If years past can predict the future, the Super Bowl ratings will clear 100,000, which only means that many more will be talking about it on social media.
Yet with the growth of social media capabilities, marketers and brands not only have to consider what social media platform fans will use but what team they root for.
Believe it or not, fans, depending on their team, will provide marketers with varying forms of engagement, according to research by Sysomos.
“First and foremost, this research underscores that not all fans (i.e. potential customers) are created equal, and it’s important to understand when to diversify your message,” says David Berkowitz, chief strategy officer at Sysomos. “As a national or big-brand marketer, you might want to consider diversifying your spend, allocation of resources and diversifying your message to both groups.”
The “loudest,” or most engaged, team fan base on Twitter during the 2016 season, according to the research, was the New England Patriots, which also ranked in the top ten on Instagram. However, the Atlanta Falcons fan base did not even register in the top 10 for loudest fan bases on Twitter or Instagram.
While these statistics may tempt brands to market to New England over the Atlanta fan base, there is distinction of positive and negative discussion on social media.
Here, the Atlanta fan base outshines New England, with 46.8% was positive, 45.5% was neutral and 7.7% was negative. The Patriots fan base, on the other hand, was 37.5% positive, 51.3% was neutral and 11.2% was negative.
“At a macro level, it demonstrates that it is important to understand what certain demographics are saying in one location versus another, and it’s important that your geo-fencing strategy should be sensitive to the groups you’re trying to target,” said Berkowitz.
If the days of blanketing social media campaigns across networks is gone, so should the concept of blanketing campaigns to different consumers.
“The subtleties of your target audience across platforms may be different and require adjusting strategy and resource allocation,” said Berkowitz. “As more and more niche functions and capabilities become available within social marketing technology, digital marketers and brands should try to employ a platform strategy that doesn’t just analyze data in silos.”
