Fall premieres: The new Tweeters show how it’s done

As the TV fall premiere season gets underway, a new crop of actors are on Twitter to support their shows and connect with fans, and they’re already making a big impact — embracing live real-time conversations and building engagement.

It’s fascinating to see how these new-to-Twitter stars are engaging with fans — and each other — and what they’re doing to gain new followers and Retweets. Here are six of these new actors, showcasing different ways to use Twitter to the greatest advantage:

• Allison Janney (@AllisonBJanney), Mom (CBS)
• Anna Faris (@AnnaKFaris), Mom (CBS)
• Ryan Eggold (@Ryan_Eggold), The Blacklist (NBC)
• Sara Ramirez (@SaraRamirez), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
• Charles Esten (@CharlesEsten), Nashville (ABC)
• Natasha Lyonne (@nlyonne), Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

Live-tweeting the moment
Nashville’s @CharlesEsten joined Twitter just days before the season premiere, and has live-tweeted Q&As using the hashtag #AskNashville for every episode since. The hashtag makes it easy for fans to find the conversation, and his revealing insights and open conversation make them feel part of the show.

The Blacklist actor @Ryan_Eggold also talks directly to viewers, encouraging them to come back to watch the suspense unfold in upcoming episodes.

Not only did her West Wing fans give Allison Janney a warm welcome to Twitter; so did White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (@PressSec). Janney is now sparking lots of conversation around her new show Mom: after the first episode, she offered a peek at what happens next.

Talking to each other
Janney is also undertaking another fan favorite: engaging with co-star Anna Faris (@AnnaKFaris). The two, who play mother and daughter in the series, carry that banter on to Twitter. Here, Faris tweets at her ‘mom’:

Asynchronous viewing
Natasha Lyonne (@nlyonne), one of the stars of the Netflix-only comedy drama Orange is the New Black, uses #AskOrange to engage directly with viewers:

Because you can watch Netflix programs whenever you choose, Lyonne capitalizes on trending topics to jump into wider conversations:

Tweet often, build anticipation
Grey’s Anatomy’s @SaraRamirez has been on Twitter just two months, but already has more than 140,000 followers due to her frequent activity. She’s posted nearly 1,700 Tweets to date, with more than 230 of them posted since the beginning of September — an average of six a day. She shares insider tidbits and backstage photos from the production, and also encourages followers to watch the show by tweeting days and hours before the next episode.

Behind the numbers
Between these six accounts, as of October 11 there are nearly 250,000 total followers — with @SaraRamirez leading the pack with the most overall Tweets, and the most engagement on those Tweets in terms of replies and favorites.

This new fall season activity has quickly become part of the real-time conversation: each of these shows has an ambitious Twitter strategy in place, with casts live-tweeting, engaging with viewers and followers.

What kind of results are we seeing? According to SocialGuide, Tweets around the four network shows saw nearly 300,000 Tweets, which were seen 16.6 million times. They were consistently high in the SocialGuide show ranking, which measures how each program does on Twitter each day. (Since Orange is the New Black is a Netflix production, SocialGuide doesn’t record the number of Tweets by episode.) This chart using data from SocialGuide ( +/-3 hours around each program) shows the number of Tweets — and impressions — for each of the four network shows.

Do you know of other innovative uses of Twitter? Contact us at [email protected].