Cleveland International Film Festival & Social Media

Cleveland’s International Film Festival is one of my favorite arts and entertainment events of the year. I have always had an appreciation for foreign and independent film — even more so with the quirky. Add to that my obsession with social media, and I am beyond impressed with the marketing efforts of the festival this year.

It seems that many organizations still have trouble with even one tested method of social media and here, CIFF is utilizing at least 5: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and FourSquare. The festival has also included a handful of local, popular bloggers as part of a citizen journalist take on the films and festival as a whole. Jealousy ensues.

I am most in awe of its use of the mobile app FourSquare. Many have yawned over the benefits of location-orientated applications, but CIFF has embraced it whole-heartedly, including adding a special prize for its Mayor at the end of the festival — an all-day pass to Closing Day.

In addition to checking into the festival, there are several rotating status updates and coordinating specials around the event location itself, even curt reminders to turn off your cell phone now that you’re “checked in.” After checking into the Morton’s bar (located also within Tower City limits) with FourSquare, we were notified of the festival — what a wonderful thing to discover for an out-of-towner or newbie unaware of the event. I mean, most of the movies are on standby, but that means there is still a chance!

It’s incredible marketing and relationship-building, and a working model of how an event 34 years in the making branches out its social network to new viewers and ticket holders, increasing ticket sales beyond its expectations.

All that said, there’s a rather fantastic iPhone app for all that — the film festival, that is. My only wish is to incorporate cart and purchasing options in next year’s version.

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