“WhatHappenedInSkinner?”
…AndWhat’sNext?
What Do We Want
LET’S INCREASE OUR AUDIENCE BY 20% OVER THE SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO SEASON TWO LAUNCHING AS MEASURED BY ACAST® MONTHLY DOWNLOAD METRICS. right now we earn about 3500 monthly listeners with a 20% month-over-month increase over six months we’ll earn about 11000 monthly listeners that’s s.m.a.r.t.
Who Do We Want It From
Audience Segments
Sam, Spooky Casual Listener
Kaitlyn, Supernatural Mystery Aficionado
Drew, Puzzle Chasing Sleuth
Wide-net potential for finding new listeners. Brings active social media sharing and casual, long-term engagement
Very loyal and vocal group of listeners. Once they’re hooked, they dive deep and facilitate organic word of mouth buzz
A whole world of people who love the way we tell our story. May not typically prioritize podcasts
Sam, Spooky Casual Listener
● Urban
● Listens on his commute
● Varied popular interests
● Immersed by story and character, not genre
● Not an online explorer – straight to Spotify or Apple Podcasts to listen
● Engages primarily with visual social media –Instagram, Reddit, YouTube Shorts
Pain points include difficulty finding high quality, immersive media that isn’t expensive. With his small media budget already spent on streaming and Spotify Premium, any money he spends better be worth it
Challenges include juggling his work-life balance, which leads to limited “binge-time” for engaging with his narrative flavor of the month
Demographics
Straight · Married · He/Him
Age 35-45
Makes $60k - $80k
Psychographics
Seeks entertainment to unwind
Audio content permeates his multitasking
Enjoys narrative with a strong sense of “place”
Identifiers
Follows a few podcasts regularly
Shares and seeks community on social media
Who Is This Guy?
Publications Social Media Brands
The New Yorker for culture and arts Entertainment Weekly for media and pop news
Audible Blog for recs and release news for hot new audio content
Instagram for behind the scenes and extra content Facebook for community and event updates LinkedIn for professional networking (seldom an outlet for his hobbies)
Spotify Premium for uninterrupted listening Starbucks completes the morning routine Apple Podcasts for reviews and secondary listening stream
Kaitlyn, Supernatural Mystery Aficionado
● Suburban
● When she gets hooked she dives deep
● Immersed by specific flavors of preferred genres
● ARG and extra content are key, even if she can’t experience it in real time
● She will invest a lot of time and energy and expects a return in quality
● Soundscape and audio quality are paramount
Pain points include finding content that hits the right blend of folklore, horror, and mystery without gory shock value
Challenges include over-saturation of “nearly right but not quite” content which leads to difficulty in finding something to put all her attention and energy into
Demographics
Bi · Single · She/Her
Age 20-30
Makes $40k - $55k
Who Is This Gal?
Psychographics
Passionate about folk-horror mythology, especially from local cultures and locations
Particular interest in high-quality sound design and audio landscapes
Identifiers
Engages with creators on Patreon
Active in her podcasts’ communities on Discord
Publications Social Media Brands
Fangoria for horror and genre film news
Locus Magazine for sci-fi and fantasy literature
Folklore Thursday for articles on folklore and mythology
Tumblr for deep dives into fandom, ships, theories, and fan art
X for following authors, creators, and fandoms
Discord for niche community engagement and direct interaction with creators
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for lit and folklore inspired merch and scents Etsy for supporting other fans and showing off her interests
Patreon for supporting favorite artists and access to exclusive content
Drew, Puzzle Chasing Sleuth
● Urban
● New to narrative podcasting
● Typically listens to true crime and tech/culture
● Expresses themself through analysis and community collaboration
● Organic discovery of clues at an appropriate difficulty is a powerful hook
● They will find a way to break Mazama’s preferred path of entry
Pain points include lack of content that is intellectually and creatively fulfilling. Enjoys supernatural and magical stories but does not want the Young Adult writing style
Challenges include engaging in meaningful participation and finding media with a balance of compelling story and audience participation. She wants to feel an impact commensurate to the effort she puts in
Demographics
Bi · Single · She/They/Them
Age 25-35
Makes $50k - $70k
Psychographics
Enjoys solving puzzles, highly analytical
Values logical consistency in storytelling, especially in supernatural settings
Who Is This Person?
Identifiers
Active on Reddit and participates in online forums
Publications Social Media Brands
Wired for tech and culture insights
The Verge for media and entertainment tech news
Aeon for deep dives into philosophy and psychology
Reddit for finding and working ARGs and puzzles
X for following creators and update developments
Discord for distilled community interaction and direct involvement with creators
Moleskine because every good detective has their notebook Sony for high-quality, comfortable audio gear Reddit Gold buyer; indicates an active and participatory role
Hungry for any ARG, but especially for the rare high-quality few
How Are We Getting To Them
“I don’t break character until the DVD commentary”
An always-in-character production team is a double-edged sword By removing the boundaries between what is and is not diegetic, we hamstring our ability to connect with a wider audience We must re-enter the social media sphere with care and precision
Creating an immersive experience has always been a central goal of WhatHappenedInSkinner–every post, clue, and correspondence is in character and in universe. This allowed us to create an unforgettably immersive ARG experience, bringing an international audience into our world. It also stopped our marketing efforts in their tracks.
If we want to bring the world of Skinnerto a wider audience, we have to set boundaries that let our audience know what they can and can’t play with, and when they’re talking to a character or a company. They are ready to meet us halfway – the contract we make with them is “Trust us. Play by our rules and we’ll give you a high quality, interactive, multimodal experience like you’ve never seen.”
