A group of big brands made a particularly strong effort to engage with viewers on Twitter before, during, and after their commercials aired during the Super Bowl, The Wall Street Journal reports. PepsiCo, H&R Block, Overstock.com, and E*Trade Financial were among a standout group that used the microblogging site to get more value out of the $3 million average spent on the TV spots.

E*Trade's lovable and creepy talking baby told viewers to "check out me and my boy Benny" in a tweet. Pepsi's SoBe lizard tweeted thanks to fans of its ad and frowning faces to those who were less than enthused. H&R Block used Twitter to host a contest after its commercial aired.

Overstock.com may have gotten more than it asked for when it requested Twitter feedback after its ad starring Utah Jazz basketball player Carlos Boozer ran during a commercial break. One Twitter user wrote "Not so good," and when Overstock asked her why, she wrote "No one cares about Carlos Boozer, and it just wasn't entertaining."

Some brands were more engaging with Twitter users, while others mostly fell silent after requesting initial feedback.

"We think it's appropriate you can join the social discourse, as long as you're not trying to shape it or do anything underhanded," Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne told the Journal.

There were almost 49,000 messages on Twitter that referenced Super Bowl ads during the game, according to marketing firm New Media Strategies, the Journal reported.