With the new season just underway, talk about title contenders may be somewhat premature, but which Premier League clubs are making social media strides and dominating Facebook and Twitter when Saturday comes?
Campaign asked We Are Social to analyse the most influential Premier League clubs measured across social channels from 15 August 2016 to 15 August 2017.
The agency based its influencer rank on several metrics: engagement per 1,000 fans on Facebook, total Twitter and Facebook community size, relative change in social fans, total posts, engagement per post and volume of earned conversation.
The Premier League teams’ Facebook accounts were analysed using Socialbakers, to identify the account’s audience and content engagement across the past year and the results led to the creation of the Social Premier League Table, ranking the teams by their social data. The social ranking is based on user engagement rather than community size, to give all clubs an equal footing, analysing a measure of engagements per 1,000 fans.
On Facebook, Premier League clubs have varying levels of reach and success, with Manchester United delivering the best performing account on all social metrics as a result of their global appeal. The promotion of Huddersfield Town lead to a huge growth in their social community, with in-game analysis posting providing high-frequency content for their audience.
In terms of community size, the highest value clubs – Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur – predictably generate the widest global appeal, while recently-promoted teams have the opportunity to grow their brand footprint by widening their reach beyond a local fanbase.
The top 3 performers
by Sheree Lim, Senior Research & Insight Executive, We Are Social
Manchester United - Top Content
- Top-performing content was emotional, highlighting the positive results from the club and focusing on key players and news stories. Copy was extremely important, with functional copy resulting in lower engagements.
- Over the course of a year, Manchester United posted over 4,000 times, with this being skewed by in-game analysis. This analysis was not always reaching the potential audience due to Facebook’s algorithm, could be improved by employing audience targeting on the key pieces of content.
Huddersfield Town - top content
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Fans were highly engaged with Huddersfield Town on Facebook due to their most successful season in years resulting in their promotion to the Premier League. Engagements were triggered by excitement and celebration, with fans wanting to share their joy with the club on Facebook.
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Advertising promotions, competitions and betting odds were not well-received, with a lack of sincerity and relevance to football resulting in lower engagements.
West Ham - Top Content
- West Ham proved popular amongst their fans on Facebook as a result of their custom video segments and visual representation of stats, which was original and showed that they were doing more on social than most other teams.
- The excitement surrounding the signing of Javier Hernandez was heavily engaged with.
- Betting odds and matchday tips were less engaging, with fans viewing this as an obvious sponsored promotion, rather than being relevant to their team.
- Customised content shows the extra efforts that West Ham have deployed to enhance their fans’ social experience, providing humour whilst highlighting amazing match moments.
(This article first appeared on CampaignLive.co.uk)
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