What’s Everyone Talking About? How Your Business Can Join The Conversation

phelps_faceIs your business capitalizing on the conversation?

Super Bowl power outage. Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West Feud. Phelps Face. Whether you know what I’m talking about or not, there were still thousands of people talking about each of them. Where, you may ask? In the one public forum that anyone can attend and join in on the conversation.

Each of the above topics resulted from unforeseen events that sparked attention, tweets, hashtags, and memes. While everyday social media users created the bulk of the conversation, many brands chose to capitalize on these in their own way.

Some brands were able to stay relevant and catch the attention of the thousands of social media users. How? By jumping into the conversation and tying it back their own product or service offering.

Super Bowl Power Outage

For example, during Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, millions of viewers witnessed a power outage that lasted for 34 minutes at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA. This unexpected and surprising moment provoked many people to take their thoughts to Twitter, and one brand in particular took advantage of the situation quickly.. Very quickly.

Oreo Blackout Tweet - Conversation - Harness Digital Marketing

Of course, the Super Bowl is a time where brands spend millions of dollars to place an ad during the commercial breaks. Oreo had a different strategy.

The brand had a team of graphic designers and copywriters watching the game and waiting for something significant to occur. When something happened, they could capitalize on the moment as quickly as possible. This attention allowed them to use the momentum to spark thousands of retweets and likes, and even more impressions.

Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West Feud

Whether you care about celebrity drama or not, a famous feud between two music artists sparked conversation on social media earlier this summer. Memes, videos, and tweets were created overnight and throughout the day as a result of controversy over one song. Taylor Swift and Kanye West created a lot of conversation, and one unlikely brand decided to join in.

This unexpected brand, a popular breakfast chain, made a parody tweet of an Instagram post that Taylor Swift made in response. Trust me, I won’t bore you with the details of the controversy. However, here is one hilarious tweet that the team at Denny’s created to capitalize on the moment.Denny's Tweet - Conversation - Harness Digital Marketing

#PhelpsFace

Now, there’s a moment that should be fresh in your memory if you were one of the millions of viewers watching the Olympics this year. While gearing up for one of his matches that awestruck millions of viewers, Michael Phelps was recorded making a face that grabbed a lot of people’s attention.

Of course, the hashtag #PhelpsFace became a trending topic very quickly. And there were brands who knew that millions of people were talking about this. From small businesses to national corporations, restaurants to travel agencies, many brands offered their own funny spin on the meme. They did so by adding a caption that tied their business to this comical, and unplanned, moment. Here was our response below:

HDM Phelps Tweet - Conversation - Harness Digital Marketing

Whether you’re a large or small business, you can also easily jump into these unforeseen conversations. If you know how to look out for them. No, you don’t need to hire a team of fast-moving artists and writers to watch the 2017 Super Bowl.

To capitalize on these moments, you just need to pay attention to trending topics and know your brand’s voice. Does it make sense for your business to jump into certain topics? Are you taking a more serious or humorous approach to your business? And can you create something clever enough to jump into the conversation in a relevant way?

Although other traditional advertising outlets are not obsolete, there’s one thing that social media can allow your brand to do. Join in on unforeseen, unplanned, and unexpected moments and conversations.

Creating a post that cleverly ties together the event and your business may create more impressions for your brand than you can imagine. If you would like to know how you can capitalize on the right topic, the team at HDM and I would love to help your business join in on the conversation.

Eleni Hampton | Twitter: @eleni_gabriella | Instagram: elenihampton

Comments

  1. I enjoyed this blog post a lot. I think many times it’s fear that prevents people or businesses from trying to “think outside the box” and step out of their comfort zone with this creative content. I’m trying to do more of this myself. Thanks for the clear cut examples of who’s doing it right.

    • Thank you, Kevin! I appreciate your comment. I totally agree too. Some businesses don’t know that they can have fun and join in on these trending topics. It’s a different way to promote your business. The key is to have a sense of humor on your brand pages to humanize your business a little bit more!

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