More than 78 percent of Super Bowl watchers also engaged on social during Super Bowl 50 (Marketingcharts.com). On Game Day, 60 million Facebook users generated 200 million posts, likes, and comments, while 38 million Instagram users generated 150 million posts, likes, and comments. User spent 350,000 combined hours watching Super Bowl LI ads on YouTube. That means marketers who rely on social media to reach their audience have a distinct advantage come Super Bowl time.
According to the Burston-Marstellar Super Bowl Survey, 60 percent of viewers and 87 percent of constant social media users (people who are either on social or checking their devices at least once an hour) say that in addition to the Super Bowl commercials, they are interested in finding all the extra Super Bowl content brands create and put on social.
They want to see commercials. Scratch that. They want to see awesome, lighthearted, inspiring, hilarious, clever commercials – content that makes them think, feel, and react.
Women make up the majority of online conversations about Super Bowl commercials. Among people 18 to 34 years old, women are doing 57 percent of the talking online about Super Bowl ads. Among users 35 to 54 years of age, women do 61 percent of the talking.
So our two big takeaways about Super Bowl marketing efforts is to create content specifically for social media that targets or includes women.
It’s time to plan your Super Bowl marketing campaigns. We are weeks away from Super Bowl LIV, which means social media is about to become one big, loud conversation about food, style, and football (because that’s what the Super Bowl is about on social media).
The Super Bowl is, hands down, one of America’s biggest holidays. Money magazine puts per-person spending for the Super Bowl smack-dab between Halloween and the Fourth of July. It is the second biggest eating holiday of the year, generating $15 billion in consumer spending last year (Statista).
The Super Bowl is one of the few times we gather as a nation to celebrate greatness. Some of the greatest athletes in the world compete in this annual championship match to see who gets to walk away with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. And just as many people are there for the fanfare as the actual match, which is why there’s so much diversity among Super Bowl viewers.
We published a sports viewership post last year that talked a bit about how the audience for professional sports has been aging up consistently over the past decade.
The Super Bowl audience reflects this trend with adults 18-49 only making up around 40 percent of the Super Bowl audience (Sports Media Watch).
But it’s not all declining viewership and “not going gentle into that good night”. Women now account for more than 4 in 10 Super Bowl viewers. According to Nielsen Scarborough research, 12 percent of Hispanics (7 million people) and 11 percent of African Americans (4.8 million) watched or listened to Super Bowl LI.
Of the 98 million viewers who tuned in to CBS to watch Super Bowl LIII last year (Techcrunch), fewer than half (43 percent) were actually there to watch the game…
Twenty-three percent tuned in for the legendary Super Bowl commercials, 14 percent showed up just to hang out with their friends who were watching the game, 13 percent tuned in to watch Adam Levine and Big Boi perform during the halftime show.
(And expect that number to jump this year with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira owning halftime).
Everybody who wasn’t there to watch the game, hang out with friends, or watch the halftime show was there for the food (NRF). Not kidding.
The idea that Americans watch the Super Bowl strictly for the football isn’t what’s reflected in the numbers. Heck, I watched Super Bowl LI and I only know three NFL players… and two of them weren’t even in the Super Bowl.
I and millions of other Americans (and about 40 million people who aren’t in the U.S.) watch the Super Bowl because it’s a fabulous, festive event that we hold every year on the first Sunday in February. It’s a winter holiday that celebrates excellence, tradition, and winning. What’s more American than that?
Game Day Marketing… and Why a $5M Ad on a Major TV Network Still Needs Facebook Likes to Be a Success
For marketers, the opportunity to have the attention of 30 percent of the US population is golden. This may be the one time a year when people aren’t grabbing their phones and going to the bathroom when the commercials come on.
Big brands spent more than $385 million buying advertising time from Fox during Super Bowl LI (AdAge), $414 million on ads for Super Bowl LII, and $385 million buying ad time from CBS for Super Bowl LIII (Reuters). That number – as big as it is – doesn’t include production costs, which average more than $1 million per spot. Nor does it include pre-game promotion expenses. Enter YouTube and social media.
