How-To Promote Films — Big or Little — On Instagram

By Danny Scop

Big Films

The day that a trailer releases, everyone rushes to YouTube to watch. This year, Barbie got 20 million views, Oppenheimer got 22 million, and Spider-man: Across the Universe got 37 million. These trailers were all posted by their respective production studios and receive a good amount of engagement. However, on Instagram @sonypictures posted their Spider-man: Across the Universe trailer and received less than 250K likes.

YouTube is successful with long form videos but, you can’t have a two minute long trailer on Instagram. Instagram is about quick aesthetic and spectacle. So here’s how to promote Big Films on Instagram:

1. Initial Post
   1. Cover Art; make it trendy, something that appeals to the eye is also something that people will share.
   2. Take it back to the classic Movie Poster look; tag the stars and/or directors.
   3. Keep captions short; include release date and streaming locations.
2. Background Post
   1. Exclusive behind the scenes photo dump; make a dump of the actors working together with stuntmen onset, or directors collaborating with cinematographers.
   2. Tag anyone photographed.
   3. Keep captions short; could include past successful films that the same studio has worked on, or an anecdote about the first photo.
3. Story Post
   1. Post Polls or Quizzes relating to the movie, its history, or its lore.
      1. Ex. (When did Miles Morales first appear in canon? A. 1966 B. 1982 C. 2011 D. 2019)
   2. Keep aesthetic consistent across posts.
   3. Tag actors/filmmakers who quizzes may be about.

Little Films

Smaller independent films struggle with reach on all platforms. Whether it’s just a smaller studio or a student film, Instagram is still a good platform to promote yourself. However, you obviously lack the following that Disney, Sony, or Warner Bros have on Instagram, you can’t go about it the same as big films. Therefore, enticing the audience is important, but even more so advertising the time and location is a must. So here’s how to promote Little Films on Instagram:

1. Initial Post
   1. Cover Art; make it aesthetic and professional, it’s a movie poster.
   2. Tag who you collaborated with to make this film.
   3. The caption should explain a little about the film.
   4. TIME & PLACE of showings; since it’s a smaller film, it has limited streaming.
2. Background Post
   1. Appealing still-frame images to intrigue an audience, without giving too much away since it’s probably a shorter film as well.
   2. TIME & PLACE should be in caption again, as well as shouting out who you collaborated with.
      1. Depending on how big the studio is, you can make this as long or short as you want.
3. Story Post
   1. Make it personable; people know that you’re not shooting this film in Hollywood with a $60 million budget,
   2. So give them an anecdote or confess something about the filming process.
      1. Ex. (I was struggling to get a steady shot while following the actor while he was biking, so I taught myself how to rollerblade, and now I’m participating in the Eugene Roller Derby.)
   3. Again include TIME & PLACE of the showings.

To wrap up, I think that the most important thing to understand is how people use their platforms. Instagram is not a place where people want to watch long videos, but rather a place to quickly see what’s trending, and stay attached to things that are aesthetic. It’s important to use the function that Instagram has for its users to your advantage when advertising or promoting.

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