Faster, Higher, Stronger - Mentions, Likes and Comments from the Olympics

There are only a few events that really unite the broad majority of us together in a shared experience. The Super Bowl would be one, the World Cup is another in many parts of the world, and the Oscars may be a third to a smaller extent. However, when the Olympics roll around, Summer or Winter, for sixteen days there really is something for colleagues, friends and family to gather and talk about.

Given this communal experience, it is also a brand manager's dream. The Olympic sponsors find a number of ways to leverage the Olympics through commercials, giveaways and display advertising. Coca Cola and P&G have been Olympic sponsors for a number of years. With the prevalence of social media, the brands are finding new ways to leverage their Olympic partnerships.

As part of the Olympics, many fans are looking for particular athletes to root for. Hometown athletes become a particularly popular group to rally around. Another group that people have an affinity for are alumni and students from their alma mater. With the Summer Olympics taking place while most schools are not in session, this is a great opportunity to create positive social media content during a time when good content may be hard to come by. As discussed in my recent white paper, the most popular topic for Facebook posts aimed at alumni are athletics related posts, and the most popular tones to use when posting to alumni social media accounts are fun, celebratory and inspirational tones. When you think about creating a post about an alum or a student who may be participating in the Olympics, this topic really lends itself to creating posts that are fun, celebratory AND inspirational! Many schools have done a great job of providing updates on how their students and alumni are doing in the Olympics! Take a look at some of the samples below.

Schools of all sizes celebrate their Olympians

FGCU does a great job of highlighting each of their Olympians individually on their Facebook page!
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College of Charleston has a great sailing program and is proud to be so well represented at the Olympics!
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University of Texas has already had a few gold medalists in Rio, and they are keeping up daily with updates!
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Schools can post about US Olympians but also their students and alumni who are Olympians for other countries, like Notre Dame does here!
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Leveraging the Olympics, without having student or alumni athletes

No Olympian from your school this year? No worries, you can always highlight students or alumni who are involved in other ways, like Augustana and California State University, Los Angeles!
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The Gold Standard - USC

USC is one of the biggest producers of Olympians and the school takes its support of those Olympians very seriously. The Trojans have created a whole microsite for following all of their Olympians, their medal counts and their social feeds.

How has your school utilized Olympic fever to engage your alumni base? Go for the gold!

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