Social Media in the VMAs
When most people think of the Video Music Awards, the first things that come to mind are music collaborations, psychedelic backdrops, controversial outfits, stage crashers (looking at you, Kanye West), and of course, celebrity feuds. But as a digital marketer, we look at the details beyond the entertainment and the drama. Today, social media has transformed the way awards shows are not just promoted, but the way they are conducted. For this post, I watched Sunday night's VMAs and made notes of how influential social media was throughout the process. Here are a couple of my key takeaways.
To promote the event, MTV made a custom emoji to be used exclusively by Twitter accounts that used the hashtags #VMA and #VMAS. The hashtag was widely used by celebrities and everyday users alike, and allowed followers to stay up-to-date with the program without even turning on their televisions.
The VMAs opened up with an entire sketch based on the host's Instagram account, confessing that she took time off this year to focus on her "true love: Instagram." The clip finished up with a crazy Ellen-style celebrity group selfie, which Miley Cyrus posted to her personal Instagram account.
Based on analytics from tweets, Twitter accurately calculated and ranked the Video of the Year and Best Female Video nominees on likelihood of winning the moon man. This proves yet again that Twitter tends to know the scoop before the rest of us.
Many people remember the Twitter feud between artists Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj over this year's Video of the Year nominations. A-listers such as Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and Ed Sheeran also took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the issue, driving even more traffic to the social site from curious fans. The beef from Twitter was addressed during the show when the two stars put aside their "bad blood," performed a collaboration together, and hugged it out. Clips from the moment went viral, and everyone tuned in to watch the very public make-up.
In addition to all the entertainer-centered content, brands got substantial coverage during the show and commercial breaks.
According to a blog post on AdWeek, there were 126,465 VMA-related tweets mentioning the Samsung Galaxy and 122,329 VMA-related Tweets incorporating the hashtag #GalaxyLife. But Samsung, Apple Music, and Pepsi weren't the only companies airing campaigns during commercial breaks. Clean & Clear's confidence-promoting commercials produced 2,340 tweets with the hashtag #SelfAcceptanceSpeech, and an anti-smoking advertisement generated an #ItsATrap hashtag referenced to by roughly 1,854 users.
Taco Bell sponsored its own VMA award, called "Artist To Watch," which allowed Twitter accounts to use hashtags to vote for the winner of the moon man.
It's easy to see that social media has transformed our media today and will continue to do so for years to come. It's a central component of our TV and Internet usage, and allows events like the Video Music Awards to consume our news feeds, spark our interests, and take our nation by storm. As long as Justin Bieber sobs after his performance, Nicki Minaj calls out Miley during her awards speech, and Kanye West announces his presidential campaign aspirations (#Kanye2020), awards shows will continue to be watched, and viewers will continue to post.