AOL Moviefone - Akamaihd.net

AOL Moviefone
Company Background
AOL Moviefone has been the premier destination for
movie show times and tickets for the last 20 years,
first as a telephone service and then online. The brand
became part of the AOL family of companies in 1999
and now creates original editorial content alongside its
informational offerings.
Objective
AOL Moviefone had two primary objectives for its
Facebook integration. Going to the movies is an
inherently social experience and AOL Moviefone
wanted to extend this experience beyond the theater.
The primary goal of the integration was to allow
customers to connect with their Facebook friends on
AOL Moviefone to see which friends liked a particular
movie or invite them to see a new film. Integrating
Login with Facebook would open up this social channel
for AOL Moviefone and ultimately drive more users to
the site.
The second objective for AOL Moviefone was to push
its content. The brand produces a tremendous amount
of unique content, including movie blogs, interviews
with film stars, critical reviews and award round-ups.
Facebook Executive Summary
Client
Objective
Allow users of AOL Moviefone to
connect with their Facebook friends
on the Moviefone site. Push unique
content directly to interested
audiences. Drive traffic back to
AOL Moviefone.
Solution
A full scale Facebook implementation
using Login with Facebook, Open Graph
API, Events API, Like Button and Activity
feed to enable social sharing and
engagement with AOL Moviefone and
its offerings.
Key Successes
“A lot of work went into it in
such a short period of time, but
the result was awesome.
Facebook was incredibly helpful
all along the way. It was a great
collaborative experience.” Peter Anderson, Principal
Product Manager, AOL Moviefone
•
Traffic from Facebook back to AOL
Moviefone has increased by 300%
since the launch of the Facebook
integration on September 17th
2010. Referrals have increased from
an average of approximately 40,000
per month to 250,000 per month.
•
The click-through-rate for the
shared content is approximately
40%. The average user then clicks
back to AOL Moviefone seven times.
Case Study
Moviefone needed a tool to help promote and share
this material, as well as deliver the relevant content to
the right people.
Implementation
AOL Moviefone integrated with Facebook Platform in
the summer of 2010, over a three-month period. The
company implemented Login with Facebook, the Events
API, and the Open Graph API, as well as the Like Button
and Activity feed. Each tool was chosen to enhance the
social experience on the site, to share content and to
drive traffic back to AOL Moviefone.
Best Practices
•
Employ social plugins to animate static
information, such as movie show times,
and encourage engagement, furthering
the larger goals of driving traffic and
increasing revenue.
•
The Like Button can be used not only
to build fan numbers but as a powerful
distribution platform. Content pushed
to users appears in their and their
friends’ activity feeds, generating social
context and viral impressions.
The Like Button, which is in place for each film listed
on AOL Moviefone, lets users click to become a fan of
a film. This is in turn shared on the News Feed of the
users’ friends, creating valuable social impressions.
Beyond this, once a person likes a specific movie,
AOL Moviefone will then post all new, related content
directly to the user’s wall. “So rather than necessarily
coming to Moviefone to browse, we push it to them,”
explains Peter Anderson, Principal Product Manager for
AOL Moviefone. “So if you’re into Captain America like I
am, then boom! We just sent you the new trailer today.
It’s a really cool utility that Moviefone now offers.”
AOL Moviefone used the Open Graph API and its own
APIs to build an “Invite a friend” tool. This feature lists
all the show times for the chosen movie, with the user’s
friends’ profile pictures in an overlay. Click invite, and
your selected friends are invited via a Facebook message
and Event page to see the movie with you. The feature
even pulls the show times from AOL Moviefone. “It’s a
really nice collaboration that uses Facebook’s APIs and
Moviefone’s APIs to create a really nice experience,”
says Robert Gould, Principal Software Engineer at
AOL Moviefone. The invite feature activates what is
essentially static data - movie theatres and show times
- into an opportunity for dynamic, social engagement.
Case Study
Outcome
The Facebook integration had immediate, strongly
positive effects on engagement and referrals back to AOL
Moviefone from Facebook. Traffic increased significantly
in a short period time. In these same few months,
Moviefone had built a community of 70,000 people
to whom it could push relevant and specific content.
Being able to track people’s activity on the site has
also enabled AOL Moviefone to gauge which movies are
trending which helps the company develop its content
to build on that popularity. “It’s been very positive,” says
Peter. “There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity.
This is, in my mind, a first phase integration. There’s
definitely way more that we can do with Facebook.”•
•
Traffic from Facebook back to AOL Moviefone has
increased by 300% since the launch of the Facebook
integration on September 17th 2010. Referrals have
increased from an average of approximately 40,000
per month to 250,000 per month.
•
Over 70,000 unique users have clicked Like on a
movie since the launch.
•
Users have clicked Like on over 4,000 movies.
•
AOL Moviefone has pushed over 200,000 individual
pieces of content to these 70,000 people’s News
Feeds, and thus their friends’ activity feeds,
since September.
•
The click-through-rate for the shared content is
approximately 40%. The average user then clicks
back to AOL Moviefone seven times.
•
More than 2,000 invites have been sent to 183
different movies.
•
AOL Moviefone has used feedback from users to
help direct and shape its content. For example, the
most liked movie in a week may not be the film
that is number one at the box office. By seeing which
movies Facebook users are liking the most,
Moviefone can identify buzz and develop relevant content ideas.
Case Study