United States Olympic Committee
USOC social media manager Maura Cheeks tells Around the Rings, that members of Team USA hope to build on its social media strategy from London 2012.Cheeks said the USOC plans to use social media to feature behind-the-scenes images, videos, and quotes.
"In addition to posting original content," Cheeks explains, "we will also curate all of the top conversations among athletes, fans, and celebrities on an interactive social media hub on TeamUSA.org."
Team USA will also generate an "online mosaic" with messages of support from Olympic fans.
Austrian Olympic Committee (OOC)
OOC media officer Wolfgang Eichler told ATR in a statement that the OOC will focus on three main goals across social media: promoting the Austria House, highlighting its partners, and, of course, featuring its Olympians.
Eichler said the OOC will employ two staffers to concentrate on social media during the Games.
German Olympic Committee (DOSB)
The DOSB will use the hashtag #WirfuerD to accompany its social media activity on both Facebook (Deutsche Olympiamannschaft) and Twitter (@DOSB).
According to DOSB social media officer Jens Behler, the committee has created a "social hub" and mobile app ahead of the Sochi Games.
"The social hub includes postings from athletes, teams and national federations," Behler told ATR.
Behler explained that two people will direct the DOSB’s social media content. German athletes will also become a significant part of the DOSB social media team by using #WirfuerD to accompany behind the scenes content in Sochi.
"For us, social media is our main channel to promote our stories to the fans back in Germany," Behler said.
Canadian Olympic Committee
The COC has launched a #WEAREWINTER Twitter campaign specifically for the Sochi Games.
Team Canada is partnering with Twitter to "engage fans and athletes and be a part of the social conversation like never before," COC chief marketing officer Derek Kent tells ATR.
A new and "more mobile friendly" website will also connect fans to Team Canada’s presence at the Sochi Games.
COC Brand Connections Director Todd Denis tells ATR that widgets will allow the COC to "pull in specific content" from Team Canada’s social channels.
"For example," Denis explains, "while the universal footer across the site is a direct pull in from Instagram, many of the Twitter feeds are grabbed based on the context specifics of the athlete or sport tags on the page."
He adds, "It’s these small things that help build to a more engaged fan-to-athlete experience."
"Canadian Olympic I.D." is another social media initiative the COC has launched ahead of the Sochi Games. This registration system will help the COC "streamline social sharing of content" and better evaluate the most popular content.
"We wanted to make sure that the entire social experience was driven by a fans first approach," Denis says, "and a huge part of that is telling compelling stories using elements that we know perform well with fans on social channels."
Part of the COC’s fans first approach includes a focus on mobile traffic and mobile content, and image-based posts.
Denis tells ATR that image-based posts tend to engage social media users more so than text-based posts. Image-based posts can perform up to "12 times higher" than text-based posts on COC social media channels.
Japanese Olympic Committee
Three or four staff members will handle social media activities for the JOC at the Sochi Games.
"We will be posting information on a large number of athletes, with a particular focus on medalists," Hiromi Sato [international communications manager for Tokyo 2020 bid committee] tells ATR.
The JOC hopes to promote interest in the Sochi Games as well as enhance the long-term "value of sport throughout Japan" through social media.
Australian Olympic Committee
The AOC will host Google Hangouts as part of its education program "Chat to a Champ."
"We will produce ‘vines’ around Sochi and house all of our social media activity on a dedicated hub on the 2014 Australian Olympic Team website," AOC digital media coordinator Taya Conomos tells ATR.
Conomos adds, "There is no better way to promote Australian Olympians and their pursuit of winter glory than via social media- it is our task to share their stories."
The AOC will appoint "media liaison officers" to cover the performances of Australian athletes at every event on Twitter and Instagram. Two staff members will run the overall social media strategy in Sochi, "with contributions from the AOC's media team on the ground in Sochi and support back in Australia."
Conomos says that AOC will have a "solid exit strategy to harness momentum" and keep fans behind their teams at the 2014 Youth Olympics, 2016 Rio Games, and the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
Expectations
National Olympics Committees expect to build upon social media strategies first seen at the 2012 London Olympics.
The USOC’s Maura Cheeks predicts the volume of conversations on social media will be affected by a fewer number of athletes from the United States competing in the Sochi Games. She added, "However I think the impact of social media will be right on par if not surpass what we saw during London."
"If London 2012 is anything to go by, social media will erupt in Sochi," says the AOC’s Taya Conomos. "The focus has shifted a little since London from not just counting our followers like baseball cards, but empowering our fans."
Wolfgang Eichler hopes the OOC will gain "12,000 followers on social media" following the Sochi Games and 2014 Youth Olympics.
Derek Kent anticipates "three times the reach achieved during the London Games" for the COC.
Kent tells ATR, "Every Games since Vancouver has been billed as 'the most social Games', but Sochi will truly deliver on that promise."
Written byNicole Bennett
Homepage photo from Sochi 2014
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