Best Buy ramped up sales of classic horror films by celebrating Friday the 13th on Twitter, pairing the social media platform’s polling feature with a mobilized curated film list for easy purchase.

The big box retailer is exploiting the popularity of the Friday the 13th film series with a Twitter poll on the corresponding date, asking fans which movie is their favorite. The poll also provides a link to a mobile-optimized list from which users can purchase the films from Best Buy.

“Best Buy is putting fun into Friday the 13th,” said Michael Becker, managing partner at mCordis. “With polling they are inviting people to participate and share an opinion, smothering everyone loves.

“They are engaging people and they are influencing them to put the movies and Best Buy top of mind by including them in the list,” he said. “The way they have constructed this program they are not necessarily going to directly drive sales, the focus of this program is appears to be around branding and engagement through entertaining social engagement.”

Buying Friday the 13th
While a bevy of retailer took to social media last week to tap into the frenzy over the freaky Friday date, Best Buy took the opportunity to drive sales of a favorite cult film series. Followers of Best Buy on Twitter were asked which Friday the 13th film was their favorite.

The poll was featured in a tweet reading, “let’s head back to Camp Crystal Lake,” a reference to the fictional setting of the original movie. A link in the post brought mobile and desktop users to Best Buy’s site where they could browse and purchase movies from the series.

Users were given a choice between four of the Friday the 13th films, such as The First One, Jason Lives, Jason X and The Remake. Results showed an overwhelming support for the original film.

The 35 films on the list are available for purchase, accessible through Best Buy’s link on Twitter. Films featured ranges from original Friday the 13th films, remakes, special editions and Blu Ray, as well as other film genres pertaining to the infamous date.

Users can buy the films and other Best Buy products directly within the link, which also offers a Visa Checkout option for faster purchasing.

Social media sales
Kohl’s similarly piggybacked on the excitement surrounding the new Captain America: Civil War film and driving merchandise sales by featuring specific items in a contest on Twitter (see more).

Forever 21 also attempted to drive in-store sales through social media and shared a digital coupon with Twitter followers, who can redeem the discount at bricks-and-mortar locations by scanning their mobile screens (see more).

“To drive sales immediately, and as a thank you for participating, they could consider offering a coupon or discount to the movie’s in the list,” Mr. Becker said. “However, rather than going for the quick sale, they can use this program to better understand their audience and to build a remarketing pool for future programs.

“It is a simple, but relevant and timely program,” he said.