September 2020 saw a number of high-profile stories across Irish sport. From Sam Bennett’s success at the Tour de France to Stephen Kenny’s first games in charge and the end of an era for one of Ireland’s favourite rugby players.
On social media, Olytico analysed the performance of 30 members of Sport for Business. Collectively, they published 7,710 posts across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This represented an increase of 13 per cent on August, which itself was up 18 per cent on July. They generated over 2.1 million engagements in the form of likes, shares, comments, and retweets. That was a 15 per cent increase on the previous month.
These increases reflect the return to action across the Sport for Business members and demonstrates the value of live sport, the successes it brings, and the subsequent engagement it delivers for organisations’ social media channels.
September 2020 saw engagements (likes and comments) increase across all three of the main social media channels. Twitter engagements jumped 40% compared to August with over 260,000 in total. Facebook saw a similar increase (a 38 per cent rise from August to just over 329,000 in total).
Whilst Instagram engagements only rose 8% from August, this small increase is all relative as the platform continues to drive the overall number of engagements across the Sport for Business Community with over 1.5 million in September alone.
Twitter and Facebook’s increase in engagements saw them claw back some of the market share from Instagram, up 2 per cent to 12 per cent share and up 3 per cent to 16 per cent share respectively. Even with a 5% drop from August’s figures Instagram continues to dominate with 72% of all engagements.
Before we dive in we’d like to wish Ross Broomfield, who compiles our reports all the very best with his wedding this weekend. touch wood with the new tougher restrictions on numbers at least.
September 2020 Highlights on Twitter
Over 4,100 tweets were sent by member organisations in September, 19% up on August, and a significant increase in activity on the platform for the third month in a row.
Overall engagements on Twitter rose 40% (from 186,475 to 261,076). Reasons for this are two-fold – the return to action on the pitches increases activity across the platform organically driving engagements, but the key driver for September was the celebration of Sam Bennett’s Tour de France success.
The GAA continue to top the Twitter activity charts with 548 tweets during September. Cricket Ireland (429 posts) returned to the top three for the first time since July thanks to their coverage of the Inter-Provincial Twenty 20 tournament won by Leinster Lightning, and Leinster Rugby continue to fly the flag for Rugby with 387 posts (an increase of 11% on August).
Special mentions go to Ladies Football who increased their overall activity by 95% in September, which saw them jump from 8th to 6th place, highlights included the launch of TG4’s ‘Underdog’ series and content from the Wicklow Under 16 A Final, and the last kick of the game from Sadhbh Fisher.
Ireland Lacrosse jumped to 11th place in the activity standings, their highest position in 2020. The team vacated their spot in the 2022 World Games to allow the Iroquois Nationals to compete.
Ireland’s selfless initiative has been lauded across the international Lacrosse community. The Iroquois Nationals expressed their mutual appreciation by turning their social media logos to green and orange, and the two governing bodies have created joint apparel with the proceeds of sales going to both programs.
This generous act by Ireland Lacrosse saw their Twitter engagements skyrocket by close to 500% with an average of 72 engagements per tweet.
The FAI continued to top the table for Twitter engagements with an average of 496 engagements per post, with Irish Rugby in 2nd (averaging 99 engagements per post) and on the back of Sam Bennett’s success Cycling Ireland entered the top three for the first time.
Bennett’s success in France boosted Cycling Ireland’s engagements for September – up a massive 500% on the previous month’s figures (up from an average of 18 engagements per post to an average of 93 engagements per post) and claimed them top spot on the podium for Twitter engagements. Their simple, tongue-in-cheek, and topical tweet proclaiming. “This is Sam. Sam stays at least two metres ahead of everyone else. Be like Sam. #covid19” generated close to 4,000 likes and 500 RTs.
September 2020 Highlights on Facebook
Facebook activity increased for the third month in a row. September’s 4% increase in activity resulted in a 38% increase in total number of engagements when compared to August, up from 239,339 to 329,177 posts.
The GAA (480 posts), Leinster Rugby (217) and Horse Racing Ireland (189) were the most active of the Sport for Business community on Facebook in September.
With 161 posts Ladies Gaelic Football climbed to 5th place, doubling their output from August, and mirroring their success on Twitter.
The most recent entrant into the Olytico analysis, Canoeing Ireland entered the top 10 for the first time, increasing their output 65% from August (from 40 to 66 posts).
Their most engaged with post celebrated the Silver Medal for the C1M team in the European Championships, with Liam Jegou, Jake Cochrane and Robert Hendrick bringing home Ireland’s first team medal in many years.
The FAI retained their top spot with an average of 690 engagements per post. Irish Rugby (450 engagements per post) and Leinster Rugby (329 engagements per post) both celebrated Rob Kearney’s career with the #ThanksRob.
Honourable mentions to Cycling Ireland (146 engagements per post), Ireland Lacrosse (141 engagements per post) and for the second month in a row, Hockey Ireland, as they continued to introduce new squad members (134 engagements per post – up 50% from their already impressive August increase).
The FAI’s interview with Shane Duffy on his move to Celtic kept them at the top of the engagement charts for the sixth month in a row, the video has been shared over 1,000 times to date.
However, it is Ireland Lacrosse’s post explaining their decision to vacate the 2022 World Games for the Iroquois Nationals we wish to highlight this month – “I dteanna a chéile – Together as One” had over 400 public engagements, 70+ overwhelmingly positive comments and has been shared more than 500 times.
September 2020 Highlights on Instagram
Instagram continues to lead the way for engagements, a 13% increase in posts compared to the previous month led to over 1.5 million likes and comments, an 8% increase on the platform’s August figures.
Leinster Rugby regained top spot for the first time since May with 122 posts and they were joined by Athletics Ireland (119 posts) and Irish Rugby (96 posts). The FAI jumped from 11th to 4th place, doubling August’s output to 72 posts. The Ladies Gaelic Football Association completed an impressive month across social platforms moving up nine places into 8th spot, and Canoeing Ireland rose to an impressive sixth place with over 50 posts during September.
The FAI topped the engagement table with an average of 4,670 interactions per post – Shane Duffy’s late equaliser against Bulgaria in Stephen Kenny’s first match in charge proving to be their most engaged with post with over 14,300 interactions (likes and comments).
Rugby fans love for Instagram shows no signs of abating with Irish Rugby and all four Provinces in the top seven places. Irish Rugby (average of 4,299 interactions per post), Leinster Rugby (2,933), Munster Rugby (2,408), Ulster Rugby (2,263) and Connacht Rugby (959).
These statistics go a long way to explaining this month’s most engaged with subject on Instagram; Irish Rugby’s #ThanksRob post generated over 16,000 interactions, a similar post from Leinster generated over 7,000 engagements showing the impact Kearney has had during his time in the green and blue jerseys.
It is important to remember that this analysis is based on publicly available data. It does not include any analysis or insight on paid or promoted content.
If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and be added to the list, drop us a line and let’s see what is possible. If you would like a more detailed analysis of your social media activity, contact stephen@olytico.com.