Marketing expert Mary Scott told Fortune that she advises her clients to reserve 25 percent of the cost of their commercial slot on pre-game marketing (you can read that article here, actually).
Imagine that!
In order for big brands to optimize the reach of their $5.6 million Super Bowl ads, they need to create content and ads for YouTube and SOCIAL MEDIA to prime the audience to actually pay attention to their pricey TV spots.
- They need news shows to give their viewers a sneak peek at the Super Bowl ad.
- They need to release their ads to YouTube days before it airs on network television to make sure people are interested in the darned thing.
- They need to launch a parallel social media campaign that supports the TV spot and tracks audience response.
That’s because even with the Super Bowl ad, big brands often measure conversions the same way you do – with social engagement (Adweek).
Likes, comments, branded hashtags, and custom links that let you know when someone has gone beyond liking your sponsored post and taken the next step to move further down into your sales funnel are important tools for measuring the ROI on the $5MM+ investment (last year, 30-second spots topped out at $5.25 million for Super Bowl LIII, according to Statista). And they will be important tools for you as well.
More than 78 percent of Super Bowl watchers also engaged on social during Super Bowl 50 (Marketingcharts.com). On Game Day, 60 million Facebook users generated 200 million posts, likes, and comments, while 38 million Instagram users generated 150 million posts, likes, and comments. User spent 350,000 combined hours watching Super Bowl LI ads on YouTube. That means marketers who rely on social media to reach their audience have a distinct advantage come Super Bowl time.
According to the Burston-Marstellar Super Bowl Survey, 60 percent of viewers and 87 percent of constant social media users (people who are either on social or checking their devices at least once an hour) say that in addition to the Super Bowl commercials, they are interested in finding all the extra Super Bowl content brands create and put on social.
They want to see commercials. Scratch that. They want to see awesome, lighthearted, inspiring, hilarious, clever commercials – content that makes them think, feel, and react.
Women make up the majority of online conversations about Super Bowl commercials. Among people 18 to 34 years old, women are doing 57 percent of the talking online about Super Bowl ads. Among users 35 to 54 years of age, women do 61 percent of the talking.
So our two big takeaways about Super Bowl marketing efforts is to create content specifically for social media that targets or includes women.
10 Super Bowl Marketing Strategies That’ll Give your Game Day Campaign Legs
Influence marketing is rarely about disrupting the status quo. Leave that to the startups. It’s more about bringing great ideas into existing conversations. But finding creative ways to join a conversation is where most brands (and people) need help.
So, allow US to give YOU a catalog of strategies you can use to make your influencer marketing campaign successful.
1. Incorporate More Video
Most people prefer video to text. When done right, video is fast, engaging, and high in value. Current estimates say video accounts for more than 50 percent of all consumer Internet traffic right now. By 2020, video will account for 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic.
Within the context of social media, video generates 1200 percent more shares than text and images combined. Across the board – from the baby crib to the C-suite – video is THE medium of choice for consuming content.
Take a look at the screenshot below of an Instagram post from Amazon featuring a massive snack stadium. The post, which is an Echo promotion, is actually a video. Not much happens in the video, but that’s not the point. The video got 10x percent more views than the post got Likes – 28,810 views compared to 2,633 Likes. Not a coincidence that after writing this article last year, we actually went out and bought a snack stadium for our Super Bowl party.
Unfortunately, a lot of marketers waste great opportunities to impact their audience by going the humdrum product placement route. The problem is people are immune to ads that look like ads, and a picture of someone just holding your product – however fancy your packaging may be – rarely moves anyone to follow you or buy. Videos give you room to make a connection with your audience, and subsequently expedite the purchase process.
2. Skip the #Basic Product Placement Pics to Stop-Scroll
FirstPeople don’t mind seeing posts about products. In fact, depending on who you ask, platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are FANTASTIC at helping you find new products (like the snack stadium I mentioned in the previous section).
