Influencer Orchestration Network™

Influencer Marketing Tips from MST3K’s Big Kickstarter Campaign

Influencers are Making Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Kickstarter Campaign a Success.

By @erburgess

Using crowdfunding to bring back cult television shows isn’t new but the geeks and robots involved in Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) are taking it to a new level with the help of influencers. The wacky cable television show is coming back with the help of around 5 million dollars in crowdfunded cash on Kickstarter but series creator Joel Hodgson didn’t do it on his own.

Famous fans of the show have helped the campaign blast well past their funding goals. With influencers like Felicia Day added to the cast and popular writers like Community creator Dan Harmon (himself an influencer) stepping in to put words in the mouth of the robot hosts, the campaign is benefitting from firepower on both the creative and marketing side of things.

Hodgson has actually enlisted a full range of celebrities and social media creators, from big names with no social footprint to those who may not command A-list (no pun intended) salaries but who come armed with massive social media followings to help with promotion.

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What Can Brands Learn About Influencer Marketing From MST3K?

The campaign illustrates the one-two punch of using influencers for creative projects. The intrinsic value of getting someone like Felicia Day (2.65 million Twitter followers) to co-star in the show when she’s an actual fan is clear. Since she has a passion for the property like fans do, her involvement is appealing to potential backers of the campaign.

The other half of her value to MST3K is the quality promotional value. While the campaign has also enlisted the help of traditional media stars like Jerry Seinfeld (3.38 million Twitter followers), who will make a cameo during the show’s new season, their promotional value is unlikely to be as deep.

Although Seinfeld has a larger following, Day’s level of engagement is far deeper because of the connection she’s built with an audience that identifies with her and with whom she has interactions. Day replied multiple times after her two promotional tweets, adding more effusive comments about the show. Seinfeld just tweeted once and let the social conversation die out after a bit.

The MST3K campaign hasn’t released any numbers about how their traffic and backers came in but the tweets above make it clear Day’s engagement was far deeper than that of Seinfeld (and other traditional media celebrities like Mark Hamill and Joel McHale).

As with most cases in influencer marketing, the biggest name isn’t necessarily the perfect match for a brand – it’s the creator that lines up best with the brand’s goals and interests that becomes the ideal partner and Brand SoulMate. As the reigning queen of geeky media, Felicia Day was an ideal influencer to connect with the MST3K crowd based on her passion for the brand and the way she knows how to raise awareness and drive interest amongst prospective backers of the campaign.