As snow pummeled the Northeast over the weekend, leaving feet of fresh powder across Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York, many were left with little to do besides shoveling out and checking their social media profiles. Thus, it’s no surprise that the winter storm referred to as “Nemo” created a great deal of chatter over the last week.
In total, there were 2,291,093 Nemo-related social mentions throughout the last week, as people heard about the impending storm, watched it dump massive amounts of snow in their towns, and then tried to dig themselves out.
People Can’t Stop Talking About Nemo and the Blizzard
Of the most-mentioned keywords surrounding the storm, people seemed to catch on to the word Nemo. Even though it was the combination of two storms, one of which was named Charlotte, Nemo dominated the conversation, perhaps because of the popular Disney Pixar movie. Right behind mentions of Nemo was talk of a blizzard, which makes any Tweet more dramatic.
Twitter Dominates
As has been the case in many major events over the last few years, Twitter was the social network of choice for many to discuss the perils, and fun, of a massive snowstorm. I was interested to see the mainstream news sneak into the top five mediums for mentions.
Are Snowstorms Fun or Annoying? It’s a Mixed Bag
Unsurprisingly, the massive snowstorm seemed to bring about mixed sentiment from social network users. For many, it meant a chance to go sledding, miss school and lounge around with hot chocolate. For others, feet of snow meant shoveling, power outages, damages and travel delays.
Brand Takeaway
Starbucks capitalized on an attentive and snowed-in audience by creating real-time social advertisements about the snowstorm. The ads centered around a theme of “Snow Day,” and appeared on Facebook and Twitter. On Twitter, people searching for #Nemo, blizzard and other related keywords would see a promoted Tweet from Starbucks with a hot cup of coffee.
On the heels of Oreo’s brilliant blackout-related campaign during the Super Bowl, brands more than ever need to constantly be aware of ways to capitalize on current events. By listening to conversation across the social web, you can find out what’s trending. Once you see a subject that appears relevant, be ready to purchase social advertisements on the spot. In order to do this, you need to be flexible and able to create ads on a whim. This may require a major overhaul in the way your marketing team operates, but the result is a great deal of buzz. Just ask Oreo and Starbucks.
