Feed the community. Build excitement.

I have to admit.  I’m SUPER excited for the new Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises, that comes out in a few weeks.   I think Christopher Nolan is one of this era’s most masterful filmmakers and I’m excited to see how he handles this final chapter in his chunk of the Batman franchise that he’s been given to steward.

I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes though.  When you’re dealing with a franchise like Batman, you have this amazing audience/community that you’re accountable to.  Screwing up isn’t an option.

With the Batman fan community, the best way to sell movie tickets is to feed the beast.  You have to give the community something that’ll give them a taste of what to expect.   The excitement’s not going to be as high if they don’t hear anything from you for the 2 years between when the different movies get released.

And Warner Bro’s did exactly this.  To build up excitement for the movie that’s coming out in a couple of weeks, they just released a 13 minute feature showing clips and behind the scene of Dark Knight Rises.   (The clip is embeded below.)  Like every other fan, I took 13 minutes of my day and was totally enthralled in watching the feature.

This is SUPER applicable to anyone that’s trying to build up a community.  In order to get that relationship between you and your audience, you have to communicate with them.   You have to tell them what to expect.  You have to tell them what to get excited about and you have to do it on a pretty regular basis.  In Warner Bro’s case, they  release teaser trailers, trailers, posters, behind the scenes features, etc.

Granted when you communicate like this, it does 2 things in addition to getting people excited…

It sets expectations.  If you say that you’re going to make the best Batman movie ever.  You have to actually do it.

Secondly, it gives people something to talk about, for better or for worse.  People are going to talk about what you put out there.  You have to be ready to take the feedback, respond, and do something with it.  Otherwise, the community can backfire on you quickly.

So… feed your community.  Communicate with them and do it on a regular basis.  Watch the excitement grow.

And here’s what I know you really want.  It’s the 13 minute feature on Dark Knight Rises…