The Champions League beats the FA Cup when it comes to engaging fans on social, according to new research.
With the FA Cup winners crowned and the Champions League final set for tomorrow (3rd June), Adobe has revealed its latest Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) report, which recorded over 27.8 million social mentions of the competitions.
Key findings:
· The Champions League saw over 22 million social mentions in the tournament phase – well ahead of the FA Cup, which trails behind with over 5.8 million social mentions
· Sponsor mentions stayed static throughout the Champions League tournament, amounting to only 8% of the online conversation surrounding the tournament
· The Champions League has a dominant international presence, with only 16% of social media mentions surrounding the Champions League coming from British fans
The Champions League is stealing the attention of European sports fans on social media, garnering over 22 million social mentions (averaging around 2.4 million mentions a month) during the tournament phase.
While the FA Cup is trailing behind in the social sphere, with over 5.8 million social mentions (averaging almost 900,000 mentions a month) during its tournament phase.
While the Champions League dominates social media mentions, it also carries a larger international presence, with a considerably higher proportion of social mentions coming from outside of the UK. Almost nine in 10 of those related to the Champions League come from outside of the UK (84%), while a 63% share of social buzz around the FA Cup was from abroad. This suggests that the Champions League is the way to go for brand sponsors looking for international reach.
Despite locking in some of the highest paid sponsorships of any sporting event, the Champions League doesn’t deliver as well for its sponsors on social. Throughout the tournament, sponsor mentions stayed static, and amounted to only 8% of the online conversation surrounding the tournament.
These findings suggest that when it comes to sponsorship marketing, it’s not enough to rely on brand association alone, no matter the scale of the event. Sponsored content, whether it’s on social, TV or online, has to be compelling and well targeted, to engage audiences and spark conversation online.
Instagram champions
When analysing the world’s biggest football icons, Instagram is the social channel that drives the most engagement, suggesting that this is where social marketers should prioritise spend.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Instagram account has almost double (1.9 times) the number of fans that follow him on Twitter, with 52.7 million Twitter followers and 102 million Instagrammers. The number of engagements – defined as likes, comments and retweets – on the photo sharing platform outrun Twitter by 4647%.
The surging popularity of Instagram likely comes from the authenticity of the channel, and its visual appeal, helping brands to engage with consumers in a human way. The findings suggest that marketers should look to embody this when orchestrating campaigns on social, to ensure that their campaign delights consumers at every point.