QPR is the UK’s most socially savvy football team (outside of the Premier League), ahead of the 2013 season with 330,000 Facebook and Twitter followers, twice as many is its closest rival Reading, according to new research. Ahead of the League’s opening match this Saturday, RadiumOne, analysed the standings of all 72 teams in the […]
QPR is the UK’s most socially savvy football team (outside of the Premier League), ahead of the 2013 season with 330,000 Facebook and Twitter followers, twice as many is its closest rival Reading, according to new research.
Ahead of the League’s opening match this Saturday, RadiumOne, analysed the standings of all 72 teams in the Football League across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+.
Social Top 5:
• QPR
• Reading
• Wigan Athletic
• Bolton
• Nottingham Forest
All teams had a presence on Facebook and Twitter, so, to determine who had the greatest influence, social interactions, including Facebook likes and Twitter followers were combined.
QPR’s closest rivals at the top of the Championship were Reading (153,745) and Wigan Athletic (144,345), both of which were relegated from the Premier League last season.
The surprise packages of the “Social Football League” were Portsmouth and AFC Wimbledon.
Despite both being in League Two, they had followings of over 55,000 and 35,000 respectively. If you were to order the leagues based on social followings, Portsmouth would be 15th in the Championship and AFC Wimbledon would be Champions of League One – considerably higher than their current League positions.
Yeovil Town, playing in the Championship for the first time in their history, has a combined following of just over 11,500. But when you consider the town’s population is only 42,000, they are seeing a great deal of engagement from their home fans.
QPR is also one of only seven teams to have an official presence on all five platforms. The other six are Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Derby County, Nottingham Forest and League One’s Brentford and Port Vale. When it came to YouTube, it was Leeds United, who made the greatest inroads with an official channel attracting over 6,850 subscribers. On Instagram, Birmingham City has built an audience of over 3,200 followers, while Sheffield Wednesday has established a solid following on Google+ with over 1,500 fans.
Abeed Janmohammed, Commercial Director, RadiumOne said: “Teams are doing more than ever to engage with their fans. Getting a clear insight into the digital and social behaviour of their fanbases will provide new areas of growth for teams and also ensures that they can provide content that is relevant at the right time. Put simply, better social engagement brings better fan experience, which means more commercial opportunity.”
Promotions and relegations, based on social (Facebook and Twitter combined), would look like this:
Championship:
• Champions: QPR
• Promoted: Reading and Wigan Athletic
• Relegated: Ipswich Town, AFC Bournemouth and Yeovil Town
League 1:
• Champions: Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Promoted: Bradford City and Coventry City
• Relegated: Port Vale, Crewe Alexandra and Stevenage
League 2:
• Champions: Portsmouth
• Promoted: AFC Wimbledon and Oxford United
• Relegated: Rochdale, Dagenham & Redbridge and Morecambe
Standings as of 15th July 2013
Source: http://radiumone.com.
