Case Study: Kino Luna, Warsaw

 Martyna Lach, event coordinator at Kino Luna in Warsaw tells us how she uses Facebook to bring visitors to the core of the cinema’s life.

Facebook has made its way to Poland.  Now ranking 22nd in the world, with almost 6.000.000 registered users, the amount of Polish people on THE social network has experienced growth of up to 75% in the past 6 months.[1] 

And our SylC partners in Poland managed to make the most of it.

"Kino Luna hipnotyzuje, czaruje i przenosi w czasie. Czego chciec wiecej od kina?"

“Kino luna hypnotises, enchants and moves in time.” What more could you want from cinema?”

This is not spam, but a declaration of love from Justyna, a fan of Kino Luna, Warsaw, to her favourite cinema and posted on their Facebook fan page.

“People love to communicate because it makes them feel that their cinema is not just a building, but the people behind it too”. This, according to Martyna Lach, is the main reason why you should start using Facebook.

Martyna Lach’s 10 Top Facebook Tipps

If you just started a facebook page, or still feel insecure using Facebook, here are a few tips that should help you make the most of this fantastic tool.

Why you should start:

1. Look at my stats

OK so as we have demonstrated time and again, Facebook often overcomes a cinema’s website when it comes to traffic.

Martyna is the only person at the cinema working in online communication. The website displays high hit and view rates but the stats show that a huge amount of visitors come to the website through Facebook. When you consider that they now have 7000 fans,  it’s no wonder that she uses Facebook to encourage visitors to go to the website. If you ask her, the most important communication tool for the cinema is definitely Facebook - and it is SO easy!

2. Because it is free?

Yes! No hosting fee, no newsletter tool - for an entirely privately funded cinema, Facebook is an ideal tool - because it’s free! This is, for Martyna, definitely THE greatest advantage of Facebook. She assumes that Facebook is a way more powerful tool than 100 printed posters. Costs so little - brings so much: why not do it? 

3. This social network audience of yours

Cinema is social, so is Facebook. For students and young people, Kino Luna started organising regular events, like their “cheap Mondays” with discounts on tickets. Meanwhile, people come on Monday without even looking at the programme, which they trust anyway. They invest in the cinema as a meeting place. According to a survey that they gave to their audience, the first answer to the question:”How do you find out info about our cinema?” was…Facebook! This is especially true for younger people. The majority of Kino Luna's audience is women, aged between 16 and 35. They are online!

Once you’ve shown up 

 4. Fans not friends

After she reached 5000 friends on Facebook, Martyna started a fan page which she says is much better, and she encourages other organisations to switch to a fan page. “The other account has been canceled by facebook. They have these new regulations: institutions can not have personal account, they also cancel accounts with false names.” After her experience, Martyna advises other cinemas NOT to create a normal Facebook profile with friend requests, but a FAN page. With a normal profile, facebook gets really slow when you get a lot of friends, and you aren’t allowed more than 5000 friends.

 5. Find a tone, and stick to it

You need a good strategy. But this happens quickly - find your right tone, and stick to it. You probably do it already on your own Facebook profile if you have one anyway.

Advanced players

6.  When will they be there?

Well, apparently while working. This confirms the famous survey performed by Virtrue at the end of 2010 (http://mashable.com/2010/10/28/facebook-activity-study/) , people are mostly active on Facebook when they are at work. The time where Martyna gets the best feedback to her posts is between 9am and 5pm.

7. Make them play*

 On Facebook, she could tell that the posts that get the highest amount of reaction are the tickets giveaways. People like to play online, to answer questions about their cinema (like the number of seats in one theatre, for example) to win tickets. 

8. Mutlimedia content

People love watching multimedia content. Don’t hesitate to publish videos: trailers, music videos, fun stuff. They gather a lot of clicks. Trailers are great incentives to actually go and watch a movie.

9. The star is the cinema

Martyna was even thinking of making a video of the cinema itself. After premieres or special events, she suggests putting some pictures online. People who attended the events will tag themselves and create more buzz. If people stumble upon your facebook page, the first thing they will look at is your pictures. Show off - you are what they want to see!

10. Feedback is positive

Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback - why, you can even seek compliments in the name of your cinema! As an example, for their 48th birthday celebration, the entire promotional work was done on Facebook. Kino Luna asked their fans to write a few words about their favourite local cinema on their Facebook page and now, a catalog has been printed with all the nicest comments that were left on Facebook, with people's pictures and their comments. Positive buzz about the great job you are doing can not hurt!

* Watch this space for more information on this specific thematic: Our next editorial will be Transmedia and Gaming