The Patriots & The NFL on Social Media
Strategies, campaigns and results.
The Patriots’ upset loss this weekend ended their season surprisingly early — but that outcome is only shocking because the team has established an unprecedented streak of on-field dominance in recent years. As it happens, those victories are echoed in smart social marketing.
In December 2019, Praytell Research dug deep into the audiences, tactics and strategies behind the Patriots’ social media presence, and how these fit into the wider practices of NFL teams on social. We found four key elements for success:
- Investing in Future Fans with Instagram
- Building Communities with Engagement Tactics
- Utilizing Social to Achieve Business Objectives
- Integrating Fans to Push Creative Boundaries
The first came from our analysis of the Patriots’ audience. Their fans and followers on social are youthful and proud of where they live — an ideal community for any brand.
While Facebook is the Pats’ largest online community, Instagram, with its younger user base, is the fastest growing. The Patriots’ more recent wins also fuel a more youthful audience; conversely, teams with legacy successes tend to have older audiences.
Overall, NFL teams are finding wins with Instagram — while accounting for only 13% of posts by teams during the 2018 season, Instagram drove 81% of social value across the NFL.
Patriots fans online are overwhelmingly local to New England. Their affinities are predictable: a mix of Boston sports teams and team affiliates. They are mostly talking about Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady, Gronk, and other players.
The team fosters this community with smart content. They use #HardCorePatsFan to encourage fans to tweet pictures of their team loyalty for a chance to win tickets. Engagement tactics like this build relationships with fans and encourage participation.
Having a rapport with your fan base and celebrating major milestones drives the most engagements over time. The Patriots don’t pursue engagement for its own sake, but as part of a holistic marketing plan to drive ticket sales, create value for sponsors and build bonds between fans and players.
Giveaways on Twitter garner strong engagement because they use the classic “RT to win” entry method. Team highlight hashtags such as #TomTuesday offer fans a chance to win signed memorabilia.
Their content is not very branded. The Pats mostly use game-day photos and video clips. In general, people engage more with on-the field content; in 2018, only 19% of NFL team posts were branded.
Traditionally speaking, team success is a massive driver of engagement. In the case of the Chicago Bulls last season, their most engaged-with post is a poor-quality picture of Dwayne Wade and Jimmy Butler high-fiving after a win.
Another surefire approach is using marquee athletes such as Tom Brady in posts. The more star power, the more engagements. With the Patriots, this is something that can be tapped into over and over again.
But what to do with this captive audience on social once you’ve built it? For all sports teams, social can be used as a marketing funnel for sponsors and partners— all the more important given the decline of broadcast television.
Sunday is still the big day for the NFL and broadcast partners. However, sports viewership has changed dramatically in the last five years. Fans are seeking content in the form of fantasy, highlight clips, memes, and hot takes, which they get via social. For teams, social should be approached as a way of monetizing always-on attention throughout the season and beyond.
Good engagements, likes, audience size, etc. do not automatically determine success. But they do help with developing relationships with sponsors and owners.
What matters more than vanity metrics is developing a holistic marketing approach. Organizations should use social to drive broader business objectives by asking themselves questions such as: Can we sell tickets via social? Use ads to drive user growth? Are we building a bond between the fan base and players? Are we growing and interacting with fan groups on social?
To answer these kinds of questions with in-market strategies requires innovation and creativity. A team’s social media department is usually laser-focused on fulfilling the organization’s and sponsors’ day-to-day needs. They are not likely to push boundaries either due to lack of bandwidth, budget, or both.
But groups outside the brand have the most creative freedom, so marketers should look to fans to help push boundaries. Teams can and should tap into and even amplify their fans’ content for inspiration — as they have the freedom of not being restricted by partnerships and brand guidelines.
Engage your audience in a way that makes them part of the story. Fans are the heartbeat of teams, and official social posts usually focus on just the team and players. By bringing fans into the fold you can foster a more organic two-way relationship that makes your audience feel valued and more involved with the team — ultimately selling more tickets.
By Nestor Bailly
Questions about this or other Praytell research? Check out our website or email us at hello@praytellagency.com.
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