Have you ever wondered how Netflix, the most famous streaming platform in the world, became the media giant it is today?
We all know Netflix by now. Born in 1997 as a DVD rental business and since 2008 (in Italy in 2015), it has started offering an on-demand streaming service with a variety of TV series, films, documentaries, becoming recognized worldwide. The quality video offering and the strategically studied and designed social campaigns have played a decisive role in the success of the Californian giant. In Italy, Netflix is present on three social channels and has 61,519,403 followers on Facebook, 2.8 million on Instagram and 422,849 on Twitter.
Behind a great success there is always a great strategy.
Article sections:
Binge watching
Geo-targeting
Cross promotion
Tone of voice
Real-time marketing
Binge watching
The most important streaming platform in the world has revolutionized the way TV series are enjoyed: it was the first to make an entire season available immediately, unlike the classic weekly release of episodes. This is how the term “binge watching” was born, which consists of real marathons of episodes transformed, in most cases, into a large gathering of friends to watch their favorite TV series. Even social strategies are no longer based on comments on individual episodes but on the entire season with a growing peak of engagement, through the release of captivating content, before, after and during the release of the series.
Geo-targeting
Another strategy that has made Netflix the global giant that we know is the personalization of content: it offers a catalog offering that changes from country to country and which automatically adapts its content to the preferences of individual users. The use of videos is thus transformed into a personalized experience, tailored and different for each person. The same happens in social media: Netflix adopts a geo-targeting system which consists of publishing posts and content in different languages which vary depending on the country and the audience they are targeting.
Cross-promotion
The most famous streaming platform in the world adopts the so-called cross-promotion strategy: the same content is disseminated across different social platforms to reach and reach as many users as possible, whatever the preferred channel. The contents are the same but adapted to the nature of each channel: on Facebook, priority is given to the publication of the main promotional contents, on Twitter interactive contents are highlighted which stimulate the user to retweet and on Instagram space is left for Stories.
Tone of voice
The direct, informal and ironic tone of voice is the distinctive weapon of the social strategy. Focused on engagement, Netflix’s tone of voice aims to identify with users’ everyday lives, making them feel part of a large community with the same anxieties, worries and dreams. Netflix knows and understands its audience, and interacts with them.
Real-time marketing
The American streaming company is attentive to what is happening in the world, trending topics and viral content. In short, he knows the importance of always being “on track”. The Californian giant anchors itself on the most relevant current issues to create original and entertaining content, generating a contamination between the events of the day and its universe.
On the occasion of the European Elections on Sunday 26 May 2019, for example, Netflix published an instant at the exact start time of the “television marathon” on La7 – a now famous formula created by Enrico Mentana, often the subject of parodies and caricatures – alluding to a parallel with the marathon of Netflix series fans.
Another example, among many, is that of the post released in conjunction with the malfunction of Instagram, Twitter and Whastapp in July 2019, which occurred during the release of Stranger Things 3, the famous series set in the 1980s.
Once again Netflix confirms itself as king of the sector thanks to the strength of streaming and the power of social media, the winning formula with which the Californian giant has been able to involve and make people talk about itself in an original and ironic way.
