March Madness

       As we all know, Social Media is huge amongst teens and young adults. This age demographic is also a huge audience of March Madness. We have also seen how important social media has become to sporting events. People love the ability to engage with and add to the conversations that are going on about current events. What better time to engage with an event than the premier college basketball event in the country, the March Madness.

      The hashtag MarchMadness can be seen throughout the broadcasts of all games. You can find it scrolling on the on court screens, above the billboards, and in many other locations. They are trying to make it as easy as possible to add to the conversation. This even is known for being one of the most social events in our day. People fill millions of brackets and put them in pools with friends, families, employees, and even random groups. People follow the brackets like nothing else we have seen. The brackets have given people a reason to watch and pay attention. This has therefore translated into a huge social media presence.

     People are now able to follow games on Twitter, because of the vast number of people tweeting about them and creating trends. Everyone has opinions, and therefore with sporting events everyone wants to talk about what is going on. As the games go on and we get closer to the Final Four, it will be interesting to see what the impact will be for the main sponsors. Will the sponsors like Coke and AT&T begin to increase their twitter presence knowing that a majority of the audience will be engaging with the event on both television and social media. Will they adapt or stick to the mainstream television ads to drive customer engagement. Be on the lookout to see how these sponsors use this huge social event to interact with their audience.

     One great example that has already seen great feedback is Coke Zero's "It's Not Your Fault". It uses a possible every day occurrence in offices around the US and puts a spin on it. I believe it brings the product into the middle of the social event that is taking place. Take a look and tell me what you think: