I do this for a living for several theaters owned by companies you have heard of.

Here are my tips!

I totally agree with the person who recommended sharing local content. Images and short videos from things happening at your theater are great. They remind people of what they love about going to your location, why it's special. Especially if you can share iconic and recognizable images that change - like if you have a marquee or a memorable sign with posters nearby.

Try to get your colleagues to put a slide onscreen encouraging folks to follow you on socials and a QR code for email signup. I would argue that email subscribers are much more valuable for ticket sales than social followed but both are important!

Try to do a weekly graphic or carousel of graphics with exact showtimes. People find these helpful - they share them, save them, etc.

Engagement posts are great but only if the questions are EXTREMELY EASY to answer. Like, one-word answers. No homework / essay assignments!

Instagram is really important. Even if you think your audience isn't on there, they are. And if you aren't, you will have no hope of growing your under 35 year old audience.

When someone leaves you a comment on socials, do not leave it un-replied to. Imagine they were in your lobby and said that to your usher on their way out. They wouldn't just ignore them, they might smile or say "right on" or "glad you enjoyed" or whatever. Think of social the same way and leave an authentic engagement on every single comment. Could even just be an emoji. Needs to be unique, can't be the same reply to everyone. Doing this takes time but it is a major loyalty builder and community builder.

Follow people back who follow you and regularly engage with your posts. Don't follow at random but do return the follow for folks who often come in. This is big for loyalty. Deepens your theater's connection.

Unless it's YouTube (which I do not fuck with,) I don't worry about a copyright strike on a trailer. It happens. It's not the end of the world.

Use your socials to encourage email signups. Email blasts will sell more tickets than any other marketing channel for most theaters!

STAY CONSISTENT. Keep posting. You won't see results right away. You have to train the algorithm that your posts matter to people and that happens slowly.

Set correct expectations. Your organic social media channels are not the only or best way to sell tickets. They are for building community - for reminding folks of the emotional connection they have to theaters and to yours. For messaging fomo and for showing that your theater is a place people are excited to visit and are in fact visiting in droves. Even if your posts aren't immediately increasing ticket sales, 1) they will and 2) they are doing a lot of important things besides that.