eModeration Social media guide to the 2012 Olympics

Social media
guide to the
2012
Olympics

The 2012 London Olympics are the most ‘social’
ever. But there are severe restrictions about the
associations a brand can make. Our guide
explains what is permissible.

Authored by Rachel Boothroyd June 2012

Authored by Date
For more information call Tamara Littleton on +44 (0)20 3178 5050 www.emoderation.com
26
eModeration Ltd :: The Media Village :: 131-151 Great Titchfield St :: London :: W1W 5BB :: UK
2012

eModeration Social media guide to the 2012 Olympics

Table of Contents
Type chapter title (level 1) 1
Type chapter title (level 2) ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
TypeThe 2012 Olympics: Just how social can you be?
chapter title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 3

ItType chapter title (level 1) just 4 years ago at the Beijing Olympics, there was no official 4
may be hard to believe, but
Type chapter title of the 2) ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
integration (level Games with social media platforms. At that time Facebook and Twitter had
Type100m and 6m users respectively. Today's user figures are a staggering 845 million and 140
chapter title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 6
million - and we have sanctioned integration with the official Olympics hub. The 2012 London
Olympics are being dubbed the 'first social Olympics'.
Contents
Contents Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Who wants to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
The opportunities for social media for financial services companiesError! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Contents
But - as many of us are aware - there is a whole suite of marketingError! Bookmark not defined.
Contents legislation surrounding use
of anything to do a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being social in with the London Olympics. Legislation in the host country is enacted
specifically for to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
Who wants each Olympic Games, and the laws created for London 2012 are the most
stringent ever, involving social concepts completely new to the Games.
The opportunities for some media for financial services companiesError! Bookmark not defined.
As a social media marketing professional, do you know yet what you can and can't say
about your brand and the Olympics? Do you know what user tweets can be retweeted,
eModeration: The Guide to Social Media Engagement for Financial Organisations
whether your community manager can cheer the athletes on, whether you can pop an
Olympic symbol into a post, run user competition with an Olympic theme, post a picture of a
lit torch or allow a friend to do so on your Facebook page?

eModeration’s legal counsel has researched the subject, and we have produced three blog
posts covering it in detail:

Social media guide to the Olympics Part I: legal overview

Social media guide to the Olympics Part II: The Golden Rules and other practical guidelines

Social media guide to the Olympics Part III: Participants

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Table of Contents
Type chapter title (level 3) .............................................................................................................................................. 3

The Do’s and Don’ts of the 2012 Olympics
However, if you’d like something a little quicker to digest, the following is an at-a-glance
briefing to what may and may not be posted by brands not officially involved. If your brand
Contents a sponsor of the Olympic Games, posting content that directly relates to the Olympics
isn’t
(either from the brand or retweeted from someone else) is a risky business.
The first rule of obeying the London Olympics Association Right (LOAR) is to not associate your
brand and theto ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
Who wants Olympics. Any content you create and advertise must not mislead people
into thinking there is any kind of official association. Simply, you can achieve this by:
1. Limiting the types of content that the brand posts
2. Keeping an eye on the quantity of permitted Olympics related social media updates
made by the brand
Contents
Obviously, most brands won’t (and probably couldn’t) ignore the Games altogether.
Everyone wants in on the action. But unless you are an official sponsor, you are not permitted
to createsocial in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Being an association. So it’s a fine line to tread.
A busy Twitter rules of that posts one...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the stream engagement tweet on a permitted Olympics topic would probably be
fine. A burst of Olympics-only tweetssociala few non-Olympics tweets here and there defined.
Crisis and risk management over with media ............................. Error! Bookmark not
wouldn’t.
Essentially, branded social media output is counted as advertising material – which LOCOG
(The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) has
issued guidance about, saying: “Do provide relevant, factual information to clients and
customers in a way which does not promote your business in association with the Games”: for
example, one section on the Games amongst several in a regular client bulletin or seminar.

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Table of Contents
Here are the guidelines we are using to brief clients and community managers: (and note
this is our take on it only, not legal advice, or a direct quote from LOCOG guidance.)
Type chapter title (level 2) can:
If in context brands ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
 Provide relevant, accurate, factual information (e.g. tweeting race winners)
 Report on the facts of an event (e.g. tweeting about a new record time)

Contents  State when an event is taking place (e.g. “Relay race starts in 10mins”)
By ‘within context’, we mean not completely random for your brand to comment on sporting
events)
Brands should:
Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error!social media sites for
 Moderate pictures, video or audio from events to be posted on Bookmark not defined.
Crisispotentialmanagement over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
and risk copyright infringement.

 Update moderation guidelines to cater for the Olympics legislation.

 Consider re-tweets in the same way as the brands own tweets when applying these
Contents restrictions.

Contents caution when linking to any content that refers to the Olympics. Linking not defined.
 Use Error! Bookmark rules to
London2012.com have been published by LOCOG in section 5 of their terms of use.
Brands opportunities for social media for or defence applies, or the post fallsBookmark not defined.
The should not (unless an exemption financial services companiesError! under the above
‘can do’ list):risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Crisis and
 Use the Olympic symbols, the word ‘Olympics, ‘Paralympics’ or any derivation of those
words.
 Use the following Listed Expressions (2 from List A or one from each list) List A: “games”,
“two thousand and twelve”, “2012″ and “twenty twelve” and List B: “gold”, “silver”,
“bronze”, “London”, “medals”, “sponsor” and “summer”

Brands must not:
 Run a marketing campaign to get the brand associated with the Olympics

 Encourage Olympics themed-responses from the brands community

 Run a competition for Olympics tickets

 Give specific expressions of support (e.g. “Go Team GB in London 2012!”) or
excitement/enthusiasm suggesting a connection with the brand (e.g. “everyone here
at Brand X so excited about the Olympics!”)

