Social Media

Hi Blogger! Even though you have been seeing a lot of research, it is going to continue! However, this time, it is not about the genre of episodic documentaries but about the social media that promotes the film to gain an audience :)  Just because I am not shy of social media does not mean I do not still have to learn more about it. Although I follow my fair share of social media accounts, I do not often come across social media marketing campaigns on platforms. Even though we had a lecture about having a social media page within our portfolio project, it will definitely make me feel more comfortable researching what an episodic documentary's instagram typically looks like.

                                                       Notes from lecture about social media

If I am going to be completely transparent, even though I feel pretty organized so far throughout this process, I am a bit overwhelmed (primarily due to the creation with the digital aspect of social media). I have an idea of about the title, however, I am unsure about the structure, potential subjects, the marketing campaign, theme ideas, and a ton of other stuff I must accomplish within my portfolio project. Therefore, I hope by understanding what a social media page for an episodic documentary should look like, it will help me with the creation of my own social media page for my portfolio project. Throughout this research, I hope to better understand what a typical post would look like, unique ideas for audience engagement through this page, and a variety of other inclusions within my instagram page for my episodic documentary.

                                                                        Chef's Table (2015)

Having already done previous research with this piece, I resorted back to it for my social media research since this page has over 328,000 followers, which is a large number for a Netflix original. After scrolling through the feed, I was surprised that most of the content displayed throughout the pages was simply dishes made by the chefs featured within the show. I believe this is due to the social media page attempting to be engaging towards their target audience, those who love unique and intricate food dishes, through their display of authentic creations. Furthermore, they use captivating captions quoted by popular chefs. For instance, "He considers fire to be a paintbrush rather than a hammer", "I'm not afraid to break something to make something better", and "Life's too short to worry about how many cookies I ate today" are all quotes used to inspire and relate to their target audience. Along with their appealing dishes for their target audience, they also provide their target audience with bright coloring and bold graphics in order to appeal to the idea.  

                                                

                                                How To With John Wilson (2020)

       

Although I had not previously discussed this episodic documentary, I really admired this pieces consistent marketing campaign. To give a brief synopsis, How To With John Wilson is a humorous episodic documentary where a filmmaker named John Wilson offers his insight on everyday human obstacles with his unique mindset, discussing his own experiences, and overall an exploration into the world and its society. In this documentary series' marketing campaign, it offers a minimalistic and simple style with the use of a light/beige color scheme. The page offers engagement primarily through the thumbnail of their short videos on the page (also known as Reels). Some title names include "How to watch birds", "How to watch the game", "How to work out", and many other "How to" titles in order to have the audience have a better understanding of what would be included within this documentary as well as engagement to want viewers to understand John Wilson's insight. Throughout the posts within this social media page, it is clear that their main center of the show is John Wilson due to majority of the posts either having him as the thumbnail or him being featured within the Reels. 

After conducting research about various social media pages centered around episodic documentaries, I feel a bit more comfortable within understanding what my feed should look like for my portfolio project. Even though I had not decided on a theme yet, I am glad I have an understanding of what posts these pages typically consist of. Throughout this research, I was able to gather that I would like to see a consistent marketing campaign, audience engagement, snippets, teasers, and other unique marketing strategies that I have viewed within my research. Over this next week, I will be continuing to observe social media pages for episodic documentaries while also working on planning what my own episodic documentary will look like that way I can develop my overall theme and social media in my upcoming endeavors. Until next time!