Sixty-five percent of the top-performing posts on Instagram feature products. But an unstyled picture of your product showing up in someone’s Instagram feed isn’t the thing anybody’s looking to click.
So, I’ll tell you the best way to craft a powerful, high-impact Instagram marketing campaign is to think about the story you want to tell. Whose eye do you want to catch? And how can you talk about your product in a way that’s visually engaging?
Take a look at the two screenshots below. On the left are some results for top posts using the hashtag #SuperBowl as of January 10, 2020. Besides the gorgeous pics of Shakira, the pic that sticks out is the one of the meat and cheese board. It’s only when you click this amazing pics from @zestmylemon to read the caption do you even notice that it’s likely a sponsored post.
Instagram is about visual storytelling. And your product is certainly part of that story, but it shouldn’t be the entire story. Create a story around your product.
3. Make the Product Pic Absolutely Beautiful
There are brands that feature nothing but their products on Instagram and their pages get fantastic engagement. It’s rare, but sometimes the products themselves make absolutely stunning images. Enter Compartés Chocolates.
By far one of my favorite feeds to just scroll when I want to be amazed (Compartés and @BrittneBabe – equally shocking and amazing).
I pulled the pic above from the company’s Instagram account. Every single image on the Compartés page is of their product. But their products are so strikingly beautiful and the photos so well-styled, the pictures legitimately look like art.
Now, I scrolled hundreds of pics to find this level of delicious artistry and what I found was an equally striking pic from Anheuserbusch (even if it lacks a little in the awe department) and one from Josh Woods that’s pretty legit sports-themed tattoo design work.
4. Make Your Product the Story
Okay. Okay. I’m going to slip in one that has absolutely nothing to do with the Super Bowl or sports or anything relevant, but it’s such a good example, I’m going to ask you to roll with me on this.
Mattel’s Barbie is the perfect example of the product becoming the story. You may know a bit of Barbie’s story. She hangs out at the beach with her boyfriend, Ken. She has a niece that comes over to the beach house (or to Barbie’s dream house) when she’s taking time off from her job as a veterinarian and/or school teacher. She has a ton of cool friends. Sometimes she’s an astronaut. Even with all of that, Barbie’s Instagram narrative is far more interesting.
I found Barbie’s Instagram page because there was this Instagram picture (screengrab below) of her holding a Compartés chocolate bar and a drink on Compartés Chocolates’ page. When I saw the copyright stamp on the image, I realized the picture must have come from Barbie’s camp.
At 60 years young, Barbie has been the top-selling doll for decades. In 2016, Barbie manufacturer, Mattel rebounded from four steady years of declining doll sales by adding a more ethnically and culturally diverse selection of Barbie dolls to their lineup. The result was a seven percent boost in sales in 2016 and a return to billion-dollar sales in 2017.
There are actually two Barbie pages. The page for Barbie (@barbie) features Barbie in toyland. She is specifically positioned as a toy in these pictures. Some of the pictures include children playing with Barbie. This is the place to go to learn of news from Mattel about new products, discounts, and contests. The posts in this account generate between .5 percent and 1 percent engagement. The screenshot below is of the @barbie Instagram page, and features Barbie as a doll.
Here is that same doll as the star of her own curated Instagram story (@Barbiestyle). The Barbie Style account puts Barbie, Ken, and their [doll] friends in seemingly realistic situations, like going out for coffee, taking Yoga, decorating the house, checking her tablet, and of course posting pictures of her outfits. The picture below features Barbie on the red carpet with dolls of U.S. Olympian @IbtihajMuhammad and model @theashleygraham.
Barbie’s followers engage with her lifestyle content at @BarbieStyle 3 to 5 times more than they engage with her product account.
And with good reason. Barbie slays. No question.
