The pinnacle of March Madness 2011 has be invaded by the madness of Social Media. There is tweeting, streaming and blogging taking place about the Final Four than ever before. According to a survey done by Research Now on the use of social media among those over 18 years of age, 69% use social media to follow the tournament, 82% used social media to pick brackets, and 47% followed more than one media. Social Media such as: Tweeter, Facebook, Youtube, and Bracket Town by Foursquare all contributed to the madness. The largest contributor was Facebook then Youtube. Of those that filled out the ESPN Bracket Challenge, 51% filled their brackets out through social media.
Coke even got into the act by launching their Coke Zero Social Arena during March Madness. According to SatelliteNews. com, "visiting the Coke Zero NCAA March Madness Social Arena online or via the new iPad app, fans can monitor and contribute to the social chatter around each match up from their own Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. Fan comments and social media posts related to March Madness will appear in “Tourney Buzz” on the site. Joining in on the conversation will be CBS Sports and Turner Sports online and on-air basketball analysts who will be regularly commenting on live game action, sharing tournament observations and connecting with fans". When you see companies as large as ESPN, CBS and Coke become involve seriously in
Social Media, competitors best take notice, take the plunge or find themselves swimming with the gold fish.
Sources: http;//marketwire.com/press-release/Research-Now-Poll-Reveals-Social-Media-a-Fan-Favorite-2011- NCAA-Tournament-14189.htm
http://www.satellitetv-news.com/turner-sports-and-cbs-sports-partner-to-launch-coke-zero-ncaa-march-madness-social-arena/
Cool topic. I thought about social media a few weeks ago when people started getting ready for the tournament. I figured that thousands of people, including athletes, would be posting, Tweeting, and blogging about the teams and games. I like your last point. You had better get on the trend quickly or you will be lost in the crowd.
ReplyDeleteGood point! I personally downloaded a NCAA tournament app for my phone where I could make my bracket, check scores and even watch live stream of games for free. This app also has given companies an opportunity to put ads and commerical that can be seen. Like Rob said you're last point was very right on target. You have to go where you're target is, and it doesn't seem like they are in the same places that they used to be.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that March Madness is involved in the social media world. I often checked the main March Madness page on Facebook and noticed how fast fans were to write or comment about the games. Fans were joining and participating constantly. Good post!
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