Since 2008, social media has expanded beyond the young user demographic and is continuing to enhance its personalization and interactivity. Which is why it turned the tables this presidential election, taking on a more proactive role by co-hosting debates, sponsoring town halls and creating new ways for voter/candidate communication. It’s awesome to see social media making a big impression that will forever change how future elections are ran. Thanks to their outreach, the 2012 elections are expected to be one of the highest voter turnout elections in U.S. history.

Just in case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of what social media has done for both candidates and tech-savvy constituents so far:

APRIL 20, 2011 – FACEBOOK TOWN HALL
Obama reconnected with the users responsible for his 2008 campaign success at Facebook’s headquarters. Moderated by Mark Zuckerberg himself, more than 1,700 questions to Obama were posted to the White House Facebook page and over 50,000 people watched the live-streamed event.

MAY 18, 2011 – YOUTUBE TOWN HALL
YouTube, owned by Google, created a channel for virtual debate. Users watch and decide which Congress members’ views they support before knowing which party the representative belongs to. The most supported videos are featured in the YouTube Town Hall Leaderboard. Congress members also respond to the top-voted user-submitted questions monthly.

JULY 6, 2011 – TWITTER TOWN HALL
Obama kicked off this event by making the first live presidential tweet in the White House. Twitter’s Executive Chairman, Jack Dorsey, then posed questions to Obama in real time that used the hashtag #AskObama. Radian6, Mass Relevance and curators monitored the tweets using Twitter’s search algorithms. Obama’s answers were condensed to 140 characters on @townhall and @whitehouse during the event.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 – TWITTER’S POLITICAL PAID ADVERTISING
Twitter allows candidates to purchase political Promoted Tweets, Trends and Accounts. Tweets feature a purple promoted icon and display a discloser line when hovered over. Unless you follow the accounts, the ads only appear on the top right corner of the UI, in trending topics and when you search for related topics.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 – GOOGLE/FOX NEWS DEBATE
Prior to the debate, about 20,000 viewers submitted more than 18,000 questions and 100,000 votes via text and video to the Fox News YouTube channel. As Google presented its public data and search trends in conjunction with debate questions, viewers voted on real-time polling questions and submitted comments as they watched. To top it off, the filing room was branded with Google’s logo and colors right down to the drinks.

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 – LINKEDIN TOWN HALL
What better topic to discuss in a town hall hosted by the world’s largest professional network than job creation and the American economy. Similar to the Facebook Town Hall, CEO Jeff Weiner asked Obama questions from the live audience at LinkedIn headquarters as well as from more than 4,000 users in a specially created LinkedIn Group.

OCTOBER 6, 2011 – YOUTUBE POLITICS CHANNEL
Curated by Storyful, YouTube launched a channel that serves as the hub for all political videos by candidates, users, news networks, etc. You can also compare each of the major candidate’s YouTube stats including views, subscribers, video shares and amount of searches. While user-generated videos generate the most views, no one has been able to produce the same virality as the “Obama Girl” music videos.

JANUARY 8, 2012 (TENTATIVE) – NBC NEWS/FACEBOOK GOP DEBATE
Facebook is scheduled to co-host a primary debate on NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderated by David Gregory. There’s not much information about the interactive elements, only that this first-of-its-kind debate will be an innovative, multi-platform forum that will make history. Meanwhile, users can go to the Meet The Press and US Politics Facebook pages to share questions for the debate and interact with others.

Although we’d like to think the social media giants are facilitating these events entirely out of the goodness of their hearts, “their proactivity is backed as they hire lobbyists, form political action committees and nurture their relationships with lawmakers whose policy decisions affect the companies’ bottom line.” In other words, social media is using its power to “friend” politicians and reinforce its privacy issues, algorithms, advertising, censorship, etc.

