Last Sunday we premiered the first episode of Queen Hussy, kicking off the 50,000 View Challenge. It’s our first foray into the space so there’s a lot of daily learning, but we’re happy thus far with the views we’ve compiled. There are a few special videos being cut right now, so once those are off the chopping block I’ll drop ’em here in the ‘ole Chronicles. In the meantime, I’m going to talk about the week that was…and what’s in store for the coming weeks.
FLAGGED BY YOUTUBE
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, visiting the link http://ht.ly/6KRje will now require you to either sign in or sign up for a YouTube account. The episode title “Puss N Boots” kinda says it all, as there is some nudity, language, and a few other things going on that require viewers to verify their age (or be smart enough to choose the right year). It’s tough at this point to know what, if any, effect this is having on viewership, but there just might be a new marketing angle to take advantage of here. That said, we were halfway expecting this and if/when creating your own webseries you have to consider the different community guidelines depending on where you post. Then you have to consider where the most leverage can be found for your content. Since YouTube allows the highest “stumble upon” viewership, we are looking to build upon this platform first before expanding to any other “venues”. Other options include BlipTV, but I’d love to hear what all of you other webseries creators and viewers have to say on this issue!
BRANDING CONVERSATION
It’s a very small world. At a book launch party a few weeks back, my podcast co-host Anthony Artis met someone involved in brokering branding partnerships for webseries. We connected via email, and finally via a conference call this week, only to find out that we were co-workers at my first job out of college. Crazy. I was laid off as she was hired, so we probably crossed paths just once or twice. Anyway, we had a great conversation and Hannelore Williams passed the deck off to her and we’ll have to see what comes of it. We’ve also shared the deck with a variety of other contacts in the hopes of nurturing more relationships as we move forward. Once we hit the 50,000 View Challenge and drop episode 2, then eventually episode 3, there will be a lot of opportunities for brands that can fit into the world of the show. What I find most interesting is that a storied brand can organically spotlight their history due to the show taking place in two time periods. Imagine if Nichee drove a 1974 Camaro in the Super 8 footage and a 2011 Camaro in the current day narrative? It speaks to the longevity of the product and the allegiance that it’s owners have.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATION
A lot of folks like to talk about the “strategy”, but for us, we look at social media as a conversation. Any “strategy” fails when it’s not built around an organic conversation and an authentic commitment to sharing. We’re in the early stages, mostly because we are creating a LOT of complementary content to the show that really explains what we did (and are doing) and how. One thing that is very important is to make it easy for folks to spread the word. Creating the text, and the links through applications like Hootsuite and ow.ly allow you to make it a 1-click experience for folks. You also can track how many folks are clicking the link, which is helpful in determining what wording works best, if you’re trying out different phrasing for your promotion.
In the old days, pre-internet, companies would use different marketing wording and create different PO Boxes for each campaign. The box that received the most responses, purchases, etc indicated which campaign wording was most effective. The internet is here to help in many of the same ways. Make sure you use it!
DOUBLE DOWN FILM SHOW
On Wednesday night, Queen Hussy creator Hannelore Williams and producer Nicole Sylvester were the guests on our podcast. The conversation revolved around a lot of interesting topics, including:
– Why shoot a WEB SERIES and not a short?
– What do you need to know if your project involves NUDITY?
– How can you pull off a PERIOD PIECE on a budget?
– What are the challenges of STARRING in your own project?
– How do you hire a WEST COAST crew if you’re on the East Coast?
Listen in here for ther: http://www.petechatmon.com/2011/10/03/episode-75-above-the-line-wthe-queen-hussy-team-wed-105-9pm-est/
TAMBAY OBENSON
This week, please join our podcast as we have Shadow and Act‘s very own, Mr. Tambay Obenson on as our esteemed guest. We’ll dive into many of the topics you read about on Shadow and Act, plus a few more that should definitely be of interest! Just visit the link below at 9pm EST, Wednesday, October 12th.
http://www.petechatmon.com/2011/10/10/episode-76-tambay-obenson-of-shadow-and-act/
Onward,
Pete Chatmon
