Engaging In Entertainment Social Networks

Have you heard of GetGlue and Miso yet? They are the next big thing to hit geo-location social networking applications. And the best part? They don’t utilize your location at all. Instead, they focus on what you are doing.

Image Courtesy of Miso

Think of it as if the Facebook status post and Foursquare had a baby, and it was a lazy couch potato who wanted to check in to TV shows like Lost and movies like The Green Mile when it shows for the thousandth time on AMC.

This couch potato wants to see who else is watching what they are watching, and maybe they want to talk about it online. Or just maybe, they see that their friend is watching the Lakers game too, so they text them and tell them to come over so they can watch it together.

Users Check In, Advertisers Cash In On Entertainment Events

Couch potato or not, entertainment social networks have created a community of TV, sports, and movie watchers who love “checking in” to what they are watching.

Just like with FourSquare and Gowalla, sites like Miso and GetGlue offer badges and rewards for checking into certain TV shows or ‘events’, like the Super Bowl.

These fast-growing communities have some great opportunities for advertisers and sponsors of televised events.

Tie-In Products & Branding

When it comes to tying in products with TV shows and movies, the options are endless. How about Tostitos offering a coupon to each person for checking into Monday Night Football? Or ESPN offering a discount subscription to users who check into SportsCenter or one of their other programs more than 5 times?

Besides product offers, companies and TV channels are sponsoring badges that users can post on their profile. HBO had badges for users who check into their hit shows like Entourage last summer, and Miso recently offered a hot tub badge for users that checked into the movie Hot Tub Time Machine.

For many companies that offer products with pair nicely with TV shows or events, making the leap from print advertising to sponsoring special discounts on entertainment social networking sites seems to be an easy leap, especially if the user has the chance to promote their rewards on their own profile and out to Twitter and Facebook. A user with a large connection group has the ability to make a free bag of tortilla chips go a long way.

Dealing With Dishonesty In Social Rewards

Even though there is some concern between marketers about users creating ‘fake check-ins’ on sites like FourSquare and Miso, but one of the greatest rules of marketing is that you need to trust your customer.

If a user has enough dedication to check into SportsCenter 5 times, don’t you think they deserve a 2 year subscription to ESPN magazine for the price of one year? After all, they were thinking about ESPN at least once a day for several days in a row. If that isn’t top of mind, I don’t know what is!

While several companies are holding out on regularly spending advertising budgets on social networking sites, it is worth to note that they only continue to grow while also providing a strong proof of conversion.

Billboard and commercial advertising don’t have the same type of digital trails that online advertising and sponsorship does, especially when it comes to tracking referring sites on a company’s traffic analytics.

Going Beyond TV

While GetGlue has gone beyond TV and allows their users to post music they are listening to and books they are reading, it is the TV entertainment sector of these websites that make them stand out. There are already several social book sites (like GoodReads) and being able to ‘check-in’ to newspapers or magazines is sliding into the realm of the Facebook Like button that is already on several online news articles and blog posts.

GetGlue and Miso will continue to find success in the community engagement around TV shows and movies, as these are offline social experiences that make people want to talk about them.

Watching TV and movies with family and friends is an American tradition and a social norm that has existed since its invention.

Being able to share what a user is experiencing with his or her social network initiates conversation and allows for companies to take advantage of the products that are regularly used while watching TV or movies.

Offering incentives like coupons and badges make it worthwhile for the user while providing possible increases in sales and valuable demographic data on their customer base.

Other Entertaining Social Sites To Check Out

Besides GetGlue and Miso, if you are interested in entertainment-based social networking sites, I would also recommend TunerFish and Philo as well. If you know of any others, feel free to post them in the comments below.