Real-time Marketing

PR NewsLilia Glazova, Managing Director

Real-Time Marketing

Real-time marketing (RTM) is the use of popular news stories, events, trends to get a key message across to the target audience as opposed to costly paid/owned media. Essentially, it is a way to communicate a message, idea, etc. by taking advantage of and exploiting certain occasions such as things trending on social networks, memes, online and offline events as well as crises.

Real-time marketing/PR became a separate area of expertise as a result of spreading online communications including, in the first place, via social media where the distance between a brand and the audiences is the shortest.

RTM. Communication research PR agency Comunica commissioned PR News to conduct a study to find out how effective real-time communication techniques are and what place they occupy in PR and marketing, expecting it to help advance the industry and identify the most effective social media promotion tools. The goal of the study was to prove the effectiveness of real-time PR and marketing and make a case, both with quantitative and qualitative evidence, for them as a promising approach to digital communications. The study was highly commended by Comunica, which commissioned it, and as a result, the company supported promotion of real-time PR and marketing to the professional PR and marketing community.

PR News won a 2016 Gold Quil Awards for this research.

METHODOLOGY

Engagement was used as the main criterion for assessing effectiveness of real-time marketing (RTM) and was calculated as the sum of user responses (comments, reposts, likes, favorites (on Twitter) per post per page using the following formula: Engagement rate = (N of comments + N of reposts + N of likes) / N of posts

The use of RTM was deemed effective or ineffective based on comparison of engagement with RTM posts (# of responses) versus other types of posts per page per month.

5 MEMES REFERENCED ON 4 SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES – FACEBOOK, VKONTAKTE, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM – WERE ANALYZED:

01 04#THEDRESS (#DRESSGATE) MAY THE 4TH, STAR WARS

DAY

02 05

MARCH 2015 SOLAR ECLIPSE

APRIL FOOLS’ DAY – JOKES AND PRANKS ON BRAND PAGES

03

"GAME OF THRONES" – USE OF THE POPULAR SERIES’ THEMES AND CHARACTERS

PRACTICE

* difference (%) in engagement per post between RTM posts and other posts.

Engagement is defined as the sum of actions (comments, reposts, likes, favorites (on Twitter)) performed by a user in response to a post.

AVERAGE RATEMAY THE 4TH

SOLAR ECLIPSE

"GAME OF THRONES"

APRIL FOOLS' DAY

TheDress

+590%+155%+184%+533%+663%

+1 417%

RTM EFFECTIVENESS*

+86 %

+750 %+690 %

CommentsLikes/favoritesReposts

RTM EFFECTIVENESSTYPES OF RESPONSE

"GAME OF THRONES"

APRIL FOOLS' DAYAVERAGE RATE

THEDRESS

SOLAR ECLIPSE

APRIL FOOLS' DAYAVERAGE RATE

SOLAR ECLIPSE

"GAME OF THRONES"

AVERAGE RATE

APRIL FOOLS' DAY

SOLAR ECLIPSE

"GAME OF THRONES"

THEDRESS

RTM EFFECTIVENESSLIKES/FAVORITES

RTM EFFECTIVENESSREPOSTS

RTM EFFECTIVENESSCOMMENTS

THEDRESS

225%

81%

79%

- 43 %

86%

1 790%

786%

458%

167%

750%

1 226%

672%

597%

290%

690%

RTM EFFECTIVENESSCOMMENTS, REPOSTS, LIKES/FAVORITES

WWF_AUSTRALIA +3729%

IRN-BRU +1330%

CITROEN +1800%

#maythe4thTOP 3 RTM POSTS BY EFFECTIVENESS

BBC RADIO 4 +824%

PLAYSTATION UK +244%

BURGER KING FRANCE +346%

#eclipse2015TOP 3 RTM POSTS BY EFFECTIVENESS

XBOX ENTERTAIN +4 056%

WARCRAFT +281%

STOLICHNAYA VODKA +2 910%

#gameofthronesTOP 3 RTM POSTS BY EFFECTIVENESS

TIDE +9 426%

HYUNDAI +7 172%

ADOBE +9 385%

#TheDressTOP 3 RTM POSTS BY EFFECTIVENESS

LOUBOUTINSJanuary 13 “Exhibit” music video

by Leningrad,Youtube

Widely discussed on social media;Real Time PR

Van Gogh Aliveart exhibit,Moscow, Novosibirsk, Minsk (Belarus)Facebook, VK, Instagram

Real Time PR effectiveness/ineffectiveness is measured based on the ratio of

user engagement to the number of Real Time PR

posts and regular posts per account

Goal:

Real Time PR measurement:Louboutins to promote Van Gogh Alive

Engagement index (user engagement on official Van Gogh Live accounts) is used as the main criterion for the evaluation of the effectiveness of Real Time PR

Engagement index =

Ван Гог. 2.0. Ожившие полотнаVan Gogh

Van Gogh_125 Years

METHODOLOGY: LOUBOUTINS

 

Real-Time PR EFFECTIVENESSLOUBOUTINS COVERAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES

VIDEO RELEASED

Real-Time PR EFFECTIVENESSLOUBOUTINS

* Average RT PR effectiveness

Real Time PR Effectiveness

*

Average*+141%

+359%+123%+259%

Average*+26%

+221%+18%+80%

TOTAL+52%

+251%

+43%

+170%

Average* -11%

+173%-12%

Real-Time PR EFFECTIVENESS USER ENGAGEMENT ON ART EXHIBIT ACCOUNTS

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Facebook Vkontakte Instagram

CAMPAIGN PERIOD

SummaryREAL TIME PR PRINCIPLES

Timeor is it worth the rush?

Relevance of a topic to a brand’s valuesor is it worth the risk?

Adaptation of content to audiences on a specific social network

Taking advantage of popular themes, memes, etc. and news stories Wider reach, bigger audience

Higher engagement Improved effectiveness of marketing tools (special offers, discounts, etc.)

SummaryREAL TIME PR ADVANTAGES