Football is awash with statistics. Goals, assists, possession, win ratio…
…not now, Tim.
But there is one statistic nobody seems yet to have analysed – and that is who is winning the war of social engagement? I know you’ve all been wondering…
It’s not actually as silly as it seems. Clubs rely heavily on social marketing. It translates into ticket and merchandise sales, which, of course, eventually dictates how much clubs can spend on players and wages.
So who is winning? Before we get into that, a couple of details. One, the stats are taken over this season so far (Aug 2015 – Feb 2016).
Two, the engagement analysis was done via BuzzSumo. It’s a great tool, but it does max out at around 14,370 articles. Not all clubs have that many , but the bigger ones have more, so the teams are ranked on average number of shares across the sample.
So! The moment you’ve all been waiting for. Here is the Premier League of Content Engagement!…
1. Manchester United
That’s right. United may well be rubbish at football – but they’re still packing in the punters online.
2. Arsenal
Despite famously being the club of armchair fans who only really support their team on Twitter and don’t appreciate real football, Arsenal didn’t top the list. Their second place is clearly a reflection of the aforementioned fanbase, but it isn’t as strong as I’d assumed
3. Chelsea
Again, being newly crap at football hasn’t done too much to damage Chelsea’s numbers, as they’re still flying high in terms of social shares.
4. Manchester City
No surprises here…
5. Liverpool
Liverpool are still inexplicably fifth, despite having been rubbish for ages now.
6. Tottenham Hotspur
Sadly, my beloved Spurs would barely be in the hunt for the Europa League if this was a real league table.
And here are the rest...
7. Everton
8. Stoke City
9. Southampton
10. Wet Spam
11. Sunderland
12. Aston Villa
13. Crystal Palace
14. Bournemouth
15. Watford
16. Leicester City
17. West Brom
18. Newcastle United
19. Swansea
20. Norwich City
A couple more points:
- You’d have been forgiven at the beginning of the season for thinking this would be how the actual Premier League would finish
- Poor old Leicester’s stunning form this season hasn’t really had much of an impact on how many people want to engage with stories about them at all
- Manchester United and Liverpool both cast long shadows. Many of the highest rating articles for other clubs were about their matches with United. Here’s a look at Everton and West Ham as examples…
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