Derry City, St Patrick's Athletic top pile on social media engagement rate in League of Ireland

The 'Candy Stripes' social media team can take a giant pat on the back for the statistics revealed in the report on sports teams' engagement rates on Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook conducted by 'The Gruelling Truth' who summarised the engagement data for various teams, providing insights into their online presence and audience interaction.

Social media is changing how fans connect with sports and 'The Grueling Truth' conducted research to identify which of the most celebrated sports teams in the world (i.e. with the most followers), from various sports, excels in engaging with their fans on various social media platforms. Researchers gathered a significant sample of followers and divided it by the total number of comments and likes.

The focus spanned football, American football, basketball, baseball, rugby and ice hockey teams but the 'Journal' has been presented with statistics for both the League of Ireland and Irish League which has thrown up some interesting numbers in terms of social media engagement rates of the clubs involved on both Instagram and Facebook.

According to the report Derry City boasts 24,600 followers and has an impressive 2.49% engagement rate on Instagram. That's the best in the League of Ireland! Sligo Rovers (2.16%) and Shelbourne (2.01%) are the next best.

St Patrick's Athletic meanwhile takes the lead on Facebook in terms of engagement, garnering a considerable following of 29,000 and an outstanding 11.3% engagement rate.

Derry City, with 40,000, are joined with Bohemians and Drogheda United as the third most followed League of Ireland club on Facebook behind Shamrock Rovers (74,000) and Dundalk (57,000). However, the Brandywell club are only in fifth place in terms of engagement on Facebook with 4.6% behind St Pats (11.3%), Bohemians (6%), Sligo Rovers (5%) and north west rivals Finn Harps (5.5%).

The most followed League of Ireland clubs on both platforms according to the study's findings on the 10 clubs with the best engagement rates was Shamrock Rovers (122,900). The league champions only had a 2.4% engagement rate across both platforms. The Hoops were followed by Dundalk (92,000), Bohemians (86,700), Derry City (64,600) and Drogheda United (66,500).

Popular teams like Cork City who have 60,000 Facebook followers and 38,000 Instagram followers and Premier Division newcomers Waterford (53,600 followers across both platforms) and Galway United (53,600 followers) were interestingly not included in the top 10 most engaged clubs.

For clearer insight, most social media marketing experts agree that less than 1% is a low engagement rate. Between 1% and 3.5% is considered an average/good engagement rate. Between 3.5% and 6% is a high engagement rate. Having a rate above 6% is seen as very high engagement. Except for TikTok – a good engagement rate is anywhere between 4% and 18%.

Engagement rate on social media is very important, as it indicates that the content resonates with followers. It helps teams build a stronger connection with fans, fostering a sense of community and loyalty. A good engagement rate shows that you’re winning your followers’ attention and that they’re interacting with your content.

Last but not least, there is the monetisation opportunities angle. A highly engaged audience attracts sponsors and advertisers. Sponsors are more likely to invest in partnerships with teams that have an active and engaged fan base, creating potential revenue streams.

In summary, the engagement rate on social media is important for sports teams as it goes beyond numerical metrics, reflecting the depth and quality of their interaction with fans.

It not only measures popularity but also signifies the effectiveness of their social media strategies in building meaningful connections and sustaining fan enthusiasm.

Meanwhile on the Irish League front, Linfield are unsurprisingly the most followed club on both Instagram and Facebook with 51,300, however, in terms of fans engagement Carrick Rangers emerged as the front-runner on Instagram with 4,369 followers and an impressive engagement rate of 16.2%.

Portadown claims the top spot on Facebook within the Irish League, amassing 12,000 followers and an exceptional engagement rate of 28.3%.