We’ll be honest: this may be the closest thing we have ever seen to a perfect social media campaign in the final leg of its run. And that’s not just because the author of this blog post spent $30,000 on a life-size iron throne (and is still unsure how he’ll fit it into his cubicle…). Perhaps we’ve also been affected by the hype before the show’s Season 3 launch in late March.

Game of Thrones deserves a doff of the chainmail helmet for getting every element of the campaign correct, including, but not limited to:

1. Unique Content Everywhere.  The Facebook and Twitter pages for the movie include photos, videos, links to the trailers, cover photos and other rewards for following, as well as a Facebook game. There are almost too many ways to interact with the page, if that’s even possible, and it’s all great stuff too.

2. Organic Hype.  This campaign does not ask for likes. It earns likes through solid content, then turns those who like it into proponents of the campaign. Contests are run on both Facebook and Twitter, hints are revealed, and prizes awarded to those who help Game of Thrones become a trending topic or appear in their friends’ news feeds. To keep the hype growing at a steady but intense level, the cast, including Peter Dinklage (who plays Tyrion Lannister) have begun supporting the campaign by urging their personal followers to watch the show/share the content in a concerted effort to put a more ‘human’ face on the campaign (we, the consumers, like to imagine that celebrities tweet and update independently of marketers, even though this has not been true for years).

3. Focus.  Though the brand might be popular, it is not as profitable as it could be. The series gets hacked almost as much as it gets watched legally. The focus of the campaign, therefore, has been to “Watch this on HBO when it comes out, you freeloaders,” and it shows. From the intensity of the campaign to the nature of the competitions and prizes, this social media push clearly has both an expiration date and a finish line.

So will the campaign work? Though most fans of the series are either not convertible (they will never pay for the series) or are already converted (they purchased a subscription to HBO), we believe Game of Throne’s social media campaign will still succeed in drawing in new customers to take part in the series. It will also assist in selling the “Ice and Fire” novels (the books on which the series is based), t-shirts, apparel, and yes, even that massive $30,000 chair.

Now, if you will excuse us, we need to perfect this mead recipe for the launch party.