Webster’s dictionary defines social as — just kidding. But seriously, what makes for good social these days? Even for brands, the rules have been thrown out the window. It’s like Westworld out there — fun until the bots turn on you — and it’s getting harder and harder to carve out your own place.
But over the last year, HBO social transformed from a promotional space into a topically-relevant, editorially-driven, conversation-starting, always-trending brand with a personality as big as its shows. A brand with a defined voice, a distinct point of view, and a national holiday for Laura Dern.
Twitter is not known as the kindest place on the Internet. But we managed to engage fans in positive conversations, spark healthy debate, and start everyone’s year off on the right foot.
It’s now officially the year that Game of Thrones comes back.
— HBO (@HBO) January 1, 2019
The average swimming pool has 8 gallons of urine in it.
— HBO (@HBO) August 8, 2018
HBO has over 300 movies.
Choose wisely. pic.twitter.com/mxvv070Kfn
Everyone in my family keeps asking me what’s going to happen on Game of Thrones so I’ve just started lying to them.
— HBO (@HBO) December 22, 2018
4-year old me watching The Princess Bride: I wanna marry the prince!
— HBO (@HBO) December 13, 2018
34-year old me watching The Princess Bride: I wanna marry the princess! pic.twitter.com/OQnY2bVneo
One day you will perish. You will lie with the rest of your kind in the dirt. Your dreams forgotten, your horrors effaced. Your bones will turn to sand. #MondayMotivation
— HBO (@HBO) March 12, 2018
Tell me your favorite HBO quote and I will correctly or incorrectly guess your astrological sign.
— HBO (@HBO) October 17, 2018
What theme song do you hear next? pic.twitter.com/nGVwfRUHMJ
— HBO (@HBO) September 7, 2018
Good morning to the emotions I didn’t know I had until I watched Sharp Objects.
— HBO (@HBO) July 9, 2018
Yes, officer, these are the women who stole my heart. #BigLittleLies https://t.co/w9aFHfe46m
— HBO (@HBO) January 7, 2019
This resolution can be arranged @HBO https://t.co/T66RS3OQf0
— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) December 31, 2018
Good news: it’s Friday.
— HBO (@HBO) March 16, 2018
Bad news: time is a flat circle.
Office Email: There’s a leftover cupcake in the breakroom.
— HBO (@HBO) July 18, 2018
Cupcake: pic.twitter.com/jcKYnuB1EO
Winter is here.
— HBO (@HBO) December 21, 2018
This has been in my drafts since April.
My safe word is “Kenny Powers.” What’s yours? pic.twitter.com/7DFpW2sIEd
— HBO (@HBO) November 3, 2018
In 500 words or less, please tell us who is the greatest HBO character of all time. Responses will be graded.
— HBO (@HBO) October 4, 2018
It took me an hour to make this. Please clap.
— HBO (@HBO) October 10, 2018
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#CyberMonday pic.twitter.com/2rTmC2jEz6
— HBO (@HBO) November 26, 2018
Don’t you hate when you’re just sitting in a cafe and a guy walks in and sacrifices a goat?
— HBO (@HBO) March 9, 2018
This happened.
There are some conversations we’d rather not be part of… like international sanction announcements. So we took to Twitter to make our wishes known. The post caught more than a few eyes and became our most popular tweet of 2018.
How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?
— HBO (@HBO) November 2, 2018
#DernDay
Do you ever sit around thinking about how Laura Dern deserves her own holiday? Same. So we invented #DernDay: a social holiday that apparently everyone wanted.
