Game Day With The Most Popular Sports Team On Facebook

With over 95 million fans, FC Barcelona has the most popular Facebook page among all sports teams, and to be on top of this crowded list is a remarkable accomplishment. The giant from Catalonia is just a step ahead of their La Liga’s rivals Real Madrid and keeping that advantage against such competition is definitely not an easy task. So, what makes this team more popular than others, what is Barca’s secret?

Most certainly, there are a lot of factors and one of them, if not the biggest one, is the pure strength that stands behind this club. Barcelona is a very successful team with rich history and huge fan base, and that’s not something you can gain overnight. But you can do everything to make the best out of it. One of the perfect moments to shine is the most important day of every fan’s life – THE GAME DAY, and in this article, we’ll take a look at the Facebook activity of FC Barcelona during that period.

million and counting - number of fans/likes on official FC Barcelona Facebook page

1. FC Barcelona (95,555,555 likes)

2. Real Madrid CF (94,136,551 likes)

3. Manchester United FC (72,244,155 likes)

4. Chelsea FC (47,278,421 likes)

5. FC Bayern München (40,466,963 likes)

First, let’s take a quick look at top 5 teams with the most popular Facebook pages (at the moment of writing this article). As we can see on the left, like in the most fields, the difference between La Liga’s representatives is razor thin, with Barca having a slight advantage over Real Madrid.

FC Barcelona – Documentary ( Football’s Greatest Teams )

Game Day

As an example, we’ll take Barcelona’s last match with Athletic Bilbao. These two teams met in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on January 11 and Barca won it with 3-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.

Club from Camp Nou started its Facebook activity with the simple announcement that made it clear we stepped into the game day. The post came with a photo of Barca’s players and it gave us the most important information about the match.

🔥 MATCHDAY!!!⚽️ FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club🏆 Copa del Rey | Last 16 2nd leg 🕐 9.15 PM CET🏠 Camp Nou📲 #CopaFCB #FCBlive🔴🔵 #ForçaBarça

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

The next thing we got was the list of Barca’s players that will face the club from Basque Country. Again, the post included a photo, this time the one with club’s biggest star on it – Lionel Messi. The activity, in this case, didn’t end with the post itself, but it came with a comment that included a link to Barcelona’s official website. More precisely, to a story about the comeback of their goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.

[SQUAD LIST | CONVOCATÒRIA | CONVOCATORIA]⚽️ FC Barcelona v Athletic Club🏆 Copa del Rey👤 Ter Stegen, Cillessen,…

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

Ok, now we know who is Barca playing against, we know when and where will they meet and we received the squad list.

Although the Camp Nou is a huge football stadium with a seating capacity of 99,354 (the biggest stadium in Europe), there are still a lot of fans that won’t be there and they’ll have to find a way to watch this game, so the club made a TV guide. That post will take us to Barca’s official website. Again, we’ll get another information in comments, and this time it’s going to be the match preview.

📺🌍🕥 TV GUIDEWhen and where to watch FC Barcelona v Athletic Club. FULL GUIDE 👉 http://ow.ly/8wmn307OOylQuan i on es…

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

A video with Louis Enrique’s statement is next. This post is important because it gives fans the feel of communication with someone coming from the inside. In this case, it’s coach Enrique with his open invitation to match that will bring fan’s support in the first plan.

Luis Enrique: “The scoreline makes it a very attractive second…

🔊 Luis Enrique: “The scoreline makes it a very attractive second leg” http://ow.ly/FkLH307RW9Y🔊 Luis Enrique: “El Camp Nou ha de ser un factor determinant” http://ow.ly/mPWR307RW50🔊 Luis Enrique: "El Camp Nou debe ser un factor determinante" http://ow.ly/L2Fr307RW7Q🔴🔵 #ForçaBarça #CopaFCB

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

The match preview mentioned earlier in comments, will now be shared as a post with the addition of video showing player’s kits in the locker room.

