Chances are, if you’re watching TV, you’re on a smart phone, tablet or laptop at the same time. You wouldn’t be alone: 70 percent of Americans no longer just zone out to the tube—they’re online while they’re doing it.

In this environment, where reactions are immediate, it’s incumbent upon marketers and advertisers to anticipate the needs and wants of consumers. “This is truly a unique moment for our industry,” said Josh Pelzek, design director for BET Networks, during a session on “Listen, Learn, Adapt: How Social Media Can Transform Creative” at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2016.

“We’re able to reach out and engage with our audience like never before,” Pelzek said. And the first tip to crafting a transformative social media strategy is to stop looking at your audience as just an audience; they’re now participants in your brand.

“Social media has changed the game. Audiences are no longer just consumers of our brands, but they are expecting to be participants in our brands, they want to influence our brands,” Pelzek said.

Pelzek pointed out Starbucks’ “White Cup Contest” as one winning example of driving audience participation through social media. The coffee giant noticed that its customers were doodling on their coffee cups so, playing to this, they launched a contest and encouraged consumers to doodle a design on their Starbucks cup and upload a photo of it to social media. Starbucks then produced and sold the winning cup design.

As long as a fan is uploading content, participating in your brand, there’s always something new and fresh, something relevant to your audience, Pelzek said. “Become an actual reflection of the audience.”

And if you’re using social media to understand your audience and what they want—even allowing them to steer some of the creative process—then you can use the same tool for crisis management when a show’s outcome doesn’t match fan expectations.

Keith Grant, Creative Director at ABC, did just that when his team faced the challenge of dealing with fan fallout from the untimely demise of the beloved Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy. “Fans freaked out,” Grant said, taking to twitter to express their displeasure, accusing the show of ruining their life and threatening never to watch it again. The reaction was so intense the Shonda Rhimes, the show’s creator, hired a personal body guard the day after the episode aired, Grant shared.

Luckily, Grant’s team had anticipated the fallout and released a tribute video immediately following the episode that reflected on the love story between Shepherd and his on-screen wife, Dr. Meredith Grey.

The video went viral with fans sharing their feelings in the comments on the romantic journey of the two main characters. Within one week the video had more than 12 million views. “The ratings never dropped,” Grant said.

Grant’s advice to get out ahead of controversy? “You need to have a great relationship with your digital and social team,” he said. “Break down those silos, meet with your social media manager to find out what fans like and dislike,” he added.

But with the cacophony of voices out there, Pelzek said it’s important not to lose sight of your own creative vision, either. “It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the chatter, by the online comments, by the passions of our fans,” he said. “It’s easy to want to steer your creative based on that feedback, but as leaders it’s important to be strategic. We need to know who we are.”

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