Social media is changing the way fans interact with their favorite sports teams. It is easier than ever for fans to pledge their allegiance to a team by ‘Liking’ that team’s official page. This type of fan engagement is also valuable to teams because it becomes much easier for teams to track their popularity in the digital space.To better understand what drives this fan interaction, it is interesting to look at which teams are drawing the largest fan bases. The following graph looks at the number of Facebook ‘Likes’ for each team in the NBA:
It’s no surprise that the best teams have the largest followings. In fact, organized another way (this time ranking the teams based on their record), the correlation between team success and Facebook popularity is reiterated:
Here are some interesting takeaway points from the graphs:
-Discrepancy in 'top tier' vs. 'low tier' teams- There is a very clear drop in following after the 4 most popular teams. The Lakers, for example, have more fans that most teams combined.
-Unpopular leader- It is also interesting to note that the Spurs are well behind other ‘top tier’ teams. This is probably due to the fact that they are not a flashy team and do not receive the same type of media attention as the Heat and Bulls. That being said, it is still worth looking at how this team goes against the overall trend.
-Teams hanging onto fans- At the other end of the spectrum, it is interesting that the Cavaliers have more fans than the Spurs. Again, this goes against the overall trend, and is probably a result of lingering fans from the LeBron-era. This post looks in more detail at how teams hang onto fans after losing super stars.
Overall, it is interesting to look at these numbers and see how teams stack up in terms of Facebook popularity. That being said, the way in which these teams engage their fans is far more important than the number of people that 'like' their page. When it comes to Facebook, quality of engagement is more important than quantity of followers.