*** Written by Scott J. Whalen – UMass Lowell Senior Management and Marketing Major, and intern at Rivergate Marketing.

It’s no secret that every year the Super Bowl is one of the most viewed events on television in the world. It’s a gold mine for marketers, but at a price. Companies will pay millions of dollars just for a thirty second commercial during the game. However, a new element for marketers has come into play recently and continues to grow rapidly every year; the world of social media.

Social media has become one of the main channels for Companies to reach new and present customers. From Twitter, to Facebook, to YouTube and more; the world is on board and logged in constantly. All it takes is one intriguing social media post to grab the attention of millions. This is huge, and you can guarantee marketers will be on top of their games.

So the first questions marketers need to answer before preparing their social media posts is: Which social media channel will be used most during the game? How can they reach the most people possible? A survey was done by www.salesforce.com looking into exactly which social media channels would be used most during the game. They even broke it down into age groups and genders. This is the critical information marketers need to make the most impact possible.

So let’s take a look into the results. The first and most telling statistic is that, of all people surveyed, 66% of Super Bowl viewers will be using Facebook during the game. This is enough to make it the number one channel for marketers during the big game. With that information, the next step is to plan post timing. My suggestion would be during breaks in between plays. I say this because it’s no secret that a large portion of Super Bowl viewers are watching just to watch commercials. Even those watching out of pure interest in the game tend to have curiosity in the commercials as well. So I believe that viewers are most likely to check social media during short breaks in the game, not during the commercials. Either way, you can’t go wrong with specifically targeting the most used social media during the game.

Now although 66% of the total viewers will be using Facebook during the game, one very interesting statistic that can’t be overlooked is that 83% of viewers between the ages of 18-24 will prefer to be using Twitter during the game. Companies with a target market of young adults need to make sure they’re aware of this factor. I can personally tell you (as a young adult) that I’m far more likely to check Twitter during the game, and can vouch the same for most people my age.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how social media is used by companies during the game; as it is still a relatively new channel for marketers to plan for. One thing is for sure; social media will be a goldmine during the Super Bowl, it’s every marketers dream. I’ve only spoken about a few of the key statistics found in the article on www.salesforce.com. If you’d like to see the full article it can be found in the link below. Thank you for taking the time to read and good luck to all!