This Sunday there’s a football game, and many of us be talking more about our favorite commercial than our favorite team. Advertisers will be using traditional media’s biggest stage to springboard to digital media and fans will be holding a beverage in one hand and texting and tweeting with the other.
As popular as social media is, few people are looking for a company to connect with on Facebook or Twitter. As you enjoy the game (and the commercials) watch the ads through the eyes of a marketer. Take the “tools” out of the equation. What are the advertisers doing to create a connection? Which of these ads will actually change customer behavior?
William Gibson, who coined the term cyberspace said, "One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us, is that we distinguished the digital from the real."
As marketers we need to see that customers don’t view their Smartphone and Facebook account as “digital” – and stores, radio and TV as something else. It‘s all real life, though each is taking on a different level of importance.
A few questions to consider:
If they featured their website, do you think they were effective in motivating people to go there? Would you?
If they invited you to connect on social media, do you think they made a connection? Would you connect?
What off-line action will people need to take to complete the desired behavior or be considered a “conversion?”
Will they measure this online, offline or both?
Are they measuring success by new “friends” or new sales?
Monday after the Super Bowl, answers to these questions are the ones worth talking about with your clients.
You can share your thoughts on these questions, and see what other people are thinking with The Center for Sales Strategy on Twitter. We’re playing the CSS Ad Bowl and are already tweeting about the Super Bowl advertisers.
Even if you’re new to Twitter, here’s an easy way to test it out. Join us on Twitter by adding the hashtag #CSSAdBowl to your tweets.
Greg Giersch is a Senior Strategist at The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.
