Ever since Oreo’s epic real time marketing win during the 2013 Super Bowl, PR and marketing professionals have been ga-ga for real time marketing. That said, there have been plenty of really terrible attempts since, so I think it’s worth exploring the best practices for real time marketing to college students. First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page here:

What is Real Time Marketing?

The internet has allowed us to communicate more quickly to more people more cheaply than any other medium before, and for marketing professionals, that’s really exciting. In an ideal scenario, real time marketing means offering unique and engaging content to interested consumers at the perfect moment in time. For example, Oreo tweeted this the moment the lights went out during the 2013 Super Bowl:

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

It’s perfect. People were already madly tweeting about the game and then the outage, so the tweet went massively viral and had all the marketing bloggers talking about it for the next week.

And Then There’s the Bad…

Unfortunately, real time marketing is rarely done in such a seamless way. For example, American Apparel sent an email blast to its subscribers during Hurricane Sandy to advertise a “Hurricane Sandy Sale.” People were understandably outraged:

I just received a “Hurricane Sandy sale” email blast from @AmericanApparel. I will forever boycott their stores. RT if you’re with me

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) October 30, 2012

Let’s be honest here, everybody loves a sale, but when your marketing attempt seems to make light of a serious tragedy that killed 125 people and buried a metro area under water, there’s going to be some negative feedback. I think American Apparel could have approached this event more successfully though. For example, maybe instead of giving patrons 20% off, they donate 20% of their sales to victims of the storm? That’s the kind of real time marketing that wins you fans.

The Best Time for Real Time

College students have the opportunity to attend hundreds of events on or around their campus every year. Between basketball games, football games, concerts, parties, guest speakers, conferences, and television shows there is no shortage of opportunity for real time marketing attempts. That said, not every event is the best place for real time marketing, and it doesn’t always pay to be the first person to open his/her mouth:

“Good timing is equally critical in the world of real-time marketing. But having good timing is not the same as doing things quickly. Where speed is fast and arbitrary, timing is about being patient and discriminating. It can mean acting quickly, but only if you’re thoughtful enough to wait until you identify the right moment—so you’re reacting because it makes sense, not just because you can. Social savvy, whether at a cocktail party or on Twitter, requires a basic understanding of intrinsic social graces, including attentiveness and restraint. When brands rush breathlessly…they often run into trouble.” – Cheryl Metzger

So What are the Best Events to Reach Students?

If you’re not in college any more, you may not keep up with the trends. If you don’t, I’d recommend following some college blogs or accounts on Twitter. Still, there are some events that are pretty much guaranteed to hold students’ attention:

• Sporting events (especially football and basketball)
• Awards shows
• Concerts
• TV shows

Once you figure out which ones your customers are watching, it’s pretty easy to get in on the real time marketing train on Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr.

As Always, Content is Key

By now, you should be putting together a list of a few events that you’d like to try doing some real time marketing during. Good. Now the big question is, “what do you say?”

No matter when or how you do your marketing, high-quality content is the key to a successful campaign. Whether it’s infographics, videos, blog posts, Tweets, or Pins, if it’s not very good, your audience isn’t going to be impressed. This doesn’t mean you have to be an expert at video production or a master of photoshop, but if you’re not, don’t try to use them.

College students – more than other demographics – can smell through your crappy content. No matter how timely your marketing is, any real time efforts will fall short if they’re not well executed.

Has your company or employer started using real time marketing? What tips do you have for using it? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below.