Anyone who is anyone is online. But not everyone online is going to see success. There isn’t just a single place for your brand to be online; you must navigate multiple social media websites and make sure your website is worth it. Owned media has never been so plentiful and powerful as it is now.
Entertainment brands like William Hill use their personality and unique features to leverage their UGC, which adds to a robust online cocktail.
Brands like Netflix and Blizzard both know they have a fanbase who will do a lot of the heavy lifting – so long as they remain engaged.
But how do they do it? And who does it best?
Ultra Relatable, Netflix
Netflix handles their viewers, and those that engage with them online feel like friends. Their social team is highly involved with trends and capitalises on people talking about them.
You’ll often see the social team for each of the new releases respond to fans, and more recently, the You (Netflix show) team engaged with the entire Cardi B audience. They changed their profile picture and kept the interaction running.
They understand that their customers want to ‘binge watch’ their shows and even joke about the subject.
Netflix changed the way people consume TV shows and movies; they made it so convenient that when there is nothing to do – you can watch Netflix.
We know you, Spotify
The music streaming world is as competitive as ever, and to start, you need to keep bringing something new to the story.
Apple Music has dedicated fans, but it’s not because of its excellent music platform. It’s because the brand Apple has a hype around it that can’t be denied.
So, Spotify took a different route; Spotify Wrapped has been around since 2017 – but in 2020, it made waves. It came in with substantial social support and turned into THE thing to share. Wrapped is more interesting because it is only based on your listening habits – it is all about you.
Reliability, William Hill casinos
When you talk about online entertainment, sports and casino companies play a role in it. A huge chunk of online entertainment and even mobile gaming comes from casino websites.
But in a highly competitive market, how do you stand out? William Hill stands out in a digital world with ease due to things like this review on bestonlinecasinos.org.uk. Glowing reviews span the internet.
William Hill also has 1,400 land-based betting shops and managed to keep them open when everything was going online.
Their website is straightforward to navigate, and they have put the user experience to the front of their offering. Regular users and new users alike can navigate quickly to the information they need.
William Hill is one of the most famous bookmakers because it has remained reliable and spans digital and land-based.
The experience you get online, and in-store is one-in-the-same. The reliability of a brand is phenomenal when it comes to longevity and success.
Real Life, Blizzard
While Blizzard Activision has been in more than a little hot water lately, one of its most prominent offerings to fans is Blizzcon. It’s not a new concept to bring people with the same interest together. For example, Comicon has been around for a few decades, but Blizzcon gave the fans something more.
The fanbase for their most popular games, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft and Hearthstone, are very different. Yet, they could all arrive at Blizzcon and sit through the panel discussions and watch the competitive matches too.
The branding and feel of what Blizzard put into the world are about as cohesive as you can get. Cards from Hearthstone are characters from other games, and the champions from HoTs are too.
Over 25,000 people attend the in-person Blizzcon, with millions buying the streaming tickets.
Wild Reputation, Duolingo
Duolingo, while not strictly entertainment, has one of the most exciting media strategies at the moment. They stacked up 1.5 million TikTok followers in no time due to how they responded to other creators. Just 25 videos clocked up a watch time of 73 million (and counting), making them more than a little entertaining.
Why did TikTok work so well for them? Well, TikTok is meant for entertainment – not selling. So instead of going with a sales approach, they went all out on entertaining.
They indulge their followers and themselves in the modern trends and utilise the trending sounds too. What makes the strategy even more interesting is the U.S marketing lead at Duolingo said they weren’t focused on customer acquisition but rather how they can keep making these successful interactions online.
Unsurprisingly, though, there has been an uptick in the number of people downloading and using the app.
As users, we expect the more entertaining brands to be entertainment brands. After all, it’s part and parcel of what they are here for – to entertain the masses. What makes these brands all stand out, is that their approach is unique. Some lean into being friends with the audience; others aim to bring the community together.