Analysis on real-time social media marketing from Lipschultz

*This blog post is a reflection from the Social Media in Advertising and Marketing chapter in the book Social Media Communication by Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, 2015.

Anyone with a smart phone today understands the real-time world that we live in. In his book, Social Media Communication, Jeremy Lipschultz divulges some of the successes and failures of real-time social marketing. Companies today are almost required to participate in real-time marketing in order to stay relevant. Relationships with customers are built, in part, through instantaneous social networking.

Real-time marketing on social media can be through use of hashtags or direct, timely updates of company news. Lipschultz talks about an example of a University of Chicago food truck tweeting their location each morning before they open for customers. Short, informative company messages like this brings the company to the top of consumers' minds; a common goal of marketing.

While it is nice to assume that all marketing will play out the way we intend, that is not always the case. Some infamous examples of real-time marketing gone wrong Lipschultz gives us include:

• #Mcdstories; a hashtag created by McDonald’s to encourage consumers to tweet their McDonald’s stories. This hashtag turned bad when people tweeted negative experiences they had at the fast food chain.

• Celeb Boutique used #Aurora (in reference to the movie theatre shootings in Aurora, Colorado) to promote a new "Aurora" dress available in their stores. Perhaps they were unaware of the shooting event or overlooked the seriousness of the issue.

• Clothing retailer Gap used #Sandy (in reference to Hurricane Sandy) to encourage those stuck inside due to the storm to shop on their online store.

As its name states, real-time marketing is only applicable in real-time. However, it can be detrimental to a company's success if they are too concerned with the timeliness and overlook appropriateness and correctness of the message.