So now that the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ has come to an end, now what? Do you have to wait to ride the content marketing coattails of the next major international event? If you look at a majority of brands using content marketing successfully, you will see that they pay attention to everyday conversations. They regularly engage with their own style in a way that resonates with their audience and highlights their offerings.
Let's look at World Cup campaigns for inspiration, however. By including the same tools and techniques used during the football games-in this case, real-time social media marketing, related content, and multi-media engagement-you can make something meaningless memorable for your market.
Riding the Coattails of Real-Time Content Marketing
A recent example from @TheTweetofGod, Twitter's famous parody account, demonstrates the persistence needed for real-time social media marketing. The Tweet of God is the work of comedy writer David Javerbaum, who has worked for the Daily Show and has numerous other accomplishments under his belt, including "The Last Testament: A Memoir by God." To promote his latest book, the World Cup provided a huge opportunity for real-time social media marketing for the faux God. Javerbaum watched the games and took the month-long window of opportunity to continually link the brand to them.
ACTION ITEM: On-the-ball marketers will take advantage of memes as and when they occur, just like the divine content marketing nuggets of the faux God. Many of your real-time marketing posts may go unnoticed, but the more you do the better your chances of capturing your audience's attention with one of them.
One easy way to stay on top of what's trending is watching Google News to see how your brand associates with what's going on in the world. Just be slow and sensitive to the serious stuff. It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to somber news. If you have even an inkling of doubt, leave it out.
How about supermoon mania? This is something cool and fun you could connect with your company. Take for example @EverythingNYC, which features everything from current events to the best stuff to do, see, and eat in New York City. They simply shared a picture of the supermoon by the Statue of Liberty and continue to show their followers' pictures of the supermoon shining above the Big Apple. How can you connect your business to this big, beautiful ball in the sky through the summer? Restaurants could suggest a romantic dinner by moonlight. A mental health practice could make reference to the fact that we all have a dark side just like the moon. You get the gist.
Riding the Coattails of Related Content
Blogs and social feeds also provided many brands plenty of opportunities to give football fans World Cup-related content. Take a step back to see the big picture. How can you relate your industry to other aspects of the World Cup besides football?
Google organized all the football information to make it accessible and useful for everyone. Who could miss the fun doodles made to the search engine's logo to support the championships? Similarly, social media analytics platform, Socialbakers, showcased their Cheermeter data tool during the football championships. They told me the opportunity was to get into the conversation on what is happening during the World Cup and show in real time everything that is the most relevant for the audience: live matches scores, best players, what the official sponsors are doing and their performance, and even the Twitter and Instagram feeds with people uploading their favorite World Cup moments worldwide.
Companies in the pet industry took note, too, and followed up with creative posts and articles, including a dog that walked to the World Cup and a soccer-playing Beagle.
ACTION ITEM: Once again, stay on top of the news. Then tap your talent to create a way to correlate your industry, or products and services to a trending topic. Let's use the supermoon as an example again. The American Museum of Natural History tweeted about how the earth will be 224,175 miles from the moon and linked to information about the museum's moon exhibit on its website. I don't even have to tell you that Oreo took advantage of the supermoon. Really, the possibilities are endless with a little creativity. What is your audience doing, watching, or talking about? Ask yourself how can you relate your brand and its products and services to these things.
Riding the Coattails of Multi-Media
While a little fun and frivolity helps consumers relate to the human aspect of your brand it fosters loyalty. Many companies allowed staff to watch the World Cup games at the office with their communities. Some updated their Facebook cover photo to show support for their national team. Others offered World Cup giveaways. Instagram and Vine helped companies get in on the football fever, too.
ACTION ITEM: There are a plethora of tools and techniques to build awareness, preference, and brand-consumer relationships not only during global events but also in day-to-day activities. Join Social Media Today's panel of experts during the exclusive, live webinar: "Transform Everyday Events into Meaningful Experiences: Lessons in Real-Time Marketing" to learn more ways to win the engagement competition.