Bibliography

Adams, Diana. "Social Media Strategy: Best Ways To Engage Your Fans [Infographic]." Bit
Rebels (2013): n. pag. Web. 4 May 2015.
Goldner, Steve. "A Guide to Social Media." Ebsco Host. Information Today Inc., June 2012.
Web. 04 May 2015.
Habibi, Mohammed, Michel Laroche, and Marie Odile-Richard. "The Roles of Brand
Community and Community Engagement in Building Brand Trust on Social
Media." Computers in Human Behavior 37 (2014): 152-61. Ebsco Host. Elsevier Ltd.,
Aug. 2014. Web. 04 May 2015.
Schaffer, Neal. "5 Steps to Build a Community of Engaging Fans through Social
Media." Maximize Social Business 23 Oct. 2014: n. pag. Web. 4 May 2015.
Tsai, Jessica. "Everyone's Social (Already)." Marketing and Social Media(2009): 34-38. Ebsco
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Vilner, Yoav. "How to Build a Social Community: 4 Tips." Social Media Examiner 6 Jan. 2015:
n. pag. Web. 4 May 2015.

Kelsey Alcordo
Professor Mirrer
Hootsuite Paper
5/7/15

3 Steps to Social Success in Entertainment, How MTV's The Buried Life is Growing a Loyal &
Engaged Audience
This video primarily consisted of Penni Thow, the director and producer of MTV's hit
series The Buried Life, talking about the three main steps to social success in entertainment. It
mainly focused on how social media can create a huge impact on building your business or
brand. The Buried Life started in 2006 with four guys from British Colombia who decide to go
on a two week road trip. They put together a list of 100 things they want to accomplish before
they die and along the way decide they want to help other strangers accomplish a goal for
themselves as well. It started to pick up media attention and eventually became a show.
The first step Thow talked about was building your community. Social media is ideal for
building brand communities (Habib, Laroche, Richard). Before the show took off it started out
on YouTube with zero fans and was picking up really slow. At some point they decided to partner
with Nokia to build a soccer field in Uganda. They ran a contest campaign with YouTube and
began building from there. They made an incentive with Nokia that if they got 75,000 fans then
Nokia would pay to build a soccer field in Uganda. Because of this campaign they grew a fan
base by keeping viewers engaged. Thow talked about how using Hootsuite and other campaign
software was definitely helpful in managing their campaigns. It is important to reply and share to
fans, letting them know they're valued (Vilner).

Another point she mentioned for this step dealt with authenticity and consistency. In
order to build your community you have to "keep it real." Adding real value by providing quality
content is much more important than filling a follower's feed with unrelated content just for the
sake of it. It is important to not drive back your followers by flooding them with promotional
posts because you need to build a community (Schaffer).
Step two was maintaining your growth. Once you have the foundation, you need to set a
long term strategy and figure out what tools you need in order to support that strategy. She
mentions trying to use online platforms as if you were talking to fans in real time and real life.
She said that in maintaining the brand and its show, her crew spent time meeting fans in person
and found that with the opportunity of meeting a certain number of people in person, it could
mean 10 to 15,000 more likes from fans on Facebook or whatever tool that is being used. Thow
states that it is important to always look at goals long term and not just for instant likes. A
distinct focal point is needed towards building strong, long lasting relationships with fans by
offering value to every post (Schaffer). She also states that it is important to convert off line fans
to online fans in order to grow existing fans and gain new ones. A few strategies of doing this
could be by rewarding existing fans with prizes, using incentives by utilizing online platforms
and or engaging with every fan that reached out.
Step three is engaging your fans. After building a fan base it is important to know the
difference between having a lot of fans versus having loyal and engaged fans. By engaging with
your fans it will enhance your reputation more than a few extra followers would (Schaffer). It is
key to grow and foster your audience as well as never spam them or sell them out. Providing
your audience with value is a key component in engaging your fans (Tsai). For The Buried Life,
they made every episode a social media event by talking to fans before and after the show. They

would also get The Buried Life trending on twitter before every episode as well as publicly call
out supportive fans from previous episodes.
Thow notes that social media was helpful for giving real time feedback and answers.
With the feedback from supporters, they were able to make any adjustments to the episodes in
favor of the fans. By giving the audience an opportunity to share their opinions, fans can be
given a voice (Vilner). Another important note in engaging your fans is by making incentives, as
previously mentioned. With The Buried Life, they made an incentive to send their book to space
if they presold enough books. They also made another incentive to sign every copy if you
preordered the book on Facebook. She talked about how in normal cases they would just print
out your signature on every book but for them, they took the time to individually sign every
single copy themselves by hand.
Overall Penni Thow, the director and producer of MTV's hit series The Buried Life,
highlights the three most important steps to social success in entertainment. Step one being
building your community, step two being maintaining your growth, and step three being
engaging your fans. It is agreed that quality is much more valuable than quantity when it comes
to content being given as well as followers. By maintaining your growth it is important to always
set long term goals and strategies in order to reach your goals. Finally in order to engage your
fans it is crucial to provide your fans with a voice and listen to their suggestions and what they
have to say (Adams).