After recently writing about Super Bowl ads, such as Coca-Cola, and the different social media marketing efforts during the event, I decided to do the same for the Oscars and see what types of social media marketing seemed to be prevalent during the event. Overall, the Oscars were not as big on social media as the Super Bowl according to Twitter. The Oscars had a total of 8.98 million tweets during the entire event while the Super Bowl had a total of 24 million tweets. When comparing total social media activity overall, the Oscars had a total of 13.2 social media interactions compared to the Super Bowl's 47.7 million. This is an extremely large difference considering the time lengths of the events differ only by about half an hour. While these figures are far off from each other, it is important to note that for both events social interactions had increased by almost 200% from last year to this year.  Many thought the numbers would have been closer because the Oscars is supposed to be "the Superbowl for women" and many tend to believe that women are on social media more than men. However, the Oscars didn't have a thirty minute blackout to invite all the viewers onto social media during the down time. Another factor may be the audience. The Oscars' audience may make a difference in the amount of social media interaction. The audience of the Oscars is probably older and more interested in watching the awards and are therefore less likely to be using social media during the event. The Superbowl, however, probably has a wider age range of viewers and tends to be more of a social event that will entice people to interact on the social web as well. 
       Due to Oreo's immediate posts in reaction to the Super Bowl's blackout, many brands now feel they should do the same and spend their time coming up with funny and clever comments on the fly. Companies are starting to participate in social media simply for the sake of being on there and aren't contributing meaningful comment, ultimately turning viewers away. While some brands got it right during the Oscars, like Smart Car who used Vine to post "smart sized" videos celebrating the winners, other brands missed the mark. The Onion, for example, practiced real-time marketing by insulting the nine year old girl, Quvenzhane Wallis, who was nominated for an Oscar. Real-time marketing shouldn't be completely avoided, but there does need to be a great deal of effort and thought put in it before publishing. 
       An article on PR Daily, entitled "Social media lessons from Oscars' real-time marketing", examines the efforts of the social media marketing of the brands mentioned above as well as outlining four lessons that marketers can take away from the Oscars. The first lesson is to fit the brand message to the event and moment. There should be a strategy behind your social media efforts and they should connect to the brand. Brands shouldn't be participating in social media just to do it. Another lesson is that bigger doesn't always mean better returns. Brands should find the events that their audiences are interested in and get involved with those. As mentioned earlier, just because another brand has had success doing it, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for your brand. You need to consider beforehand if social media will make an impact on your brand and if your audience is present in these platforms. The final lesson is that without the infrastructure in place to execute in real time, making social media work will be difficult. Preparation is key and the legal aspects need to be looked at ahead of time. So, while it may seem like providing real-time marketing is a quick and easy marketing tool for brands to use, it is actually something that needs to be used with great preparation and effort before publishing.  

~ Katie 

       As I've gotten more into social media marketing and have been reading more articles and blogs about it, I have started to hear about all kinds of interesting social media campaigns that companies are using. Both big and little companies are starting to take advantage of these platforms to reach their consumer and engage with them. However, the most innovative social media campaign I am yet to come across is Edge Shave Gel's Twitter campaign that I read about in an article titled "Twitter + Random Acts of Kindness = A Successful Social Campaign." 
       The @EdgeShaveGel Twitter account has spread random acts of kindness to 234 people in four months . Their new "Anti-Irritation Campaign" involves two people that are devoted to relieving people's irritation across Twitter. People, even before knowing about their hashtag, #soirritating, would tweet normally about things they were irritated at and Edge Shave Gel would respond with anything from iPads to funny YouTube videos to solve peoples' irritations. According to the article, in only three months 1500 people started following @EdgeShaveGel and the #soirritating hashtag was used about 6,800 times. These numbers alone prove the success of this innovative campaign's use of  Twitter. 
      People had already been using Twitter to complain about daily activities. Edge Shave Gel simply used what people were already doing on Twitter to their advantage. It fit into what people were already doing and portrayed the brand in a way that worked. They were solving irritation problems on Twitter which is also the whole basis for their products and brand. It also creates a great brand association. Every time people use or look at what Edge Shave Gel sends them, they will associate that positively with the Edge Shave Gel brand. 
       This social campaign seemed to be successful not only because of its out of the box strategy, but because it allowed the brand to connect with consumers, create a conversation, and make a personality out of the brand. The devoted staff provided quick responses to make it seem like a real conversation and the responses themselves were honest and "real." It made it seem as if you were talking to a person and not just a company through their Twitter account. Others became engaged, started following them on Twitter and contributing themselves. I really hope to see more stories like this in the future.  This campaign has gone beyond engaging customers through social media to truly engaging with them by spreading various acts of kindness. 

