Can you feel the love tonight? The answer was yes for Western Michigan University digital marketing students who partnered with Miller Auditorium to promote Disney’s The Lion King to other WMU students through social media during the show’s run in early February. As part of a pilot “student influencer program,” students generated engaging content to encourage attendance at the show while also communicating the university-subsidized 50% student ticket discount. And the ‘love’ for their effort was felt in likes, clicks and views.
With the opportunity to attend the performance, students were able to devise a unique social media content strategy for The Lion King and measure its effectiveness through the social media analytics for their posts’ content. “The partnership with Miller Auditorium brought our three pillars of strategy, creativity and analytics together in one memorable experience,” says Dr. Scott Cowley, WMU associate professor and director of the digital marketing program, who worked with Miller to create and pilot the student influencer program. And memorable it was.
“I enjoyed the process of creating ‘influencer-like’ content to post on my account,” says Hannah DeLora. “Choosing photos that I thought would pique interest and draw in the most students was a good way for me to practice techniques I’ve learned in classes this semester and last.”
DeLora was one of a limited number of students invited to attend the Media Day at Miller Auditorium for The Lion King, and that experience had a great impact on her desire to give viewers an insider’s perspective.
“Seeing the hard work that goes into the production gave me a whole new level of respect for the show. Peeking behind the curtain, the show didn’t lose any of its magic. When creating my feed post content, I wanted to focus on what happens behind the scenes. Highlighting Michael, the puppeteer, mixing colors to touch up the hand-painted masks, as well as showcasing the hand-beaded costumes and the merchandise options, I tried to bring some of the rare aspects of the show to light.”
And the spotlight was simultaneously on a unique experience and a universal one.
“I focused my efforts on creating content that students would find relatable,” says Cheyenne Niemann. “When I was curating my Instagram Stories, I made sure that everything I was experiencing was obtainable by any student going to WMU. Creating the 50% off student discount Stories, I wanted to make sure that I highlighted the discount with some form of mechanical emphasis to catch the attention of viewers just tapping through Stories. I made sure that each of the pictures that came one after the other coordinated, drawing from the vibrant sun colors in the show as inspiration.”
In her digital marketing courses, Niemann has learned that audiences want to see real content and experiences. “People crave authenticity,” she says. As a double major in dance, Niemann notes that she has a special appreciation for content creation for live performances. “I hope that projects like this will encourage more students to be open to the idea of seeing live art.”
Trisha Larkin also brought her long-time love of theater to her content.
“I featured the beautiful decorations, theater and popularity of the show with an Instagram Story. This project was meaningful to me because I grew up in the theater. Theater was always one of my places that felt like home. To be able to include one of my lifelong hobbies in a project that prepared me for my career was an amazing experience.”
An amazing experience is what Cowley is after with the immersive projects he provides digital marketing students. “A good partnership is any situation where we have a chance to provide real value for an organization while giving students relevant professional experiences. Miller is always great at exchanging ideas and working together to craft experiences that will meet their promotional goals while helping us give students creative marketing experience they can leverage in their careers.”
With that in mind, Cowley and representatives from Miller Auditorium are looking at a regular partnership that would formalize the presence of digital marketing students as influencers for key shows each year. “Piloting such an effort would give Miller a reliable source of exclusive marketing content from students who are thinking ‘student first’ in their approach,” he says. “In the process, more students will get to have the influencer experience of working within brand parameters while still having plenty of creative freedom and getting to sample great cultural experiences in the process.”