by Dick Rolfe, CEO

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It’s no secret that Social Media sites are flourishing. They have taken “word of mouth” communicating to a new level. These platforms glean mountains of personal information from our postings and pictures that enables them to gather like-minded people into what researchers call, “interest groups”. The terms vary from “friends” on Facebook, to “followers” on Twitter or “circles” on Google+.

Consumer product manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to reach their customers as efficiently as possible with messages tailored to their specific needs and preferences. Before social media was on the scene, locating various interest groups was a tedious and costly process. Studies grouped people into three categories to identify similarities; geographics (location), demographics (income and lifestyle) and finally the most valuable but illusive category, psychographics (how people think).

Today, Social Media has simplified the process by monitoring interests and moods of its members in real time. Singing reality show, American Idol traditionally relied on 800 number voting by phone, an outmoded method that has been updated by The Voice, which uses Twitter and iTunes downloads to rank contestants’ popularity. Newcomer, Rising Star provides a mobile app so the public can vote, in real time during a live performance, to determine whether an artist stays for the next round or goes home.

And the science is becoming more sophisticated day by day. Researchers can decipher very detailed and even intimate information about each of us who posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, etc. They lump us into interest groups by the type of food we like, the restaurants we frequent, our religious and political beliefs, down to our favorite brands of clothing and deodorant, and how we feel about a recent TV show or movie we watched.

This is where the entertainment industry comes in. Studio execs are eagerly seeking ways identify interest groups so they can deliver movies that match the psychographic profiles of each group. It seems a bit surreal and “big brother-ish” at first. But, there’s actually a silver lining to this somewhat mysterious cloud.

For over two decades The Dove Foundation has been advocating for a very special interest group; like-minded people who embrace traditional values. They are consumers of faith and family entertainment. Statistically, this is the largest single “interest group” in American society.

Social Media provides us with the vehicle to express our approval or disapproval virally to our Friends, and Followers, and Circles. If filmmakers want to serve us they must make more entertaining movies that are not “spiced up” with gratuitous sex, violence, profanity, nudity and drunkenness’– movies that bear the Dove Seal of Approval.

A Social Media expert told me, the number of “shares” a movie receives on Facebook projects how it will perform at the box office. Here’s how you can influence Hollywood and vote for your favorite film using social media.

  1. Go to The Dove Foundation’s Facebook Page www.facebook.com/dovefoundation
  2. Look up the movie you wish to endorse.
  3. “Share” that posting with your friends. (“Likes” do not get included the research data.)

Social Media has given us a powerful tool to express ourselves and be counted. We can now speak to Hollywood with a single voice!

Soon, I will have an exciting announcement that will give you an even greater way to cast your vote for Dove family-approved and faith-friendly movies.

Stay tuned!