With over 125,000 posts and 34.5 million engagements, 2022 was a stellar year for the Sport for Business member organisations on social media.

In review, July proved to be the busiest month with over 13,500 posts with November generating the most engagements with over 4.34 million public interactions.

And whilst December 2022 was a relatively quiet month, 7,000 posts and 2.2 million engagements offered a number of highlights for Olytico to analyse, including the announcement of the RTE Sport Award winners, the retirement of an All-Ireland winner and a young Irish cricketer breaking new ground.

The activity level is down slightly on last year’s December figure, with the FIFA World Cup doubtless a factor in diverting attention away from Irish sport but the engagement level was higher by 100,000.

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 as well as engagements per 1,000 followers. 

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.

 

December 2022 Highlights on Twitter

 

 

Activity on Twitter fell during December, with 2,094 tweets a 12 percent decrease on November; subsequently, engagements were down 48 percent to 199,801, the platform’s lowest monthly total of 2022.

Connacht Rugby were the most active account with 369 posts (+107 percent) with their most active day on the platform keeping fans up to date and engaged with their away match in France in the Challenge Cup, a game which saw brothers Niall and Darragh Murphy play together for the Province for the first time.

 

Leinster Rugby in second (359, +65 percent) shared more wholesome content as James Lowe turned the tables on his young interviewer, and in third, the Ladies Football account (330, -32 percent) celebrated Kilkerrin-Clonberne’s All-Ireland Senior Club Championship win.

 

The Camogie Association (118, +490 percent) continued to keep fans up to date with the latest news from the AIB All-Ireland Club Championships and Volleyball Ireland (21, +91 percent) announced the Irish Junior Girls Squad for upcoming matches in Scotland.

The FAI topped the engagement charts with an average of 332 engagements per post (+73 percent) as they remembered Brazilian great Pele.

 

In second, Cricket Ireland (257, -39 percent) looked back on a successful 2022 and their first-ever Series win against Afghanistan and in third, Irish Rugby (127, -69 percent) congratulated the Men’s 7s team as they reached their first-ever Dubai 7s Final, ultimately finishing in second to South Africa.

Special mentions to Paralympics Ireland (39, +333 percent) as they announced Stephen McNamara as their new CEO and celebrated a new World Record for Róisín Ní Riain in the S13 200m Backstroke, Rowing Ireland (19, +217 percent) as Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan were announced as RTE’s Sports Team of the Year and Swim Ireland (46, +188 percent) as Daniel Wiffen set a new European Record for the 800m Freestyle.

Athletics Ireland topped the ‘average engagements per 1000 followers’ metric as Rhasidat Adeleke was named the RTE Young Sportsperson of the Year.

For the second month in a row, Cricket Ireland took the crown for the most engaged with content on Twitter for December as bowler Josh Little became the first Irish International to be drafted in the Indian Premier League, the announcement of his signing for the Gujarat Titans generated over 16,000 likes and over 600,000 views.

 

December 2022 Highlights on Facebook

 

 

December was a disappointing month for the platform as both posts (2,094, -19 percent) and engagements (373,915, -56 percent) experienced their lowest totals for 2022.

Ladies Gaelic Football (272, -25 percent) topped the activity charts for the second month in a row, with their top content including an interview with 14-year-old Zainab Rather after she and her Salthill-Knocknacarra teammates won the All-Ireland Junior Championship Final (link).

Connacht Rugby in second (210, +75 percent) celebrated their bonus point win against Brive and Athletics Ireland in third (184, +11 percent) celebrated a record medal haul for Ireland at the European Cross-Country Championships in Italy.

The Northern Ireland National Team (1,549, +138 percent) topped the average engagements per post chart as Michael O’Neill returned for his second spell as Manager.

The FAI in second (582,+209 percent) celebrated Paul McGrath’s birthday, and in third Cricket Ireland (549,-72 percent) looked back on Harry Tector scoring his first international 100.

Swim Ireland (172, +182 percent) celebrated a gold medal for Mona McSharry in the 100m Breaststroke at the US Open. Hockey Ireland (205,+147 percent) saw success with the Men’s Team as they came away with a silver medal from the FIH Nations Cup.

Athletics Ireland, with an average of 611 engagements per 1,000 followers topped this metric thanks to Rhasidat Adeleke’s recognition at the RTE Sports Awards.

The Northern Ireland National Team’s tribute to Pele and an image of him with George Best proved to be the most popular content on the platform, generating close to 25,000 public engagements.

 

December 2022 Highlights on Instagram

 

 

Instagram activity fell 1 percent compared to November, the 1,212 posts was the lowest monthly total for the platform in 2022. However, engagements fell considerably with the 1.64 million total a 49 percent decrease on the previous month.

 

The BKT United Rugby Championship topped the Instagram activity charts with 121 posts (+4 percent), their crossover content featuring Damian Willemse’s Lionel Messi review during the FIFA World Cup proving to be their top post.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BKT United Rugby Championship (@urc)

 

This try from the DHL Stormers their top Reel. Interestingly, the URC’s top 6 Reels for December all featured South African teams, illustrating their value to the Championship.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BKT United Rugby Championship (@urc)

 

Connacht Rugby in second (114, +138 percent) featured Adam Byrne’s wonder try against Newcastle and Munster Rugby in third (90,-1 percent) congratulated John Ryan as he became just the 13th player to reach the 200 cap landmark for the Province.

Cycling Ireland (33, +57 percent) thanked all of the volunteers that helped deliver the first-ever UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup to be hosted in Dublin.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Cycling Ireland (@cyclingireland)

The FAI (5,801, +50 percent) topped the average engagements per post charts as Vera Pauw picked up the RTE Sport Manager of the Year Award, whilst in second place Dublin GAA (3,600, +14 percent) thanked Jonny Cooper after he announced his retirement from inter-county football. In third, Irish Rugby (3,459, -68 percent) looked back on their favourite moments of the year, and Conor Murray leading the team out ahead of his 100th cap resonated the most with their followers.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Irish Rugby (@irishrugby)

Athletics Ireland (3,777) completed the triple crown for ‘average engagements per 100 followers this month as the Senior Women’s team won a brilliant bronze at the European Cross-Country Championships thanks to an outstanding performance from twins Eilish and Roisin Flanagan.

The top Instagram content for December came from Cricket Ireland as they congratulated the Gujarat Titans on drafting Josh Little for the upcoming tournament. The post has generated close to 28,000 public engagements to date.

 

December 2022 Engagement Per 1,000 Followers

 

 

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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