newsjacking vs. real-time marketing

Pop Quiz, social media marketers: What’s the difference between Oreo’s “You can dunk in the dark” tweet during the 2013 Superbowl and the Golf Channel’s #DreamDay promotion on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream…” speech?

One is a cheeky quip about a current event. One is making a speech that inspired and liberated an entire group of people somehow equivalent to golfing. And there’s a lesson in there for us social media marketers and brand managers.

First, can we agree that one gets a ‘thumbs up’ and one makes you cringe? They both more or less sell themselves, so self-promotion on Twitter must be ok. (I definitely believe it is.) They both use something that is pertinent to the moment, so it must be acceptable – even a good idea – to address timely and relevant topics. (Alyssa pointed out that some brands have done real-time marketing very well in an earlier blog post.) So, what’s the difference?

I struggle not to say “good judgment” is what’s missing from the second example. Instead, I’ll say that it’s definitely missing an “appropriateness” filter. When the power went out in the Superbowl, more or less, no one was harmed. And a few million people were now paying attention to … well, nothing. As they waited, fast-acting, smart-thinking brand social media managers stepped in to fill the awkward silence. That’s real-time marketing: using a live event or an appropriate topic of the day to be a friendly, personable contributor to the chatter.

When King’s “I have a dream speech” is the topic of the day, the mood and the tone of anything posted by people is in remembrance of a somber time. It’s in memoriam of a moment in history that helped change the way part of America lived. It’s not really fodder for a chuckle. And it’s definitely not the right space to insert your brand, if it has nothing to do with the history or the story.

Other brand examples fall into this trap, like Kenneth Cole tweeting that a political outrage in Egypt must be because people there heard that the new KC clothing line was out. Epicurious suggested that their “hearts were with Boston” and suggesting a “bowl of breakfast energy we could all use today.” They (kind of) tried to be somber and respectful… but didn’t quite make it there. They were still talking about what to eat when people are reeling from a serious security threat. (Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?) Sure, runners probably did need to eat something, but Epicurious didn’t have something to offer to improve the situation, nor a reason to broadcast it via social media. In situations like that, it’s probably best that you keep quiet for a few hours instead. It was an honest misjudgment and Epicurious promptly apologized, of course. (Cole also apologized, but few think that his mistake was all that accidental…)

I tend to reserve the word “newsjacking” for this type of jump-on-board-a-trend-regardless-of-relevance marketing. I know that some very respectable marketers use newsjacking as the term for a brand joining a trending conversation, and they rightly say that it can work to gain exposure for your brand. But I’d argue that you’ve hijacked a news stream when you’ve missed the intent of the news and its readers.

So, before you think about tweeting something clever and giving yourself the real-time marketing high five, check yourself on two points:

#1 – Does the mood of your tweet match the mood of the trending news?

# 2 – Does what you’re about to say in 140 characters (or more in other channels) or in a single image completely and clearly communicate your intended message? As marketers, we love to be clever. And we think we’re hilarious. But remove yourself from your office mates and put yourself in the shoes of someone completely outside your bubble, perhaps someone that the trending news is happening to or is about. How does your comment sound in their ears? If it’s not all that funny or clever anymore, then you’d better start hitting the backspace button. Remember: no one ever got offended by your brand’s absence from trending news (unless it’s about you).

One of the biggest tenets of successful social media management – and social media marketing – is to be human. Not just acting human, actually being human – so show some humanity… and good judgment. Make sure you’re matching your real-time social media to the tone and intent of the trends.