BFG Blog Does Your Brand Have a Winning Social Media Strategy for the Oscars? The envelope please…

The Academy Awards remains one of the top live TV events of the year; it's one of the few remaining tentpole cultural events on the modern broadcast calendar. With the average cost of a 30-second spot in this year's telecast running around a cool $2 million+*, it's no surprise that brands are thirsty for any opportunity to reach Oscars viewers (all 37 million of them, at least in 2015) at a fraction of the cost.But a problem arises when brands are, as the millennials say, too thirsty. Brands that, 364 days of the year, have little discernible affiliation with film, pop culture commentary, celebrity, beauty, fashion (pick any topic relevant to the Oscars experience), suddenly have something to say on the matter. For just one day, as the real-time marketing siren song goes, your brand could be Oreo. But at what cost? The cost is 364 days of brand planning, positioning, strategy, messaging; and, in a worst case scenario, the brand's actual customers.Not to say that there aren't ways to make event-centric content (and even commentary!) work for a brand. Perhaps these ways just seem less sexy, less tantalizingly risky than a war room locked and loaded for the timeliest tweet, 'gram, or Snap story during a high-stakes event, such as the Oscars. They involve not simply target consumer research, but trendspotting, conversational forecasting, channel listening, monitoring and planning to lay the groundwork for "a big idea." This is on top of alignment with higher-level mandatories, such as brand voice, tone and personality.One might call all these factors at play the critical elements of social brand strategy. And much like an overall brand strategy, social marketing for these real-time events should never be a one-size-fits-all approach.Brands will do well to pay attention to what's currently happening with Oscars chatter, rather than creating content in a conference room vacuum, or relying on off-the-cuff brand chatter to meet goals (the tail wagging the dog, when it comes to strategic planning).Here are some areas of consideration for the 2016 Oscars, when it comes to building out real-time social media plan for your brand:There's Gold in Them (Lesser-Known Hashtag) HillsDo your research to find hashtags and conversations - beyond the obvious #Oscars2016 or #AcademyAwards. In the week leading up to the Oscars, #MillennialOscarsCategories was pre-show popcorn-passing for many Twitter users. Do some digging (and listening) to see what conversations matter to your audience, your target and your brand.Be an Active, Mindful ParticipantConsumer brands: Take notice of the conversation around you. With big controversies, such as #OscarsSoWhite and a call for a boycott of this year's show, the conversation has the potential to shift quickly. Avoid looking uninformed or self-serving by not wading into potentially dangerous waters.Cross the Platform BridgeWhile "live-tweeting" is a commonly used buzz phrase, the idea of timely content is channel-agnostic. If your audience is most active on Instagram, build creative that resonates with them there! Don't marry yourself to Twitter if your brand isn't ready to take that leap for the long haul.Even if your brand doesn't have an Oscars plan, make sure you've got community management in place to engage with your community, should they mention you directly. Be clever, if that's your brand, and be in-the-moment, while being mindful. That's what authentic social engagement is all about, whether it's Oscars season or just a day in the life of your brand.- Emily Grim, Sr. Digital Strategist, BFG Communications