More than ever before, candidate cities hoping to host future Olympic Games are looking to Internet social media to spread their words and pictures, build a following and to communicate to the news media – and ultimately get their messages across to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It’s no surprise that the primary tools of these organizations are Facebook and Twitter.
Bid teams are leveraging these inexpensive yet powerful and interactive social mediums not only to spread messages, but to collect valuable feedback that can be used throughout the lengthy campaign.
Interestingly, Annecy in France, the bid that has been portrayed by the traditional media as the outsider in the 2018 Olympic bid race with low public support, has taken complete ownership of the Facebook space and has been “liked” by over 135,000 members. That means thousands of people who have expressed an interest in the Annecy 2018 bid page will be directly exposed to daily news updates, videos, photos and other information that the bid team chooses to send.
In stark contrast, Munich’s bid for 2018 has just over 15,000 “likes” (split by language with 14,000 for the German language page and 1,000 for the English version) and PyeongChang, South Korea trails with less than 9,000 followers.
It could be argued that Facebook popularity will have an insignificant impact on the final vote among 100-or-so IOC members who are world sports leaders, athletes and Royalty. But then consider the margin of victory in the past two Winter Games bids – 3 or 4 votes – then look at the changing demographic of the IOC with younger members who are more connected than ever. Social media cannot be ignored.
Turning to Twitter – the massively popular micro-blogging site that’s known for getting news around in a hurry – the picture is a bit different. It seems the bids just don’t have the grasp on this space that they probably could and probably should.
@2018Pyeongchang, the bid’s English language Twitter account, has over 3,200 followers which is the most among the three contenders. Between @munich2018bid and @muenchen2018bid (the English and German versions) there are about 1500 followers. All Annecy has mustered among its Twitter channels (@Annecy_2018 in English language and @Annecy2018twitt in French) is about 1000 interested people.
But let’s look elsewhere for high-profile bid advocacy in social media – this is where it gets interesting.
Munich 2018 Chair Katarina Witt, the figure skating champion, model, performer and all-around role model in Germany – is clearly the face of her bid, and she has been leveraging her online channels to promote her bid to over 12,000 Facebook fans and about 2,200 Twitter followers ( @Katarina_Witt ).
Along with posting links to favourable news items, she has also made it personal with her own comments about her emotions during presentations and even one subtle but uncharacteristic jab at her Korean opponents.
The others bid heads don’t have the same online influence.
Charles Beigbeder – Annecy 2018 CEO, successful entrepreneur and politician is well known in France but hasn’t quite penetrated the social media space. @CBeigbeder is watched by just over 700 people on Twitter and his page on Facebook has 245 “likes”. He has, however, recently started to post messages in support of the bid.
For PyeongChang 2018, bid Chair Yang Ho Cho has no known accounts on Facebook or Twitter though his comments are often relayed on the bid’s Twitter feed. The Korean Air CEO wields powerful business influence – but not so much in the social media space. But that doesn’t really matter because the Korean bid has chosen an athlete ambassador that has a powerful online presence, unrivalled amongst the bids.
Popular Olympic Champion figure skater Yuna Kim is “liked” by 439,000 people on Facebook and her Twitter profile is followed by over 350,000 people. While her Facebook page is very active, following her accomplishments on the ice and on television – with the occasional reference to the Olympic bid – @Yunaaa on Twitter is very quiet. But her messages, however infrequent – resonate.
“OMG: 1 month to go for the decision on the 2018 Winter Olympic + Paralympic Games. Follow @2018PyeongChang for updates!” was a recent tweet.
“Presenting tomorrow with my team PyeongChang 2018, for the IOC. Very excited!!!! 🙂 “, was one of the very few others.
It is interesting to observe how that enthusiasm and references to the bid hasn’t amounted to more followers for the bid’s Twitter account. Her rise to fame as an Olympian has transformed her into a national icon in Korea. She has large sponsorship deals from Nike, Korean Air and Hyundai and she has appeared in many commercials – most notably an endorsement for an extremely popular Samsung phone that bore her name.
Kim has entertained on television and has even made decent inroads to a music career – having recorded with top Korean artists. She has published two books including a children’s book, and in 2010, Time Magazine named her as one of the top 100 influential people in the world.
Her popularity transcends ice skating, and perhaps the quickly growing fan base reflects her other talents as an entertainer and role model. Could Yuna’s own success, and her focus beyond competition, be overshadowing her efforts to promote the bid?
Kim currently hosts a Korean television reality show, “Kiss and Cry”, that follows 10 celebrities paired with 10 professional figure skaters as they compete to win. However, after two shows the ratings have been reportedly disappointing.
The Chosun Ilbo reported that the SBS television network claimed Yuna Kim’s goal in doing the show was to boost interest in figure skating; but one unnamed expert said the show was getting poor ratings because “figure skating is not a sport that is enjoyed by the general public.”
Does that mean Yuna Kim and ice skating isn’t a recipe for success? Ridiculous.
Ultimately, Yuna need only impress about 100 IOC members as an Olympic champion in order to be successful, and she doesn’t need Twitter or Facebook for that. But social media is a powerful tool that can be used to build brands and interest, something that the IOC values. A few more enthusiastic tweets about the bid directly to her loyal fan base – without referring them to the official bid’s feed instead – might help keep her numerous followers interested in ice skating and the Olympics, and will ultimately boost PyeongChang’s bid.
But with her schedule, how will she find the time?
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