The term social media can be defined as:

 “Many online tools that allow people with similar interests to share information, learn from others, or network in an open process. The information found on these sites is commonly referred to as ‘user-generated content, which means anyone is able to post with minimal restrictions or oversight.” (Wilson, 2010)

The effectiveness with which a film is marketed is an important factor in its success. Before the Internet, production companies had to advertise to their customers via print media. Handmade posters are used to adorn billboards, buses, and city streets. However, the trend is still in practice, but the handmade posters have been replaced by digital ones. Trailers were used to help sell forthcoming films after cinema became a big industry. Not just for movies, but also for commercial organizations and departments, the industry started to grow. Movies that do not use this kind of promotion risk failing to attract an audience and losing money paid by studios. Both parties are now using social media in their campaigns in order to increase revenues and reach a larger audience.

A viewer's trip through a film is divided into three phases: pre-release, release, and post-release of the film. Pre-release advertising is used to provide an impression of a film before it is released. It includes elements such as the release of songs, the publication of first-look posters, teasers, and interviews on social media platforms. Actors and all the film's collaborators give live interviews on the day of the film's debut, both in person at the theatre and, more importantly, by going live on social networking platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Over the past five years, freelance filmmakers and large production companies have dominated the social media scene. According to a study performed by Chong Oh, “the more a movie studio is prepared to communicate with its fans through social media the more probable it is to have a larger WOM [Word-Of-Mouth] volume. This consequently enhances the chance of having a stronger opening-weekend box office performance” (as reported in science 2.0). Some of the top social networks that production companies have utilized to advertise their films include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

If we talk about freelance filmmakers, they may get continuous real-time feedback from their viewers, which is a tremendous method to help them grow both technically and artistically. What's amazing about this change is that it's taking place in a really natural way. The fact that these filmmakers are already utilizing these social media sites for their personal life which makes it simple for them to use them to promote and advertise their films. Production firms, on the other hand, are increasingly using social media to promote and advertise their films. This is to protect the reputations of the producing corporations, but things are changing quickly. Even though Hollywood spent millions of dollars promoting James Cameron's sci-fi epic 'Avatar,' a large part of the film's success was due to its social media campaign. "Avatar has its own Facebook (Facebook), Myspace (Myspace), and Twitter (Twitter) sites," says Samuel Axon. That's becoming the norm these days.

 

Taking the case study from the Bollywood industry, the film 'Baahubali' was one of the most recent instances. It came up with a variety of organic, viral campaigning ideas, such as a picture frame contest, Baahubali Comics, Facebook-related stickers, and so on. "Why did Kattappa murder Baahubali?" become a popular question. The fact that the official Facebook page has a following of 4.21 million people attests to the effectiveness of these initiatives.

 

To sum up, with the introduction of social media, viewers' connection with films, celebrities, artists, and other media has taken on a whole new meaning.  Whereas, there are many other synergies across various platforms that would prove to be a great source of entertainment industry’s advertisement and provide several development opportunities, such as e-commerce, payment gateways, booking websites, merchandize and fashion portals, and so on.