In February, ABC Family’s hit Drama, Pretty Little Liars became Tuesdays most social TV program. The question is why? What tactics does this
entertaining TV program use and why does it have such success?
One of the obvious reasons for the programs social media
success is it’s constant activity on social media platforms like Facebook and
Twitter to promote the series. It’s difficult to keep an audience engaged in
between episodes and seasons of a TV series, but Pretty Little Liars excels at
doing just that.
On Facebook Pretty Little Liars has 10,128,729 likes and they
keep their fans engaged by releasing a new album each week with photos from the
upcoming episode. This creates a ton of engagement; fans comment and speculate
on what’s happening in the photos and what is going to happen in the next
episode. Videos are also posted with previews to what’s coming next. The
conversations that spawn from these posts are on a broad range of topics, from
what an actress was wearing, to information on a new character. Facebook tabs
are also used in an ingenious way. One of the Facebook tabs you have to “like
to unlock” which unlocks a special sneak peak of the next episode if you like
the Pretty Little Liars Facebook page.
Pretty Little Liars also has fun and creative Twitter
campaigns. In one instance the show launched a Twitter-based scavenger hunt,
during which one of the characters tweeted – in real time from her fictional Twitter
account @MonaVanderwall. She tweeted clues for discovering a video that won’t
be seen in any on-air episode.
ABC Family realized there was a lag between seasons in their
social media interaction. They fixed this by creating an eight-part web series
that plays between seasons and will give hints of what’s to come for the
following season. During the summer break of season three they launched the
first web series and it was a hit, with over 3 million video views.
This may be just another teen drama, but I think this is a
great example of what can be achieved with social media and is something we can
learn from. Linking a television show to interaction through social media is
something I believe almost every television show should practice. Why not
create a space online where your audience can interact with the show itself and
each other? If other television shows don’t catch on to the connection between
television and social media, they will fall behind.
-Leah Drayer
