Increasingly, marketers are finally learning how to respond to fast-paced cultural trends and capitalize on online viral movements in real time, as designers do on Oscars night. This type of fast-paced, flexible marketing helps keeps brands relevant in an ever-changing media landscape.

Real-time marketing, a form of market research inbound marketing, is a strategy in which marketing decisions are made in fast response to what’s happening in the world. For example, marketers may adapt a meme to their company’s brand or produce blog content in response to current news events.

When marketers develop effective real-time marketing efforts their brands, their content has a significantly higher likelihood of being shared. But, of course, real-time marketing content also must be informative or interesting or both.

In an age where mobile news consumption is becoming the norm, real-time marketing should also become a norm in marketing departments. A perfect example of real-time marketing executed perfectly was demonstrated in last weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony. Think: When Jennifer Garner strutted down the red carpet in her purple strapless Gucci gown, photos of it quickly circulated around the Web – all over Twitter, celebrity news websites and Instagram.

And while Gucci was relishing in being the most-talked of dress on social media, Oscar de la Renta, Prada, Dior and Amani were enjoying similar celebrity-boosted chatter on Oscars night. Marketers can use social media data similar to the real-time data Attensity Media provided on celebrity gowns, to gauge the success of their own real-time campaigns. Because a successful real-time marketing strategy isn’t simply an off-the-cuff reaction – it’s a carefully executed, fast response, and a well connected one.