FIFA Measures Up their Success in Social Media

Benefits of using Social Media 

Before taking a dive into Social Media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, businesses should create a Social Media strategy that begins by defining who their target audience is. Businesses that do not do their due diligence in creating a strategy will not be successful if they rush to set-up profiles and post without knowing their targets and what channels to use to reach their audience.

According to a report published by Texas Tech University, brands who engage on social media will improve brand loyalty and businesses should use all tools that Social Media offers when connecting to their audience.

For teenagers Twitter and Instagram are the most used tools in Social Media.

Social Media is a great Marketing digital tool that can revolutionize outreach, visibility and marketing initiatives for small and large businesses and not too many companies are using it.

Companies need to learn how to gauge how their Social Media tactics are performing and how to measure this.

Currently big and small businesses are realizing the huge benefits of Social Media and its increasing importance in the race to stay relevant and attract new customers. Prior to the age of Social Media, many years ago “the Secretary” was the first point of contact between companies and customers; today that role is replaced by websites and the Social Media revolution.

2014 FIFA World Cup™

FIFA awarded Brazil to be the host of the 20th FIFA World Cup™ on October 30, 2007, as a global event the preparation of a FIFA World Cup™ began many years before the tournament, some of the key topics that a host country must review are, infrastructure of the stadiums, transportation, logistics of the event, and to create a brand.

FIFA’s Social Media Explosion

In order to provide a worry free web user experience of the World’s greatest sporting event to a demanding, global digital World Cup audience FIFA created a Global Stadium. FIFA’s key scope was to increase global audience, reach and enhance engagement of all FIFA’s platforms, using FIFA.com.

Global stadium a revolutionary and innovative live social internet hub that is available throughout tournaments at FIFA.com and FIFA App. Fans were able to get closer to the action during Brazil 2014. The Global Stadium provided a singular destination to FIFA fans and created a great reach across the planet. With Billons of hits on Social Media Channels generated during FIFA World Cup 2014 including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Global Stadium, also created a second screen to the television viewing experience – on laptops, tablets, computers and Smartphone’s – enabling consumers to absorb as much content they wanted

Walter De Gregorio, FIFA Director of Communications & Public Affairs reported the following:

“We aim to provide an all-round digital companion so that billions of fans can join in and share their excitement. Only the World Cup and digital can create this worldwide conversation.”

Social Media Analytics

FIFA achieved significant and notable numbers with its record-breaking digital presence in Brazil.

A Billion people attended FIFA’s Global Stadium

• The 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ was named the first Social Media FIFA World Cup™, due the extraordinary numbers of people who followed the tournament via FIFA’s digital platforms and the Social Media engagement with others in real time.

 

• The links that I have provided below will send you to the current Social Media data related to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and the numbers spike when there is a major International event such as FIFA World Cup™, FIFA Confederation Cup, and under 20 FIFA World Cup™.

 – 24 Million FIFA World Cup™ App downloads “The biggest sports event App on the planet”

 – 19 Billion – Twitter impressions, 2 Million Mentions, 3.8 Million Retweets, and followers increased 110% to 17 Million

 – 219 Million FIFA.com and app users made 846 Million visits, consumed 10 Billion pages and spent the equivalent of 10,000 years engaged

 – 50% were mobile, consuming 65% of pages and spending 61% of time engaged

 – 2 Billion World Cup alerts sent to 15 Million users

 – 1 in 3 Facebook users reached with FIFA official content. The Brazil v Germany match (#BRAGER) the most tweeted about single event ever

 – 451 Million Facebook users reached, 77 Million engaged, 15 Billion impressions generated, Likes increased 81% to 39 Million

 – 456 Instagram photos increased followers 1600% to 900 Thousand

 – 70% of match spectators claimed to have shared photos or videos on social media during the event

 – 63% wrote posts and comments

In order to watch the video, FIFA has granted permission via YouTube

FIFA 2014 World Cup Mascot Fuleco™

In every FIFA World Cup™ a mascot is chosen to represent the host country, FIFA introduced 3 names Zuzeco, Amijubi and Fuleco, the selection took three-months and it was a public campaign, supported by FIFA and Partner Coca-Cola. The Brazilian public cast their votes and more than 48% voted for Fuleco™ versus Zuzeco (31%) and Amijubi (21%). Making Fuleco™ the unanimous winner.

The wait is over: the Official Mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ has a name, with more than 1.7 million people voting for Fuleco™.

The name Fuleco™ is a fusion of the words ‘futebol’ and ‘ecologia’. As one of the most high-profile ambassadors of the event and a member of a vulnerable species – “three-banded armadillo”, the Official Mascot played a key role in driving environmental awareness.

Fuleco™ started touring the host country and getting to know the people of Brazil. FIFA’s brand tracking confirmed that he became popular in Brazil and that 89% of Brazilians saw the Official Mascot, and 7.3 out of 10 on appeal reported Fuleco™ as a likeable character.

 FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, reported the following on September 17, 2012.

 “The fact that the three-banded armadillo is a vulnerable species is very fitting.”

FIFA’s Brand Tracking study investigated key characteristics of Fuleco™ that resonated among the Brazilian public. They found encouraging results as “Brazilian”, “Nature”, “Friendly”, and “Passion for Football” were the top trait descriptions to best describe Fuleco™. The study showed that Brazilians saw the armadillo as an important ambassador for the sport and their country.

In order to watch the video, FIFA has granted permission via YouTube

Lessons for Others

FIFA is a good example on how companies can use Social Media to measure their internal and external customer engagement, keep track of what is working, and what is not working.  Social Media Metrics is a fast and efficient way of tracking customer needs, wants and preferences.

FIFA has increased Brand recognition by being visible and communicating with their fans on all available channels such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Other key point in Social Media is Brand Loyalty, FIFA is always engaging with their fans through Social Media and it has seen a higher Brand Loyalty from their fan base.

I wonder if the next FIFA World Cup™ in Russia in 2018 next summer will reach the same or higher Social Media Metric statistics?

In order to watch the video, FIFA has granted permission via YouTube

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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