Visibility

Marketers constantly look to maximize every ad dollar they spend, both to attract new customers and engage current ones.In the past, options were limited by the constraints of traditional media outlets. Nowadays, social media provides a way to amplify the reach and expand the impact of anad campaign far beyond those traditional outlets. Marketers are capitalizing on the viral component of social media, as it’s the perfect way to rapidly share content to a mass amount of consumers via online channels where they spend a large portion of their time. 

For some brands,this means actively engaging with their audience online to develop brand advocates and respond to brand critics. By listening to and learning from their online constituents, brands can then understand their preferences and engage with them accordingly. But beyond building a brand identity and giving a brand its own online personality in the social media space, marketers have the opportunity to extend the life of traditional advertising campaigns.

Take the Super Bowl: no stage is bigger for advertisers, and with this year’s game averaging more than 111 million viewers (some of which watch the game solely for the commercials), it is the perfect way to build social media buzz among the masses.

Alterian monitored all social media conversations surrounding this year’s Super Bowl advertisers in the Alterian “Buzz Bowl.” Results from 2010 to 2011 show a 61 percent increase in social media conversations surrounding Super Bowl ads, proving that the convergence of social and traditional media in marketing campaigns is a necessity for any brand that wishes to keep up with its competitors.

Some brands are able to stir up conversation by being well-liked among consumers. Volkswagen, for example, had the highest amount of social media mentions a few days before (after they released the commercial on YouTube) and during the Super Bowl, which shows that interesting, popular adsalso generate organic buzz via social media.

Other brands like Mercedes, Budweiser, and Kia featured social media tactics in their overall campaigns both leading up to and during the game. The Mercedes Tweet Drive was meant to build social media brand buzz leading up to the game, as was Doritos’ competition of crowd-sourcing ads and voting on the best one. Other brands, such as Audi with their hashtag, linked to Facebook and Twitter during commercials.

A large reason linking to social has become such a prominent theme in traditional ads is because consumers increasingly turn to mobile devices to access social networks, meaning they’reimmediately reacting to these ads in real-time. Brands that incorporate social elements straight into the ad campaign like Audi did also give consumers who aren’t already connected via social channels to find one another by simply searching for those talking about the particular subject. 

Whether it’s via a smartphone or an iPad, consumers log on to their preferred social network and share their opinionof the commercials, going back and forth indiscussions that spread virally as each person’s network is tapped into. The buzz that is built as a result ends up lasting long after the 30-second spot has aired.

The Super Bowl ads are just an example of the traditional methods resonating with consumers, which results in an incredibly impactful social campaign capable of generating interest in the brand far beyond the Super Bowl itself. If marketers monitor these social conversations, they can measure the true outcome of the traditional ads to gain insight on consumer activity, sentiment, and the overall longevity of the commercial.

Looking at social media impressions in conjunction with traditional television ratings will help marketers better understand if thebrand made asolid connection with their audience. This can be done by examining both the number and reach (also described as popularity/influence) of the social conversations to determine if their brand has been successful in engaging socially.

Marketers can also use social media monitoring tools to measure the sentiment of online conversations. Combining sentiment with reach and volume will help marketers determine not only a brand’s social reach, but also how much of that reach was positive or negative. This provides a much more accurate way for marketers to quantify the true success and longevity of a traditional ad campaign in the social space.

In the past, traditional advertising stood alone in a silo. The only time a traditional campaign reached a consumer was if they had direct interaction with the ad.  Now, these spots are just the beginning of a potentially larger connection and engagement with consumers. As such, the measurement for marketers must also extend beyond the basic metrics of reach, circulation, impressions and so on. What marketers do to follow through, using social media channels and genuine consumer engagement, is going to determine whether the brand lives on in consumers’ minds.