To actively engage with audiences in the third season of its hit series, "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta," VH1 created an immersive TV integration using the Instagram platform entitled #CheckYoSelfie.
#CheckYoSelfie, a first ever 2nd screen experience on Instagram, enabled fans everywhere to see exclusive cast reactions in real time & submit their own to be featured as part of the show.
Each episode, when an impactful moment happened on-air, immediately an Instagram photo depicting a dramatic reaction from one of the characters involved would flash on screen serving as a CTA to head to @lovehiphopvh1 on Instagram to see their full video reaction.
A second on-air message follows, inciting users to share their own reaction with #CheckYoSelfie to be featured on air.
On Instagram, viewers were directed to see the full-length reaction videos on VH1 as well as and a gallery of fan reactions at checkyoself.vh1.com
Then, in the shows' encore airings, fan #CheckYoSelfie photos are featured on-air during the most dramatic moments.
Results:
136,000 new Instagram followers added
11,600 #checkyoselfie submissions
+82% lift in views of "Check Yourself" full length videos on HYPERLINK "http://vh1.com/"VH1.com vs. S2
58% increase in LHH series total social activity vs. S2
+13% lift in 7-day repeat episode ratings
VH1's "Love & Hip Hop" follows the women with a compelling connection to Hip Hop as they navigate their professional and love lives through a world of backstabbing and jealousy, broken promises and shattered dreams.
For its third season, VH1 brought a southern-fried tale of struggle, love and temptation to Atlanta, Georgia to prove that there's no boundaries in "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta."
The "Love & Hip Hop" audience is voracious on social media. VH1 has found that 80% of its viewers are engaged on at least two screens during programming. And in the past year, VH1 has seen a 26% increase in average daily visitors to the VH1 mobile website and a 29% increase during Monday Primetime hours—when "Love & Hip Hop" airs.
But entering season 3, VH1 faced a problem - The show's audience was engaging and creating content in newer channels than even just a season ago and VH1 wasn't part of that conversation – yet.
The brand's challenge was clear, but lofty: How do you innovate & anticipate new audience social behaviors while retaining leadership as TV's most social show?
Knowing innovation was necessary to keep up with evolving fan behavior, prior to season 3 VH1 set out to use data from its massive social audience to uncover just how they could engage this rabid audience in an all new way. The research uncovered two main findings -
Cast reactions to dramatic moments dominated social conversation
Instagram emerged as a new, massive Love & Hip Hop fan community
With that insight in hand VH1's objective and strategy became clear:
Objective:
Build upon the existing social media footprint of VH1's "Love & Hip Hop" fan base and further the innovation behind VH1's most social series for the latest installment in the successful series franchise.
Strategy:
Enable fans to not just see the cast react to drama in real-time, but invite them to be part of it
To make the campaign feel natural to the "Love & Hip Hop" brand, VH1 would launch a campaign from the shoulders of its existing property "Check Yourself." These online feature shorts invite viewers into the stars' living room, where they can watch the cast react and reflect while tuning into the latest episode for the first time.