It's that time of the year again. When the pizza sales skyrocket, the DVRs are set to record commercials, and when Disneyland experiences one of its least hectic days of the year. While football fanatics are busy looking at the season's stats, analyzing injuries, and comparing players, Track Social has swum thousands of laps in its gridiron-sized swimming pool filled with data, and used robust mathematical models to give us the wisdom we all seek...
Track Social has discovered how to translate Social Media Activity into Super Bowl Victory.
Turns out that, just like the real thing, the Social Bowl gets played in four quarters, each quarter representing one of the four pillars of social media success: Presence, Audience, Engagement, and Buzz.
All we have to do is analyze the teams' performance on these metrics, and we can predict which team will proudly raise the Super Bowl Lombardi trophy this Sunday. So will it be the redemption seeking New England Patriots? Or will it be another upset by the New York Giants? Let's get to the game to find out!
1st Quarter: Social Presence
Social Media Presence measures a team's visibility online, how well established and active it is on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Establishing a dynamic online presence is the first step in capturing a social media audience, and in this quarter, the Pats are starting off strong with a Track Social grade of A. As for the Giants? B+. The Pats dominated the first quarter, now onto the second!
Patriots: A
Giants: B+
Social Presence Winner: Patriots
2nd Quarter: Social Audience
The Audience category measures the total number of ongoing relationships a team has formed through Likes and Follows. While both teams received "A" grades, for having solid social fan bases, we're giving this one to the Pats. Why? Because on Facebook alone, the Pats have well over 3 million fans, nearly twice as many as the Giants. With just 1.6 million fans, the Giants have some catching up to do. They're seizing the chance to rack up as many new Fans as possible as they head toward the big game. Now, a team's performance on the field is obviously a huge factor in generating new Likes and Follows and both teams stand to gain significant numbers this week. But all that new activity doesn't guarantee success in the third quarter.
Patriots: A
Giants: A
Social Audience Winner: Patriots
3rd Quarter: Social Engagement
Engagement is about how successful a brand's social media interactions are with consumers. In other words, when a team posts or tweets, does anybody care? Are there crickets or are there outpourings of comments, likes, and retweets? It's possible for a team to rack up big numbers of Facebook Fans and still not capitalize on that audience if their online interactions fail to keep fans engaged. That's why the game is never won or lost in just the first half. In this quarter, the Giants make a game of it - it's a near tie in the engagement category with both teams receiving perfect grades. Charging up an already excited fan base is one of the best ways social media can magnify a brand's momentum. And you can only imagine how crazy the fans get when their teams make the Superbowl.
Patriots: A+
Giants: A+
Social Engagement Winner: Tie
4th Quarter: Social Buzz
The 4th quarter is crunch time and in social media, Buzz is what the big plays are all about. Buzz is a measure of how much people are talking with, at, and about a brand in the Social Media Universe. Audience numbers and engagement scores definitely play into a brand's Buzz, but so does the general level of chatter about all things related to a brand. Say for example you were playing in the Super Bowl - you might expect that to generate some Buzz! And so this quarter was close once again, A+'s to both teams! Another tie!
Patriots: A+
Giants: A+
Social Buzz Winner: Tie
And the Winner is...
When taken together, Track Social's four Social Pillars: Presence, Audience, Engagement and Buzz, represent the most comprehensive metrics-based approached to understanding how and why some brands succeed online while others lag behind. And when it comes to the Social Super Bowl, hands down the trophy goes to the Patriots. Straight A's ain't easy, but leave it to the Pats to be a Social Media powerhouse.
So we boldly proclaim: congratulations to the winners of Super Bowl XLVI, the New England Patriots!
Be sure to check out Track Social's NFL Zone for all the latest news on what your favorite NFL teams are doing on social media!