“The Hunger Games,” a movie based on the first of a trilogy of books by young adult author Suzanne Collins, just completed a hugely successful $155 million opening weekend.

The film’s marketing budget—a paltry $45 million—was not only spent on tried-and-true movie promotion tactics like posters and paid advertising, but also on a comprehensive social media strategy that included fan blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, a website, mobile games and more. That online buzz, slowly simmering for the past year, helped generate enormous interest by the time the film was finally released last Friday.

Selling a movie like “Hunger Games,” which takes place in a futuristic dystopian society (the “Games” are an annual contest in which children fight each other to the death) is just as complex as completing a B2B sale. What can marketers learn from this movie’s success?

• Start with a great product. The Hunger Games trilogy is enormously popular and middle school and high school teachers consider it so significant that they have added it to mandatory reading lists.
• Know your audience. The biggest fans of the books are Millennials who spend a lot of time on social media, especially Twitter and Facebook. Where does your audience live online? Do they frequent certain blogs? Are they on Facebook, or do they prefer Tumblr?
• Engage them. Analyze your audience’s behavior online. Are they providing feedback about a certain product? Do they have questions about a particular model? Engaging and interacting with your audience helps promote your brand and your product.
• Provide a marketing mix. Balancing your media budget between traditional outlets—like trade publications and tradeshows—and social media and online advertising to ensure you’re getting the most reach.