Elementary

     Even if you’ve never seen the new T.V. phenomenon Sherlock, chances are you have at least heard of it.  Sherlock is the newest show in a long line of British television exports to gain recent fame in the U.S.  However, since the show was not written for, or with an American audience in mind, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) knew if they were going to energize customers about a show which is already massively popular across the pond, they would need to engage with potential viewers by establishing an online presence.  To do this, they used a variety of online formats, including blogs, audio/visual files and forums.

Benedict Cumberbatch as "Sherlock"

     The Groundswell (authored by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff) discusses using emerging technology in new and innovative ways to form a relationship through your outreach.  The BBC’s objective: to energize viewers about a beloved Victorian English classic character brought into modern day.

           

     Groundswell says energizing current customers will not only help to ensure they remain loyal, but will translate to “word-of-mouth” marketing.  Word of mouth has been called the most honest form of marketing because of its believability (pg. 130-131).  To reach out to an entirely new generation of television viewers, the BBC took to the Internet.   But they went further than maintaining a traditional Facebook or Twitter page; they created an entire blog site that one of the main characters in the show uses, as if he were a real person.

     Dr. John Watson’s Blog chronicles the many adventures he and the main character, Sherlock Holmes, have together, complete with blog entries and comments from other characters in the show.  Not only was the character of John Watson’s blog given real life, but other major characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Molly Hooper.   Yet the BBC knew it was not enough to create websites for fictional characters for viewers to scroll through, they had to create a place for fans to converse and ask questions about these people.

     For this they went back to one of the most basic forms of social media- the forum.  Forums allow users to log in online as a member and then “post any question or comment or they can respond to questions and comments posted by others.” (Groundswell, pg. 26)  Though many companies use forum boards to help solve problems, the BBC Sherlock Fan Forum has become an online community for those who are new to the show, or who have been avid fans since the first episode.  Below are examples of some of the conversations between members.

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1114

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=102

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1148

 

All of their social media efforts seem to have paid off; the Guardian.uk reports “The first episode in the 2^nd season drew 3.2m viewers, more than double the average of PBS's primetime rating.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/may/18/sherlock-reichenbach-fall-live-chat) Only time will tell if these new tactics will effect long-time viewer loyalty.  But what do you think; would these new uses of available social media entice and energize you to become a Sherlock fan?

 



Writing Is Easy…Just Open a Vein and Bleed

I think it’s safe to say that becoming the next J.K. Rowling, Katherine Howe, or Dan Brown is not in my immediate future.  And I know many amateur authors feel the same way.  In a culture where our attention span has been reduced to a 140 character Twitter update, having the word of your pen heard is, or was, getting harder… until about a year ago.

Enter Liboo, a site started just over a year ago which helps struggling and aspiring authors get their work out there.  On their site they describe themselves as offering “a way for talented authors to publish to Amazon and Barnes & Noble at the click of a button, and then interact directly with their fans to identify their most influential champions.”  In the publishing world, there are hundreds of thousands of writers who have the talent and the will necessary to move hearts, yet still lack the very basic and hardest thing to obtain: discovery.

 

 

Right about now you are probably saying, “Okay, wonderful dream to revolutionize the publishing industry, but how is this one little website I’ve never heard of going to accomplish this?” And I have to admit, when hearing about the site a year ago, I was skeptical as well, thinking Libbo would never be able to generate enough interest to sustain itself.  The answer to this lies in one key element of social media Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff keep reminding us of throughout their 2008 book Groundswell – it’s all about the relationships.  “In the groundswell, relationships are everything.  The way people connect…determines how the power shifts.” (Groundswell, pp18)  Though a high class tech support team always helps, to make a social site like Liboo work, the focus must be on relationship building and connections.

 But Chris Howard, Liboo founder and CEO knew to build his talented community of writers, he would need to get the word of his creation out to the world.  To spread the influence of his message, he turned his team towards every popular and rising social media site to keep the updates coming.  Between their constantly evolving Facebook page and Twitter, Tumblr and Google+ accounts, one would think they had covered all their social media bases.  Yet Li & Bernoff tell us that “blog reading is one of the most popular activities in the groundswell.” (Groundswell, pp19)  Liboo’s blogs range from explaining how the site works (New Features and Changes) to upcoming public appearances by the Liboo Team at events such as the Boston Book Festival, held each October in Copley Plaza.  The blog function, coupled with each social media post helps to increase the public’s awareness of the site and increase enthusiasm for the already captivated audience.



So check out Liboo, read a blog or two, “like” their Facebook page or just check out a few of their pictures on Tumblr- and sink your hooks into some books!