Everyday for me is #DernDay !! I Feel the Dern! 🌟 https://t.co/SfLneN8Pcc
— Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) June 22, 2018
Today is Dern Day. The only holiday that matters. #DernDay pic.twitter.com/SdtmATb3TE
— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) June 22, 2018
I AM! https://t.co/fbMbIkCMe8
— Laura Dern (@LauraDern) June 22, 2018
In honor of #DernDay, watch The Tale on @HBO today! This is an important and eye-opening film that I'm honored to be associated with. Much love. https://t.co/LJ7SI9mCcX
— COMMON (@common) June 22, 2018
It's @LauraDern's world. We're just living in it. #DernDay https://t.co/0zNrIxuJGB
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) June 22, 2018
Wine is jealous of Laura Dern’s nuanced complexities. #DernDay pic.twitter.com/skz3tRfz9m
— HBO (@HBO) June 22, 2018
In honor of #DernDay, here are 12 of @LauraDern's best looks of the year: https://t.co/svUdDo2oyz
— Hollywood Reporter Style (@thrstyle) June 23, 2018
International Women's Day
HBO is home to a lot of badass women who always seem to know exactly what to say. So we used their words on #InternationalWomensDay to speak our truth - and accidentally confuse a lot of men.
I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
I imagined a story where I didn’t have to be the damsel.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
I just wanna be on my Halle Berry shit, okay? I just wanna feel good.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
This is the new world and in it you can be whoever the f**k you want.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
I won’t be knitting by the fire while I have men fight for me.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
No man. Just me.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
That’s why they call me a bulldog, ‘cause I had to learn how to fight back with a bully.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
Get the government out of my f**king snatch, you know?
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
Stop interrupting me, you stupid f**king interrupty guy.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
What’s the big mystery? It’s my clitoris, not the sphinx.
— HBO (@HBO) March 8, 2018
Instagram is a great place to show off what you got. And when you got the best talent in the game, it’s not hard. We used the platform to become super fans of talent... and then we geeked out so hard, we had no choice but to make some charts and graphs.
INSTAGRAM STORIES
Instagram Stories can be a wasteland of quotidian garbage... or it can be a useful tool. Need help deciding what to watch? Need an excuse to get out of something? Need excessively bad tax advice? We got you.
SOPRANOS NICKNAMES
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos, we sent out a single tweet offering Soprano-worthy mob nicknames for whoever wanted one. Over 24,000 people replied, including Roger Federer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Nussbaum, Blake Griffin, Macaulay Culkin, and a big chunk of brands on Twitter.
We wrote, designed, and posted over 100 nicknames in real-time, creating one of the great Twitter threads of the year.
To quote the nice people at Fast Company: “Look, Brand Twitter rightfully gets a lot of flack. It tries too hard. It’s too gimmicky. It’s manufactured human interaction. But this? THIS. This was goooood.”
In honor of the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos, I’m handing out Soprano nicknames today. Who wants one? FYI if you tell me your first name, this is way easier for me.
— HBO (@HBO) January 10, 2019
Click the tweet to scroll at your leisure or check out some of the responses below.
Prfect https://t.co/we7DpoRLne
— jackie no edits (@jack) January 10, 2019
HBO-mg. LOVE IT.
— hulu (@hulu) January 10, 2019
brb making this my twitter bio 💕
— GIPHY (@GIPHY) January 10, 2019
👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/9Uwl2SKxfT
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) January 10, 2019
La Familigia (bread)sticks together. 🥖 https://t.co/OzHtDH50jh
— Olive Garden (@olivegarden) January 10, 2019
Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in. https://t.co/cYugCNSE6C
— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) January 10, 2019
No, you're pic.twitter.com/c4Ofh1ZBjj
— HBO (@HBO) January 10, 2019
— Laura Dern (@LauraDern) January 10, 2019
My Sopranos nickname! https://t.co/s9nM3d7Avk
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 10, 2019
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 https://t.co/afiyPxgATL
— D'Arcy Carden (@DarcyCarden) January 10, 2019
Perfection. Square Patty gets the job done because she never cuts corners.
— Wendy's (@Wendys) January 10, 2019
— HBO (@HBO) January 10, 2019
— TCM (@tcm) January 10, 2019
Lmfaoooo I’m dead! https://t.co/20C3gbgOfl
— Kalen Allen (@TheKalenAllen) January 10, 2019
— HBO (@HBO) January 10, 2019
