Social Listening, Lionsgate. -Week 3 Blog Post

I selected the brand Lionsgate because I have seen some of their ads recently and it stood out to me how they’re advertising in a way I haven’t seen many other companies do, at least not successfully. They’re utilizing TikTok for their ads, which is a relatively new social media site and most brands I’ve seen use it aren’t getting the same type of engagement.

Lionsgate’s value proposition is quoted from their about section of their website as “possessing a unique and varied portfolio of entertainment” and being a company “driven by its entrepreneurial culture and commitment to innovation.” “Bold, original, relatable, “ they say.

Looking at the comments under Lionsgate’s TikTok videos, they are overwhelmingly positive. Some quotes include “hi whoever is the admin for lionsgate, ily, you’re doing amazing, have a a high five”, “lionsgate needs to give whoever runs this account a raise”, and “someone pleaseeee tell me where I can watch this movie!” As far as negative comments they are far and few between, the closest I could find was someone saying that it’s good to see “big companies learning TikTok isn’t that bad” even though “this meme is a bit old” and watching their newer videos, it’s obvious they’re adapting to how quickly TikTok trends emerge and disappear.

The main difference in Lionsgate’s TikTok content is that, like we learned about this week, they’re focused on native content for the app. Videos they post aren’t ads that interrupt your scrolling, but videos that happen to be posted from a verified account, and it’s paying off. I saw some go by and you don’t notice at first that it’s an ad until you click the comments and it’s full of people exclaiming they also didn’t realize it was an ad, because the video itself was engaging and fit perfectly amongst the other content on the app. They make videos that align with current popular sounds and trends on tiktok, but revolve around the movies that they’re promoting including new movies about to come out, and content about their older popular franchises such as the hunger games or twilight. Since the content is so perfectly matched to the social media site it’s on, people are immediately inclined to watch the video. Lionsgate is a perfect example of a company creating native content. An article on fanbytes about the top brands on TikTok quotes a statement by TikTok for Business “make Tiktoks, not ads” and Lionsgate is excelling at it.

Like other film studios, Lionsgate is facing difficulties in promoting new movies in a time when many theatres are still closed, as well as there being competition in the industry and with no movies playing to play trailers beforehand, they’re also tasked with finding new ways to promote their films.

The company responds to customers directly in a casual way under most videos they post, interacting as a regular person. I think they also did great at immediately reacting to what worked and putting out the type of content that people were reacting positively towards.

If I were the brand manager, I would be doing more to tell people where to stream the content. While it looks great, there were a lot of people in the comments asking where to find and watch the movies they were posting about and I think it would be helpful to them to make it more clear when and where the movies are available.

I learned from this assignment, as well as the reading and videos from this week, that native content, and social listening, can make a huge difference in how your brand, content, and advertisements are received, and the reach they have.

Below are a few screenshot examples of videos Lionsgate has posted: