What are the most tweeted events in the history of Twitter UK? Lauren Hockenson compiled a list of the top five most-tweeted events on record for Gigaom, and brands are noticeably absent from the list. Instead, sporting events, musical events, and political and papal announcements top the list on Twitter UK.
Lauren gathered information from Twitter and news reports to identify the top five most tweeted events on record as follows:
1. Barack Obama’s re-election
2. Spain’s Euro 2012 win
3. Introduction of Pope Francis
4. Andy Murray’s Wimbledon win
5. Spice Girls reunion performance during the 2012 London Olympics
You can follow the link above to read Lauren’s full article which includes all of the tweet-per-minute statistics and details about each of the five events.
The lesson for brands to learn from the most tweeted events on record is this—events that have consumer emotional involvement and a relationship element, wherein consumers experience the event together and want to share their thoughts and feelings about those events, get tweeted.
Brands need to consider how they can more closely align themselves with these types of events. Traditional sporting events sponsorship doesn’t drive tweets. Andy Murray’s win drove tweets. Imagine a brand like Red Bull (a brand that is very good at aligning itself with high-profile, high-emotion events) had developed a campaign tightly aligned with Andy Murray prior to his Wimbledon win. There would be organic brand exposure after his win drove 120,000 tweets per minute.
I’m not suggesting that an event that is solely a branded event could get to the top of the most tweeted events list. Trying to chase one of those top spots would be a losing battle. However, tying brands to events that match the highly tweeted events in this list should drive indirect marketing organically.
How can your brand ride the event tweeting wave? Think strategically, do your event research, identify what makes a tweetworthy event, and find opportunities to integrate your brand into those events in new and creative ways. The old event sponsorship models aren’t enough anymore.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts about event marketing for brands in 2013 and beyond.
Image: Twitter
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
