Here’s how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC engaged viewers digitally to bring them closer than ever to the main event — and giving business owners ideas for how to similarly engage with customers:

Social-media – This year, Oscar.com launched Oscar Buzz, the site’s social media page to track and provide visuals around real-time comments from fans using Oscars and Oscar Buzz. With nearly 140,000 followers, The Academy has also kept busy tweeting from the biggest events including the nominations announcement to the luncheon and the Sci-Fi Tech Awards with Milla Jovovich.

Original content – The Academy and ABC partnered with comedy video website Funny or Die to produce hilarious vignettes around the Oscars — starting with a celeb-filled trailer that stars the event’s producer Brian Grazer, host Billy Crystal, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox and Robin Williams. Entertainment Weekly’s Senior Writer Dave Karger brings you everything you need to know about every major nominee with his series Nominated.

The Oscars App – The Academy and ABC are offering an Oscar companion app available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Once you download the app you can get access to The Academy and Oscars social feed, original content, Oscar history and trailers from all the nominated films. Users can also use the app’s interactive ballot feature to predict winners and share their picks on Facebook.

By Shira Lazar

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