After watching several commercials that aired during the Super Bowl XLV last month, I noticed a trend in companies displaying their Facebook URL. It was at that point that I realised just how much investment that companies are putting into social media. With the cost of air-time during the Super Bowl valued at millions, many different companies have made a conscious decision to advertise their Facebook pages. In some cases, they seem to have invested more into their Facebook presence over their official website. While they try to appeal to a generation of Facebook users, many others in America have never used the social networking website or are not regular users of it.
A quick search on the Internet revealed that others also recognised this trend. Ryan Carson blogged about nearly 100% of the big brands (Doritos, Coke, Ford) had listed their Facebook URL in their commercial played during the Super Bowl (1).
Since the Internet is more readily available with laptops and mobile devices becoming more common, many combine television-watching with the Internet, and in 2009, the figure had increased 35% more Americans than last year combine watching television with browsing the Internet (2). With more people using the Internet while watching television, it is not surprising to view search trends during events, such as the Super Bowl. Fox (3), who also noticed the trend of companies using their Facebook URL on the Super Bowl commercials this year, has published trends showing that once a commercial is aired during the Super Bowl, viewers search for it online.
It seems that social networking (particularly Facebook) are the buzz and hype for this year, but companies also need to be sure that other Internet users are not alienated by keeping their official websites up to date and investing in good content and keeping an audience. (Facebook is easy to update and to keep in constant communication with 'fans', if they do log on to the website and follow your company website.)
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