~Katie

       The Super Bowl is an important outlet for businesses to showcase the ads that they have spent millions of dollars on. Being one of the most watched events on television, if not the most, the Super Bowl is an opportune event to release the creative ads that companies have taken so long to create. This is the one television event people don't turn the channel during commercials. Brands can therefore get a lot of exposure through showing their ads during these four hours of Sunday night football.
       Coca Cola is a brand you can always expect to see an ad from during the Super Bowl. When looking up articles about upcoming ads to be shown during this years game, one that I found was about Coke and was entitled "Coca-Cola to Run Its Own Game During the Super Bowl." The main point of Coke's cross-media campaign was to tell a story in order to engage consumers with the brand. As I have been learning, content is one of the most important aspects of media campaigns. Coke understands that for people to interact with your brand you must engage them. Last year Coke took the same approach during the Super Bowl with a cross-media campaign involving the famous Coca-Cola polar bears and a live feed of them watching the game. According to Coke, nine million people engaged with this campaign across various platforms.
       This years campaign allowed viewers to vote on which of three teams would make it first to the giant Coke bottle. An ad was shown with the three teams having fifty miles to go and then told viewers to go online and vote for their favorite team as well as giving them the opportunity to set up obstacles for the other teams. Viewers had the opportunity to reply to Coke with a hashtag of their favorite team. This campaign allowed consumers to interact with the brand and other consumers, creating a friendly competition. Brand engagement is important and consumers like to be involved. Having read this article before watching the game, I was still very impressed with the ad. It was interesting and caught my attention, which some other ads failed to do.
       I also noticed during the Super Bowl that numerous other commercials included hashtags at the bottom of the screen. This further emphasizes the greater impact social media is having on marketing/advertising efforts. Brands are trying to engage consumers more and more. However, I believe Coke was most successful. They were able to come up with an interesting story that caught people's attention and got them to interact with the brand, a step above simply having them view your ads. I am interested to see if other companies and brands will eventually do the same in the future and encourage consumers to interact.

~Katie

       TV shows have been using social media for a while now for promotional and advertising purposes. However, shows such as The Voice have begun integrating social media into their show in a whole new way. A current article on Mashable highlights the efforts and success of this innovative use of social media. The Voice has been able to use social media in a way no other television show has and this change in the industry is what has kept people so active and interested in the show. If shows aren't constantly reinventing themselves, viewers will fade away. The Voice has set themselves apart by allowing viewers to continuously engage and become a part of the show.
       The Voice has used changing technology to their advantage to allow viewers to actively participate in the show. They can Tweet, post on Facebook, etc. and then have their questions answered and comments posted live on the show. The people behind the latest digital integration on The Voice seem to understand the different aspects of the social web and how to use each to their advantage; Twitter has been used for live and engaging conversations while Facebook has created a dedicated and loyal fan base for the show that will keep them connected for seasons to come. Voting has even spread across the digital world to include voting apps and voting on iTunes. The interaction and hype doesn't stop at your typical social media sites or voting methods either. To keep fans interested and engaged between weekly showtimes, artists are constantly blogging about their experiences. The entertainment continues, regardless of if the show is playing or not.
       As stated in the article itself, "it might just be the future of television" and I agree. The Voice has been a leader in this movement and I have seen shows on other networks, such as Bravo, follow in their steps. Members of the digital team at The Voice understand that they must be changing as the digital world and technology do. Not only is it a new way for viewers to interact and engage with the show, but The Voice has also recognized that this is the world that these new artists must adapt themselves to in order to be successful and gain a fan base in the industry. They understand the changing ways and know how to attract and keep their viewers interested. This, to me, is a big factor to why this show has been so successful thus far.

~Katie 

       While searching sites focused on social media marketing, I came across an interesting article on Social Media Today titled "4 Lessons in Fan Engagement from Red Lobster's Facebook Page."  This title seemed to jump out of me because of the company, Red Lobster, that this article was written about. Maybe it is because I have never been a regular Red Lobster customer that I haven't seen much of it on social media sites, but I would not have expected Red Lobster to be a company with exceptional branding on social media networks.  However, after reading the article I completely agree with its' efforts and techniques for engaging fans and adding traffic to their Facebook page.
       As noted in the article, the four things Red Lobster seems to be doing right are their "LobStar of the Week" contest, the ability to buy eGift Cards and share/send them to friends via Facebook, filling their Facebook page with photos and descriptions of their food, and constantly engaging and talking to fans. As a Facebook user, I believe each of these are important lessons for other brands to consider. Their "LobStar of the Week" gets fans involved and gets more people to view the page by having their friends go to the page to like the photo. Selling eGift Cards provides a convenience for customers and advertises the brand when friends share it on their friends' walls. The delicious, well plated menu items is exactly what I expect and want to see when I go to a restaurant's page and no doubt entices me to go there. And finally, their constant communication, contests, and updates on the company gives fans a greater connection and relationship with the brand that will keep them going.
       After reading the article and taking note of all of the lessons for other brands, I immediately went to Red Lobster's Facebook page to see if it was as well kept as it sounded, and it was! It was everything that you want to see in any restaurant or any business' Facebook page. It pulls fans and friends in, when they go to vote for their friends' pictures, without being completely in your face. And for those, like me, that don't typically think about going to Red Lobster for dinner, this page will change their mind once they see the pictures that cover the wall. The page provides an intriguing aspect of contests that will keep customers coming through to try and win more, but all in a subtle, simple and well organized way.  I agree with the the author of this article, other businesses can definitely learn from the marketing of Red Lobster's Facebook page.
       Another thing that I came across multiple times while navigating through different socially media sites that I found interesting was that everyone seemed to be talking about Faceook's new graph search. From the way it is described, it sounds like a search engine like no other that can be extremely useful and help you target things that are more relevant to what you want than what Google or Yahoo may not bring up. It will let you search for friends that like certain things that you do, restaurants your friends like or have checked in at, specific pictures, etc. As one article stated, Facebook likes are going to be important again. They have come to be used loosely and brand builders have not been so concerned with gaining likes. However, the new graph search is going to change the way brand marketers are using Facebook to gain consumers and it will be interesting to see how it changes their marketing efforts.

~Katie