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uper Bowl Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t already seen the Super Bowl, the Ravens beat the Niners 34-31. Aside from the big game, we learned a lot about the use of social media. Besides text messaging, social media was the preferred way to talk about the game to peers; whether that be Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+.
What was the top social media tool used? How did Twitter square up against Facebook? What did ads/commercials use the most in their strategy?
Let’s take a look at the numbers to figure out how social media played a role in the Super Bowl and what we can learn about brand strategy.
- 75% of brands integrated social, mobile, #hashtags or apps in their ads/commercials (Source: Jeremiah Owyang-Altimeter)
- Twitter mentioned in 50% of commercials, Facebook 8% and Google+ 0% (Source: Marketing Land)
- Beyonce vs the Blackout – Beyonce Google searches rose 7236%, while “the blackout” was the most searched item of the Super Bowl (Source: Search Engine Land)
- #Hashtags were used in 38% of ads/commercials (up 31% compared to 2012) (Source: Jeremiah Owyang)
Aside from Corporate URLs to continue the conversation, #Hashtags were the most used social tool throughout the Super Bowl (while Facebook was only used 7%, a mere 4% DECREASE). The Super Bowl is one of the most watched cable event of the year with advertisers paying ~$4M for a 30 second commercial spot–you bet brands did their research and used what they feel is the best social tool. And…I agree.
To continue the conversation or add input, #hashtags are easy to use and easy to follow. To find out more information about a specific topic, most search #hashtags, NOT Facebook posts. In fact, most don’t even use Facebook search (except to find people/groups). Facebook Graph Search usage will vary from user to user, but I still don’t see it being used to find trending topics, but instead to find people and research data amongst friends.
Facebook needs to figure out either how to utilize #hashtags or help users continue/discover the conversation. How else can I figure out “what’s trending” on Facebook? Try using #hashtags on Facebook posts and nothing happens. Most people use #hashtags to find new content (its the new-age “tag”) because its easy, convenient and accurate. How will Facebook bounce back? We should expect them to react fast…they need to soon or else they’ll see a decrease in usage next year.