It has been said that “imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” If that is true then Oreo’s self-confidence should be through the roof.

During Sunday night’s Oscars, dozens of other companies attempted to imitate the rapid response of the beloved cookie’s social media team during the Super Bowl (which Red Banyan Group hailed in a previous post.)

Emulating companies’ efforts largely fell flat. Many of the posts seemed contrived and companies were trying too hard to force their brand message to fit the event. However, a few companies did successfully break through the noise to make an impression.

The night’s most clever was from Chobani, who seamlessly tied their post to the brand’s “Go Real” tagline. Chobani tweeted “Real is honest.” with a photo proclaiming “We spent days planning tweets for the #O_ _ _ _ s. But we couldn’t get them through legal.” The ironic post was clearly planned in advance, but was nevertheless funny and took a cute jab at the tendency for lawyers and marketing/PR teams to find themselves as loggerheads.

When it comes to using social media effectively, companies must be fast, but they also need to demonstrate authenticity. Finding a true connection where a brand can add value (as opposed to churning out forced content simply to be present) is key to successful real-time marketing.