There are 500 million soccer fans on Facebook, who are more likely to share, like and comment on content than average users, the social network has claimed.
Ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off on 12th June 2014 in Brazil, Facebook has released a number of stats regarding football fans on its network (classed as such if they have liked a team or player’s page).
In a bid to woo marketers to advertise on the platform for the FIFA World Cup, the social networking site designed a build-up of data.
While Brazil has over 53.8 million fans, the U.S. ranks second with 48.9 million fans on Facebook.
Facebook claims that:
• 62% of soccer fans were on Facebook every day in a recent week.
• Soccer fans post 1.7x more photos, send 1.9x more messages, post 1.8x more updates, upload 1.7x more videos and make 1.7x more comments than the average person on Facebook.
• During a March soccer match, fans took 16.8 million actions related to the game. Some 89% of the actions were made on mobile phones.
Christian Martinez, Facebook head for Sales for U.S. Hispanic said that the most important cultural passion point for Hispanics is soccer.
For marketers, the upcoming tournament will be an incredible opportunity to reach them not only at scale but also when they are highly engaged across multiple screens.
Facebook has also followed Twitter by introducing hashtags and a list of trending topics on the side of the main screen.
However, unlike Twitter where all accounts are open to the users to view, only 30% of Facebook accounts are open to the public.
Facebook’s first ever TV targeting
The stats come as Facebook plans to sell its huge audience of World Cup fans to advertisers, in a test that could be extended to other TV events like the Super Bowl.
According to a report in AdAge Last month, Facebook is showing its biggest advertisers a sales deck that offers up an audience segment that has shown interest in the World Cup, the first time the social network is creating a segment for advertisers related to a television event.
AdAge reported that the “global football event” audience segment will be available in late May in advance of the tournament’s June 12 start.
Marketers on Facebook can already target by interests like “soccer” or “FIFA World Cup” (a segment that contains almost 45 million people, according to Facebook’s ad tool). But the new test segment will be updated daily to also include people who are caught up in World Cup fever and have posted status updates or links to stories about the tournament.
Facebook offered the following tips to marketers looking to take advantage of this year’s World Cup:
• Reach people who are most likely to be engaged with the event — football fans or fans of specific teams.
• You can also target more specific groups, including the 10 million soccer fans in the U.S. who have Hispanic affinity, and the 4 million soccer fans in neighboring Canada.
• People who watch the game need food and supplies to make the most of the experience. Target them with special offers before kickoff using partner categories to identify and reach the right people based on their activity off Facebook, including purchase history, intent, and demographics.
• As you develop your creative, you can use sight, sound, and motion with Facebook’s page post video ads to bring your message to life.
Read the full announcement from Facebook here
