During the day Alex Garcia is Global Director of Social at Deloitte Digital in Seattle; at night, he moderates two of the largest Outlander fan communities on Facebook. Garcia is a self-described “Facebook page and group geek” who tends to create pages for things he’s crazy about.
According to Garcia, Facebook pages are more for broadcasting content whereas groups are designed for people to meet each other and has more of a community feel. Garcia moderates the page, “Outlander Fans,” and the group, “Outlander Series Facebook Group.” The page has just over 30,000 likes while the group has over 25,000 members.
Two weeks ago we wrote that, with Outlander, “STARZ has a social TV hit on its hands, and the show hasn’t even started yet,” and Garcia agrees. “Outlander is going to be huge,” Garcia told Lost Remote via email. “It has everything it needs to push it to success: huge communities that create content, fandom, share, and invite and promote what they love.”
The group alone sees as much as 5,000 comments a day, which is insane.”
To build buzz for the show, STARZ built OutlanderCommunity.com, a social hub, and recently added an interactive ‘Apothecary Cabinet.’ While the site does a good job capturing the social conversation around the show, ‘Outlander’s’ success will depend on super-fans like Garcia to sustain momentum.
For more on the excitement building up for the series premiere, we exchanged emails with Garcia. For the answers to some questions, Garcia posed the question to fans in the group.
Lost Remote: Why did you create the Outlander Series group and the Outlander Fans page.
Garcia: I really don’t know why, I’m a big Ronald Moore fan, and got excited that he was going to work on ‘Outlander.’ I’ve been following his work since Star Trek and of course ‘Battlestar Galactica.’
LR: Why do you like Outlander so much? Why are you excited for the series?
Garcia: Historical content, love, intrigue, danger, and amazing storytelling that puts you in the book.
I’m mostly excited to see how Ron Moore brings this series to life on TV. He’s brought some of his crew with him, like Bear McCreary who will do an amazing job scoring the show and bringing the emotions to life.
LR: How passionate are the fans on the group and page?
Garcia: Super amazingly passionate, I haven’t seen fans this passionate since the show ‘Firefly.’
LR: Do you think Outlander has potential to be as popular a TV series as Game of Thrones?
Garcia:
From the fans:
‘Outlander has the potential to have more people identify with its intelligence and love story.’
‘Outlander has a much broader appeal…is not as violent..and has a strong love story, plus real history.’
‘Outlander has a larger fan base heading into the series than GOT did.’
LR: Have you spent any time on OutlanderCommunity.com (the social hub built by STARZ for the show)?
Garcia: Yes, its pretty amazing. The most amazing part is that they recognized the fans and made them part of the experience.
LR: Based on moderating two successful Facebook fan communities, what do Outlander fans seem to be most excited about for the TV series?
Garcia:
From the fans:
‘To see the characters come to life; to actually see facial reaction as dialog is spoken and not have to imagine it in my head.’
‘The interaction between characters, watching them come to life. And the Bear McCreary Score that will enhance the story.’
‘The beauty and tragedy of the time, the turmoil, the emotion, and what I have seen in my head for YEARS now on screen. And, the music. My God, the music and the emotion it invokes.’
‘Being able to see characters, who have been a part of my life, for over 22 years, come to life! To see them walking, talking, loving and all of the history they live through. ‘
LR: Do you plan on changing your approach to how you update the page once the show starts?
Garcia: I feel like reviews will be huge after the show starts. Reviews, what was your favorite moment, etc.
LR: Which character from the series do you think will drive the most social chatter once the show premieres?
Garcia: Hands-down Jamie Fraser.