March 2022 was a record-breaking month for the Sport for Business member organisations on social media.

Activity levels broke the 12,000-post barrier for the first time in the six years that we have been tracking the numbers, with a 16 per cent increase from the previous month (10,372 to 12,426 posts) beating the previous record of 11,247 posts set in September 2021.

Three years ago in 2019, the last comparable year pre-covid impact, the number of posts was 8,350.

All three platforms analysed saw increases in activity compared to February with Instagram leading the way (+27 per cent) followed by Facebook (+18 per cent) and Twitter (+12 per cent).

Engagements rose an impressive 27 per cent (from 3,385,427 to 4,283,754) – the third-highest ever total.  Looking back to that 2019 figure again the number of engagements at that point in the evolution of Irish sport on social media was just over 1.8 million.

The overall top three months for engagements are now ranked as follows:

  1. November 2021: 4.6 million engagements from 8,648 posts
  2. March 2021: 4.31 million engagements from 8,019 posts
  3. March 2022: 4.28 million engagements from 12,426 posts

 

In the infographics below, we have ranked each of the organisations across a range of metrics on each network, including the most active, the most engaged with, and the most engaging content.

In January 2022 we introduced a new metric designed to rank member organisations based on ‘Engagements per 1,000 followers’ for each of the three main platforms. As the analysis progresses and the data set evolves, we will highlight any trends and recognise some of the more niche sporting content in Ireland.

It is important to note that this analysis is based on publicly available data. It does not include any analysis or insight on paid or promoted content. When % figures are used (unless otherwise stated), they refer to the previous month’s figures.

 

 

 

March 2022 Highlights on Twitter

 

 

A ground-breaking month for the platform, which will no doubt please new investor Elon Musk.

A 12 per cent increase in activity vs February (from 6,112 to 6,838 tweets) resulted in a new record, surpassing the previous high of 6,399 set in October 2021 by 7 per cent.

This increased activity resulted in a 17 per cent increase in engagements month on month (from 352,436 to 413,199) and the third-highest total ever for the platform in our monthly figures.

The Ladies Football account topped the activity charts for the first time since August 2021, their 783 tweets (an increase of 51 per cent on the previous month) included UL lifting the Yoplait O’Connor Cup for the 13th time after victory over UCC .

 

 

In second, The GAA (522, -12 per cent) featured footage of Jack McCarron’s crucial kick to win the game for Monaghan against Dublin in the Allianz Football League. and in third, Dublin GAA (434, +14%) focused on a win for the Senior Footballers in Omagh.

Munster Rugby in fifth (367, +70 per cent) celebrated the Irish Triple Crown success and Horse Racing Ireland in ninth (309, +106%) featured Padraig Roche Racing’s win with Brazil at Cheltenham.

 

 

The Camogie Association in 13th (232, +287 per cent) championed Women in Sport Week and announced a new five-year sponsorship with Carmel Naughton and Glen Dimplex.

 

 

The Women’s National League in 16th (199, +398 per cent) had their busiest month since being incorporated into the analysis, showcasing a spectacular long-range strike from Stephanie Roche.

 

Cycling Ireland (129, +50 per cent) saw success with rider Eddie Dunbar and Golf Ireland (111, +185 per cent) announced their first female President, as Kay O’Loughlin of Castlerea Golf Club succeeded John White.

With the climax of the Guinness Six Nations, it is no surprise that the IRFU retained their top place in the engagement charts with an average of 366 engagements per tweet (+16 per cent) – their top tweet celebrating the Men’s Triple Crown success after victory against Scotland and mention must go to the U20s who secured their Grand Slam.

Closely following in second, the FAI (364, +50 per cent) announced an extension to Stephen Kenny’s contract as Ireland Manager and featuring in the top three for the first time since August 2020, Connacht Rugby (106, +21 per cent) posted a heart-warming image of Finlay Bealham as he saw his parents for the first time in 2 years, after scoring a try against England at Twickenham.

 

Cricket Ireland (94, +75 per cent) announced their ‘Season of Stars’ as India, New Zealand and Afghanistan are set to tour Ireland this Summer and Gymnastics Ireland (76, +1,391 per cent) celebrated further success for Rhys McClenaghan who won Gold on Pommel at the 2022 Cairo Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event.

Horse Racing Ireland (21, +65 per cent) celebrated Rachael Blackmore winning the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle for the second year in a row and Rowing Ireland (14, +57 per cent) celebrated International Women’s Day with this inspiring video content.

 

 

It is now the third month for our new metric, ranking organisations in accordance with their ‘average number of engagements per 1000 followers’. For the third month in a row, we have a new top three, with the Women’s National League (with an average of 777 engagements per 1,000 followers) holding off Gymnastics Ireland (767) and the FAI (292).

