# Viral Marketing for my Home Haunt



## BradGoodspeed (Sep 13, 2011)

I wanted to share a little bit about how I promoted my haunt this year. It was a multi-pronged approach, but it did seem to work quite well. Despite the hurricane Sandy related rains we got way more visitors than ever before.

It all started with a false mythology I wrote for my neighbourhood. I wanted my area to have its own 'ghost story', so I went to the local historical society, gathered some old photographs and info, and then wrote my tale.

I then turned it into a mockumentary that I think is pretty convincing. Have a watch.

The Butcher of Provincetown - Origin Story on Vimeo

We passed out flyers at our local summertime fair and asked people if they knew the haunted history of the neighbourhood. We'd then point them to the film, and ask them to sign up for the Facebook page.

Getting people to 'like' us was key, because it was the best way to stay in touch with the audience. I worked very hard to tease the audience with images, poems, and video promos throughout the year. Here are some examples.






Promotional [email protected]@[email protected]@offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fbradgoodspeed%2Fsets%2F72157631960919295%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fbradgoodspeed%2Fsets%2F72157631960919295%2F&set_id=72157631960919295&[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@%2Fphotos%2Fbradgoodspeed%2Fsets%2F72157631960919295%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fbradgoodspeed%2Fsets%2F72157631960919295%2F&set_id=72157631960919295&jump_to=

The best way to see all the stuff we did is to check out the Facebook page itself, on which we never broke character.

https://www.facebook.com/ButcherofProvincetown

The idea we tried to create was that the nearby Rouge Valley was haunted, and that the evil creatures that lived within were planning a return to our suburban neighbourhood on Halloween.

To support this idea, we created a fictional character (played by my friend Shawn) who served as a local loon/conspiracy theorist - someone who was trying to warn everyone about what was going to happen on Halloween.

We called this character Harlan Pitfield, and we created a Facebook account, YouTube channel, and blog for him. The blog was updated daily for months before we unleashed the character: http://harlanpitfield.posterous.com/

Here's one of the videos I made for Harlan:






Harlan started adding friends all over Facebook and the character caught a lot of notice right before Halloween, thanks in part to this fake article I made up.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....235167476556492.57605.214836458589594&type=1

A lot of people thought that both Harlan and the backstory were real, to the point that lots of people recognized Shawn at the haunt (he was our greeter) 
and MANY people were overheard discussing the backstory in the lineup.

On Halloween itself Twitter came to life with all kinds of tweets from local high-school kids who had gone through the haunt, or were about to.

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of the things we did... there was so much. More on the whole thing on my blog: http://bradblogspeed.com/halloween-2012


----------



## BradGoodspeed (Sep 13, 2011)

Sorry guys, not sure why the following link didn't embed, but here it is again because it was probably our most virally shared piece of promotion. Didn't want anyone to miss it:


----------



## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

This blew me away when I first heard you tell it. I know many of us create elaborate backstories to our haunt but really besides ourselves and the scare actors who knows anything about or even takes the time to read it? The fact you had people not only talking about it but actually believing it is amazing! Certainly shows the power of social marketing in this day and age.


----------



## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Very well done. You should work for a product launch. That's the type of interest and company would want.


----------



## Jack Mac (Nov 28, 2012)

Excellent job!!! Your attention for detail makes for a very professional and convincing end product. Your mockumentary and promotional still images are top notch.


----------

