Jimmy Fallon boosts TV audience engagement with social media

SNL-star-turned-late-night host Jimmy Fallon is a new kid on the block in the talk show community, but he’s already using the latest and greatest in online, interactive media to gather a loyal audience.

Fallon began using video blogs to build hype for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” long before the show’s debut Monday, March 2. Fans could go to his NBC page and watch his preparation process for his late-night debut. He was also in the social media world but wasn’t using it for marketing potential (His Twitter account gave endorsements for Waffle House and requests for tech support).

Now that the show has aired, Fallon has spread his digital wings further into the social media world and is using outlets like Twitter and Facebook to start a real conversation with his audience and get tech savvy with the show’s segments.

For example, with one of his first guests, Cameron Diaz, Fallon Tweeted his followers, asking them to submit questions for Diaz. The questions weren’t hard-hitting journalism, but they did create instant audience engagement by helping audience members feel like a part of the process using social media.

Yes, this could always be done with e-mail, but using Twitter is a way to focus in on the hottest trends in his strongest demographic of college-aged viewers in less than 140 characters.

And so far, it seems to be working. 

At the end of January, Fallon had a mere 25,000 followers and now has more than 250,000.

Fallon also invited Facebook to the game, having fun with the always-interesting Facebook statuses. A camera scanned the audience with a digital screenshot of Facebook, giving names and statuses to random audience members.

Fallon hasn’t incorporate Twitter and Facebook since, but it’s only the second week of his show. He is, however, constantly updating his accounts, replying directly to fan Tweets and adding videos of backstage footage.

What are your thoughts? Is the use of social media in Fallon’s style a smart way for TV shows to boost viewership by softening the barrier of the TV screen? 

Alyson (@ Twitter)