Evaluating Disney's Social Media

For my Social Media Marketing class last summer, we had to choose a company and evaluate its use of social media, based on the concepts we had learned in class. I chose Walt Disney Studios and was severely disappointed. For being such a big company, they don't use social media as well as they should.

Company Overview

Walt Disney Studios is responsible for all of the classic Disney characters from almost the past century, as well as the latest Disney-Pixar movies. It has been around for over 90 years of magic, and it's the foundation of the Walt Disney Company, which is the major corporation of all things Disney. Walt Disney Studios produces and releases movies, music, and stage plays. Movies are released under the banners of Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Disneynature, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm.

Walt Disney Studios is a global company. It is marketed in over 40 different countries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East. In terms of target markets, Walt Disney Studios does a lot of business-to-business marketing in addition to business-to-consumer marketing. It has formed strategic alliances with Prospect Studios, KABC7's Studio B, and Golden Oak Ranch. It has recently started branching out into the Internet and has formed a partnership with Hulu. Walt Disney Studios' target market is multi-segmented. It focuses a lot of children and their families, but some movies are also targeted towards teens and adults to round out the family aspect.

Social Media Overview

Now let's get into their social media use. Walt Disney Studios has a social media page on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. However, I couldn't find much information about their Snapchat because that's purely mobile and private. As of August 13, 2016 (when I first did this evaluation), the company's Facebook page had about 27 million Total Page Likes and 28 thousand People Talking About This (which is the number of people tagging Walt Disney Studios on Facebook posts). Its Twitter page had 3.58 million followers, its LinkedIn had 84 thousand followers, its Instagram had 1.8 million followers, and and its Pinterest page had 54.1 thousand followers. It makes sense that the company's LinkedIn and Pinterest pages had fewer followers because these sites have more niche markets. LinkedIn is more for people looking for jobs, and Pinterest is more for people who like doing arts & crafts and DIY projects.

Walt Disney Studios is pretty active on its social media pages. On Facebook, the company posts everyday, about 2-3 times a day. As of August 13, its Twitter page had 7,874 tweets, was following 283 other pages, had liked 519 other posts, and had 1 list. On LinkedIn, the company posts once every few days, sometimes a couple days in a row. On Instagram, it had 1,442 posts and was following 48 people. On Pinterest, the company had 48 boards made up of 2.7 thousand pins. It had liked no other pins and was following 18 other pages.

On Facebook, Walt Disney Studios puts its focus on advertising, posting a lot of movie posters and trailers. It also does some public relations by setting up fan-based press conferences with the stars of its movies. Some are pre-recorded, in which the actors answer questions from Google, and some are live.

Its tweets also included trailers and movie posters, but the company also embraced Twitter etiquette by posting GIFs, memes, and quotations with short messages based on its movies. It also retweeted collaborations with other pages, such as Star Wars and the band The Lumineers (when they recorded a song for the movie Pete's Dragon).

Its LinkedIn posts were mostly job openings. The company would post eye-catching pictures with a short invitation and a link to apply to whatever job it's posting. It also posted behind-the-scenes stories and gave thanks to other companies and people who have helped them out. Walt Disney Studios also posted a thank-you to California Donuts on its Instagram page, which I'm sure increased business for the donut company.

Its Pinterest boards are each based on a different Disney movie as it is released. This is a good way to divide up and focus the company's marketing because on its other platforms the company jumps around between movies that it's advetising, but on Pinterest, fans can click on whichever movie they're interested in and see what kind of pins are available for it.

Interactions

Walt Disney Studios' interactions with fans and followers seem to focus on generating buzz and word-of-mouth. For example, it tweeted "RT [retweet] if you are seeing #PetesDragon this weekend!" It then retweeted tweets that fans posted using the hashtag.

Disney also collaborated with Petsies to create a campaign in which fans could post a picture of their pet on Instagram, with the hashtag #mypetdragonsweepstakes3, for a chance to win a custom-made plush doll of their pet with dragon wings. This was used to promote Pete's Dragon. This is a type of interaction that also has fans spread the word by posting their pictures and using the hashtag for their friends to see and wonder about. Their friends then go find out what it's about and find this sweepstakes, which is a form of sales promotion.

Walt Disney Studios' interactions on Pinterest take the form of instructions for crafts and baked goods, which are things that fans can make on their own. It's also good for parents with small children, which helps to round out their target market.

I tried interacting with Walt Disney Studios on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. On Facebook, I commented on a picture of Moana that I'm glad Disney Princesses are becoming more ethnically diverse, and I hope that Princess Elena follows the line-up of Disney Princesses. On LinkedIn, I commented on a picture that said "Swim for a new career." I said that I've always been interested in Disney and asked what kind of careers they have in the marketing and advertising field. On Twitter, there were a lot of posts about Queen of Katwe, which was based on a true story, so I tweeted at Disney asking who it was based on. A couple weeks later, I saw Disney retweeting fans' tweets about Moana. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and tweeted that "I can't wait to see #Moana!" None of these interaction were acknowledged by the company in any way.

