The Hunger Games- Social Media and Advertising

Last summer I was in the United States and met two American teenagers. They loved Harry Potter. They loved another series more. When they first told me about this trilogy of books, I'd never heard of them before. They told me I had to read them. The next day I went to a bookshop and purchased a copy of "The Hunger Games. Within the next week I had read all three. Gripped by Suzanne Collins' dystopian North America, where twenty four teenagers are "randomly" selected across twelve different districts. They are then put in an huge outdoor arena and have to kill each other till the last one is standing. It may sound rather grim but it is unbelievably gripping and has become hugely popular.

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When I returned from the USA in the summer I was desperate to talk to friends about the book. No one had read it. No one had heard of it. Why? Subsequently,  I lent the books out to many people and now the film is released this month it seems everyone knows about it. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, sites full of Hunger Games information, ranging from games and posters to interviews and apps.  Social Media is proving to be a key tool in promoting, interacting with and exciting consumers.

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Logging on to twitter nowadays it is hard for me to get away from entertainment sites tweeting about upcoming releases or interviews with celebrities. For instance, Digital Spy is repeatedly tweeting new stories about the Hunger Games, whether that be the latest posters, cast interviews or a new sneak peek video. Entertainment websites have the ability to easily communicate reaching so many people, so quickly. The rise in smart phone usage means people can check their Facebook or twitter feed whenever they want. Films like the Hunger Games have arguably latched on to this. They have created Facebook groups that have interactive games with just over 254,000 Facebook users on the official page. Their twitter account has as 233, 723 followers, . There are social media apps about the Hunger Games. There are thousands of pins on Pinterest about it. Social Media creates a buzz. A chain reaction, a retweet, a tag, a like, a pin. Ways of spreading the word about a product. There is no doubt that social media is one of the most important ways an organisation interacts with its clients. The image below is a moving poster created for the Hunger Games, the internet and social media allows this quirky idea to be distributed easily, compared to more traditional methods, such as normal advertising posters.

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The Hunger Games is just one example of a product that has used social media to interact with people. It can reach those who have never previously heard about it. Social media can aid hype of a product, more people want to buy it because everyone is talking about it. The future of Advertising and PR significantly involves Social Media as sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest continue to grow in popularity. Ignoring social media is not an option for a business that wants to succeed?