Scott Hemmons is a Digital Marketing Strategist with Thomson Reuters. Scott also tweets frequently (sometimes too frequently) and you can follow him @hemmons.
There are many different types of real-time marketing. When most people are referring to real-time marketing, they’re talking about the type that surrounds cultural moments. You’re familiar with these moments – over the past five years, it’s the nights when Twitter breaks new records. The combination of television and social media has allowed for a communal real-time viewing experience, which comes with the ability for everyone to be a part of the conversation – in real time.
When or what is a cultural moment? The formula is simple. It’s a moment when television viewing and social media activity peak simultaneously. Here are some categories of cultural moments:
• Major Sporting Events
• Awards Shows
• TV Show Premiers and Finales
• Political Events
• Major News Events
The recent conversation was sparked after Oreo’s clever photo that played off the Super Bowl blackout. After that, I’d like to think that every brand and agency starting working on creating a social media command center for cultural moments, but that’s not likely. The obstacle that keeps most brands from participating in the conversation is an extensive internal review process. I believe there is a way to work within this process and still take part in the real-time conversation. Think about what you do for holidays. You know they’re coming and you create campaigns that will run before, during and after a holiday. This same thinking and planning could be applied to cultural moments.
Most of these moments are predictable and/or only have a few possible outcomes. So it is very easy to plan ahead and then publish your relevant marketing during the cultural moment. This is a perfect time for a PR stunt. Let’s imagine you’re match.com – offer the loser of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette a free year on your dating website. After winning the Super Bowl, the winning team goes to Disney World – it’s a thing. After losing The Bachelor, the loser gets a free membership to match.com – it should be a thing.
I realize this could feel prefabricated and might even miss the point real-time communication. But think of the many brands that are completely missing out on the conversation – this allows hesitant brands a safer entry point.
Photo Credit: Flickr user jasonahowie
