Does Winning Have a Social Media Effect for Sports Teams?

Sports fans are passionate. No matter what sport you talk about, no matter where you are, sports fans rabidly consume many forms of media. How can sports teams capitalize on an industry where the NFL alone makes $9 Billion?

First, what motivates engagement? Are fans more passionate over a hard loss or a joyous win?
Here is the win/loss record of the San Francisco Giants mapped to the volume of their social interactions.

Screen Shot 2013-09-11 at 12.23.33 AM

Clearly, the Giants have more interactions when they win than lose, especially with home games.

To put it another way, are Giants fans likely to do this:

World-Series-Giants-Tigers-Baseball-4

Perhaps the perfect social media strategy is to have winning team, right?

Here’s a curious observation:

When a team is winning, fans say “we” a lot:

WEBears

When the team is doing poorly, fans say “you”.  Look at how Chicago fans react when the Bears resigned Jay Cutler to a controversial large contract:

YOUBearsCutler

Your digital presence is a conversation, not a sales pitch.

People want to celebrate, converse, and connect. Nurturing your fans at different stages will result in conversions — however you measure that.

Whether you are a sports team or a local business, everyone wants to share in your success and have a sense of belonging. They don’t want to just be pitched to (forgive the pun) every day. Managing your page like this well help drive success in the future.

How do you keep your fans engaged on your page? What do you do to help your fans feel like a community? Let us know!

Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other organizations that have many locations. He has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs because of his partnership with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Companies like GoDaddy, Fiverr, onlinejobs.ph, 7 Figure Agency, and Vendasta partner with him to create training and certifications. Dennis created the Dollar a Day Strategy for local service businesses to enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring. He's coaching young adult agency owners who serve plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians in conjunction with leaders in these industries. Mr. Yu believes that there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers need to be certified and licensed. His Content Factory training and dashboards are used by thousands of practitioners.