5. Or Make It Ultra-Targeted
I am a music snob. Classically trained violinist, jazz bassist and vocalist. I love music, but I sort of pride myself on listening to fantastic music (which is why my work playlist for #CRUSHINGIT is filled with post-Punk era New Wave music. I was busy being a kid when this stuff was hot back in the 80s). So, when I am in the mood for music, looking for something to do, or looking to connect with other people like me, I and my community of music snobs will immediately begin filtering out the riff raff by searching by tags like:
#livemusic #livemusicrocks #funknight #staxrecords #shostakovich
And other awesome, elitist tags.
Well, a great way for brands to get in front of the right audience is to deploy the use of elitist tags like those. Craft beer drinkers pride themselves on drinking craft beer. Vintage lovers and upcyclers have team spirit as well. Narrow your audience by using hashtags and imagery that only a knowing subset of your followers will actually use… and get more engagement.
I actually have a pretty good video example of this. Take a look at this video celebrating 100 years of the NFL. Directed by Peter Berg, “The 100-Year Game” features 44 of the greatest NFL athletes, past and present.
By, far, my favorite spot last year. I was both thrilled and amused by this spot. I know these are some of the greats (again, I don’t know many players, but I recognized A LOT of these guys.)
Equally as amusing as the commercial spot itself were some of the videos the NFL released ABOUT that ad.
The conversation around this ad was all positive… and usually included a superlative of some kind…
The Best Commercial Ever
The Funniest Commercial
The Best Commercial in NFL History
You can tailor your posts, create a new hashtag, or even refine your account (or create a second account) that specifically targets a smaller segment of your wider target audience. The NFL has a ton of targeted accounts like @NFLFocus for live action shots of NFL games @NFLStyle for official NFL gear.
6. Collaborate with Creative Influencers
Seek out the counsel of influencers who are already on Instagram doing something fantastic and unusual. And yes, it would totally be counsel.
Part of the beauty of influencer marketing is that it gives brands a chance to build a wide catalog of unique influencer-generated content.
So, standing out in the feed by partnering with a unique influencer like BaristArt© creator Michael Breach (98k followers) may give your campaign a leg up on the competition.
You can check out some of Michael’s work @baristart, or check out the screenshot I took of his Instagram page below. Creativity gets eyes. The unusual gets shared. That’s what you want.
7. Gear Your Marketing Toward the Day After
Here’s something interesting. Eleven months after Super Bowl LII the branded hashtags that promoted the event were still showing up in newly-created content. And Lady Gaga, the half-time entertainment for that event, was still being tagged in newly-created Super Bowl-related content. My point?
Super Bowl mania doesn’t begin and end on game day. The day after the Super Bowl generates a ton of conversations and engagement. So, the question to ask is what will people be talking about the day after Super Bowl LIV? And how can you craft a campaign that is a natural part of that conversation?
8. Create Sales and Use Discount Codes
Crafting promotions and using discount codes that are good the day before, the day of, and the day after the Super Bowl can help build goodwill with your target audience. Discount codes and tracking links are also good way to see your audience’s behavior, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of your funnel.
Ideally, you want your campaign to piggyback on the one thing on everyone’s mind – the Super Bowl. Work with an infuencer who can help you brainstorm ideas that will strengthen your brand, increase brand awareness, and appeal to your target audience.
9. Create a Highlight Reel of Your YouTube Video
In one of our holiday posts, I talked about makeup artist and mega-influencer Patrick Starrr. Patrick has created a virtual library of makeup tutorials on YouTube.
Smartly, one of the ways Patrick generates tons of video views on Instagram (that leads to tons of traffic to his YouTube channel) is by creating full-length makeup tutorials on YouTube and publishing a sort of Cliff’s Notes version of the video to Instagram. He captions these types of posts with a link to where the full-length video lives on YouTube.
Super Bowl advertisers do the same sort of thing. Procter & Gamble crafted an amusing 30-second spot to promote Mr. Clean for Super Bowl LI.
