Every year after Christmas ends, millions of Americans look forward to the next big self-proclaimed holiday Super Bowl Sunday. Americans compare their love of football to their faith in religion. You can imagine a holy game like this one has an influence on followers and non-followers alike. Whether fans or not, people cram into living rooms around the country to make sure they don’t miss out on the event of the year, with the commercials of the year and nowadays the hashtags and social media posts that consume that Sunday.
Last year, 111 million people watched the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen, making it the most-watched TV event ever. Advertisers pay heavily for the privilege of reaching all those eyeballs, to the tune of $3.5 million for a 30-second slot.
Many companies stay smart, they prepare talking points and comment replies in advance, but the consequence of an unintentional shock from a commercial taken the wrong way can be magnified by the extended conversations on social platforms. “There are definitely boundaries within the social space, and businesses at times mistake the fun and entertainment of social media for a license to ignore social boundaries,” said Glen Gilmore, a social media strategist and professor of digital marketing at Rutgers University.
Check out some the best and worst in Super Bowl social influence:
After the 2013 blackout, OREO cookies posted a genius tweet “Power out? No problem” that went viral:
Ford doubled the time and the impact…
Maserati banked on the young narrator and hit the heartstrings of many…
Carmax failed to impress: #slowclap #slowbark
BudweiserA� went with the hashtags #BestBuds #salute
Dannon Greeek Yogurt brought back the 90s with their Full House ad…
Who can forget the famous Puppy Bowl for the animal lovers:
Hashtags for the Super bowl ruled the day. While commercials have always been the best seat in the house for brands, they’re definitely using social media platforms as equal influence space the day of. Planning for before, during and after the game is necessary when using social media. According to the #HashtagBowl almost all commercials had a linked hashtag and Hyundai was the winner when it came to incorporating social media into its ad space.
People will most likely keep the conversation going for the next week, which is exactly what businesses want. The scoreboard stays open and unlike the actual game, with any press being good press, this is a win-win situation.