Approximately four billion people worldwide watched London’s successful hosting of the Olympics – quite an audience for affiliated brands to reach and engage with.
Dubbed the first social Olympics, London 2012 offered brands an opportunity to publicise their involvement in the Games. The potential was huge – during the two-week event, @TeamGB alone received four million mentions.
So how did the big hitters do? And what social marketing lessons can be learned ahead of Rio 2016?
One of the success stories emanated from Adidas, which released a video of Team GB medal-winners Jessica Ennis, Pete Reed and Louis Smith singing their own version of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now.
Released in time for the Games’ close on 13th August, it capitalised social’s (and, indeed, London 2012’s) real-time nature. The sports brand utilised the #stagetaken hashtag, and by releasing the video when it did, built upon the feel-good factor following Team GB’s success.
Not only did the video get noticed – during the Games’ first week, Adidas said sales at its London Oxford Street store had reached record levels. Such is the power of social marketing.
Proctor & Gamble, meanwhile, initiated a social campaign concentrating on athletes and their mums. Dubbed Proud Sponsors of Mum, its content utilised video and copy, and was designed to be as emotive as possible by looking at what it takes to raise a future Olympian, and essentially celebrating the role of the mother.
So what can be learned ahead of the next Games? London 2012 demonstrated that the best social media strategies are simple – messages and posts need to be interesting and relevant, while a return on investment needs to be guaranteed, whether monetary or improved brand awareness.
Technology has certainly played its part – Facebook and Twitter were in relatively primitive stages during Beijing’s hosting of the Olympics in 2008 – and who knows what each will look like ahead of Rio in four years’ time? One thing’s for sure – that the value of real-time social content will be realised further.
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