The company also released an extended cut of the commercial that was published to Mr. Clean’s YouTube channel. Adage.com describes the commercial this way: “The spot shows a woman turned on by a sexy animated version of Mr. Clean…”
A few days before the commercial aired during the Super Bowl LI, Ellen Degeneres aired a mash-up of the commercials with the movie trailer for the latest Fifty Shades movie and called her version starring Mr. Clean “Fifty Shades Cleaner.”
The picture of the snack stadium you saw earlier in the piece is actually a video clip from Amazon’s 60-second Super Bowl LI spot promoting and pretty much introducing the Echo when home assistants first became a thing (were we ever that young?). In this spot, you see Alec Baldwin and rapper Missy Elliott looking on as former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino enjoys Baldwin’s snack stadium.
Product highlight reels are an effective way to grab 10 to 30 seconds of your target audience’s attention on Instagram. A good video – one that is relevant, engaging, and entertaining – gives viewers a compelling reason to find you elsewhere on the web. And that’s what you want.
Here’s a tip about Instagram behavior… Greatphotos get more likes than great videos. But great videos get more comments than great photos. Great videos also get more views than likes. Determining which action is the most important depends solely on your marketing strategy. So, it’s important for you to clearly identify your goals, as well as the metrics you’re going to use to determine whether you met your goals.
Also, consider posting later in the evening. Videos posted to Instagram at 9PM get 34 percent more engagement, according to Sprout Social.
10. Geo-Target Your Campaigns
There are two aspects to geo-targeting your campaigns – location tagging your own posts and zeroing in on the location of your target customers.
According to Sprout Social, posts with location get 79 percent more engagement than those without. For brands, there are a couple of real benefits to adding your location to your campaigns.
Brick-and-mortar establishments get the benefit of being able to tell potential customers where they are. Home-based businesses can target their neighbors without sticking out yard signs or going door to door.
You gotta remember that Instagrammers can Explore by location either by adding a location to the search bar and going to the Tags menu or the Places menu.
You probably noticed there’s a difference in the types of results that turn up. Tags typically turn up topical results, while places turn up actual locations mentioned on Instagram.
You want your product, brand, and company to show up in these search results. For e-commerce brands, adding a location tag can help establish the accessibility (read, humanness) of your product or company. Plus, knowing where your customers are (and vice versa) will give you better insight into who they are and how to market to them online. Look at this pic below. It’s a work of art, and as one who tends to LOVE wooden tables, this table is my jam.
Found this little gem from @fudesignsatl in the Instagram search results under the Atlanta Kirkwood option in the Explore->Locations tab.
Now, Kirkwood is a community in Atlanta that I’ve been lost in at least three times. I always seem to wind up in Kirkwood at night, on my way back to the sticks from the city. The only thing I actually remember about Kirkwood is that the street signs look cool and there’s a little strip of storefronts that I’ve always wanted to visit…. during business hours. Never did. Now, I know something else about Kirkwood – @fudesignsatl.
But the way in which fudesignsatl got on my radar is EXACTLY the strategy you can use to help even the most rando scroller find – and be floored by – your products.
-
There’s Kirkwood! -
Ooo. What’s that? -
Me clicking and reading. -
Bookmarked, saved, and on its way to a Pinterest board. Did you notice I followed him?
I also took a look at that funky-looking vegan pizza. And the dog. That’s a cutie dog.
Anyway, this is the value of crafting a campaign to target a specific demographic on Instagram. You don’t “need” sophisticated equipment to include the right hashtags. The heavy lifting is figuring out where your customers are and how they’re using the platform. Geo-targeting can help you get better reach and more valuable engagement beyond just likes with your marketing campaign.
Conclusion
During the Super Bowl, there was very little conscientious influencer marketing done by brands. Most of the content tagged with one of the Super Bowl tags (stuff like #superbowl #sb54 #superbowl2020 #superbowlLIV #superbowl54) are user-generated posts about audience experiences, the players, and the music. That means an opportunity exists for savvy brands to get in there and partner with influencers who are already posting about this epic event and let them help you drive real results in your business.
