Super Bowl 49 has come and gone, and it’s time to reflect on not only how the teams did (wish the Seahawks had won!) but also how the commercials did overall. However, I was looking at not only what was going on with the commercials, but also what the brands were doing as well on social media. With the combination of these two areas within PR and Marketing, it proved to be both an entertaining and insightful night in the area of social media.
There have already been a ton of posts related to who won or lost the battle on social media. Digiday has a good list of some of the things they were able to take away from social media. In addition, I think Jessica Smith and Chris Kerns both had some awesome insights and perspectives with the social media trends we saw last night with #SB49.
Chris provided really good insights on which brands were able to connect in real-time related to what was going on in the game as well as half time show by integrating these points from the data. This bridge between what the social data says and how it is applied is what I think is key to have in all social media strategic plans.
Jessica wrote a great post highlighting which brands were successful not only for their commercials, but for their social media strategic implementation as well. Budweiser, Always, Toyota, and Monster were all winners in the books for great social media integration. Plus, got to give it up to MGM Grand for the great RTM moment during the halftime show!
Both of these leading social media professionals along with others have noted their trends and takeaways from the Super Bowl and social media strategies. Here were some of my thoughts and takeaways:
Successful Social and TV Integration
Coca-Cola won this battle for sure with their strategic campaign #MakeItHappy in their commercial as well as on social. They were able to personalize and create a clear message for all of their audiences who were watching the game as well as following it on Twitter. Well done, Coca-Cola.
Major Brand Trolling on Social Media
I usually don’t criticize a brand publicly for their engagement on social media, but I am going to call out Tmobile out for this not only doing this once to me, but twice during the Super Bowl game. I guess you can call what they were doing “brolling.” There are just cases where you may not want to interact with brands and it is important to listen and integrate the feedback you are getting from your audience rather than ignoring it.
In this case, this was an extreme example, but an important lesson for brands to note when it is okay to engage with audiences and when it is okay to take a step back and interact with those who want to engage with you.
Everyone has to be a social brand now
It’s not only about being on social media now for brands to be relevant. Rather, it’s about making the connection with audiences that is relevant, entertaining, and memorable. Some brands as Jessica and Chris mentioned accomplished this, and then there were others in which Jessica stated were FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out.”)
I focus a lot in my social media class about tying in what big brands are doing and talking about how students can apply these same strategies and principles into their personal brand. When you are considering what young professionals have to think about this as well pertaining to how they want to appear to professionals and future employers. We had a local hashtag session going on with local advertising, PR, marketing, and social media professionals on Twitter, and I made sure to share this with my social media class at UofL. Why? Perfect way to showcase your insights and perspectives on social media with future colleagues.
RTM is to be expected – but expectations are set to a higher level
This is where I think Chris did a really good job in talking about this in his post – it’s not only about being on social media and part of the conversation, but you have to look at the data and see if you can align yourself within the conversation that’s relevant, appropriate, and meaningful.
Audiences are expecting brands to be on – but their views and expectations are at a higher level and they want to be entertained. Every one has heard about the Oreo example and have read about what RTM is [if you want an outstanding book on this subject, check out Trendology!]
It’s okay to be silent on social media
You know how the saying goes “If you don’t have something to say, don’t say anything at all.” The social media rule should be in this case “If you don’t have something to say that is relevant, engaging, and connected to your brand and the event for your audience, then don’t say anything at all.” Sometimes silence is golden – even on social media.
If they see something that looks more like noise – they will either ignore it or point out what the brand is going to do. RTM strategies and campaigns during events in many ways have empowered users to look, detect, and acknowledge those brands that have done well and those that failed in resonating with the audience during the event.
Failed RTM initiatives are not only shown for the world to see on social media, but they become part of traditional stories and blog posts for everyone to note what not to do next time. Quality strategic thinking that is planned out properly is better than putting out content is not relevant or engaging to the audience.
Emotional Responses Ignited on Social Media
Whether you are looking at what happened in the Nationwide commercial to even the ones featuring Dads (Nissan, Toyota, Dove) and others that sparked positive emotion (Budweiser) – there were a lot of emotional responses that resonated on social media during and after the commercials aired during the Super Bowl. Some brands were more positive, while others like Nationwide took the brunt of negative reactions.
In summary, there were a lot of lessons we were able to take away from the Super Bowl 49. Lots of social media strategies were implemented and some brands were successful. Others need to go back to the drawing board and learn from these mistakes and adapt for the future.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
