HBO?s extensive mobile and social strategy to promote the release of the film based on its popular show Entourage includes an application aggregating social content and offering ticket purchasing. 

The beloved HBO series has a powerful following and a strong connection to its fans, which all of the promotional efforts for the new film supports. The cable network is using mobile and social media marketing tactics including a promotional application, live-streams, behind-the-scenes content and social media takeovers in support of the film.

"Taking to social media and creating an app for film promotion is a powerful way to promote fan engagement on mobile with an all-in-one mobile application," said Nick Cronin, creative director at Zoomph. "Promotions that do not take mobile or responsive designs into account during campaigns often ?miss the boat? as a high percentage of users across all industries rely on mobile before a desktop for information. 

"It is important to provide a channel for fans to express their thoughts and emotions towards the Entourage experience, and it?s never been easier with technology today," he said. "By providing a consistent experience across every digital touch point, promoters are able to provide an engaging activation for fans and fully understand what actions drive these fans to interact and share.  

"The beauty of social media partnered with an an app is that it allows fans the ability to engage easily, through channels they are already comfortable with. Plus, it gives brand managers, promoters, and marketers data-driven information on how to best connect with audiences through enriched data, to promote the best user generated content to increase campaign discovery to new audiences."

Digital red carpet
The Hollywood red carpet premiere on June 1 was broadcast live from digital publication Mashable?s account on Meerkat to create a more personal promotional experience for consumers. Interviews on the red carpet gave fans a feeling as if they were apart of the event, and took a reporting format to the coverage. 

On social media, official accounts from the film, cast and crew offer fans an exclusive look into behind-the-scenes of the film such as images of filming and greetings from the cast. A slew of extra content coinciding with the film has beeen released as well such as short clips from the character Ari Gold. 

These clips are shared on other brands? social media accounts as well to be used as advertising. For instance, Cadillac sponsored an extra clip shared on its Twitter page, featuring the fan-favorite character Ari Gold with a Cadillac vehicle. 

The mobile app of the film offers fans an aggregate page of all the social media efforts from the film including posts from the cast and crew with a seamless option to share the content on users? own social media feeds. A chat community for fans to discuss the film is featured on the app as well. 

The Entourage app is also driving ticket purchases through mobile by allowing fans to locate the film in areas around them, as well as purchase tickets through Fandango integration. Users that buy tickets for the film through Fandango also receive a free download of the song Bells from the film. 

A contest was also held through YouTube encouraging fans to create two-minute videos, pitching their own film ideas and talent for a chance to get their film made. 

Mobile-social combination 
Using social media platforms has allowed the Entourage brand to cement an even stronger bond with its fans. The film partnering with Mashable to bring the red carpet to fans? mobile devices is key. 

However, not all brand have realized the potential of these live-streaming applications. 

While the growing popularity of these applications such as Meerkat and Periscope grows, live event brands scramble with fear as these apps leave opportunity for users to evade rights agreements, although the benefits may outweigh the pitfalls (see more). 

Creating an application specific to film or film series is highly beneficial as well. Recently, Entourage actor Adrian Grenier was also involved in another film promotion that created its own app and focused highly on mobile in We The Economy. 

Vulcan Productions? partnered with short-film producer and distributor Cinelan to unlock the potential of mobile with its We The Economy film series and reached millions of viewers through a mobile-first strategy, including an application where the films are viewable in their entirety (see more). 

"The goal here is to promote fan interaction between the brand of Entourage and between other fans," Mr. Cronin said. "Every fan has different habits when it comes to interacting with others depending on the platform and method of discovery. 

"It is critical that you design every campaign in a way that welcomes fans to platforms, natively, to ensure a positive experience they are comfortable with to increase the chances of interaction," he said. "At Zoomph, we focus on providing an social experiences for every step for the customer journey, and tracking this with analytics to understand the data behind each interaction. 

"By providing a method for fans to engage before, during and after the viewing you are enabling them to immerse themselves within the story being told and increase the chances that they too will share the story to their network of friends with similar interests."

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer