Planning to attend Super Bowl XLVI this year and do not know where to park or need a suggestion on where to eat? It won't be a problem this year because you can tweet for help! For the first time in Super Bowl history the host committee in Indianapolis is using social media to its full advantage. What is the purpose of this? It is to engage the fans of course! I think the idea is genius ultimately because there are always numerous problems that occur during game day and Super Bowl weekend that have nothing to do with the host city or NFL however, it can ruin a fans experience.
I am attending my first Super Bowl volunteering for the PR staff at the NFL and I have had the opportunity to tweet and use Facebook for help here in Indianapolis! Although I have never been to a Super Bowl before from what I have heard from other workers is that the host committee staff has never used social media to the extent in which Indianapolis is this year. In today's society and after seeing the positive feedback that the host committee has received from fans I think it is something that should be done every year by future host cities.
Here in Indianapolis if you are flying into the city you are greeted with a "Get Connected" card with information on how visitors and fans can become involved with the Twitter and Facebook chats about Super Bowl XLVI. The card contains Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare links along with a QR Code to the host committees website. The host committee has created a website created a Super Bowl event finder where fans are able to type in a location and date in order to find out events around Indianapolis they can attend. They have also created a blog area where fans can share and upload their stories from Super Bowl XLVI and there is an online question and answer service sponsored by Cha Cha. It is the most socially interactive Super Bowl that the NFL has ever seen with the first ever social media command center in downtown Indianapolis to encourage fans and visitors to use social media and share their experiences online. If you are attending this years Super Bowl and want to share your story along with the 150,000 fans in Indianapolis the official twitter is @SuperBowl2012 and the official hashtag is #sb46. Questions can be answered 24/7 during the week leading up to and on Super Bowl Sunday. The host committee also reached out to 46 of Indiana's most influential bloggers to share the social media story of this year's new changes. "This is the first time this kind of large-scale social media monitoring has been tried at an event of this size . . . and it’s giving us a peek into the future of intelligent 1:1 marketing." (Forbes.com)
During an event as large as the Super Bowl there will be fans using social media around the world to engage with each other and share stories. However, the host committee in Indianapolis has made the experience special in the social media world. For those attending Super Bowl XLVI in Lucas Oil Stadium or even those visiting as fans that may not have tickets can still share the experience. The stadium is limited to approximately 74,000 people although there are over 150,000 people in Indianapolis for the Super Bow. This is a way to interact with all fans and not just those that are lucky enough to attend the game.
Here in Indianapolis I have only heard positive feedback about the new social media changes and I think it will be used continuously in some way or another at future Super Bowls. At an event so large like Super Bowl XLVI it is truly the only way to engage all of the fans at once in one area.
To read more about the new social media engagement read this article.
First let me start by saying I'm sooooo jealous that you got to work the Super Bowl - that would be a dream come true for me.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I was so happy to see how much social media was used in this years Super Bowl. I too did a post on this topic check it out if you want! I think that the Coke Polar Bear commercials and on-line tie ins were the best! In years past the day of the Super Bowl has seen some of the highest numbers of tweets than almost any other day (except for days such as Michael Jackson's death and other similar kind of events). However most of the tweets during the Super Bowl are about the commercials more so than the actual game, players or coaches.
That is so awesome that you got to do volunteer PR work at the Super Bowl- I bet the experience was amazing. I did notice that the Super Bowl was using a lot more social media this year (then again, who isn't), but I didn't realize to what extent that they were using it. I think that it is really cool that they interacted with all of the visitors this way, and I think that other large scale events should try and model off of what they did here.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it is really amazing what social media can do. Maybe five years ago, this large-scale media relations operation would have only been possible through television commercials, press releases, news features, and on-site marketing. Now anybody, anywhere, with any question can reach a Super Bowl (or any event for that matter) representative or share their story. The interaction value is unprecedented. Even if it is not face-to-face contact, people can read stories about the Super Bowl experience almost feel as if they were there. How far we have come in recent years.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, social media really took on a big portion of this year's advertising scheme, as well. If you noticed during the majority of commercials, there were Twitter #hashtags listed so as to start a conversation about the product or commercial. Some of the most memorable were Budweiser’s #herewego and #makeitplatnum, GE’s #whatworks, Audi’s #solongvampires, and #thisisM&M. Twitter also played a large role in the way the game was covered. The announcers kept tabs of what the highest rated hashtags were and mentioned them a few times throughout the broadcast. #jasonpierrepaul, #Madonna and #sb46 were the top three conversation drawers, but there were so many different hashtags the trended during the game that it was almost impossible to keep track of all of them. In fact, #acl was one of the trending topics after a Giants player tore his ACL on the sideline.
I am amazed by the amount of influence social media has gained in some of the most traditional settings. I guess I shouldn't be though because the NFL is a league built on advertising, and what better way to advertise than through social media.