Based on the best selling books by George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on April 17th, 2011 and became a hit. It has made it’s cast bonafide stars and spawned a spin off series that is in development. It dominates the airwaves, awards seasons, conventions, and the trending pages on social media. With its final season set to premiere next month, Game of Thrones launched a global marketing social media campaign called #ForTheThrone to get old and new fans excited to experience the end of the groundbreaking series.
Stick Em’ with the Twitter Campaign
What is your campaign about? Gaining more followers, tweet engagements, video views, purchases, or clicks? Once you know the goal of your Twitter campaign, you can design the perfect posts.
On Twitter, you can promote accounts, trends, and tweets. Twitter ads are naturally integrated into a users feed so be creative to catch their attention without be off putting so it doesn’t feel out of place.
Every post made should planned for online consumption by the public and the news media. In order to generate the most traction surrounding your campaign, post should optimize the use of rich media content like video, audio, photographs, info graphics, and links (Lipshultz Ch 4).
Twitter suggests that the campaign should run for at least one week due to users different behaviors each day and to choose 3-4 tweets to promote that include a call to action. Take advantage of Followers Targeting and Interest Targeting to reach the the best audience for your campaign.
The best way to gain awareness online is with impressions. Use a click-through rate, the number of clicks divided by impressions, to measure how the campaign is going (Lipshultz, Ch 5).
When You Play the Game of Thrones, You Watch or You Tweet
HBO tactics when it comes to Game of Thrones campaigns focus on fan engagement and trending.
Tweets that include trailers, sneak peeks, and character posters have amassed hundred of thousands of retweets and likes. Game of Thrones is no beginner when it comes to getting their posts trending.
Over the years, fans have tweeted up a storm through out new episode premieres of Game of Thrones. The season 5 premier garnered 103,000 tweets alone. Through the use of hashtags and tagging, Game of Thrones always creates a buzz on Twitter. Fans tweet their reactions to shocking character deaths, their newest fan theories, and who they believe will ultimately sit on the Iron Throne (#TeamTyrion).
Game of Thrones fans are so active on Twitter that the official Twitter account engages with fans and launches Twitter campaigns for them to take part in. #ForTheThrone encourages participation and engagement from Game of Thrones fans by asking them to search for actual Iron Thrones scattered across the globe, be part of one of a kind immersive experiences, share their fan made creations, relive the greatest moments from the series, and encourage them to rewatch every episode to prepare for the finale.
#ForTheThrone heavily uses a call to action to promote fan engagement. It has capitalized on the feverish devotion fans have to the series and has created a campaign that will reach old and new fans alike. The campaign also celebrates the show and the fans and acts as the ultimate send off for Game of Thrones.
Not a Show, A Legacy
The phenomenon surrounding Game of Thrones has only grown over the course of the series. HBO has utilized the large fan devotion of the series to launch successful social media campaigns, especially on Twitter that other organizations should look to as a model. Although no one has any idea of what is going to happen on the final season of Game of Thrones, one thing’s for certain: it will always dominate the Twitter trending page.
Caro's Corner 
Caroline this was so interesting. I have nothing but great things to say about this post. I am a huge game of thrones fan and I have posted on socia media more times thank I can count about the show. My most recent was on my Instagram story when I finally found the Jon Snow cover of the special entertainment weekly. I would also agree that GOT is more than a show it is something that people who may be different all have in common. Like there could be someone I don’t like then they will be like I watch game of thrones then then I will be in a hour long conversation discussing the dynamic character of Jamie Lannister. Good job again and #TheNorthRembers
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Hey Caroline, great blog post! As someone who has never seen Game of Thrones, (sorry!) I have definitely still noticed its presence on social media. The people who run the Twitter account for Game of Thrones take advantage of their dedicated and eager fanbase. It’s hard for a brand, company, tv show, etc. to purposely go viral on Twitter; however, Game of Thrones has perfected this craft. It’s very seldom that you see a tweet about a tv show get hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets. I think that brands who are trying to make their own presence on Twitter could learn a thing or two from Game of Thrones.
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