Trends

When I looked back through some of Walt Disney Studios' social media pages, I noticed that the company tends to post the same advertisements on multiple platforms. I also noticed that its tweets have followed the same trends and haven't changed since the company joined Twitter on May 18, 2016.

Its Facebook posts used to be a lot more interactive, especially during its first year on Facebook. For example, in this post, fans were asked to talk about their favorite scenes in Prince of Persia.

Its LinkedIn posts used to be made up of more articles and cross-promotions. Instead of just telling followers about job openings, this post links to an article about the BB-8 toy and Disney's Accelerator Program, and another post links to Disney's Instagram page.

Analysis

The types of social media used by Walt Disney Studios are microblogs, social networks, and media sharing sites. The company's goals are to create buzz about its products and to drive WOM through interactions with fans. Its conversion goal is product purchase, which means Disney wants people to watch its movies, to buy tickets and the DVDs.

Disney follows the Law of Quality by posting valuable content, even if the company isn't posting every day. It follows the Law of Compounding by getting fans to advocate for it, even if they just retweet something or use a hashtag. Finally, Disney follows the Law of Reciprocity by working with other companies and thanking them, which also boosts the other companies' popularity.

Most of the content posted by Disney is a form of consumption communication, which is basically mass communications directed at the company's whole audience; there is not a lot of one-on-one interaction. There is the occasional synchronous interaction, such as the fan-run press conferences that are live.

The best Walt Disney Studios post I found was on its Facebook page. It was a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and its caption said, "'Savvy?' -- Captain Jack Sparrow," with Jack Sparrow tagged in the post. This post received over 2,000 likes, 187 comments, and 69 shares, and it's not an advertisement or a call-to-action; it's just a photo with a one-word quotation. I thought that was impressive. Disney has created such a prominent brand for itself that this post is so recognizable and popular. So many people interacted with it, without Disney having to do much.

On the flip side, the worst post I found was a tweet that said, "Welcome to Giant Country Paul Moniz de Sa! #TheBFGPremiere," with a GIF. This post only received 16 retweets and 92 favorites, which is very low for Disney. I also don't understand what this post is about, and I don't think many people did, which is probably why it did so poorly.

Vs. Competitors

The company has four major competitors in the movie industry: Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount Pictures.

Walt Disney Studios' Facebook page has millions more page likes than all four of its competitors. It has thousands more people talking about its page than all four competitors. The company posts about as often as most of its competitors, but a lot more often than Paramount Pictures.

Walt Disney Studios has the most Twitter followers, but Warner Bros. Pictures is close behind. However, Disney follows fewer pages than its competitors. Disney's tweets have more favorites than Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures, but fewer than 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures. Disney's Twitter has fewer tweets than all its competitors except 20th Century Fox.

Walt Disney Studios has more followers on LinkedIn than Warner Bros. Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It has fewer followers than Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures. It also posts more than all four competitors.

On Instagram, Walt Disney Studios has a lot more followers than its competitors. However, it is following a lot fewer other people. It has more posts than all of its competitors except for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Finally, on Pinterest, Walt Disney Studios has tens of thousands of more followers than all of its competitors. It has more boards than Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox, but fewer than Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Disney has more pins than all of its competitors, is following fewer pages, and has fewer likes.

Conclusion

Disney does a good job of using each social media channel as intended. Its Pinterest is used for DIY projects; LinkedIn is used for job postings; Twitter is full of memes, quotations, and GIFs; and its Facebook is a lot broader. Disney is also an international company that does a good job of maintaining a global perspective and appealing to a global audience. I saw a lot of people commenting and posting on Disney's social media pages in different languages. Disney is resourceful and credible in its industry, especially in the articles it posts.

Disney's posts are shareable, and they integrate public relations and advertising, as well as a little bit of sales promotion. Disney also follows social media etiquette by using a light and consistent tone, displaying good spelling and grammar in its posts, and only deleting posts and comments when necessary. Speaking of which, Disney's Facebook Page Info says that the company does not "accept or consider unsolicited idea submissions," and reserves "the right to remove any posting or other material that [it] finds off-topic, inappropriate, or objectionable." This means that while the Facebook page is a way for the company to reach out to its fans, it won't accept input from fans if it wasn't explicitly asked for. This isn't always a good plan for companies using social media because fans and followers should be listened to in order to improve the company. However, it is good that Disney's social media has a plan in place for dealing with trolls and negative comments.

If I worked for Disney's social media marketing, there are some things I would change. I would strive for more interactions because, especially compared to its competitors, Walt Disney Studios doesn't interact enough with other people, whether fans or other companies. I would also create a YouTube channel for Walt Disney Studios. Disney has a Disney Movie Trailers channel, but YouTube can also be used for behind-the-scenes exclusives. I would also strive for better customer service because the company focuses a lot of driving WOM and increasing sales, but doesn't really try to build relationships with its customers.

I would develop more of a personality for Walt Disney Studios on social media because its posts read more like advertisements and don't sound like a person is writing them. I would connect more with some of the many fan pages out there and cross-promote its own pages more. For instance, on Pinterest, I would pin other pages' material. It would also improve Disney's image if it created more philanthropic posts, working more with other charities and not just promoting itself.