Social Media Marketing, #Rio2016-style

Social Media was on fire during the latest Olympic Games medal-fest — 187 million tweets (and that’s just the ones using #Rio2016), 1.5 billion Facebook interactions — if it proved one thing, it’s that social media is where huge numbers of people now gather (virtually, of course) to cheer on their heroes and heroines, to congratulate and commiserate, to comment, postulate and pontificate. So what can we learn from this for our own social media marketing?

Word of mouth for today — and tomorrow

The social media statistics that came out of the Olympic Games at Rio are impressive to say the least — and demonstrate that social media is no passing fad. For people — by which we mean business — not yet convinced of the benefits of social media marketing, the sheer numbers of people engaging and interacting online during the Olympic Games should demonstrate clearly that social media is where they are choosing to spend time. Ignore social media, and you may well miss out.

Choose your platform and find your voice

Something that puts many businesses off social media marketing is the perception that you need to be on every platform — and this just isn’t the case. Take a scout around the internet and you’ll find the athletes of the moment on some platforms and not others — and this is how it can be for your business. Choose the platform you feel most comfortable with, and invest in developing your presence. Of course, there is an advantage to be gained from claiming your brand across social media but you don’t need to spend huge amounts of effort managing these accounts — just make it clear where you do interact. And only engaging on one platform won’t necessarily stop your brand developing personality on the other platforms. Take Andy Murray. He hardly ever tweets himself, but Twitter is awash with #AndyMurray tweets.

The marketing gold that is genuine enthusiasm

You can’t fake the enthusiasm that radiated from social media during the Olympic Games, and no doubt will continue to do so as the Paralympics kick off on 7th September. Athletes, coaches, supporters communicating their hopes and dreams, the elation, the crushing disappointment as it happened and as they felt it. Now, of course, as a business, your online strategy needs to be planned and constructed to ensure it fits with and furthers your overarching goals, but within that, there is much to be said for posting, tweeting, linking in, pinning (and the like) with the same genuine enthusiasm. Social media provides an incredible platform for direct communication with your customers — to make it work, you need to give those customers the ‘real deal’.

Back to basics these takeaways from Rio may be, but worth reminding ourselves of them — and if you’re a business tentatively embarking on social media, or considering your options, these are crucial points to keep in mind. Want to talk more about your social media marketing strategy? Give us a call!