While in Indianapolis for Super Bowl, I got the chance to stop by the Social Media Command Center that set up shop in downtown Indy. This was the first Super Bowl where the host committee designated a single area to manage all things social.
Raidious, a digital marketing firm based out of Indy, was tasked with the job. The firm was asked to manage the official social accounts of Super Bowl XLVI, such as the @SuperBowl2012 Twitter handle and IndySuperBowl2012 Facebook page, in addition to the hashtags #sb46, #superbowl, #sbvillage and #nflexperience.
When I walked in I saw rows of Mac desktops and a monitoring wall mounted with nine screens that spanned 100 square feet. There were about six volunteers from Ball State University manning the computers (40-50 volunteers were helping throughout the week) looking at various Twitter feeds displaying streams from featured keywords like “traffic,” “parking,” “bathrooms,” “pedestrians” and “Super Bowl.”
The goal of the Command Center was to monitor fan conversation and offer help to fans whenever possible. Below is an example that Mashable posted which shows a fan’s tweet about parking issues and how the Social Media Command Center responded from the official @SuperBowl2012 Twitter account:
The link the team at the Command Center provided was a map of more than 50 parking areas. Along with navigation and hospitality services, the team was also busy capturing the experiences fans were sharing. The team would post images and videos in an effort to highlight the positive experiences people were having in Indianapolis.
In an ESPN interview Raidious CEO, Taulbee Jackson stated “We saw a way Indianapolis could take things to next level in terms of how we use social media to deliver a great visitor experience. If they’re online talking about anything about this [Super Bowl experience], we’re able to determine that and respond to them.”
I was able to meet Raidious’s CEO Taulbee Jackson and COO Brian Wyrick while checking out their venue. Even with the 15-hour days they were logging, both of the guys were extremely calm and relaxed showing us around just as they had with plenty of tour groups and curious media outlets stopping by throughout the week- Jackson was even getting ready to film a segment with CNN while we were heading out.
So with all things said and done- what should we take away from what Jackson, Wyrick and the rest of their Raidious team and volunteers provided fans during Super Bowl week?
Indianapolis host committee vice president of marketing, Brad Carlson told Mashable that he is “sure this trend will continue” and the successes and surprises the team encountered will be analyzed by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design to determine strengths and weaknesses of the program for other cities and organizations to reference for similar operations.
Telling CNN “I think a lot of brands will start to see a need for something like this,” Jackson poses the question to the rest of us- what kind of social precedent was set at Super Bowl XLVI?
