There are a few times in life when your personal passions meet your professional calling - an obsessive Patriots fan (that is me) gets to share with my colleagues and peers that the I could not be more excited and proud...and also slightly bummed that I won't be there in person (I will be at the wedding of one of my best friends and friends take precedence even over the biggest game of the season).
If you are as big of a Pats fan as I am or if you want to witness the marvel of the game even unfolding as millions of fans gear up for Sunday, then just simply click over to Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee Social Media Command Center. You can choose your social channel of choice from there to stay connected and watch updates in real time - Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr.
The Social Marketing Hub is the backbone of the operation, where a staff of 50 monitors and responds to comments and fan safety issues, while providing fan-powered tips on what's happening via four social media channels - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. Planning for the Command Center began more than a year ago, with the Committee making a final selection of the Awareness Social Marketing Hub in July 2011. Here's what Taulbee Jackson, president and CEO of Indianapolis-based digital media agency Raidious, which is managing the Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee Social Media Command Center operation, had to say: "After reviewing over 60 different social media management solutions, we found the Awareness Social Marketing Hub to be the best fit. We needed a tool that would help us deliver Hoosier hospitality for the 21st century by centralizing activities and allowing us to monitor and respond to fans in real time while having strict publishing authorization processes in place. We selected Awareness because of its ease of use and deep functionality."
The Indianapolis Social Media Command Center is a 2,800 sq.-ft. facility perched strategically above the Super Bowl village in the heart of downtown Indianapolis.
Photo Courtesy of ESPN and Raidious
A staff of 50, including student interns from nearby universities, will utilize the Awareness Social Marketing Hub to monitor more than 300 keywords on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. CNN reported this week the team "will tweet directions to fans in search of parking, direct visitors to Indianapolis's best attractions, and stand by to provide information in case of a disaster." Here's a quick glance at the Twitter feed, which monitors for over 300 keywords, in addition to the game mentions and hashtags:
The Huffington Post got the importance of the Social Media Command Center right - "the world has finally realized the power of real-time social media and how it can make or break a brand, an event, or a message. Social TV has truly arrived -- and it is entirely controlled by the conversation taking place on Twitter, Facebook -- not by the brand. The NFL announcement of its Social Media Command Center for Super Bowl 46 is promising to be a winning play."
My enthusiasm and exhilaration aside, social media is no longer an afterthought - it is an integral part of how you plan, design and execute your fan engagement. The Committee is using the Awareness Social Marketing Hub to support a very large-scale, complex operation with a lot of moving parts - in essence blending social customer service with a robust Social CRM approach. You can get more facts about Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee Social Media Command Center and download photos here - http://bit.ly/yffVOt
Go Pats!