Real Time Marketing is all about listening to what people are talking about, and joining the conversation while simultaneously promoting your brand. This type of marketing can be incredibly effective, but it can also be dangerous. There’s a fine line between well-timed, strategic content and inappropriate posting. Knowing when to not overstep your boundaries is key. Here are a few dos and don’ts to set you up for successful Real Time Marketing.
Don’t: Make a hard sell.
When you’re using a current event to promote your brand, the last thing you want to do is directly sell your product. Take this tweet from Denny’s. The creative idea behind this image is brilliant, but the execution is just not there. They were trying to tack onto the success of Breaking Bad, which is great, but the Denny’s sell was way too hard. They would have been better off leaving out the text saying ” how about breaking bacon with friends at Denny’s…” and simply tweeting the image. There is enough brand recognition with the logo, and the added sell just makes this tweet seem cheesy.
Do: Have precise timing.
Remember when the power went out at the Superbowl? Well, so does social media. Tweets and Facebook posts were coming in by the millions and Oreo saw an incredible opportunity to potentially reach a high volume of constituents. Because of their excellent timing, they were able to create one of the most widely shared Real Time Marketing tweets to date. With 15k+ retweets, you don’t get much better than that. ( Note: notice how Oreo never says ” go out and buy oreos tonight”. They left out the hard sell making this tweet timely, on point, and funny without selling their product directly.)
Don’t: Use tragedy, ever.
Breaking Bad’s series finale ended a few weeks ago, and it was trending on social media for days. Recently, a reporter from Philadelphia decided to tap into this success and tweet about a shooting that had happened. Well, this was a terrible, terrible decision. Although we are sure she was merely trying to spread the message quickly, she instead made a joke out of a very real, very awful shooting. Never, ever use tragedy in your Real Time Marketing strategy. To be safe, always stick to the light hearted topics.
Do: Be clever!
The key thing to remember when being clever is to not push so hard. This tweet from Doritos during Shark Week was a brilliant example. No, Doritos doesn’t naturally tie into Shark Week, but when you look at this picture, it just makes sense. Unlike the Denny’s (come to our restaurant and eat bacon tweet), this soft sell makes Doritos a funny, and clever brand.
Real Time Marketing can be an incredible useful tactic if you’re trying to spread your message quickly to a large number of people. However, it is not a cut and dry method. Make sure you’re doing it right before you send out a message you can’t take back.
