It’s amazing how fast brands respond to world happenings today.
Thanks to tools like Twitter, instant messaging and other technology, information moves quickly.
As a result, brands are adapting to produce content in real-time and it’s making for some great marketing and advertising efforts.
Recently, I came across an interview with Noah Brier of percolate on eMarketer.
The entire interview is worth a few minutes of your time, but there was one part that stood out.
From Real-Time Content Creators Need to Be Real-Time Content Consumers:
To be a good content creator, you need to be a good content consumer. The challenge brands have right now is that they’re not used to that. They’re not used to consuming culture, content and ideas in real time. If you want to be creating real-time content, it means, by definition, you have to know what’s happening in real time, what’s relevant.
The shift of brands understanding what’s happening in the world and using that knowledge in with real time content is already showing especially with two recent examples.
Oreo and the Super Bowl
If you were one of the millions of people watching the Super Bowl this year you noticed the blackout. Things got dark in the stadium and the hosts were left to figure out how to fill the dead air.
Social media was also buzzing over the blackout.
Oreo responded quickly with some clever real time marketing.
During the blackout Oreo tweeted out this image:
The tweet was retweeted over 15,000 times garnered over 6,000 favorites along with numerous replies and comments.
The folks at Oreo work with 360i and the agency team had clearance to create the ad on the fly. It’s a great example of how you can empower your team to take advantage of real time content marketing opportunities.
By allowing 360i to work within a few rules, but with freedom to make decisions, Oreo was able to be the talk of the Super Bowl even if it started with just a simple image and tweet.
Golf Digest Uses Real-Time Content To Capture Readers
And it’s not only consumer brands that are taking advantage of real-time marketing.
Golf Digest uses real-time content marketing each week.
The latest example brings life back to an article from last fall.
Bill Haas just won the AT&T National and the next day Golf Digest added the article My Checklist
How to hit your driver long and straight with Bill Haas to its homepage.
Golf Digest does this each week depending on the player that wins. It brings life back to existing articles and it’s relevant for readers.
After seeing Bill Haas win the event it makes sense that a recreational golfer would want to know his secrets for hitting it long and straight.
ESPN Sends Real-Time Highlights to Twitter
This past spring, ESPN and Twitter signed an agreement that will see the ESPN showing real-time sports highlights in their Twitter feed.
This will be a way for fans to watch replays of events that have just taken place. Fans that aren’t able to watch the event live will be able to see the highlights by following the Twitter feed.
It’s another example of how real-time marketing is evolving.
The Real-Time Marketing Reality
There are challenges with real-time marketing, but also opportunities.
The opportunity exists for brands to increase the size of their audience, which can lead to more sales.
The examples above are ways companies can grow their audience by capitalizing on current events. When something happens like a blackout at the Super Bowl or a golfer winning an event it brings people to the Internet. Those people search for information about the event on search engines and on social media.
Brands can be part of the conversation with real-time marketing and capture attention they would otherwise not receive.
The other side of real-time marketing is the expectations of consumers.
Consumers are becoming more demanding with social media because some brands are acting in real-time. One study found that consumers expect a response to their inquiries on social media sites within 30 minutes when they ask a question to brands.
Real-time marketing is an opportunity, but it may also be a requirement for brands based on the trend in consumer expectations.
Final Thoughts
Noah Brier is right by saying that brands need to consume real-time content in order to become real-time content creators.
It seems that brands have already made the move into real-time marketing. Based on these examples it looks like they understand what people want.
It’s an exciting time for marketers and for consumers.