As the power of social media continues to grow, brandRapport Account Executive,  Michael White, asks whether more sponsors will start to ‘hang out’…
As social media becomes an increasingly bigger part of brands strategies, more and more sites are springing up in the wake of Facebook’s mammoth growth, to offer brands, organisations and individuals the platform to get their message heard by an audience that continues to grow.
With over 250 million users, Facebook is a global phenomenon. As such, some of the biggest brands are investing heavily in the site; Coca Cola has a fan base of over 39 million people, interacting with the brand and sharing content with their friends. Reaching out to a whole new potential audience means that social media sites, like Facebook, are revolutionising the way brands are approaching their marketing strategy. A major risk for those that see social media as a fad, is that they get left behind, and with such a rapidly developing landscape, this could happen quicker than they think.
Facebook is not the sole answer for brands through, Twitter has carved a niche out for itself as the forerunner of micro-blogging sites. However the new kid on the block is definitely Google+. Adopting some of the winning ingredients that make Facebook and Twitter so popular and successful; profiles, photo sharing and status updates, Google has developed a social media offering that is gaining real traction thanks to its unique features. Most notably its ‘hang-outs’, a virtual space where up to nine people can meet, speak and quite literally hang out via video link.
In the sport sponsorship space, Cadburys have been the first to experiment with Google+. The confectionary giant hosted a ‘hang out’ in February 2012, with GB Olympics hopeful Shanaze Reade answering questions from eight people while anybody else that added the brand to their circles, Google’s answer to ‘following’, was able to watch the action. In one swift move, Cadburys were able to reinforce their sponsorship messaging around the 2012 Olympics to an audience that may have otherwise been turned off to traditional advertising and marketing. Not wanting to be left behind, Coca-Cola is planning on hosting a hang-out in February 2012, showcasing some of their Olympics memorabilia. It will be interesting to see how many other London 2012 sponsors embrace Google+ in time for the Games.
While Facebook may still be at the top of the pile, sites like Google+ are in the ascendancy and provide brands with a new outlet for speaking with their target audience, quite literally thanks to their hang outs. Given the newest tributary of Google is still relatively young, the reception it is has had from major names could be a sign of the shift in power. One thing is for sure, social media is not going away and given the rate of evolution, the potential for brands, sponsors, organisations and even political figures is enormous.