Daemon Group Blog

Social Media Enhancing Your Sporting Experience

Posted on 03. Jan, 2012 by Shane Brien in General, Social Media

Social media continues to evolve and change the landscape of the sporting industry. Information is now instantly accessible at the touch of a button.

Through working within a social media agency, I have spent countless amounts of hours on Facebook and Twitter. What I enjoy most about these platforms is the instant, readily accessible information it provides and with over 600 million people signed up to Facebook and Twitter it makes even more sense that social media and sporting events go hand in hand.

We all follow our favourite sporting teams locally and abroad, and we are all fiercely loyal when it comes to staying up to date with the very latest in team news and results. But with the busy lives we all lead, it’s sometimes difficult to stay up to date on all the latest news, so it’s comforting to know that we have easy access to our Facebook and Twitter accounts from our phones, iPads etc which can provide real time updates wherever and whenever we are.

The upcoming 2nd cricket test between Australia & India creating plenty of buzz on Twitter.

Whether you are following your favourite Rugby League team on Twitter, or it is your friends commenting on your Facebook page about your football team losing, it is near impossible to not know all the latest news on your teams.

Social media is a great medium for sport commentary and below I outline why.

Pre/Post match conversation – Pre/post match excitement is not too hard to create, but having readily available access to social media means that more fans whatever location can get involved, rather than excitement being limited to the vicinity of the sporting event. Extensions such as Twitter ‘hashtags’ help maintain the conversation and make it easy to follow. You may not be directly connected with any particular event, but social media helps keep the regular fans in the know.

Latest updates received much quicker – The real-time aspect of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook allows for the latest news or scores to be communicated far quicker than websites can be updated. You’re no longer up to the minute; you’re up to the second, how good is that!

Fans share their voice – On some occasions this may not seem a good thing, but the voice of the passionate fan is often as good as the ‘expert’ commentary, and as such, it is much easier to start conversations. Fans will love talking with other fans about their own team, and will usually have a preference or opinion they are willing to share.

Interaction from sports stars and their fans – Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have given sport stars a voice, enabling them to share their views and interact with their fans. In turn, the fans can get involved with their sporting heroes, making them feel much closer to the sport and team/player they support enhancing their experience. Sporting organisations have taken advantage of their players being online as they push their agendas to the wider audience.

Throughout 2011, the NRL took advantage of the use of hashtags to create plenty of conversation amongst fans of the game. Online coverage of the 2011 Dally M’s via Twitter saw #dallym enter Australia’s top five trending topics on the night, and the first Finals Series game between Wests Tigers v St George Illawarra Dragons was the highest trending sport topic in Australia.

The 2011 Rugby World Cup was another sporting event that showcased itself on the world social media stage. Over 1.46 million fans came together via the official Rugby World Cup Facebook page to share their Tournament experience and connect with other fans. Prior to the start of the Tournament the page already had 1.2 million “likes” from fans across the globe.

Stats provided from the Rugby World Cup website showed traffic on all social media sites peaked during the Tournament connecting fans who were in New Zealand and those who were watching from afar. Tournament highlights included:

• 1.46 million likes on Facebook (gained 200,000 during the Tournament)
• 114,000 + Twitter followers (gained 65,000 during the Tournament)
• Tweets mentioning RWC 2011 hashtags, ‘Rugby’ or the teams exceeded 4.1 million during the tournament
• 17,169 images viewed a total of 236,911 times on Flickr
• 4,347,676 video views on YouTube

Personally, I find that Twitter is essential when I’m engaged in a sporting event. Social media integration within sport is only going to get bigger throughout 2012, particularly now that digital PR teams for such events know of the benefits it can bring in terms of publicity and engagement.

@shanebrien

Tags: Facebook, social media, Sport, twitter