If you’ve ever played a song and pretended that it was the soundtrack to the movie of your life, you’ll know what I mean when I say music is a powerful and immersive tool. After all, Kate Bush’s 1985 song “Running Up That Hill” became the number one song in the UK for its second week after being featured in Stranger Things Season 4.

Sound plays a big part in setting the tone of a story. When we listen to the soundtrack again, we’re transported back to iconic moments in the narrative. Like when we hear “Don’t You Forget About Me” and we think of  Breakfast Club or when we hear “A Thousand Years” and think of Twilight.

Music and curated playlists help fans engage beyond the show and connect fans of that music to the show. There are a ton of show-inspired fan-made playlists out there and character-inspired playlists too. This is a trend that many shows and distributors are jumping onto, like Amazon Prime’s Spotify playlist for their summer hit, The Lake.

Two recent studies—one in the United States and the other in Japan—found that music doesn't just help us retrieve stored memories; it also helps us lay down new ones.  So if your show or web series features a lot of music, consider creating a playlist—and get creative with it! If there is an important song in the show, create content that uses that song to highlight key points in the story. Use memories to create more memories.

In the BTS fandom, we have something called #ArmySelcaDay. On the first Tuesday of each month, Armys (BTS fans) post a selfie alongside a picture of a band member, and the goal is to make your photo similar to theirs. What I love about this campaign is that it invites co-creation, or a call and response, between the piece of media and its audience.

Fandom creates challenges or campaigns that invite participation in a fun and easy way. After Bridgerton Season 2 premiered, the fandom started a Kate Sharma eyebrow scrunch trend where fans would copy a specific eyebrow moment from the show. Not only did this invite fans to participate, but it also caught the attention of non-fans who wanted to test it out.

Consider ways your campaign can be a collaboration with your fans. Interactive campaigns should be fun and easy to do and have the potential to be interesting to non-fans too.