BoxOffice® Pro - November 2010

GROWTH STRATEGIES (continued from page 36)
ful when we presented a restored Metropolis
with live musical accompaniment. We were
able to post a link to a trailer for the film
and we also posted information about the
how important the restoration of old films
can be. That allowed us to promote the film
and provide valuable educational content to
interested individuals.
Cohen: I respond to all of the messages and
comments that our guests leave on our Facebook
page. The comments are usually questions
or compliments from our fans.
Taylor: Customers like to leave questions
and comments on our page, and we also ask
questions to our customers. We do trivia
sometimes for free passes or free concessions,
and we also ask customers what they
thought about a movie. The best thing about
Facebook is that you can advertise to your
customers instantly and get the word out
about a special or a midnight show immediately.
DO YOU EVER CONDUCT POLLS ON
FACEBOOK TO GAUGE INTEREST IN A
PARTICULAR FILM BEFORE DECIDING
TO BOOK IT?
Collins: Not often, but once or twice just to
see what people are thinking. The audience
wants to interact with us, so we do our best
to give them that. Even though we don’t
conduct polls regularly, we find that people
leave suggestions or comments all the time
on Facebook, which provides us a lot of feedback
and opportunities to interact with our
customers.
Cohen: Not really. I do talk about upcoming
films and promote the trailers, but I
wouldn’t use Facebook to tell me which
movies to play or not to play.
Taylor: We have not tried that before, but
we do pay attention to what movies someone
might ask about on our pages.
HAS POSTING INFORMATION ON
FACEBOOK LED YOU TO LIGHTEN
YOUR TRADITIONAL MEDIA (NEWS-
PAPERS, TV, RADIO) ADVERTISING
SPENDS?
Collins: No, but we are not in a television
dominated advertising market. For us, Facebook
ends up being just another area avenue
of marketing, but it’s free! Facebook can enhance
your marketing outreach. Just today
we announced a special movie event and
before that information was sent to e-mails,
it was posted on Facebook.
Cohen: We have backed off on some of our
newspaper and radio spending since the
advancement of Facebook.
Taylor: Definitely. With Facebook you can
immediately advertise to your customers on
their phones or computers. We just recently
removed all print advertising from all of our
theaters.
WHAT PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU
GIVE TO EXHIBITORS WHO HAVE
YET UTILIZE—OR EVEN JOIN—FACE-
BOOK?
Collins: Do it! It’s fun—but it does take
dedicated effort. You get to connect with the
audience more than with an ad in a paper.
Also, customers like to see you on Facebook.
There are a few “We love the Michigan Theater”
Facebook pages that people have created.
These sites were created by fans without
our input and don’t get used much because
we seem to get the message out there with
our own Facebook site, but we love that fact
that fans have expressed their love for our
business on Facebook!
Cohen: Your customers are on Facebook.
If you don’t try to reach them there, then
someone else will. Besides, I really enjoy
being more interactive with my customer
base, and it’s a cost effective way to build up
customer loyalty.
Taylor: Do it! At this moment, there is no
better way to communicate with your customers—if
for nothing else, think about
how valuable it would be to have your
customers read your name daily. Just think
about that!
VISIT OUR ROUNDTABLE
PARTICIPANTS ON FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/transitdrivein
www.facebook.com/pages/Troy-AL/
Continental-Cinema-5/35577919989
www.facebook.com/michigantheater
www.facebook.com/boxoffice
38 BOXOFFICE NOVEMBER 2010