Social media has taken over every industry in the market. Whatever your field of activity is, social media has turned into a necessity to conduct your business on the right track, either to gain more clients, cement yourself as a leader in the market, or just to remain on the top of the mind of consumers.
The world of sport isn’t an exception. The spectacular growth of social media has obliged sports institutions to develop new business lines. If before a sports franchise was seemingly focused on the sporting results and the competitive side of the industry, now they also need to put a lot of effort into improving their social media presence.
The best way to improve commercial revenues
Good performances in the digital realm won’t necessarily translate into better results in the field of play but rather translate into the enlargement of budget constraints thanks to commercial agreements.
With society leaning every time more toward mobile platforms and with each time a larger share of the population spending most of their free time on social media apps, the reach that sports franchises have over large audiences is incredibly appealing for any brand.
Sponsoring incomes for sports franchises has grown amazingly in the last few years, and one of the main reasons is that a company’s logo on a shirt’s chest keeps reaching more people.
Companies in sports-related industries, such as online betting platforms like SBO are themselves betting on sports franchises to act as their commercial platforms to reach more clients. In return for their sponsorship, they can directly target new clients to attract them to their platforms, offering an extensive array of bookmakers, with many offers to choose from, and even get advice on placing bets if they’re first-timers.
Reaching new horizons and ensuring a global presence
A strong presence on social media also responds to a growing strategy among sports franchises: the internationalization of their brands. Globalization and the development of broadcasting rights have allowed sporting leagues to be broadcast in many countries worldwide. This has led to new markets emerging for sports franchises, with new fans following teams and becoming important potential customers.
In this aspect, social media is the perfect tool for teams to foster relationships with foreign fans. It takes a minute to verify the effect of social media on foreign fans. Just take a look at the comments on social media posts of football teams like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. You’ll find yourself with comments in Arabic, English, Turkish, and any language but Spanish.
It’s no coincidence that the biggest teams in the world use English as their main language of communication, and this doesn’t change whether it’s an Italian, French or German club.
Crunching the numbers
Interaction numbers for the best-ranked teams regarding social media presence are baffling.
We’re talking about millions of single interactions in the different social media apps like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, with large efforts now focusing on fast-growing platforms like TikTok.
Only in April 2022 on Twitter, for example, the sports franchise with the most interactions was the football team Real Madrid, adding 27.6 million interactions. Followed by rivals FC Barcelona with 17.6 million interactions, Liverpool FC with 11.7 million, and Turkish Fenerbahçe with 9.35 million interactions.
Among the ranking of the 20 most performing sports franchises on Twitter in the same month, only one US franchise appears in the 11th position: Golden State Warriors of the NBA, with 3.99 million interactions.
Another interesting piece of data on this list is that out of the first 20 franchises with Twitter interactions in April, there are 4 cricket teams from India, signaling the amazing potential of the sports industry as one of the largest countries in the world.
Instagram remains the king of social media apps… and football is the king of sports…
Instagram interaction data smashes any other social media. In March 2022, for example, the most performing sports franchise in the world was FC Barcelona, with as many as 212 million interactions on Instagram. Real Madrid was the second team on the list with 176 million interactions.
These numbers double the figures on Twitter, and football teams remain the absolute leaders in the sports industry, with as many as 20 football teams worldwide topping the charts.
It’s no surprise that football is known as the king of sports worldwide, and social media figures confirm this idea.
