Hulu partnered with GLOW to foster the burgeoning community for The Handmaid's Tale on Facebook to create a respectful space that allows for viewpoints across the political spectrum to convene and participate in a constructive dialogue around the show.
Hulu's strategy to foster the growth of The Handmaid's Tale Facebook Page focused on targeting early adopters and self-professed super fans of the novel, talent and Hulu to be the early evangelists for a show that, for many, hit too close to home during a politically turbulent time.
Hulu identified the core audience for the show -- fans of the novel -- in order to lay the foundation for a community that is more the 500K people strong today. These super fans were invited to a then secret and private Facebook group (as part of their beta testing) via a "M'aidez" kit. These kits included a letter from Elisabeth Moss that welcomed them to the group and set intentions for it as place where the Resistance could thrive. Additionally, invites included a custom shirt made in partnership with the Vaquera fashion collective and a copy of The Handmaid's Tale signed by Margaret Atwood.
Hulu partnered with Glow to ensure that group members were rewarded for their fandom and passion for the show with exclusive content including first looks at episodic content, polls, fan art challenges, and surprise giveaways. Throughout the season as the core fandom continued to grow, more users were invited to join the private group. And, to ensure that fans didn't miss out on any of the action, Hulu and Glow delivered a weekly newsletter roundup of news and updates relevant to this group.
Once the underground resistance in the show was revealed, Hulu mirrored this unveiling by opening M'aidez to the public and inviting all to join the Resistance.
At peak of the campaign, there were an average of 1,120 active group members, of whom 45.14% engaged directly with the page.
- Most recent membership count is 4,800+ members.
- The Facebook group received over 22,000 reactions and over 600 posts within a 4-month period.
- The Facebook page received over 432MM impressions, 30MM video views and over 5MM engagements.
- The Maidez newsletter, emailed to group members weekly, had an average open rate of 30% surpassing the industry standard of 22% on top of the engagements directly in the Facebook group and page.
