Conan: Successful Social Media User
How does an ex-talk show host who has a very public spat with his old network for trying to change his timeslot, rebound after a do-not-appear-on-tv buyout deal, and end up at the top of the ratings? 
The Answer: Social Media
Since his falling out with NBC in 2009, Conan was prohibited from appearing on television. Without his familiar zaniness outlet, Conan turned to one of the only places left for him to connect with his audience, a Twitter account.
This was literally the first fans would hear from Conan since the gag order.
Conan continually fed the masses of hungry fans who were bitter with NBC and Jay Leno for not supporting their uniquely-haired talk show host, bringing the #TeamCoco movement to a fever pitch.
Filling a stream with personal anecdotes and making headlines by following just one random Twitter user, Conan had tapped into the pulse of what drove his show, and in essence, himself to be such big hits.
Soon after, Conan also put on a brief 30-city tour, appropriately named "The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, which featured such acts as Conan and Jim Carrey dressed as Kick Ass and Superman performing Five for Fightings' "Superman (It's Not Easy.)" 
Around this time he launched the appropriately named TEAMCOCO, which became the nexus for all things Conan including a special announcement in September that he would be launching a new show on TBS in November.
He followed this up with a Facebook where he would randomly take a Facebook fan's question and answer them on his Youtube channel.
After that it's a whirlwind of a live 24-hour webcam event, a mock first show called Show Zero, and of course the Team Coco blimp which featured it's own Foursquare badge if you were lucky enough for it to float over your city.
Conan O'Brien's social media experience illustrates one of the most successful uses of social marketing by a celebrity in connecting with their audience.
He had interactions and influence numbers that marketers drool over.
And what was the result of all of these social shenaningans?
When Conan's show finally premiered on TBS, the audience he had gained through his career at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the Tonight show, the audience he had gained through Dancing Tacos, I Miss Conan videos, and exclusive Foursquare badges tuned in and put him on the ratings throne of late night television.
With his attention back toward his TV show, will the stream of content be hindered so much so that Team Coco's social presense dwindles? Or was this all merely a stop gap until he made it back to the airwaves?
Sean Sutherland, Associate Account Executive/Team Coco supporter
