Super Bowl XLVI is only days away but will this year’s big game look more like a Social than Super Bowl?  We all know who the teams are, Patriots vs. Giants, and being a Massachusetts based company, do I even have to say who CGI Interactive is rooting for?  It would be wrong to pass up the chance to show our New England pride - GO PATS!!!  But what about the other major players of this big game, social networks and mobile technology?

Venables Bell & Partners’ Super Bowl Survey

With 30-second Super Bowl slots going for $3.5 million, brands will want to get more value for their money.  Brands should target the fans heavy mobile use and social presence believes Dawn Zencka, iProspect’s Vice President of Strategic Insights.  Leveraging social networks and mobile technology is a must for brands who want to truly capitalize on the millions they’re about to spend for a commercial spot. Brands looking to extend creative engagement into social media are embracing Twitter hashtags, viral videos and music apps such as Shazam. The key is to develop content that’s appropriate for each media, and not just blasting out a single message across all social platforms.

Coca-Cola is taking the social media conversation a step further and making its advertisements interactive.  Arctic polar bears featured in their commercial will then be brought to life on Twitter, Facebook and CokePolarBowl.com by responding to fans and reacting to the game.  Pio Schunker, Vice President of Creative Excellence for Coca-Cola, gives the example that if a “Janet Jackson moment” were to occur, a bear will cover a cub’s eyes.  The bears’ reactions, manipulated by two employees at Coke’s ad agency, Wieden + Kennedy, will be done on the fly, making them as interactive as virtually possible.  The goal of Coca-Cola is to join the Super Bowl conversation in a way that will enhance it.

Chevy created a “Game Time” Super Bowl app, which allows viewers to win prizes via integrated challenges on Facebook and Twitter.  Most people watch TV with a tablet or phone in their lap,  therefore it’s crucial for marketers to intercept their Super Bowl commercials with social media and mobile technology.

Reflecting the growing importance of social media, the Super Bowl is formalizing its social efforts with a 2,800 square-foot social media command center run by the agency, Raidious. This will be the Super Bowl’s first such command center handling all the fan conversations surrounding the event.  If the command center proves successful it could revolutionize the way major events leverage social media and mobile technology for decades to come.

Social media marketing has been around for many years and according to marketing leaders, it will continue to grow in 2012. As social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, gain even more of a following, it is important for marketers to understand the ever changing social networks and how they can be made useful for B2B.

So, how can we expect social media marketing  to change in 2012?

- Content Creation: B2B marketers are realizing the importance of content, so there will be a strong emphasis on content creation. It will continue to grow rapidly and spread to different marketing platforms such as Google+, LinkedIn, and Blogs. Google rewards companies that are creating new content by factoring this into a higher search ranking.

- New Marketing Platforms: Google+ was the largest social media based marketing platform to come out of 2011, but as we enter 2012 we wonder what’s next? Niche social media sites such as Pinterest and Push are now being used for business. Look for more of these platforms in 2012.

- Facebook Timeline: Facebook timeline will be rolling out to businesses soon and similar to Twitter feeds, the Facebook timeline will update constantly. Therefore, in order to stay relevant, marketers will need to post more often.

- Cross-Platform Linking: With so many different social sites and media platforms popping up it’s important to stay relevant in each community. 2012 will bring the increase in social media buttons and linking from platform to platform. Cross linking will bring fans of your Facebook page to your Twitter feed, so it’s important to have different and fresh content on each platform!

Infographics are surprisingly not a new marketing trend, they just came back in style. Unlike the 8o’s fashion trends which most of us begrudgingly dug out from the back of our closets, bringing the infographic back is a great thing! An infographic, or information graphic, is a visual representation of complex information displayed in a quick and clear format. Infographics provide an excellent opportunity for the left and right sides of our brain to meet in the middle. By accompanying factual information with visual aids it helps the audience better understand the data.

Infographics have become popular in the marketing world recently because they put the data in plain sight. This approach virtually speeds up our decision time which is appealing to advertisers because of their audience’s shortened attention span. When you take complex information and explain it in an appealing format, such as an infographic, your data becomes more than just numbers and your message then resonates with people. An infographic is like the picture book of complex data, it is accessible to many people.

Check out this blast from the past, vintage infographics dating back to 1923. The infographic hasn’t changed much in the last 89 years, they are more accessorized but the general premise has remained the same. As every savvy marketer knows it’s all about repurposing vintage and delivering it in a way that feels new and trendy to your audience.  The recent popularity of the infographic can be attributed to the internet. As opposed to 1923, infographics now have the platform to go viral, which further contributes to their accessibility.

What can you do to make your infographic stand out?

-Create Interactive Infographics, using Flash, like this one Oil’d by Chris Harmon. An interactive infographic allows designers and developers to visualize multiple layers of data in a single interface, simultaneously providing rich information and a dynamic user experience.

-Utilize motion and animation to create Motion Infographics. These infographics are narrative-based, and combine illustrations, data visualizations, and kinetic text to share information on a particular topic. Check out this example of a motion infographic

-Bring your infographic to the iPad. Make the information interactive by creating hotspots for your reader to click on and learn more. The advantage to this interactive design is it eliminates clutter on your infographic and engages the reader. To provide further information consider including a hyperlink.

Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format. What are some of your favorite infographics?