The Voice Uses Social Media to Give a Voice to Its Audience

By Jessica Donlon | Posted July 8, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Social Media

Last week, we watched as the NBC singing competition, The Voice, picked its first winner (spoiler alert!), Javier Colon from Team Adam. While I, and other fans of the new show, watched mostly for personal interest, the marketer in me couldn’t help but notice the way that the show incorporated social media unlike any other show I’ve seen.

Josh Wolford (@joshgwolf) of WebProNews puts The Voice on the “cutting-edge” of social engagement. If you’re not a regular viewer, examples of the show’s social integration include:

#TheVoice hashtag featured on-screen through performances and other moments throughout the show to encourage conversation. Nicolle Yaaron, The Voice’s supervising producer, said that 70 percent of tweets about the show included #TheVoice hashtag (twice the industry average). During the few episodes I’d tried, it was impossible to keep up with the search column in TweetDeck.
The show regularly cuts away from the stage to its “social media room,” where its social media and online correspondent, Alison Haislip (@alisonhaislip), keeps tabs on what’s trending via Twitter and asks contestants questions as they’re tweeted in real time.
A live Twitter news ticker runs across the bottom of the screen at times during the show, specifically during cuts to the social media room.
Fans can incorporate badges to social avatars, like this “Team Blake” badge featured online.
The show’s Facebook fan page has more than 300,000 followers after its first season.
Judges and contestants of the show each have a Facebook page and Twitter account, as well as blog and photo albums hosted on the show’s website, making it possible for fans to personally connect with each rising star. Dia Frampton’s page is an example.
Judge Christina Aguilera (@TheRealXtina) didn’t have a strong Twitter presence before the show, but through less than 50 tweets she gained nearly 500,000 followers (as of the end of June 2011).
The show incorporates iTunes, using song purchases as votes. Throughout the season, contestant music topped iTunes charts. At the finale the top two contestants, separated by only a two-percent difference in votes, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 (Dia then Javier, respectively) on iTunes the night before.
Votes were enabled through multiple platforms and applications, some of which could be integrated with social accounts via APIs.

Social Entertainment — A Growing Trend

The June Technorati Business article by Emma Wells, Why Social Media Is Important to TV, digs into social entertainment — using Twitter, Facebook, and other social media to improve ratings and give viewers a “second screen” through which they can interact more personally with their favorite shows. Other example shows that integrated social or used it to drive ratings cited in the article include the Oscars, the Royal Wedding and the Super Bowl.

The Voice: How a TV Show Became a 24/7 Social Media Conversation, from Mashable’s Lauren Drell, further explains the trend. According to Dell, television started out with scripted shows and sitcoms, moved to the growing trend of reality TV, and now engages viewers even more with real-time social interaction.

Yaaron’s final quote in the article summarized the campaign:

“The story of The Voice is not just an hour or two every week. It lives online all day and all week long, and it will continue all year long. This is a living, breathing entity, it’s not just show-based.”

Great. How Do I Apply This to My Marketing Campaign?

Social media activity is believed to have propelled ratings for The Voice.

While your product or service may not have a television show to go along with it, think if your organization’s experiences with the people it cares most about could be a “living, breathing entity,” as Yaaron describes The Voice.

The main idea is relative: your buyers can use social media to have a voice in your brand’s conversation. Establish, channel and encourage that conversation to extend the experiences they have and make an impact. To make the most of your audience’s time online, try the following:

Develop a clear hashtag for conversations; establish the community.
Monitor and engage in the conversation online. The Voice rewarded mentions by connecting questions directly to the contestants live on television. Can you connect your online audience with experts or talent within your organization?
Give access to inside information. The Voice used contestant blogs, video and images to put content in the hands of its audience. What do you have of value to share, and is it easily available?
Use multiple channels and strategic partnerships to improve reach and impact. Whether its iTunes and Sprint (used to cast votes on The Voice), or print publications, social networks, call centers or more, give your audience multiple ways to find you and engage in their preferred manner.

The Voice was one example of the evolving trend to link TV (or other shared experiences) with social media. It connects your brand and fosters meaningful relationships with the audiences your organization cares about. Think of the point of sale, and how your brand experience can go beyond it to create an experience for your fans.

Did you watch The Voice or engage online? What did you think?

What other examples of social entertainment have you seen, and what ideas do you have to incorporate into your own marketing campaigns?

Jessica Donlon is a consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Connect with Jessica on Twitter @JessicaDonlon.

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