Leading into its third season, Game of Thrones was poised to make the leap from popular television show to global sensation. To fuel word of mouth, the @GameofThrones Twitter profile established an engagement strategy that amplified the conversation 365 days a year. From the dark words of the ravens in Westeros to deploying tweets to the Twitter realm, @GameofThrones kept followers informed with the latest news and engaged them in a daily dialogue. @GameofThrones constantly delivered content that was relatable to both die-hard fans and the mainstream, quickly adapting to what followers wanted to see. When the Season 3 trailer premiered, @GameofThrones instantly delivered it to fans, prompting them to share it within seconds. Followers are rewarded for participating in meme activations and often prompt worldwide trends like #IfiHadaDragon. Live coverage of Comic-con and offline events connected followers to beloved cast members. On Season 3 premiere day, GoT terms trended nine times and a sweepstakes drove over 250k tweets. The profile courted influential fans including Seth Rogen and Mindy Kaling and sent them boxes inscribed with their “house names" and tweeted them custom Join the Realm sigils. Recipients shared their delight, generating 34MM earned impressions. @GameofThrones consoled fans after the “Red Wedding," retweeting reactions and sharing “The North Remembers" content. Additionally, social buzz more than doubled in Season 3, confirming the show’s status as HBO’s most social original series. As winter approached in December, HBO partnered with agency 360i and gave fans a way to warm up and share a laugh with the official 2-day social media roast of King Joffrey. Custom invitations tailored to “citizens of the Twitter realm," “Payback’s a wench" content and humorous Joffrey animated GIFs were released with a call to action for fans to tweet their jokes about the “royal bastard" King Joffrey Baratheon using hashtag #RoastJoffrey. HBO international partners joined in the fun and translated campaign assets in local languages, inviting their followings to roast the King. Celebrity fans including Joe Rogan, Adrianne Curry, Kevin McHale, Seth Green, amongst others, tweeted their roasts throughout the activation. Brands and TV Shows including Oreo, Funny or Die, Charmin, Hannibal and Burger King joined in. Within the first hour of launching, #RoastJoffrey immediately trended nationally and generated over 60k hashtag mentions. In the end, the worldwide social media roast of the most-hated TV character on the Internet generated over 796MM Impressions and 1MM Total Interactions across participating social platforms. @GameofThrones grew to over 1MM followers and became one of the most powerful television show Twitter profiles. Real-time updates and interactions from @GameofThrones spiked word of mouth awareness, helping the premiere to set a record for highest viewership ever seen by the series and generating more social volume than any premium cable show. @GameofThrones’ year-round engagement helped form a personal bond with followers across the globe and gave them new ways to connect with the world of the show, cementing Game of Thrones’ position as a cultural phenomenon.
