Friday, January 31, 2014

Going Public: How to Launch a Fan Following on Social Media



Going Public: 

How to Launch a Fan Following 

on Social Media

Part 1 of a Series from Louise Glickman

Upfront, you need to know that I am only six months into this social media thing and I know why it is often referred to as “SM.” For persons of a “certain age,” social media is painful, hard-hitting and never seems to stop.

In spite of this, I’ve come up with some strategies that have our Tails of Whimsy sites up and rolling. Businesses that sell retail products or services attract audience quickest on social media platforms. Tails of Whimsy sells mostly business-to-business, as our characters are licensed to manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. This has made for a harder “sell” on-line.



That is the major reason we will be focusing on separate sites for BrokenHeart Pets starting in March. Our aim is to build a FAN CLUB with thousands of followers for Scooter, Boots and their lovable friends.


We hope that these fan-based sites will help us monetize our characters quickly. It will allow our children’s book publishing agent, J’Net Smith of All Art Licensing to show publishers our rapidly growing following. It also gives her an edited product to show at Book Expo in New York in May. Publishers will be able to see the look and feel of the characters and the potential of branded products that inevitably follow a successful book series.



We hope it will impress investors to a BrokenHeart Pets animated series, too. David Wollos of Think Tank Emporium, our children’s digital entertainment agent, will use the videos in tandem with a pitch bible to gain the attention of potential investors.  In less than three minutes of video, seasoned producers at the KidScreen Summit in NY can gauge the viability of these characters for the marketplace.



In essence, while our current sites build our Daryl Slaton and Tails of Whimsy brands, focusing on one property on a fresh site will help us tailor and grow a fan base targeted at families and children ages 4-8.