If you like sharks and you like tornadoes (and who doesn’t really) then you’ll have been waiting with baited breath for the third instalment of the fabled Sharknado series. Here at Talkwalker, we used our social media analytics to sink our teeth into the social media buzz surrounding the latest addition to the world's most loved shark-tornado movie franchise.
The previous movies featured (of course) sharks in tornadoes, a decapitated Statue of Liberty and Tara Reid with a chainsaw strapped to her amputated leg; so really it was a no brainer that Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (yes, there are now three movies) would create a fair amount of buzz when it was released on July 22:
Will April Live or Die?
One of the big questions dominating the headlines (of Sharknado fan pages at least) was whether star of the show April Wexler (played by Tara Reid) would live or die. The makers of Sharknado decided to let the social public decid and Tara Reid herself took to Twitter to try and save her character from an almost certainly gruesome and ridiculous death. Luckily for April, her impassioned pleas managed to strike a chord with the social media world
Sharknado: A National Phenomenon
Putting our new geolocation functions to good use, we tracked the buzz across the U.S. and saw people from Massachusetts to Montana taking to social channels to express their love (or I suppose hate) for Sharknado
The top states by buzz were California, Florida, Texas and New York. You may notice that all 4 states have a coastline perhaps an indication of the genuine fear of a “sharknado” style attack in these regions:
(Top states discussing Sharknado)
Breaking down social mentions by gender we can see it that there were more men than women discussing Sharknado, leading us to the conclusion that on balance, men prefer the shark-tornado combo to women at present, though there is still time for this to change.
(Gender breakdown of Sharknado posts)
Building the Sharknado Brand
Naturally, the social media team of Sharknado were also pretty active posting 144 tweets on the day of the release and managing to boost their followership significantly with their proactivity:
(Change in follower numbers of Sharknado official Twitter feed over the last week)
And with tweets like this, why wouldn’t you follow the Sharknado Twitter feed? I know I am.
Always be Ready for a Sharknado
Brands too were unable to resist the urge to dive into the Sharknado buzz resulting in some frankly fantastic attempts to link their products to a shark-filled tornado. Like this Instagram post from make-up specialists Benefit which received the most engagement on social media:
The lesson as always: There MUST be time for mascara, even in the face of a sharknado.
Fear the #JedNado
Finally, looking at the top themes surrounding the launch, one term looms ominously. The only thing more frightening than a Sharknado…
(Top hashtags used to discuss Sharknado)
That’s right, a tornado filled with killer Jedward clones (and maybe sharks as well). Be afraid world, be very afraid.
And all in all, the top emotions linked to Sharknado 3 seemed pretty appropriate:
(Top emotions used in posts about Sharknado)
So there’s your breakdown of Sharknado 3 on social and I hope the lessons you’ve learned will stay with you forever. Just in case, here are the three key takeaways:
- Californian men like to discuss sharks and tornadoes
- Never forget your make-up in a Sharknado situation
- Apparently there are now sharks in space
Thanks for reading and if you’d like to share your own Sharknado experiences, please do so in the comments below.
