@waltsfrzenhead – A Social Media Case Study

We were faced with a particular challenge when it came to promoting the crowdfunding efforts for the independent feature film “The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head”. The film was a comedy based on the conspiracy theory that Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen. In the film, he is thawed once every year to give advice on how to run the company, but this year, he asks a low level cast member to take him “upstairs” to visit the park which he’s never been allowed to see. It answers the question many fans of theme parks and the Disney company ask themselves “What would Walt think?”

We had a specific set of goals:

1. Establish authority and familiarity within the theme park fan community
2. Communicate the humor and tone of the film
3. Cultivate a fanbase for the project
4. Create a compelling story for local media to write about

The challenge was that we had to accomplish these, or at least lay the groundwork, without telling anyone that there was going to be a movie. The portions of the film shot in the park needed to be done without the knowledge of the Walt Disney Company.

We turned to Twitter as our primary outlet. The parody account of @waltsfrzenhead was born on August 22, 2014. (@waltsfrozenhead was already taken by a parked account)

Hello. Is this the internet? I’ve heard about this. Do people still use http://t.co/0OYEeYCv76? We own that.

— 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚝’𝚜 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚣𝚎𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 (@WaltsFrzenHead) August 22, 2014

Initially we had a two-prong plan:

Step 1 – Create Compelling Content

From that point on, the account started tweeting jokes, discussion points, and media/news commentary from the first-person perspective of Walt’s Frozen Head. At the beginning, we purchased 2000 followers for the account from a website of dubious reputation. Purchasing followers is not typically advised, for good reason, but as an initial starting point, it made us look popular, or at least popular enough that social media users wouldn’t have a second thought about following us. (Those followers are long gone. Sketchy sites may be able to initially provide followers, but they are one Twitter algorithm away from being wiped out. By the time that happened, it didn’t matter; we had reached terminal velocity, and had a respectable enough number.)

Step 2 – Identify and Interact with Influencers

We also identified influences in the community known internally as #DizTwitter. By aggressive following and responding, we also increased our numbers and reached a number of different factors within the community. Occasionally, the account will also tweet at non-followers joking about the concept of Walt’s frozen head. This results in a followback 30-50% of the time.

As the date of our Kickstarter launch grew closer, it was time to officially hint at what was to come, and we implemented three new strategies to increase our following, and through this, have a successful Kickstarter:

Step 3 – Leverage Success into Expertise

Through a connection made with a Disney blogger on Twitter, I was invited to write an article for TouringPlans.com. Included in the bio on the blog was the first official mention of the film.

(Originally, the bio read “Benjamin Lancaster who runs @waltsfrzenhead”, but after several people mentioned they were shocked that someone ran the account, all future mentions of me were modified to “Walt’s intern”.)

Dropping these breadcrumbs was part of our announcement strategy to transition the account from being ostensibly a parody Twitter account to one that promoted the film itself. We moved onto new strategies:

Step 4 – Use Popularily to Engage with Press

The official announcement of the film came at the same time as the Kickstarter campaign. Due to the ground work laid by the twitter account, local press had already become interested in the movie, and we were covered by several local papers and radio programs.

Step 5 – Target Niche Media Outlets

Additionally, I started becoming a regular guest on Disney and theme park podcasts. The Twitter account provided the perfect jumping off point for me to discuss the upcoming film. Many of these podcasts reach thousands of listeners, and even though they aren’t as prestigious as regional media outlets, their audiences are hyper targeted.

These efforts increased our Kickstarter donations. We went on to have a total of two successful Kickstarter campaigns raising over $16,000. After these successful campaigns, I continued to run the account, steadily increasing in followers.

Results

We’ve had several breakout tweets from the account, each of which gained significant numbers of new followers:

Part of the strategy to keep the account fresh was continually utilizing popular meme formats early in their life cycle.

When the full trailer for the film was released in early 2018, the film was covered by /Film, Syfy Wire, Attractions Magazine, and many others.

Ultimately following these steps built a successful parody Twitter account, which has resulted in tangible success in promoting the film. There’s a conspiracy theory that the Walt Disney Company named their version of The Snow Queen Frozen in order to ruin the SEO for people searching for evidence that Walt was cryogenically preserved. That may have worked, but searching “Walt’s Frozen Head” will first pull up the Twitter account, our official website, news links and information about our film.