Please note this is a re-post from an article I wrote on 06/05/2011 on http://www.brandseye.com but the website has since changed format and my posts are no longer accessible there.
With the Royal Wedding having been a major focus for the world this past weekend, BrandsEye took a look at just how much of an impact this conversation had on the online community at large.
In a single day, this fun and fanciful occasion captivated the star struck hearts of more than 20% of the global population, reportedly having attracted a total viewership of over two billion people. This contrasted with an estimated 750 million viewers of the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981.
Yes, the global population may have increased relatively equally since then but never before have so many people – ordinary grassroots consumers like you and me – had the opportunity to engage with the official proceedings via the platform of social media.
In a sense, these networks have since allowed consumers to take ownership of their own experience of the royal wedding – where their ownership implies, their being able to share their 5 cents worth with their respective online audiences.
In this way, hundreds of millions of people across the globe were actively engaging online, generating conversation of their views and opinions about everything from fashions on the day to the controversy of the guests both in attendance and in absentia.
Where did the most adoring fans come from?
Considering population levels, the most talkative nation was not the house-proud Britons who accounted for a 17% share of conversation but rather the Americans who topped the charts with a 29% share.
Otherwise, the people most involved in this conversation came predominantly from former British colonies namely, South Africa, Canada, India and Australia – collectively generating 28% of the royal wedding buzz. Interestingly enough, statistically significant conversation also came from Indonesia, Italy and France – accounting for a 4% and 2% respective share of the total conversation. Similarly, 89% of this conversation was in English with some conversation also picked up in French and Italian.
Of course, there was also the Royal Wedding drinking game, which started under a similar premise to the one based on the South African State of the Nation Address, where participants would take penalty drinks based on appearances by specific celebrities and members of the royal family, references to Charles and Diana’s wedding etc.
The Facebook page – The Royal Wedding Drinking Game 29/04/11, which inspired most of the awareness of the game received 335 978 likes and 249 mentions of uniquely South African engagement.
As proven during the South African State of the Nation Address, the drinking game version proved a great vehicle for everyday people to engage with and celebrate the occasion not only in the comfort of their homes or local pubs but in their own online communities as well.
Before, aside from those present at the ceremony, the broadcasting of this message in the case of Charles and Diana’s wedding in the 1980s, was one-way in nature and was limited to television and radio, allowing for no feedback or engagement from their 750 million-strong audience.
As a result, traditional communication mediums were deaf to the vast quantities of hundreds of millions of branded back-channel conversations occurring off the back of broadcasts like these in living rooms and bars around the world.
As such, the marketing community at large was missing out on vast quantities of branded conversation and ultimately valuable opportunities for market research.
Having celebrities like Victoria and David Beckham present at a ceremony like this or having a couture wedding dress would merely have accounted for isolated response conversation between fans offline.
Social media have allowed these conversations extend beyond lounges and bars, allowing participants to share their experiences with people across the world – which was never possible to this extent in the 1980s.
On track and online 