In August 2019, the 29 organisations analysed as part of the monthly Sport for Business / Olytico analysis, all members of Sport for Business, published over 6,700 social media posts across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Â That was a decrease of over one third on July but the engagement with them was way up.
The 6,747 posts analysed generated almost 1.6 million engagements in the form of likes, shares, comments and retweets. That was a 42% increase on the average engagement per post in July.
Activity decreased on both Twitter and Instagram from July levels.
Twitter experienced the biggest drop, with 55% fewer tweets than in July. This was followed by Instagram, with 17% fewer posts in August. Facebook was the only platform that saw an increase in posts on July, of 0.6%.
Collectively across all three platforms, there were almost 3,000 fewer posts when compared to July.
Instagram continues to have the biggest impact on engagement, with almost 1.2 million likes and comments generated – representing 74% of the total engagement across all three platforms (up 12% from July).
Instagram saw the biggest increase in engagements from July, with almost 80,000 additional engagements in August, again despite fewer posts.
In August, Irish Rugby almost doubled their average engagement per post on Facebook, moving them from the second to the most engaged Facebook page this month.
This was driven by their match day posts for Ireland’s matches against England and Wales, and indicative of a rising anticipation for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Irish Rugby retained their spot as the most engaged account on Twitter, with a tweet thanking the fans after a tough defeat in Twickenham being their most engaged piece of content.
The GAA retained top spot on Instagram for the fifth month in a row. Their most engaged post highlighted the Tipperary team celebrating their triumph to become All-Ireland Hurling Champions.
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 and the most engaging content.
It’s important to note that this analysis is based on publicly available data. It doesn’t include any analysis or insight on paid or promoted content.
August 2019 Highlights on Twitter
Irish Rugby retained the top spot in terms of engagements on Twitter. The organisation averaged over 500 more engagements per post in August than in July.
Irish Rugby’s most engaged tweet was also the most engaged tweet overall. The tweet thanked their fans after a tough defeat in Twickenham and generated over 2,000 likes and 146 retweets.
Connacht Rugby was the second most engaged with organisation on Twitter. Their top tweet highlighted 3 Connacht players capped for Ireland against Wales and generated 777 likes and 34 retweets.
The GAA remained the most active organisation on Twitter in August. Their most engaged with content was a video highlighting Gaelic Sunday.
August 2019 Highlights on Facebook
Irish Rugby dethroned Ulster Rugby to retake the top spot as the most engaged-with organisation in August, increasing their average engagement by almost 250 per post. Their content generated over 650 likes, shares or comments on average per post.
Irish Rugby shared a total of 99 posts during the month, with their most engaged piece of content highlighting Ireland’s victory over Wales in Cardiff. This was also the most engaged post overall for the 29 organisations.
The post generated 5,467 likes, 530 comments and 557 shares.
Just as they did on Twitter, the GAA remained the most active organisation on Facebook in August too, and once again their most engaged post was on Gaelic Sunday.
August 2019 Highlights on Instagram
The GAA maintained top spot as the most engaged with organisation on Instagram in August, their 17 posts generating over 8,000 likes or comments on average.
Popular posts from The GAA in August focussed on the All-Ireland finals, but just as it was on Twitter and Facebook, their most popular post focused on Gaelic Sunday.
Irish Rugby moved into second place, due to an increase of almost 2,000 engagements from July levels.
The top piece of content in August came from the Irish Rugby. The post highlighted Ireland’s victory over Wales in Cardiff and generated 21,593 likes and 272 comments.
The Ladies Gaelic Football Association regained the top spot as the most active Instagram account in August – posting 114 times. Their top content included video posts from matches and competition posts.
As part of a special partnership with Twitter, Sport for Business will host a morning at the Social Media giant’s Dublin Headquaarters on Thursday, October 24th.
Over two hours of content and discussion we will look back on the last 12 months of Irish Sport on Social Media with Stephen O’Leary of Olytico.
We will then hold conversations around the concept of the Players, Ireland’s sporting organisations that are leading the way; the Supporters, the brands that are to the fore in activation on social; and the Tactics, with key twitter personnel taking us through the best practice of working on social media.
This is a Members Invitation Event. Â If you are interested in attending email us today, quoting Social Media Event in subject
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 more detailed analysis of your social media activity, contact stephen@olytico.com
Image Credits: Inpho.ie