 Mention a specific product or service in connection with the Games (e.g. “Athlete X
would have won if he’d been wearing our new X trainers!”)

 Sponsor London 2012 broadcasts or reports

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Table of Contents
We also looked at specific types of social content, and what would be ok and what would
break the rules.
It’s okay to:
Type chapter title (level 3)@London2012 account
 Re-tweet the .............................................................................................................................................. 6

 Post factual information about the events
Contents  Post enthusiastic updates about events, as
long as they are not specific, or suggesting
a connection with the brand (e.g.
“Olympics opening ceremony was
awesome! Well done @London2012″)
Setting the campaign around sporting
 Have a rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
excellence that contains no reference to
the Olympics in words or pictures. No reference to London but just a reference to
sporting excellence, winning, running fast etc. is likely to be ok, but remember to keep
Contents a watch out for use of the Listed Expressions

Brands are on shaky ground when:
Who wants to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! in that tweet as its
? Retweeting - then the brand takes on responsibility for the content Bookmark not defined.
The opportunities for social media for the ASA in terms of advertising compliance not defined.
own. That is certainly the view of financial services companiesError! Bookmark
Crisis and risk blogs (this can over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark Olympic-
? Linking to management be seen as an incorporation of that blog). If it’s an not defined.
related blog that doesn’t comply with the rules above, don’t do it
Avoid:
 Posting messages of support to athletes – LOCOG has specifically given the example
of “BRAND X supports our team at the Olympics” as a forbidden message. So a post
on a brand’s social media platform expressing support (e.g. “Go Team GB!”) could be
interpreted as having the same impact

 Posting running commentary on events is, in theory, OK but likely to be difficult to while
trying to limit the quantity of posts so it’s best avoided.

 Encouraging participation/comments/discussion around Olympic events/participants
from your community would, in the opinion of eModeration’s legal advisor, be seen
as an attempt to create an association and so should be avoided

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Table of Contents
 Posting pictures of London/stadia/crowds/events around the Olympics. If they are
used, enormous caution needs to be applied. This may limit your ability to create that
snazzy Olympics pin board, but LOCOG has said that even a picture of a runner in
outline carrying something that looks similar to a torch against a silhouette of London
landmarks would infringe the LOAR by creating an association. Ultimately, brands
need to avoid any image that suggests an association with the London Olympics
Contents
 Posts on your site/Facebook page/Pinterest page / other forum from your community
Contents
about or from the Olympics. Consider whether UGC on your siteBookmark not page
Error! or Facebook defined.
Being social in a marketing world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark notfrom a
becomes a regulated communication for your brand. If you select an image defined.
Whouser and pin it as a brand image on,Banks are Facebook or Pinterest page, you are
wants to ‘engage’ with their bank? say, your boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined.
The opportunitiesthe social media for financial services companiesError! Bookmarkit within
repurposing for image as marketing material for the brand and thus bringing not defined.
the restrictions. If your users post Olympics-related material, a cautious approach
would be to remove this type of content just in case (and explain why). A more
‘commercial’ approach would perhaps be to allow the conversation to happen but
not to participate in it on the part of the brand.
Contents  Posts (video, audio, pictures) your site/Facebook page/Pinterest page / other forum
from your community from the Olympics – This is likely to be infringing content. As such,
it should be treated the same way your brand would treat any other intellectual
property right infringing content and be removed.
We hope this is useful. Don’t forget,social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Crisis and risk management over there is a lot more detail, especially on LOAR and
LOCOG, and the rights of particpants and helpers to post user generated content in our blog
posts:

Social media guide to the Olympics Part I: legal overview

Social media guide to the Olympics Part II: The Golden Rules and other practical guidelines

Social media guide to the Olympics Part III: Participants

If you would like to know more or discuss any aspect of social media management,
community management, moderation or social media crisis training, please visit our website
at http://www.emoderation.com or email info@emoderation.com.

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Table of Contents


Contents
About eModeration
eModerationrisk management over social social media management agency. It works with
Crisis and Limited is an award-winning media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
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ESPN, Hyundai, Smirnoff, the LEGO Group, Sprint and The Economist) and agencies (including
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Contents Porter + Bogusky and Publicis Groupe).
Crispin

Based in London UK, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, eModeration provides multi-
lingual moderation and community management services, consultancy and social media
crisis management training to clients in the TV, entertainment and digital publishing industry
and blue chip rules of hosting online ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Setting the clients engagement communities.
Committed to ethical business practices and to the promotion of child online safety,
eModeration's CEO Tamara Littleton recently worked with Financial Organisations
eModeration: The Guide to Social Media Engagement for the UK Government department
UKCCIS to produce its guidelines on how to moderate online environments for children.

eModeration contributes to the growth of knowledge in the social media world via its white
papers, blogs and seminars, and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the
high quality of its services.

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Table of Contents


Contents to anyLimited 2012. This document is the intellectual property of eModeration Limited and may not be duplicated or
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