WhatHappenedInSkinner?Marketing Audit
Good news and bad news:
On one hand, we have essentially zero active social media presence. On the other, that means the only way we can go is up.
Across all socials:
- - Jan ‘24: two fan posts on Discord
- - June ‘23: the last post on Patreon
- - March ‘23: the last Mazama team post on Discord
- Feb ‘23: last post on X
- July 7th, ‘22: Facebook’s last post
We cannot rely on our audience coming to us. We have to find and meet them where they are.
What
Are Our Audiences’ Choices
Limetown Midst Worlds Beyond Number
What Will Set Us Apart
Sam, Spooky Casual Listener Kaitlyn, Supernatural Mystery Aficionado Drew, Puzzle Chasing Sleuth
I want to find a fun, bingeable story to listen to, but it’s hard to find compelling content that isn’t ad-locked or pricey.
I want to find a fun, bingeable story to listen to, but it’s hard to find a show and community that care as much as I do.
I want to be part of a stimulating, engrossing experience but it’s hard to find one that meets my standards.
XR Avenues
Spatial Soundscapes Virtual Braintrust Augmented Lenses QR Scavenger Hunt
We are asking our listeners to immerse themselves in our story and our world, so let’s give them as much opportunity as possible to do so
Spatial Audio
Offers an emotional anchor into the world of Skinner
- - Easily shippable and the easiest at-home immersive experience
- - 3D audio is not natively available on Spotify, allowing return listeners a new experience
- - It helps Sam by showing that we have free, interesting, well-crafted content
- It helps Kaitlyn by demonstrating the attention to detail and commitment to quality our team holds
Virtual Braintrust
Offers an interactive central community hub for clue gathering and social connection
- - Promotes collaboration between audience members, but allows Drew to invest more attention while people like Sam can interact casually
- - Immediately and globally observable and updatable, allowing the platform to grow and change with the investigation and story
- - It helps Drew by providing an intelligence headquarters from which to investigate
- It helps Kaitlyn by demonstrating the multimodal commitment Mazama holds to telling stories and involving players
Augmented Reality Lenses
Offer an interactive way to share the love of WhatHappenedIn Skinner?with friends
- - Built into social media and a shareable ecosystem
- - Allows a fun and personalized way to interact with the spooky vibes of our show
- - Mazama strives to be a trailblazer in this space, and no one else is using these sorts of social AR tools
- It helps Sam and Kaitlyn by providing an accessible, entertaining, and social way to engage with our story
QR Scavenger Hunt
Offers a hands-on experience for new and die-hard fans alike
- - QR activation is as easy as a phone camera and internet connection, allowing audiences of all kinds to engage
- - QR creation, printing, and distribution is cheap, allowing agile planning and deployment
- - It helps Sam by providing an easy way to explore our online ecosystem and possibly a taste of a larger puzzle
- It helps Kaitlyn by providing an active and social way to engage in her favorite hobby
- It helps Drew by providing a satisfying hook into our mystery. The payoff of doing the work to find a clue keeps them coming back
How Do We Spread The Word
Reigniting Our Social Presence
Branded UGC Earned Influencer
❖ These are plainly “out of character” posts
➢ Episode clips
➢ Announcements
➢ Fan art
➢ Rehosting episodes
❖ Community additions to the virtual world
❖ Posts and shares of AR social activity
❖ Post and shares of IRL sleuthing
➢ QR hunt
➢ Live events
❖ News generated from our novel activity
❖ Leverage alumni news networks
❖ Hard to count on, but effective when attainable
❖ SuperNovaTova on TikTok and Instagram is a friend of the creative team and past collaborator
Evaluating and Measuring Success
Reach
Follows/Signups, Impressions, Social Voice Share
Importance
These numbers give us an idea of how many people we can be reasonably sure will see our content
Engagement
Insights What kinds of posts resonate with our audience segments?
Actionable
If we know what kinds of posts our audiences enjoy, we can strategically craft our social output going forward
Downloads, Engagement Rate, Saves/Faves, Comments, Likes
Importance
Engagement is our number one priority. Our product is a homerun, we just need people to get into it
Insights
What kinds of posts resonate with our audience segments?
Actionable
If we know what kinds of posts our audiences enjoy, we can strategically craft our social output going forward
Measuring
Hootsuite and Social Blade will track our social media impressions and growth. Internal analytics on our chosen VW platform will provide follower metrics
Measuring
Hootsuite and Social Blade will track our social media impressions and growth. ACAST provides download analytics. Internal analytics will provide dwell-time and VW analytics
Conversions
Importance
$$$
Patreon Subscriptions, Merch Sales Attitudinal
Insights
What kinds of posts lead our audiences to convertible touch points (Patreon, store, newsletter)?
Actionable
If we know why people are moved to buy, we can support those actions
Measuring
Google Analytics will show click-through paths. Patreon will provide subscriber numbers. Squarespace analytics provide CTR, bounce rate, dwell time, and website hotspots.
Podcast Top 100 List Placement
Importance
People love “What HappenedInSkinner?”
We want “discover/for you” algorithms to recognize that
Insights
This ranking, behind download numbers, is proof-positive of our quality and popularity
Actionable
If our downloads grow but our rank falls, we know we need to focus on Reach. If our rank rises and our downloads do not, we know we need to focus on Engagement.
Measuring Spotify and Apple Podcasts public rankings
