Turner's TNT has hired the savvy auntie to officially live tweet on behalf of the Saving Grace program starting next Tuesday, June 16th at 10pm EST. These sponsored conversations will be hosted by Notkin (a prominent member of New York's Social Media Hub) and use the hashtag #SavingGrace with [sp] to denote that the tweets are sponsored.
We've seen a lot of networks try and capitalize on the Twitter phenomenon. MTV's The Phone has a companion Twitter game, and even Bravo celebrated their Real Housewives of New York season finale with a virtual viewing party that had Twitter in the spotlight. We're especially intrigued by TNT's approach to forgo the celebrity angle, however, and turn to a member of the web/tech space for her influence and audience.
Notkin writes a detailed description of how the relationship came to be on the SavvyAuntie blog, and we learn that she reached out to TNT because she saw a natural fit between the show — who's heroine is an aunt — and the SavvyAuntie audience.
She writes, "It took us a couple of months to figure out the best way to create engagement through social media...and finally agreed that inviting everyone to a weekly Twitter event - led by yours truly - to watch and live-tweet Saving Grace every Tuesday at 10PM EDT, starting June 16, would be a fantastic solution."
Sponsored Twitter conversations have been known to create quite a stir, and we've even explored the impact that IZEA's Sponsored Tweets could have on Twitter, but Notkin's openness about the sponsored conversation, the direct alignment with her audience, and the network's involvement somehow make this campaign appear more genuine.