In film promotion, digital marketing strategies need to be both innovative and efficient. One such strategy involves the use of URL masking and custom URLs to have a unique web address for a page within your main website. This technique offers a range of benefits, primarily down to retaining all traffic within your own site.
What are Custom URLs (Vanity URLs)?
Custom URLs or vanity URLs are unique web addresses tailored to specific marketing campaigns or content. These URLs often contain keywords related to the film or campaign, making them more memorable and easier to share across billboards, posters, ads and social media.
URL Masking is a technique where a custom URL is displayed in the browser’s address bar while the actual content comes from another (hidden) URL. This is the perfect tool for a more user-friendly, branded journey within a promotional campaign.
- Improved SEO: Custom or vanity URLs often contain keywords relevant to the film, which can boost search engine rankings. Additionally, with URL masking, as the webpage is within your existing website, it can benefit from existing search engine ranking of your site. Higher visibility on search engines can lead to increased traffic and better engagement with the film’s promotional content.
- Brand Consistency: Branded URLs can ensure that film distributors’ marketing materials always reflect the film’s identity. It reinforces brand recognition.
- Enhanced User Experience: URL masking makes URLs cleaner and easier to remember. A custom URL like www.filmname.com is far more appealing and easier to recall than a long, complex URL, thereby driving more traffic to the site.
- Centralised Data and Analytics: With URL masking, all traffic is directed to the core platform, such as usheru Connect. This centralization allows for comprehensive data collection and analytics, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
- Simplified Management: Creating custom URLs within a platform like usheru Connect eliminates the need for building standalone websites for each film release. This not only saves time and resources but also ensures that all promotional activities are managed from a single dashboard.
Where You Can See the Benefits
- Tailored Film Release Campaigns usheru Connect users often create unique web pages for new film releases. By using custom URLs, they can promote these films with distinct, memorable web addresses, such as www.filmname.com. URL masking ensures that while the promotional URL is displayed, all data remains within the usheru Connect platform, allowing for seamless tracking and analysis.
- Enhanced Email Marketing When sending out promotional emails, using vanity URLs with URL masking can significantly enhance the user experience. Instead of long, complex links, recipients see clean, branded URLs that are easy to click on and trust. This approach can improve click-through rates and overall engagement.
Metfilm’s custom URL on the page for the movie “I am Celine Dion” - Social Media Campaigns Social media is a critical channel for film promotion. Custom URLs can be crafted to align with social media campaigns, making it easy for users to remember and share. For example, a tweet promoting a film could include a URL like www.watchfilmname.com, which directs users to the film’s promotional page on usheru Connect.
- Offline Marketing Materials For offline marketing efforts, such as posters, billboards, or flyers, custom URLs are essential. A short, memorable URL is much more likely to be visited than a long, complex one. By utilising URL masking, distributors ensure that all traffic from these sources is accurately tracked within the usheru Connect platform.
Using URL Masking as a Film Distributor
URL masking and custom URLs help you to retain all traffic within your central web platform. With these techniques, film promoters can see numerous benefits, from improved branding and user experience to enhanced SEO and centralised analytics. usheru Connect users see streamlined film promotion processes for film distributors, ensuring their campaigns are more effective, data-driven, and ultimately, more successful.
Learn more about usheru Connect here.