The Academy of Country Music is using a slew of mobile and digital efforts to keep viewers engaged during the upcoming ACM Awards.

The ACM is using several mobile applications, a mobile site, social media and SMS to connect with country music fans this year. The 48th annual ACM Awards will broadcast via CBS on Sunday, April 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

"Broadcasters are adhering to the old adage 'if you can?t beat ?em, join ?em,'" said Brennan Hayden, executive vice president and chief operating officer at WDA, East Lansing, MI.

"They are incorporating mobile in an effort to turn mobile into a complementary media rather than allowing it to become a competitive media," he said. "That means using mobile to provide complementary but non-essential experiences."

Mr. Hayden is not associated with the ACM. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

The ACM did not respond to press inquiries.

Pre-show buildup
Leading up to the awards show, the ACM is encouraging consumers to cast their vote for entertainer of the year online.

Consumers can create an account and log-in via http://www.VoteACM.com to vote for their favorite musician. The site is optimized for mobile and PCs with Dodge?s Ram brand as the sponsor.

Additionally, a call-to-action during the telecast will flash a short code and keyword that consumers can use to cast their vote during the show.

The ACM has also developed its own free companion app that is available for iPhone and Android devices.

Users who download the app can view a schedule for all of the organization?s events, learn more about the nominees and watch videos.

The ACM app lets consumers listen to playlists of nominees, which include songs that can be purchased via iTunes or Google Play.

Viewers are also encouraged to download and use the GetGlue mobile app during the show. Consumers who check-in via the app are entered to win a trip to the 2014 ACM Awards.

Country singer Brad Paisley is also using mobile to enhance the fan experience during his performance at the ACM Fan Jam. The ACM Fan Jam takes place during and after the ACM Awards.

Fans can download the Brad Paisley Lightshow app ? which is also available on iPhone and Android devices ? to sync their device with other fans in the room.

The app then flashes a stream of colors across the screen while Mr. Paisley performs.

Mr. Paisley's mobile app

Real-time engagement
Social media is also playing a big role in how consumers interact with the televised show.

The ACM has set up a dedicated hashtag - #ACM ? that fans can tweet with during the show. Select tweets will be featured on-air during the broadcast.

There is also a dedicated social media microsite that serves as a hub for users to access all of the social media activity around the show. Users can access the site by typing http://www.acmcountry.com/socialsplash into their mobile and PC browsers.

Nowadays, marketers expect to interact with multiple screens while they watch TV, especially during a live event such as an awards show when consumers want to talk about the show with their friends and family.

Savvy marketers should be looking at mobile to not only interact with consumers in a new way but also build a stronger one-on-one relationship with viewers in the future.

"The most difficult thing is presenting a quality experience to the viewer, regardless of the channel accessed," Mr. Hayden said.

"The mobile space is beset with increasing complexity and continual change, making a high-quality, across-the-board experience difficult to achieve," he said.

"Smart broadcasters will learn to extract as much valuable information as possible from their mobile experiences to help make up for the cost of the seemingly endless learning curve. The risk of failing the quality test indefinitely however, is that viewers turn-off to the broadcaster?s mobile offerings, leaving mobile media free to chip away at audience in a more profound and permanent way."

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York