It was Cricket Ireland that took the overall prize for Twitter content in March, as bowler Josh Little headed off to the IPL with the Chennai Super Kings, the post generating over 8,000 likes and close to 800 retweets.

 


March 2022 Highlights on Facebook

 

 

Facebook activity rose for the third month in a row and resulted in a record month for the platform. The 3,591 posts represented an 18 per cent increase on February (from 3,052 to 3,591 posts). This new record activity beats the previous record (3,289) set in September 2021 by 9.2 per cent.

This activity resulted in a massive 60 per cent increase in engagements (from 418,635 to 670,353) and the second-highest ever total for the platform (still behind July 2021’s extraordinary 836,519 engagements).

Eight of the top ten accounts saw an increase in their activity compared to the previous month and the overall rise was driven by significant increases in three accounts.

The Ladies Gaelic Football followed up a busy month on Twitter by topping the Facebook activity charts as well, their 401 posts (+44 per cent compared to the previous month) with content featuring the Noone sisters, who, fresh from winning the recent All-Ireland Senior Club winners with Galway’s Kilkerrin-Clonberne, found themselves on opposite sides as Lynsey (UL) faced Hannah and Eva (NUI Galway) in the Yoplait O’Connor Cup semi-final. They were followed by The GAA (339, -3 per cent) and Leinster Rugby (272, +1 per cent).

The League of Ireland in sixth (144, +43 per cent) featured an outrageous piece of skill from Bohemian’s Stephen Mallon and Camogie in tenth (119, +143 per cent) crowned Sarsfields Camogie Club from Galway as the AIB Camogie All-Ireland Senior Club Champions and announced their 2021 All-Stars team.

All of the top 10 accounts based on engagements saw an increase in the average engagements per post, with increases ranging from one per cent (Dublin GAA) to 98 per cent (Connacht Rugby).

Irish Rugby followed their first place in Twitter engagement, taking the Facebook crown with an average of 2,326 engagements per post which was an 81 per cent increase on February.

For context, this is the IRFU’s highest-ever monthly figure and 29.6 per cent higher than when they topped the same chart in March 2021 (1,795).

Connacht in second (647, +98 per cent) were followed by the Northern Ireland National Team account (483, +94 per cent) who highlighted a new George Best mural unveiled on the Cregagh Estate where Best grew up.

 


Paralympics Ireland (326, +39 per cent) and Team Ireland announced Permanent TSB as their new title sponsor for both the Irish Olympic and Irish Paralympic teams at the Paris 2024 Games – the first-ever title sponsor to partner with both organisations in an Olympic cycle.

 

 

In our new metric, Athletics Ireland (average of 781 engagements per 1,000 followers, +39 per cent) topped the table, followed by Connacht Rugby (549) and Gymnastics Ireland (540).

The top Facebook content for March came from the IRFU as they celebrated victory over Scotland, and the Six Nations Triple Crown, generating close to 28,000 public engagements.

 

 

March 2022 Highlights on Instagram

 

 

A record month for the platform, with its 1,997 posts (+27 per cent on February’s 1,568 posts) beating the previous record set last September (1,801).

Engagements broke the 3 million mark for only the second time, with March’s 3,200,202 (+22 per cent on February’s 2.6 million) second only to November 2021’s record figure (3.6 million).

This month’s top three in the activity charts switched places with the URC in first (161 posts, +34 per cent) followed by Ladies Gaelic Football (150, +25 per cent) and the IRFU (129, -5% per cent.

The FAI in fifth (121, +310 per cent) featured Chiedozie Ogbene’s spectacular finish against Belgium and Badminton Ireland (47, +262 per cent) celebrated Rachael Darragh making it into the last 16 of the Portuguese International.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by FAIreland (@faireland)


Irish Rugby (with an average of 8,064 engagements per post, -5 per cent) topped the engagement charts with the FAI in second (5,316, +63 per cent) and the GAA in third (4,993, +4 per cent).

Special mention to Hockey Ireland (917, +33 per cent) as their Women’s team started a series of training games against Great Britain and Irish Sailing (117, +12 per cent) as they honoured Annalise Murphy at the Irish Sailing Awards with the presentation of the President’s Award and Finn Lynch was crowned Sailor of the Year.

For the third month in a row, Basketball Ireland topped the Instagram ‘Engagements per 1,000 followers’ chart (3,319, +30 per cent) followed by the FAI (2,809, +395per cent) and Ladies Gaelic Football (2,349, +11 per cent).

The top Instagram post for March came from the IRFU as they celebrated ‘Family’ after the Men’s Team beat Scotland, with the post generating close to 41,000 engagements in the form of likes and comments (link).

 

 

March 2022 Engagement Per 1,000 Followers

 

 

*******

If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and be added to the list, email us today and let’s see what is possible. If you would like a more detailed analysis of your social media activity, contact stephen@olytico.com