social media marketing Archives - Page 43 of 66

Last year (2015) was the year of serious ads that some dubbed “Dadvertising” for the number of spots honoring dads. As I have scanned the latest news in the past week about the Super Bowl of Advertising and read and watched the spots that are out from marketers across a wide variety of industries I have noticed a bigger trend this year. It looks to be the year of celebrity appearances in Super Bowl ads. It’s the “Celebrity Bowl.”

Ad Age reports there were 19 celebrities in Super Bowl spots in 2013, 26 in 2014, 28 in 2015 and 2016 we are already at 33 celebrities with more sure to come as more spots are revealed. Even one of the user-generated spots from Doritos this year has a celebrity thrown in it. And some advertisers are using several celebrities in single spots. The BMW Mini Super Bowl ad above features six celebrities including Serena Williams, Harvey Keitel, T-Pain, Tony Hawk, and Randy Johnson.

Why are so many Super Bowl advertisers turning to celebrities? Is this a winning tactic? Celebrities can attract an initial level of attention and may bring their own social media followers with them. Even with last year’s Super Bowl being the most-watched broadcast in television history (over 114 million viewers), paying $5 million for 30 seconds is only a wise investment if the Super Bowl ad can deliver social media buzz, media coverage and be remembered over time.

The competition to attract these views is getting fierce. YouTube says that last year, people watched 1,600 years of Super Bowl ads on YouTube and nearly 40% of that viewing time happened before the game. Google reports a 5X growth in worldwide search for the Super Bowl on YouTube in the month of January. How can marketers capture some of these views? They need more than a celebrity or two, to stand out in the ad polls and generate lasting buzz. They need to build a story around the celeb.

Story could especially be needed this year with the high amount of celebrity clutter. Out of the current known advertisers 18/38 are said to be using celebrities. Does using a celebrity stand out if nearly half of the marketers are using them as well?

Last year the top 10 spots in USA Today Ad Meter had no celebrities in them. They were just good stories. Over the years you will notice Super Bowl spots with celebrities in them at the top and the bottom of the polls. The ones that we like such as Coca-Cola’s Mean Joe Green spot told a good story with celeb. Budweiser has made their own celebrities out of the Clydesdales.

My research with Michael Coolsen found that the more complete story a Super Bowl commercial tells (in Five Acts) the higher the commercial performed in Super Bowl Ad Ratings Polls. We found that other factors like sex appeal, humor, emotion, animals or celebrity didn’t matter. They appeared at the top and bottom of the polls with no discernible pattern.

What is the secret ingredient to helping ensure a Super Bowl commercial is liked and talked about? Remember studying five-act Shakespearian Plays in high school? There was a reason Shakespeare was so popular and why he used to tell a story in five acts. It is a powerful formula that has drawn people’s attention for hundreds of years.

The ads that tell a more complete story using the dramatic structure of Freytag’s Pyramid are the most likable in Super Bowl ad ratings polls. Shakespeare mastered this five part structure including an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and final outcome. Last year’s “Lost Puppy” had all five acts and not only performed well in the advertising polls like USA Today Ad Meter, but won in social media buzz as well.

According to video analytics firm Unruly, Budweiser had the most-shared ad on Facebook, Twitter and blogs for the 2015 game. Bud also had the most Twitter mentions during the Super Bowl broadcast according to social media data firm Brandwatch.

The other winners? Research from AdKnowledge shows the brands above that won in terms of YouTube views and sentiment. These brands were also at the top of the ad polls and did not simply feature celebrities – they told good stories.

In this year’s “Celebrity Bowl” Super Bowl Advertisers who want to rise above the clutter, should tap into the celebrity of Shakespeare.

“See the forest for the trees” is a saying that means getting caught up in the details and failing to understand the bigger picture. With all the new social media channels vying for our attention these days it is easy to get bogged down by all the particulars and immediate demands. Yet being able to discern the overall pattern or vision from the minutia of specific social media options and tactics is a valuable skill. Strategy – taking a broad, long-range approach and thinking systemically – is a very valuable skill. A 30,000 foot view, not a 3 foot perspective is what is needed to plan and marshal organizational resources to meet and exceed business goals.

How valuable is strategic thinking? A global study of over 60,000 managers asked them to access over 20 leadership practices (such as innovation, persuasion, communication, results orientation) and 20 measures of effectiveness (such as future potential, credibility, business aptitude, people skills). “Having a strategic approach” was seen as 10 times more important to effectiveness than other leadership behaviors and nearly 50 times more important than tactical behaviors. Another study asked 10,000 senior executives to select the leadership behaviors most critical to organizations success. “Strategic” was chosen 97% of the time.

Most people may agree that strategy is very important yet thinking strategically is not easy. Strategic thinking is especially hard when immediate demands are often rewarded over long-term vision and planning. Yet seeing the forest for the trees is a leadership quality necessity for social media success. When faced with 800+ social media sites, apps and services – a lot of trees – being able to focus on a long-term approach is the only way to see the path to reach your ultimate business or organizational goals.

Many marketers, advertisers, public relation professionals and entrepreneurs are jumping into the social media race, but they must be in it for the long haul to see real, lasting results. They must take the time to take a step back and see the big picture through a strategic social media plan. Trying to apply old marketing control strategies in this new consumer controlled social media environment does not work. Social media marketing is a different game with different rules.

Sure, there are plenty of tips. A Google search of “social media marketing tips” returns 135 million results. But very few tell you to do the same things and what worked for one business will not exactly work for others. For marketers and advertisers to succeed at social media integration, they must first start in a place rooted in their distinct situation and drive a strategy of choosing social platforms and creating content based on their business objectives, marketing strategy and target audience. This can be accomplished by following a 5-step process:

Define current business and social media situation
Create a big idea and plan integration
Selection social media channels
Integrate non-marketing social media activity
Finalize social media plan and sell

That is what I have detailed in my new book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution. It is a roll up your sleeves roadmap to sound social media strategy that draws from the best in academic research and professional business practice. An approachable text to teach my social media marketing students, it lays out a method that cuts through the hype and sets a strategic mindset to take advantage of the exciting opportunities of social media. This text provides the context, process and tools needed to create a comprehensive and unique social media marketing solution.

Are you having trouble seeing past the trees of social media channels and tactics? Perhaps you need to take a step back along with my students and invest some time into getting above the forest and plan a path for long-term strategic success. Do you see the value in strategic thinking? How can you take the time to make it happen?

\For more insights into the big picture in social media strategy consider my book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution.