How the Food Network used social to capitalize on Thanksgiving 
Posted by Natan Edelsburg on December 20, 2011
For TV companies focused on food, Thanksgiving is one the most important times of year to leverage web users, searching, sharing, snapping pictures and most importantly eating delicious food. The Food Network recognized how important creating an easy destination online for the holiday and programming shareable content along online to compliment their linear offerings.
Their work paid off earning the Food Network their highest rated November in their history. The Thanksgiving page received over 105.8 million page views (the day before the holiday the page saw 30 million pageviews). Also their two-hour live holiday broadcast was, ?watched by 1.6 million total P2+ viewers and resulted in over 15,000 Tweets and 10,000 new ?likes? on Facebook pages during the show contributing to the over 64,000 new ?likes? for the month of November.?
Bob Madden, General Manager/Senior Vice President Online Brands for Food Network & Cooking Channel gave us an interview on their social TV success.
Lost Remote: What were the goals with this campaign?
Bob Madden: Programming wanted to connect with the audience in a tangible and relevant way. Our digital properties, including FoodNetwork.com and social media outlets, enabled us to provide that real-time connection. And on the digital side, we wanted to provide the audience with a great co-viewing experience. That took shape in a few forms:
i. Livestream coverage of the pre-show consisted of interviews with talent before they went on-set
ii. Livestream coverage of the post-show featured the Food Network ?Family Meal? in which the chefs sat down to enjoy what they had cooked that day
iii. We leveraged relevant how-to content and recipes for distribution in social media
iv. Chefs from the Food Network Kitchens answered hundreds of food-related questions in social media that weren?t addressed on-air
We also had growth and traffic goals set in place:
i. Referrals to FoodNetwork.com
ii. New followers / Likes in social media
iii. Increased audience engagement in social media (including Livestream)
LR: What social elements went into it?
BM: The following platforms were utilized for this program:
i. Facebook: invited audience questions for use on-air, utilized Food Network Kitchen experts to answer questions, posted exclusive behind-the-scenes content, integrated Livestream player as part of viewing experience
ii. Twitter: invited audience questions for use on-air, utilized Food Network Kitchen experts to answer questions, posted exclusive behind-the-scenes content, engaged with talent both on- and off-air
iii. GetGlue: created exclusive Thanksgiving Live! stickers for users who checked in during the show
iv. Livestream: featured exclusive pre- and post-show content including talent interviews and Food Network ?Family Dinner?; utilized new live-blogging capabilities to provide additional behind-the-scenes content
v. Google+: invited audience questions for use on-air
vi. FN Dish: the Food Network blog was utilized to aggregate audience questions ahead of the show (3,000+ were submitted)
vii. Skype: allowed audience members to submit questions via video chat, which appeared on-air
LR: How did social help with the ratings?
BM: The brand and talent associated with the show led the charge in generating social media buzz about the show in the weeks leading up.
LR: What technology, vendors did you work with?
BM: We worked with Livestream and their new product to create a multimedia viewing experience. We also worked with Mass Relevance to aggregate and curate tweets.
LR: How much planning went into the campaign?
BM: Planning required coordination across many different groups, but digitally the bulk of the work came in the weeks leading up to the show, as user questions were solicited via social and the FN Dish blog to help prepare for the show.
LR: What were the top successes?
BM: Here are some success metrics we saw from this campaign:
a. 20,000+ new Facebook Likes and Twitter followers in the 24-hour period around the show
b. 5 Twitter Trending Topics
c. 15,000+ related Tweets in the 24-hour period around the show
d. 60,000+ public Facebook stories (likes,, shares) the day of the show
Source: http://www.lostremote.com/2011/12/20/how-the-food-network-used-social-to-capitalize-on-thanksgiving/
0 comments:
Post a Comment