What I learned About Social Media Marketing From Watching the Oscars

Watching the Oscars on television here in Los Angeles, where the entertainment industry is the town business, is always an interesting experience.

While the gowns of the women are something to see, what I find most interesting are the tidbits of social media marketing insight that one can glean.

First, passion makes a difference:

The double hosting team of Anne Hathaway and James Franco was a display of opposites. Hathaway's obvious enjoyment of hosting was paired with Franco's obvious lack of passion. He seemed to be sleepwalking through the event (except when he flashed a smile).

When you're engaging on social media, mean what you say. Don't sleepwalk through creating relationships.

Second, what you wear can detract from what you are saying:

Image is important on the Kodak stage as well as on social media. For example, wearing large dangling earrings can be distracting in a headshot, a video or a live performance.

If the spotlight is about you and what you have to offer, keep it there and get rid of extraneous props or information.

Third, remember that in today's online world everything lives forever:



Whether online or on stage, you do want to remember that everything you say or do can be watched (or read) over and over again.

This means, for example, that even for a 140-character tweet you should check your spelling and what you're saying before hitting the submit button.



Finally, the Sprint commercial in which a mother offers to help her daughter compose a tweet:

This funny commercial should be a warning bell if you aren't yet active on Twitter. You should get onboard before the ship sails without you.

In conclusion, there's a whole year ahead of us before the next Oscars. Let's all use this time to improve our online presence.

While we can't hope to have as many followers on Twitter as Ashton Kutcher has, we can all hope to improve our social media relationships. But it does take practice.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing. Download the company's free report "5 Tips for Staying Top of Mind With Your Prospective Target Markets" at www.millermosaicllc.com/los-angeles-s...