Growing up in New Orleans, I would often hear the phrase “Where ya at?” Chalk it up to that southern gumbo dialect of NOLA, but elsewhere in America the question would be “Where are you?” So I have a question for Super Bowl advertisers in the social media space, where WERE you?  With all the talk of how brands were going to leverage social media with their Super Bowl advertising, they were noticeably absent. Excuse me, not even present. As a result, my approach to this analysis turned out to be a little different than expected.

So one month later, here is my analysis of advertiser’s (lack of) social media presence during the 2010 Super Bowl. And before you get all jumpy about this being a month late to the after-party, there is good cause for my delay. But you’ll learn about that as you read on.

Prior to the telecast, several traditional Super Bowl advertisers put considerable effort into their social spaces. Doritos unveiled their “Change the Game” tab on Facebook that linked to their Madden NFL promotion web site. Coca-Cola teamed up with Facebook to distribute themed virtual gifts and preview its commercials to its fans. Hyundai aired their spots in a custom “The Big Game” tab on Facebook. During the game, some brands such as eTrade (@etradebaby) tweeted about their upcoming commercials. There were a few others, but not a peep was made about any brand’s social media efforts during the actual commercials. So for the average game watcher (remember old Tad?), there was no call to action or push to the social sphere.

In an effort to analyze the lack of participation, I broke down the Facebook and Twitter accounts of four different companies with some link to #SB44: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Doritos and Focus On The Family. Why these accounts? Coca-Cola touted super bowl themed social marketing prior to the game, Pepsi promoted its now-famous lack of Super Bowl 2010 advertising, Doritos achieved some of the biggest buzz for its spots and Focus On The Family was new to the Super Bowl advertising bonanza.

Growth numbers were charted for one month. With social media, it’s not about the initial jump in fans/followers, it’s about keeping and engaging the consumers over time. So instead of giving you some fancy stats right after the big show, here is how these accounts panned out over roughly 30 days, along with some conclusions.

Coca-Cola (@CocaCola)
Before: Fans 4,856,957; Followers 16,079
After: Fans 5,156,602; Followers 17,855
Increase: Facebook 6%, Twitter  11%
Coke touted Super Bowl themed social marketing prior to the game and had zero social media tie-ins with spots that aired during the game. For a big brand such as Coca-Cola, why not go out on the limb? Air a single spot with an interesting reference to the company's social media presence and build some more brand fanatics. Or establish another account with a different promotion strategy and target a specific audience segment. See where it takes you in the long run. After all, there is unthinkable potential for long-term captive interaction with the consumers living in these social spaces.

The Pepsi Refresh Project (@Pepsi)
Before: Fans 374,099; Followers 17,710
After: Fans 605,983, Followers 21,148
Increase: Facebook 62%, Twitter 19%
Pepsi did not advertise at all during the game and instead used the money for a cause-related digital marketing initiative that included a major presence on Facebook. While they missed out on the largest audience in TV history, Pepsi’s Facebook account more than doubled in size. Sure that’s meager numbers in comparison, but Pepsi is a mega brand and it’s doubtful whether a few million-dollar commercials would have sold more soda. But with this Refresh project, the brand is giving back to many communities and building countless brand ambassadors at the same time.

Doritos (@DoritosUSA)
Before: Fans 764,277; Followers 756
After: Fans 792, 442; Followers 974
Increase: Facebook 4%, Twitter 29%
Doritos unveiled a NFL/EA Sports promotion and football themed social marketing prior to the game. There were zero social media tie-ins during the game. Doritos experienced meager growth within their established social spaces after the game but interestingly enough, several unofficial Facebook Fan Pages sprung up around their most popular Super Bowl commercial. “Keep Yo Hands Off My MAMA and My DORITOS!!” (869,621) and “Keep Your Hands Off My MAMA and My DORITOS!!” (631,463) fan numbers surpass and nearly equal Doritos’ own fan page audience. Lesson? Get there first, think beyond the standard brand strategy and a social presence can take on many forms.

Focus On The Family (@FocusPRTeam)
Before: Fans 17,303; Followers 402
After: Fans 24,782; Followers 497
Increase: Facebook 43%, Twitter 24%
Prior to the game, Focus On The Family had a few Facebook Fan Page status updates about their yet-to-air commercial. There were zero social media tie-ins with spots that aired during the game. For lesser-known brands such as Focus On The Family, this could have been an opportunity to get major bang for their buck. After the game there was a significant increase in their Facebook account numbers, but potential for much more. And for an organization on a tight long-term budget, social media marketing could prove to be especially beneficial in the future.

