The following graph tracks the number of Facebook 'Likes' and Twitter followers of the NFL, the NBA, MLB, and the NHL. These numbers do not include the individual teams, only the home pages for the respective leagues.
NBA is top dog
When it comes to a social media presence, the NBA is far ahead of the other leagues. The NBA Twitter account has more than 2 million followers, and the Facebook page attracts more than 6 million fans, easily dwarfing the numbers of the other leagues.
The NBA has such a large social media presence for several reasons. First, the NBA attracts a younger fan base who are more inclined to use social media as a way of following their favorite leagues. Second, the NBA has more of a global presence than the other leagues, leading to more followers. Finally, the NBA does the best job of utilizing social media marketing. The NBA has innovative and interactive social media pages which are simply more fun to follow than the other leagues.
Can the NFL overtake the NBA?
The NFL has the second largest social media presence. The NFL is far behind the NBA in terms of Facebook 'Likes.' However, the NFL only lags the NBA in Twitter followers by a few thousand.
The gap is close, and the NFL is a popular league, but to close the gap the NFL needs to use more innovative social media marketing tactics. Especially with the growing global following of the NBA, the NFL needs to introduce more interactive social media features for fans.
What about MLB and the NHL?
The NHL and MLB are simply less popular leagues than the NBA and the NFL, and this partly explains the low social media following of these leagues. However, the content of their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts is also to blame. While some elements of their social media presence are innovative (http://www.facebook.com/NHL), too many times they are settling on vanilla pages. Unless these leagues begin making efforts to better interact with their fans, these leagues will continue to lag behind the NFL and the NBA.
It's no mistake that the NBA has the most followers on Facebook and Twitter. Part of the following is the result of the league's popularity, but the NBA also does a great job of interacting with fans. If other leagues want to catch the NBA, they should take note of the way the NBA structures its social media sites.