Facebook Ups Brand, Athlete Awareness During Olympics

by Gavin O'Malley, Aug 13, 2012, 2:30 PM

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Thanks to Usain Bolt and his lightning speed, Jamaica achieved a greater global reach than any country competing in this summer’s Olympics.

That’s according to new data from Wildfire -- the social media-marketing firm, which was recently acquired by Google.

Switzerland had the second-highest global reach due to the widespread popularity of Roger Federer -- despite the fact that he lost to Britain’s own Andy Murray in men’s singles.

As for brands, all global P&G Facebook pages saw significant fan base growth over the course of the Olympics. Indeed, the number of people interacting with P&G’s Facebook page -- posting to its wall, liking/sharing/commenting on one of its posts -- doubled over the course of the Olympics, yielding greater brand awareness, according to Wildfire.

Other sponsor brands experienced significant growth in fan interaction on Facebook, including Coca-Cola (with a 126% lift), and Visa (with a 67% increase).

Overall, after comparing London 2012’s Facebook presence to that of other international sporting events, Wildfire found that the median growth for Olympics athlete pages was over 900% that of UEFA athlete pages, and over 700% that of Tour De France athlete pages.

In addition, 2012 Olympics fans were far more engaged than fans of other international sporting events, as they liked athletes’ posts 600% more than UEFA fans, and 200% more than Tour De France fans. They also commented on Olympic athletes’ posts 900% more than UEFA fans, and 300% more than Tour De France fans.

Helping athletes’ cause, the popularity of social media continues to penetrate popular culture, and consumer behavioral patterns. Indeed, there are now 900% more users on Facebook than in the Beijing Olympics, and 400% more users on Facebook than in the Vancouver Olympics.

Wildfire also compared the top athletes on social media across Facebook and Twitter, and found that among social media’s most popular athletes, 96% had larger followings on Facebook than on Twitter.

The median number of Facebook page fans for top athletes was more than 500% the median number of Twitter followers.

As for measuring Bolt’s social significance, the Jamaican sprinter’s Facebook page now has over 7,000,000 “likes.”

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