Or, should it be the Social Media Super Bowl post? Either way, Google search “Super Bowl” plus “social media” and you’ll get over 14 million results.
The biggest event of the American sporting calendar draws advertisers like hungry mosquitoes on a summer’s eve. The big boys will pony up their 3 million or so for their thirty seconds of fame but everyone wants to tie social media to the event.
If you tweet your reactions to each commercial with the hash tag ‘brandbowl’, the folks at Radian6 will compile the comments and rate the spots. Take that USA Today.
Mercedes is asking you to follow their twitter fueled race so someone else can win a car. That sounds like fun.
Bud Light wants you to guess the plots of their Super Bowl commercials to reveal…another Super Bowl commercial. Woo-Hoo.
And, of course, there’s Go Daddy…’nuff said there.
This will be the most social Super Bowl ever. Every single athlete will be tweeting away so there is the possibility of another Jay Cutler brouhaha. Every sports reporter, commentator and wanna-be will be giving us play-by-play tweets on why the Steelers shouldn’t have run on third and three. Everyone with a smart phone will be joining the fray. Not to mention the traffic You Tube will see once all the commercials air!
The social media universe will be ablaze on Super Bowl Sunday! That’s what the brands are hoping for. That is certainly what the NFL wants.
The question is – does all this social interactivity add to your enjoyment of the game? Tweeting your Steelers fan buddy some smackdown when they are losing is what we do. Making your team’s logo your Facebook profile pic is part of the game. Shoot, taking videos of your Super Bowl party is fun. And, isn’t that the essence of social media – fun?
Will you experience the same joie de vivre when watching the Doritos commercial? Will you be on the edge of your seat if the game goes into overtime because of the Papa John’spromotion? Do you really give a rat’s butt who wins the Mercedes-Benz race? Or, will the novelty wear off around half time?
There is a difference between participating for your enjoyment and because they want to get your attention. Which is more fun – the game or the side-show?
With that in mind, let me add my ‘social’ element to this weekend’s festivities. Since most of us watch the game for the commercials I suggest a new Super Bowl drinking game. Every time a commercial features the Facebook or Twitter logos – take a drink.
I’m betting you won’t make it out of the pre-game.
Author: Steve Allan, Social Media Specialist, SMThree