Regardless of its corporate motives, this just means we’ll have an even better social experience and more marketing opportunities as it attempts to get government “approval” to develop its technologies further. We applaud social media for pushing its innovation (and politician friending) to bring the outdated practices of campaigning to the 21st century. By taking initiative to generate political conversation in the digital landscape, its shown its capabilities and proven itself a necessity for more than just elections.

Online video is a major part of the interactive world and many say it’s the future of marketing. However, it wasn’t until recently that we’ve seen companies actively use it to reach audiences online. Toyota (apart from the recall woes faced earlier this year) and Levi’s have shown great leadership with their current campaigns. Inspired by Reel SEO’s tips for creating a web series, we believe these brands hit the nail on the head with content that centers on universal truths for the target audience, encouraging them to contribute, watch and share with others.

Toyota
Toyota’s Sienna Family changed the way we viewed automobile advertising, especially after the now famous Swagger Wagon music video took the web by storm. Armed with (self-professed) A+ parenting skills, the family gave parents and minivan drivers the opportunity to chuckle at the well-known steps new parents take to meet varying family needs. Taking a step back from traditional car ads, Toyota developed a campaign around an engaging, sitcom-style series of online videos that don’t push warranties, pricing and the like.

Already, millions have gone out of their way to meet the family. As Spork Marketing Blog notes, unlike traditional TV advertising, “online video viewers have elected to watch your content – it’s not being forced upon them.” With nearly 3 million YouTube channel views and over 4 million views of Swagger Wagon alone, Toyota has achieved an online video marketing success.

Levi’s
The popular clothing brand grabbed Mindgruve’s attention with “Ready to Work” (an extension of their “Go Forth” campaign), which documents the new pioneers of Braddock, PA, through an 11-part online video series.

Unlike Toyota’s series of laughable family quirks, this series of online videos pull at the heart strings by tapping into the idea of hard work, a theme integral to America and Levi’s roots, while also highlighting a very real concept many have faced in light of economic highs and lows, starting over. These personal narratives will be carried through the entire series as it showcases the potential of Braddock residents, including Braddock’s Mayor who expresses his passion for the town with heartfelt tattoos.

Still early in the campaign, Levi’s made the right decision to captivate their audience by leveraging their Facebook Page and YouTube channel. The use of their social network makes the series easily accessible to those already interested and is sure to help spread the word about this resilient community and Levi’s brand.

Done correctly, online videos can be an engaging medium and possess the ability to enhance your marketing with repeated viewing, sharing and meaningful discussion. While there is no surefire way to guarantee a hit, choosing and executing on a theme universal to your audience is a good first step.

Motrin Ad Causes Controversy

The power of social media and the influence it can have became evident when Johnson & Johnson recently pulled an online advertisement for its popular pain pill, Motrin, after it became a target on social media networks across the country. The major health care company launched the ad over the weekend gearing their marketing towards mothers who get back pain from carrying their babies in slings. However, female consumers found the ad to be offensive due to its “insensitive portrayal of women’s pain.” 

WIthout missing a beat, consumers quickly took to their blogs and video-sharing sites like YouTube and Twitter to voice their anger and disapproval of the new Motrin ad. 

The Influence of Social Media

So what was the result of all of these bloggers exposing their outrage at Johnson & Johnson? The pharmaceutical company quickly pulled the ad from the Motrin site and made several apologies on both their site and blog to any consumers they had offended. 

“It was meant to engender sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their kids, but did so through an attempt at humor that missed the mark and many moms found offensive,” explained Kathy Widmer, vice president of marketing, on J&J’s blog.

The company is also yanking the ad from all magazines.

This is just one instance that proves just how influential social media has become in today’s society, so influential that it can sway corporate behavior at Fortune 500 companies like Johnson & Johnson. Among other social media networks that have reared their head as influencers in an ever changing web-based world, are Facebook and MySpace, two sites that have changed the way that youth and adults alike communicate and share with one another. Whatever happened to the simple days when your cell phone was your primary means of communication? Long gone.