Narcos Social Media Campaign by Netflix - Essay Sample

Many companies are using social media to communicate across the world. This decision is informed by the millions of users of the platforms. Besides, they are cheaper and more effective than other means, such as the use of billboards. This paper reviews Netflix's social media campaign for its television series, Narcos. The focus is on their campaign through Facebook that was effectively done.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Facebook is a social networking service built by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard roommates back in 2003. It began as a website known as Facemash with very few visitors at its beginning. Zuckerberg had limited the number of users to Harvard students only. However, it has since grown to offer a platform for over 3 billion people all over the world to share ideas, make a difference in their community, and offer support to those in need (Company info, 2019). Users have to create an account to be able to access the platform. Once they have an account, they can post pictures and videos to the platform. The platform allows visitors to send and accept friend requests from others. Accepting a friend request grants them the opportunity to see, comment, and react to any video or pictures posted. The goal of Facebook is to offer people an unmatched platform to share ideas, grow, connect, and communicate intended messages more efficiently. With availability in many countries, it is a great platform for people all over the world to connect and communicate.

Netflix is a streaming service that relies on customers' subscriptions and not advertisements to make a profit. With an internet-connected device, subscribers can watch TV shows and movies without any commercial breaks (What is Netflix? n.d.). Apart from streaming, the company also delves in the production of movies and TV shows for its millions of subscribers all over the world. As described on their homepage, the goal of Netflix is to offer limitless entertainment in the form of movies and TV shows to its subscribers regardless of their taste or where they live (Netflix – Homepage, n.d.). Streaming in over 30 languages and over 190 countries all over the world, the company has grown to become a world favorite in terms of movies and TV shows.

Netflix ran a campaign for Narcos months before its release and after the series was released. The campaign was spread among numerous social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube (Werner and Media, 2019). The campaign was particularly aimed at getting people to watch the series. Unlike broadcasting networks, Netflix releases all the episodes in a season of a series at once. The campaign, therefore, had an extra task of ensuring that the viewer remains hooked to the series.

The campaign began by Netflix arousing curiosity among the public concerning the series. Netflix began with enticing pictures and engaging captions on Facebook that helped to build anticipation for the show. For example, one poster read, "There's no business like the blow business." This was a powerful allusion to a famous 2001 movie. It helped to attract people's attention and curiosity. Netflix then released high-quality video teasers, followed by a trailer for the TV show. Werner and Media (2019) argue that to ensure effective social media reach; you should invest more than enough resources into the promotion and hire the best production gurus in the market. Netflix did just that and the public's curiosity for the show soared. By the time the show was being aired, it had garnered enough viewers waiting for its release. Moreover, the Netflix Facebook page used the Narcos poster as the cover photo. This was an easy yet very effective strategy as users got to view the poster directly on their Facebook pages (Winther, 2020). The curiosity building pursuit did not end here.

The marketing team at Netflix is always brilliant, and thus they coined an idea branded as the Narcos Bills campaign. They placed minute traces of cocaine on 5-euro bills. The traces of cocaine would respond to a smartphone camera when its flash is used. A photo of the bills would have the words #Narcos on them (Winther, 2020). People posted such pictures on Facebook together with the show's trailer, rendering the series spectacular even before it had already been aired. It created a buzz not just on Facebook but even on the News. After the release of the show, Netflix doubled the number of posts concerning the TV show and replied to all comments on Facebook concerning the show keeping the viewers engaged and king them feel like they are a community.

The Narcos social media campaign by Netflix on Facebook was effective, but it would have done better. The campaign was efficient following the positive response of the public to the campaign. Winther (2020) explains that the number of viewers exploded within the first month. However, had Netflix made use of social media influencers; more viewers would likely have watched the show. Social media influencers are important in stimulating a positive attitude in consumers concerning a product (Lim, Radzol, Cheah, & Wong, 2017). The use of social media influencers would, therefore, have made the number of viewers for Netflix's Narcos soar even higher. Thus, this is a possible strategy to improve their public relation on social media. Therefore, the Narcos social media campaign by Netflix on Facebook was effective, but it would have done better.

In conclusion, Facebook is a great platform for people all over the world to connect and communicate. Netflix is a one-of-a-kind entertainer and streaming service. The Narcos social media campaign by Netflix on Facebook was effective, but it would have done better as social media influencers are a proven method of stimulating a positive attitude among consumers concerning a product.

References

Company info. (2019, October 15). About Facebook. Retrieved October 3, 2020, from https://about.fb.com/company-info/

Lim, X. J., Radzol, A. M., Cheah, J., & Wong, M. W. (2017). The impact of social media influencers on purchase intention and the mediation effect of customer attitude. Asian Journal of Business Research, 7(2), 19-36.

Netflix - Homepage. (n.d.). Netflix. Retrieved October 3, 2020, from https://about.netflix.com/en

Werner and Media. (2019, June 19). How brands can mimic the Netflix approach to crafting a PR campaign. Medium. Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://medium.com/@wernerandmedia/how-brands-can-mimic-the-netflix-approach-to-crafting-a-pr-campaign-39a8d2d3bb00

What is Netflix? (n.d.). Help Center. Retrieved October 3, 2020, from https://help.netflix.com/en/node/412

Winther, E. (2020, August 3). What you should learn from Netflix's narcos social media strategy. SiteProNews. Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://www.sitepronews.com/2016/11/02/what-you-should-learn-from-netflixs-narcos-social-media-strategy/