Social buzz surrounding London 2012 marked a turning point for the way brands use social media. The popularity and prevalence of social media at the Olympics allowed brands and audiences to acknowledge just how important it truly is. Victories, disappointments, and unforgettable controversies were no longer just delivered to viewers through conventional platforms like TV news. These Olympics lived in a social media world, a world where real-time action was tweeted, shared and posted and sites like Facebook served as the primary hub for conversation and advertising.

Anticipating social media fever, Coca-Cola launched a campaign that relied heavily on these social sites. A worthwhile decision as their campaign scored very high amongst Olympic sponsors. UK based social media consulting firm, Burgess-Webb, devised a leaderboard to track and rank how effectively Olympic sponsors used social media during the games. Sponsors were ranked in comparison with each other – a score of 100 marking the border between an effective social media strategy and one that needs work.

The highest scoring brands were those who started advertising early and sustained high positions on the scale throughout the games. At the end of the games, Coca-Cola ranked number one in the “top performers” category, first in the “highest status” category and 13th in the “greatest potential” category. They saw their fan base grow by millions of followers and doubled their engagement levels during the Olympics. The Facebook metric used to track these statistics is known as “people talking about this” – a combination of the number of posts made to a brand page’s wall, in addition to the likes, shares and comments that the page receives.

Many Olympic sponsors were concerned about social media campaigns because of how easily unofficial sponsors can also benefit from online social advertising. The official sponsors who spent a great deal of money to acquire legal sponsorship rights did not want to risk having their campaigns jeopardized by competitors who didn’t pay. To combat this, organizers implemented a strict social media policy that prohibited athletes from tweeting about any brand that wasn’t an official sponsor.

Social media has established itself as a core brand building strategy for the world's biggest brands. The intensity of social media presence during the London Olympic Games proves that it will play an even greater role in future events. Metrics used to measure a brand's social media activity and effectiveness are now incredibly comprehensive and credible; providing substantial amounts of data to support how vitally important it is for brands to embrace social media as part of their basic strategy. The challenge now lies in a brand's ability to win the race for social space and convincingly prove the margin of that victory.