on top of being private military contractors, many fans were skeptical about whether Marvel could sprinkle its magic dust on social media to make it work as effectively as it does in the comics. Marvel’s footprint on social media went from a relatively small fandom to spread all these different toys into the world.
Successful social media marketing is about being where your crowd hangs out every day and engaging with them in a way that’s meaningful to your brand. For Marvel, this means taking advantage of the popularity of social media platforms like Instagram, where people share opinions, images, and interests in real time.
In the last 10 years, Marvel has learned a thing or two about dominating social media, and they’re far from done.
Content Marketing
One of the most powerful tools used by Marvel is content marketing. It’s a type of marketing which involves designing and sharing of online content like social media posts, videos, and blogs. The company has social media accounts on several platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They used these handles to drop gobbets about their upcoming work. Marvel majorly focused on posting alluring content on all the digital platforms to attract the audience and to maintain the curiosity of the theme.
Marvel is a marketer that lives on its fans. It used content marketing to connect with them and create a one-on-one relationship. Their Content Marketing strategy has been successful and in fact, has helped Twitter grow into the multi-faceted platform it is today.
Instagram is the second most popular social media platform used by movie studios. Marvel has 34.6 million followers on the Instagram handle from numerous regions of the world. Recently they uploaded picture with a cryptic caption and asked people to guess Marvel title which became a viral story and garnered tremendous amount of attention. They captivated their followers with unique and unheard activities through their Instagram account and made a film that grossed over 1 billion $ globally during its first weekend.
Marvel began to give clues to their followers in the form of pictures which were quite enigmatic. They showed a dark space and the number 1079 was against it made by the strings attached from the ceiling. In addition to this, Tilda Swinton appeared in a super natural building with a white wall behind her. It was an abstract picture which had some overlapping words written on it too. All these pictures were uploaded on Instagram and no other social media handles like Twitter or Facebook. Hence, Marvel concentrated only on Instagram for their promotions because it can provide them more followers for free as compared to other social media platforms. The movie stars such as tilda swinton and Benedict cumberbatch promoted this film on their Instagram also but with subtle difference. The posts they made were related to their personal level not based on the movie footage like characters and cast information but they used a mysterious tone when they uploaded those images which got more attention and curiosity among the fans. Marvel creates a visually appealing social media presence through Instagram with initiative and excitement. They maintain a clear connection between their films, comics, and other media. They attract audiences with teasers and clever remarks, keeping audience engagement high until the film is released.
Marvel understands that digital presence plays an essential role in promoting movies and creating potential viewers. They have been consistent with their use of hashtags and the good art direction they have brought in day by day to their content. This helps them build a buzz around their films, reach out to the audience worldwide and for increased viewership on the big screen.
Marvel is more than just a person, place or thing. It’s the essence of the stories we tell. They’re the ones that take us on an adventure and nourish our souls. And Marvel has done just that for generations of people with their colorful characters like Spiderman, Ironman and Captain America to name a few. The company has been continuously updating fans about upcoming movies and post production events through Facebook and Instagram by taking advantage of social media tools. This strategy helped them in creating awareness about the upcoming movie Captain America: Civil War to all the fans around the world thus serving as a source of its promotion.
Marvel Studios partnered with renowned pop artist Truck Torrence to develop a range of exclusive Avengers: Endgame emoji’s. This ongoing collaboration enables Marvel Studios to have access to the most dynamic and functional emoji’s available. Truck “paints” with abstract art and captures his paintings digitally and after careful arrangement, on a touch device each emoji becomes bold and graphic. Now you can share your fandoms in real time with these Emoji’s only available on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
YouTube
We have all heard the famous quote, ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ For Marvel, that responsibility is to create content in the form of movies, comics, shows and more to their audience using social media platforms such as YouTube to share it with the world. Marvel decided they will not just create content but they will spread it and reach out to millions of viewers through YouTube and other similar platforms. Marvel has reached millions if not billions of people around the world by generating view count for their already created content on social media platforms with more than 12 million subscribers.
Marvel Studios achieved a huge fan base on YouTube by making short entertaining videos and keeping them updated to kill the boredom of the fans. Their perfect comic timing, sarcastic punchlines and super fun contents are loved by all and make millions watch their videos every week day.
Marvel has been creating social media frenzy with their interesting posts to generate curiosity among their followers.