While social media is not the be all and end all in the future of advertising, it is a rapidly growing sector of the marketing mix. Brands need to understand social media as a key element in brand building and awareness. It’s a place to further engage with consumers, in a place where their consumers are already talking. The opportunities are yet to be fully realized, but organizations won’t get very far without taking some initial big steps.

Just in time for the 2010 Olympic Games, The New York Times is partnering with the mobile application Foursquare to bring “2010 Olympic Tips” to the fingertips of those attending the games in Vancouver.

From The Times’ Foursquare page: “The New York Times is celebrating the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by sharing tips on what to see and where to go in Vancouver and Whistler. Follow The Times on Foursquare to receive recommendations on dining, nightlife, shopping and attractions. Check in to two recommended venues to unlock our Olympics badge!”

So far, The Times’ travel and entertainment writers have added over 40 tips to the network. Recommendations range from the fun “@ General Motors Place: Canucks fans call this place the Garage” to the fact based “@ Cypress Mountain: The 22-foot halfpipe here is the largest one to ever appear at the Olympics” to the very useful “@ Core: Try the nightly Climb & Dine program for kids — three hours of supervised rock climbing, as well as a pizza dinner.”

What a 10.0 score for Foursquare. During a time of such rapid growth, partnering with a name such as The New York Times will add further clout to the platform. It should also bring about increased visibility and somewhat of an international introduction for the brand. Kudos to The Times, too. It is great to see a newspaper nimble enough and brave enough to experiment with a young social application while also providing a nice space for The Times to test Foursquare.

It should also be a hit with the Olympic’s attendees. I don’t have specific research, but I’m willing to bet that the majority of attendees carry smartphones. Foursquare should not only be useful to them but also bring a fun element of competition and gaming to those attending “the games.” Sounds pretty win/win to me. And I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready to fly out to Canada to unlock some spiffy new badges!

The latter part of 2009 marked a time of massive growth for marketing within the social media space, so it should come as no surprise that advertisers are revving up their social skills when it comes to the grandaddy of all things advertising, 2010’s Super Bowl. Even the NFL has gotten in on the action with #SB44, the official NFL hashtag of Super Bowl 44.

Leading up to #SB44, there has been quite a lot of online buzz about the brands who are going the social media route this year - Pepsi, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Monster etc. But to be quite honest, the people who are buzzing about this topic are the same social media nerds who buzz about social media all year long (myself included).

I’m anxious to see if the brands will make any significant impact in their social media spaces beyond the nerds. And since the Super Bowl is really about mass appeal and making an impression on such a large scale, I’m going to study the social media side of Super Bowl advertising from a casual user's perspective. This means that I’m not going to over analyze what the big brands are doing before Super Bowl Sunday - not for this case study, anyway.

I’m thinking about my cousin Tad in Tulsa who enjoys watching the Super Bowl for the game and, yeah, a little for the commercials too. He has a Facebook page and has fanned a few official pages, but he’s not out there hunting down his favorite brands. On a whim he set up a Twitter account but he’s only tweeted “Trying to figure this thing out” and “Haha, did you guys see that video?” Tad is definitely not sitting at home trying to see who’s doing what today in prep for their Super Bowl advertising.

So to understand the effect of any impact, I need to do a little Saturday digital sleuthing before #SB44. Consider it a social media nerd’s version of pre-gaming. I’m going to look at the heavy hitters and take note of Facebook Fan counts and Twitter followers and search results. And whatever else I might stumble or digg or delicious upon.

On #SB44 Sunday, in between making a roux for my gumbo and painting my face black & gold, I will casually monitor the social media shout-outs from television. I’m not going to seek out, rather I’ll see what comes my way. The goal will be to keep my head in the game from Tad’s perspective. I want to see if I feel compelled to seek out social media in addition to traditional advertising. I think that will be the best approach to determine if social media marketing will make an impression on the average American.

Then next week, once all of the turf has settled, we’ll meet again to hash over the hashtags and follow up on the followers. I’ll bring my numbers, you can bring your comments and together we’ll see if social media made any impact on #SB44’s advertising prowess.

Oh, and #WHODAT!