Web Series Case Study for Season 1 of Naturally Ours

Creating, filming and marketing Naturally Ours has been an exciting process filled with many positive and heart warming encounters! We were able to thrive on our storytelling roots reviving the quirky science loving gal that is such a part of Erica Hargreave. Through exploring Canada’s parks, we captured imagery and interviews that remind us of what it means to be Canadian. As it’s never long before Erica makes friends, she was joined by the scientists, naturalists, historians & artists whose work is inspired by Canada’s magnificent spaces. We have outlined a web series case study for our first season, which was filmed entirely on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.

Just one of many stunning views seen while on Salt Spring Island

In filming Season 1 of Naturally Ours, we were debating whether to distribute it as a broadcast half-hour series or a web series, as the pilot content shot on Salt Spring Island could be cut beautifully into either, and with the release of the series trailer, we were asked for both from the audience and broadcasters. Our digital audience wanted to see a web series, and without pitching the broadcasters, we were asked for a broadcast half hour series from a 4K Network in the US and paid subscription network in Canada.

We also had interest in the series from an interactive and immersive storytelling fellowship in Norway, that shortlisted the Series Creator and Host, Erica Hargreave, for the fellowship. Finally in the Autumn of 2017, we decided to follow our instincts and release the pilot content for Naturally Ours as Season 1 of the web series, Naturally Salt Spring. By sharing Naturally Salt Spring as a web series, we create greater flexibility in use and sharing with our various partners in the Series.

What the Audience is Saying…

Series Timeline to Date

Winter 2017

Released the trailer for Naturally Ours.
Approached by a 4K network in the USA for the first season of the Series.

Spring 2017

Shortlisted as a part of an Interactive and Immersive Storytelling Fellowship in Norway.

Autumn 2017

Beautiful Artwork by Briony Penn

First run of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, featured on Vidme.
Premiered Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, in 4K on YouTube.
#NaturallySaltSpring / #NaturallyOurs social media campaign around #SaltSpringIsland.
Niche Community Building Campaign around the launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring.
Invited to submit to the Vancouver Web Fest and Fearless.
Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary featured as a part of the launch of Fearless
Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was the Most Watched Title on Fearless in December and Erica Hargreave named as the Most Valuable Creator.

Winter 2018

Began the e-newsletter and blogging campaign around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and full Naturally Salt Spring documentary.
Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, an Official Selection of the Vancouver Web Fest, and nominee for Best Documentary Series and Best of BC.
Full Naturally Salt Spring documentary an Official Selection of the Vancouver Web Fest, and nominee for Best Pilot (under 30-minutes) and Best Cinematography.
Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, an Official Selection of die Seriale Festival in Germany.
Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, launched on Stareable, and on the same day submitted, Stareable sent word they’d be featuring the Series that week.

Tiered Release

To maximize exposure and reach around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, the full Salt Spring Island documentary, to our partners and to Salt Spring Island itself, and to be cognoscente of our own resources, we have approached the release of the content from this series in a tiered approach, as outlined below.

October – December, 2017

Release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Vidme and YouTube.
#NaturallySaltSpring / #NaturallyOurs social media campaign around #SaltSpringIsland.
Niche Community Building Campaign around the launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring.

Some of the Characters at Ruckle Farm

December 2017

Release of the full Salt Spring Island Documentary on Fearless.

January – April, 2018

E-newsletter and blogging campaign around Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary.

March 2018

Release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Stareable.

April 2018

First film festival screenings of both Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary at the Vancouver Web Fest.

June 2018

First European film festival screening of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, at die Seriale in Germany.

Wool Art Snowy Owls by Aki Otsu, a featured artist on Naturally Ours.

Hashtag Campaign Around Salt Spring Island

During the October – December launch of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, on Vidme and YouTube, we simultaneously ran a social media #hashtag campaign around Salt Spring Island, using the hashtags #NaturallySaltSpring, #NaturallyOurs and #SaltSpringIsland. While we utilized these hashtags on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest, the platforms that we tracked the data on were Instagram and Twitter. A few key data points include:

#NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Twitter – 12,629,662
#NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Instagram – 528,519
The Impressions to the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag doubled on Twitter.
This sparked the now on-going use of the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Instagram.

Niche Audience Building

Over the years our company, Ahimsa Media, has been met with a great deal of success in building storyworlds and engaged audiences around Films, TV Series, and Digital Storytelling Projects by identifying which niche communities the project will resonate with, and finding and engaging them online, both around our project and their own content.

This is exactly what Erica Hargreave and Lori Yearwood did around the release of Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, in the Autumn of 2017, and continue to do. While the stats around niche community engagement are cumbersome to gather, we can tell you that to date we have been engaging in:

“We are all indigenous to somewhere” Fred Roland

30 Facebook Groups
34 Subreddits
13 LinkedIn Groups
23 Google+ Communities
4 Forums

We have also compiled a list of a number of other niche communities to engage in, when time permits. These niche communities are targeting individuals interested in nature, parks, the arts, farming, homesteading, outdoor living, hiking, travel in British Columbia and Canada, the Gulf Islands, documentaries, First Nations, and travel in general. In a number of these communities, we became the ‘go to’ people to talk about Salt Spring Island, including in one of the Salt Spring subreddits, which we have to admit, gave us a chuckle.

Featured and Festivals

We have been fortunate to have had much to celebrate with Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring. Below is a timeline to date of a few of our celebrations:

October – December, 2017

Entire Season 1 release of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was featured on Vidme.

December 2017

Fearless featured the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary as a part of their launch.
The full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was the Most Watched Title in December on Fearless.
Erica Hargreave named the Most Valuable Creator in December on Fearless.

January 2018

Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, and the full Naturally Salt Spring documentary were named as Official Selections of the Vancouver Web Fest.
Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was named a Vancouver Web Fest nominee for Best Documentary Series and Best of BC.
The full Naturally Salt Spring documentary was named a Vancouver Web Fest nominee for Best Pilot (under 30-minutes) and Best Cinematography.

March 2018

Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, was named as an Official Selection of die Seriale in Germany.
Stareable featured Season 1 of Naturally Ours, Naturally Salt Spring, as a Staff Pick in it’s first week on Stareable.

Some of Our Numbers to Date (March 6th, 2018)

93,873 video views on YouTube & Vidme
827 video and blog comments
#NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Twitter – 12,629,662
#NaturallyOurs / #NaturallySaltSpring Launch Campaign Impressions on Instagram – 528,519
Doubled the Impressions to the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Twitter.
Sparked the use of the #SaltSpringIsland hashtag on Instagram.