The Power of Social Media During the Super Bowl

Super Bowl 50 is almost here – and being a North Carolina-based business, we are excited to cheer on our Carolina Panthers this coming Sunday. Not only are we pumped for the big game, but we’re also looking forward to watching the commercials and seeing who wins the social media marketing game. Social media is becoming a huge part of Super Bowl marketing and it has an impressive impact on how brands connect with viewers. Last year’s Super Bowl is a great testament to this. Super Bowl XLIX, was the most-viewed television event in history with an average audience of around 114.4 million viewers. According to Twitter, it was also the most tweeted Super Bowl ever. Over 28.4 million tweets containing information or terms related to the game were published worldwide. While traditional television advertising during the Super Bowl is still wildly important to marketers, it’s important to also consider the benefits of social media that the Super Bowl invites.

Super Bowl XLIX Twitter Activity

The massive Twitter presence during last year’s Super Bowl is indicative of a growing pattern amongst people’s use of media in general. People use social media to engage in current events with other people across the globe, so a worldwide event is definitely going to see some major traction. Twitter itself is a great way to keep followers updated on all kinds of goings-on and to offer brief, yet poignant commentary on the world’s activity. For Super Bowl XLIX, big brands like Budweiser, McDonalds, and Audi were prepped and ready-to-go with special social media teams that tweeted throughout the course of the game. This real-time marketing technique is a way to build brand awareness and trust by commenting on things that Twitter users are already excited about. Audi proves that a little bit of snark can go a long way! Even smaller brands like Papa John’s, Denny’s, State Farm, and Snickers were engaged in the Super Bowl conversation on Twitter. The use of the game’s hashtag, #SB49, brought everyone on the same page as events transpired. Twitter allowed for a play-by-play rundown of the game in its entirety, including all the biggest moments for even those not watching the game to stay in the loop. There were a few moments of the game that saw an exponentially high amount of engagement, the Katy Perry halftime show being on of them. The biggest spike of all was the final moment when the New England Patriots swooped in to snag the title from the Seattle Seahawks. Those last 20 seconds–when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russel Wilson’s pass at the 1-yard line–got tweeted at a rate of 395,000 tweets per minute! The best way to live-tweet an event of this caliber is to be engaged in the event itself and to have your wits about you. It’s important to maintain your brand’s voice, while also adding something of value to the conversation. The Super Bowl is a lighthearted affair, so keep your tweets lively and fun! The right tweet can really boost your Twitter activity. According to Marketing Land, this tweet generated a 3,200% increase in retweets and a 3,600% increase in favorites as compared to Tide’s normal levels of Twitter engagement.

Facebook Posts During Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX was also the most talked-about Super Bowl of Facebook! Facebook, for its own part, offered users and Super Bowl fans a page dedicated to the event. On this page, fans could see posts from friends and other fans in their network, they could view photos and videos via news outlets and the NFL, commentary from team players, and live reactions. As a result, more than 50 million people participated in Super Bowl engagement on Facebook. Overall, 265 million posts, comments, and likes permeated Facebook’s culture that evening. By the end of the game, more than 1.3 million individual “People per Minute” were engaging regarding the Super Bowl, according to Facebook itself.

More Super Bowl Video Views Than Ever

Video views were another huge factor in Super Bowl social media activity because of the insane popularity of Super Bowl advertisements. According to Google, most people wanted to watch the Super Bowl commercials again once they were viewed on TV. This, in turn, spiked user presence on the video streaming site, YouTube. Data released by Google states that people spent almost 4 million hours watching game-day ads and teaser videos on YouTube. This Budweiser ad was the most watched Super Bowl commercial on YouTube with over 21 million views! #Awwww

Mastering Social Media Engagement

With an event like the Super Bowl, it’s important to know what you’re doing regarding social media activity! To properly engage with social platform users, you must be familiar with the given platform, as well as the community that is most involved in it. Every social channel operates in a distinct way, so it’s important to keep this in mind when staying on top of current events.

Tags: Digital Marketing