Fan Engagement Essential to WWE's Digital Marketing Success.

A company’s relationship with its target audience is the most important tool in building a successful digital marketing campaign. A good model for an entertainment business to follow would be WWE and their social media strategy. WWE trends worldwide weekly on Twitter, has over 360 million social media followers and has increased its viewership by 120 percent in the past year. Looking at the level of success WWE has had, it can attribute much of its achievements to a strong understanding of its fans and the ability to adapt virally to a progressive digital climate.

Fan engagement is the main component of WWE’s business model and is of the utmost importance for continuous success in the digital realm of entertainment. The company’s constant involvement in social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, has helped WWE reach more consumers than Taco Bell, Target, Pepsi and the NHL.

WWE uses its Superstars like the highly followed John Cena to create social media mobs through Twitter. When Cena’s original hash-tags are re-tweeted by his followers, the audience for the product multiplies exponentially, depending how big the viewer’s social circles are. The digital marketing push has helped drive consumers to WWE’s weekly television broadcasts, pay-per-views, their online shop store and lastly the company’s 24/7 internet subscription based network.

The best example of WWE’s understanding of its target audience is the company’s use of digital marketing to let the fans know their voice is being heard. Wrestling fans are passionate and are not afraid to let upper management know how they feel about the current product.

Earlier this year one of WWE’s top stars, CM Punk went on an unexpected hiatus from the company. Punk had been advertised by WWE to be present at months of upcoming shows and this proved to be a problem when Raw was to return to Chicago, Punk’s hometown. Frustrated fans began a twitter movement that trended worldwide leading up to the Chicago show titled #HijakRaw. The fans arrived to the United Center presenting distasteful signs and began defiant chants that would throw the whole production out of synch, or so the fans thought. 

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Instead of fighting with the voices that needed to be heard, WWE embraced the concept of the hijacking by incorporating the social media movement into the storyline. WWE showed its media savvy intelligence by inserting its most popular Superstar, Daniel Bryan at the top of the show rallying the fans for what was called “Occupy Raw”. The fans left the arena feeling valued and appreciated.  #HijakRaw and #RawChicago trended worldwide 7 times that night.

The key to WWE’s success in digital marketing has been through their relationship to their consumers. By offering viewers new material weekly, engaging with fans through social media, continuously updating its apps, viral media outlets and even by incorporating fan movements into weekly programming, WWE has found the secret to successful digital marketing. By listening to the voices and opinions through all digital media platforms, entertainment businesses have the opportunity to make viewers and fans happier consumers than ever before.