Marlene King Pretty Little Liars Analysis

I. Marlene King’s Pretty Little Liars (PLL) has been airing on ABC Family since June 2010 and is one of the most crowd-pleasing shows on social media. The teen mystery drama is based on the popular novels written by Sara Shepard and follows four high school girls; Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer living in fear of the unrevealed “A”. Given that PLL is the top rated show amongst female millennials, keeping their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest accounts updated is key. Social media is an effective and cost-efficient way to distribute information to different networks and audiences of all sizes (Ciprian, 2015, p. 96). Understanding the relevance of photos, videos and other social media support can make or break a show. Actress Troian Bellisario who plays Spencer admitted that: “Pretty Little Liars exists because of social media” (Zemler, 2016). With over twenty two million combined followers, PLL definitely masters the art of social hype.

While going through the comments on different social

Fans were able to watch the first three minutes of the show during the day until the actual airing. The account got 815 000 followers and generated 170 million views after only three months. ABC family has partnered with artists and Snapchat influencers to help create interesting “snaps” posted throughout the seasons. Pretty Little Liars is also the number one scripted show on Pinterest. The show’s multi-platform strategy is a key tool in PLL’s marketing. In “The Growing Importance of Social Media in Business Marketing”, Pavel Ciprian states, “Through social media, businesses can interact with customers directly. Businesses can attract customers by engaging them with some interactive methods like Question and Answers, Polls, etc” (2015). Pretty Little Liars was launched just as social media was on the rise, which has made them somewhat codependent and extremely