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hearthcricket:

Saving Hope premieres on CTV/NBC at 9pm on Thursday, June 7. Only ONE week from today! Fans of series’ stars Erica Durance, Michael Shanks, and Daniel Gillies are excited to watch this new medical drama with a supernatural twist and anxious to see it become a success. Thankfully, there are some things we fans can do to promote the show. I did a little research about what other fans have done to support their favorite shows, and although some of it I already knew, some of it was new to me and could be worthwhile.

WATCHING THE SHOW

1. Watch LIVE! The network wants you to see their advertisers’ commercials, so watching live is ideal. If that’s not possible for you, and even if it is, then…
2. Watch DVR. Watch and re-watch the recorded show at least once and don’t forget to watch the commercials too. It’s the commercial viewing that gets counted toward another set of ratings figures. Gains are noticed by the networks. 
3. Watch ONLINE. There’s been a proliferation of websites offering viewers the opportunity to watch shows online with ads or to purchase without ads. I’m not sure of Saving Hope’s eventual availability, but typically the show or its network site will have the latest episode available for viewing. Meanwhile, sites like iTunes and Amazon offer downloads of shows for a few dollars each episode and Hulu and Xfinity sometimes stream them for free. These sites—all of them—share their viewing data with the network, so watching online lets the network know there are more people watching than traditional Nielsen data might show.

GET PEOPLE’S ATTENTION

1. Network and Advertise. When people come together from different fandoms to support each other it can be a beautiful thing. Find them on Twitter, Get Glue, or in your own communities and weave Saving Hope into the conversation without going overboard and without ever putting down someone else’s interests. Something like this can work, “Hi, I like X show… but I also like Y show. You should consider trying Y show because…”. A good conversation starter can be something small that you wear or have on your desk at work. It can be something visible, like a mug, bumper sticker, or poster of some kind. So show off your love of Saving Hope, and perhaps people will take notice.
2. Contact. Tweet or otherwise send messages to the network (CTV, NBC) as well as the show’s official twitter accounts to let them know you support Saving Hope. When you do, be as genuine and considerate as possible and don’t spam.
3. Support SPONSORS. Show the sponsors who choose to advertise during Saving Hope that the show was a good way to get their message across about their product by tweeting their accounts saying you saw their commercial during the show. Buy their products too, if you can. In fact, some other successful fan campaigns (e.g. Chuck) have gone so far as to ask fans to try and visit a particular sponsor’s business (e.g. Subway, Dairy Queen) so they can make a purchase and include a picture and a receipt in a letter sent to that business’s headquarters with a note saying the purchase was influenced by the ad aired during the show. 

TWITTER

1. Selecting the best tag. Words and phrases that are unique and not commonly discussed on Twitter work better with its trending algorithm. Since people have been tweeting about “Saving Hope” or #SavingHope for months just using the show’s title wouldn’t be exceptional enough to make its way up the trending charts. Twitter locates trends based on a combination of the location and number of participants as well the novelty of the tag used. So, for example, 20 tweets an hour from 200 people about a topic that’s never been seen on Twitter before will do better than 200 tweets an hour from 2000 people using a tagged topic that’s frequently used. In short, a sudden upsurge in discussion of a brand new term/topic the higher the likelihood it will trend.
2. Bearing that in mind, the Twitter tag chosen to promote Saving Hope should accomplish two things: (1) Appeal to already existing fans and viewers by having some relevance to the show. (2) Catch the attention of potential new viewers. Since, ideally, they’ll be curious enough to click the tag, the actual content of the tweet (i.e. not the tag) should include the name of the show or something about it so the outsiders will become more knowledgeable and interested in the show.
3. Making the most of each tweet and retweet. Any tweet that has more than one tag (e.g. #EricaDurance #SavingHope) won’t count toward trending and neither will tweets from privacy locked accounts. Retweets of a single tag will count, however.
4. Timing. It’s best not to start any trending campaign until an hour or two before the show airs live. Don’t use the designated hashtag until then.

GET GLUE

1. Check in to Saving Hope’s site. This form of social media is gaining popularity and can be accessed from any computer and from using apps for iPhone, iPads, Androids, and Blackberries. The more check-ins something has, the more likely it will trend on GetGlue and on Twitter, and the more likely the show will get renewed. Networks do pay attention to GetGlue and what trends there. So it’s worth checking into the site whenever you watch Saving Hope, but especially when you’re watching it live.
2. Check in to Saving Hope’s sponsors’ sites. Happy sponsors are more likely to make the network happy about a given show, so find out which sponsors aired commercials during Saving Hope and check in to their pages as well.
3. Check in to Saving Hope’s cast’s and crew’s other projects. This alerts fans of former co-stars and co-workers of those currently working on Saving Hope about the show, and because they’d be familiar with the work of one or more of those involved with the show the more open they might be to checking it out.

FACEBOOK

1. “Like” the show’s page and the pages of sponsors and advertisers. Companies put a lot of effort into getting people to notice them, so understandably they’re pleased when their Facebook pages get a lot of “likes.” For those that advertise during Saving Hope do the following: (1) “Like” their Facebook page, and (2) Leave a comment on their “Wall” that lets them know you caught their ad during Saving Hope and that you’re grateful for their support of the show.

The only other idea I had was possibly contacting local NBC news stations in whatever city or town one lives (or hospitals in major cities) to suggest doing a human interest story on the doctors, nurses, or patients in local hospitals that connects with the themes of the show, which the hard work of medical personnel, holding onto hope in the face of difficult circumstances, and keeping an open mind about the role of faith and other non-traditional treatments to help people heal. If NBC local news ran a piece like that, which mentioned Saving Hope as part of the story, the show can get even more attention and potential viewers. Remember:

Watching Live (and DVR) + Social Media + Thanking Sponsors + Sharing The Love (networking with “outsiders”) = Good things for Saving Hope

I know it seems like a lot to do, but it can be done and the best part is we fans can do it together and hopefully make Saving Hope a success!

sadieblodgett:

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