MATCH PREVIEW: FC Barcelona v Athletic Club

MATCH PREVIEW: FC Barcelona v Athletic Club: ow.ly/5yJ8307SEde #CopaFCB📝🔴🔵 El vigent campió no es vol perdre la cita dels quarts de final. La prèvia del duel: ow.ly/kWU7307TGdx📝🔴🔵 El vigente campeón no quiere perderse la cita de los cuartos de final. La previa del duelo: ow.ly/d9Ez307TGjx

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

The line-up is the next thing we are going to find out. The names of 11 players and their substitutes are listed and showed in a video made with the help of PES 2017 game.

Line-up > FC Barcelona vs Athetic Club

FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club[LINE-UP | ALINEACIÓ | ALINEACIÓN]13. Cillessen3. Piqué5. Sergio8. A. Iniesta9. Suárez10. Messi11. Neymar Jr.12. Rafinha18. Jordi Alba20. Sergi Roberto23. UmtitiSubstitutes / Suplents / Suplentes: Ter Stegen, Rakitic, Denis, Arda, Mascherano, Paco Alcácer, Digne#CopaFCB #FCBlive

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

To keep fans up with things going on during the last moments before the beginning of this match, Barca will bring you a ‘Warm up video’ directly from Camp Nou. These time additional comment will be used to promote club’s official Twitter account which will guide fans through every minute of the game.

Fc Barcelona – Athletic ClubWarm up – Escalfament – Calentamiento#CopaFCB #ForçaBarça

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

The live coverage of the game is the next big thing we’ll get from this page. Each goal will be reported, and we’ll know who scored it and when. This post will come with the photo of the main hero. In comments, we’ll be able to find first half stats and some interesting reminders connected with the goal or player itself. A final report will be given at the end of the match.

🔥 GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAL!📍 FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club (1-0)⚽️ Suárez (35')🔵🔴 #ForçaBarça#CopaFCB #FCBlive

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

🔥 GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAL!📍 FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club (2-0)⚽️ Neymar (47’)🔵🔴 #ForçaBarça#CopaFCB #FCBlive

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

🔥 GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAL!📍 FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club (3-1)⚽️ Messi (77’)🔵🔴 #ForçaBarça#CopaFCB #FCBlive

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

[FULL TIME | FINAL] 🔥 FC Barcelona vs Athletic Club (3-1)👏 Into the quarter finals!!!👏 Classificats per als quarts de…

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

With one more game behind us, fans will receive first reactions of Barcelona’s players on social networks. The night will end with probably the most anticipated part, at least for the ones that missed the game. In this case, we are talking about highlight video with the best moves from the match.

#ForçaBarça 🔵🔴Repost @neymarjr・・・(M)uito Pouco(S) (N)ada 😂😛✌🏽

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

[HIGHLIGHTS]We have the highlights of Barça v Athletic!!! 👀 See all the goals right here 👉…

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Woensdag 11 januari 2017

The next morning will start with a photo gallery and some interesting facts.

[PHOTOS | FOTOS]⚽️ FC Barcelona v Athletic Club📷 Check out the best photos of the match📷 Les millors fotos del partit📷 Las mejores fotos del partido🔵🔴 #CopaFCB #ForçaBarça

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Donderdag 12 januari 2017

👏 Luis Suarez reaches 💯 goals for Barça👏 Luis Suárez arriba als 💯 gols amb el Barça👏 Luis Suárez llega a los 💯 goles con el Barça🔵🔴 #ForçaBarça!

Geplaatst door FC Barcelona op Donderdag 12 januari 2017

Conclusion

To build and to run a successful Facebook page, like the one of FC Barcelona, you need to be quick and accurate. You need to be interesting, and you must bring a true game experience to your fans. It’s very important to give your followers information they can get only from you. Make them feel special and keep them attached to you. It’s always a good move to make something new and creative, something that will make them more involved. By doing everything mentioned, visiting your page will easily become just another habit of your targeted group, in this case, the fans.

If you can cover your team like a pro on the game day, then you just passed one of the most difficult and the most challenging tasks you can face as a person/team responsible for its Facebook page.

 

Nikola Popović

Nikola Popović

Overtime Sports Marketing

If you have any questions about sports marketing, feel free to contact me at ni.popovic@outlook.com.

footer OT logo

Copyright © 2014-2016 Overtime

Follow Overtime team:

tw icon Marijan

tw icon Vedran

tw icon Bruno

tw icon Niko

[custom-twitter-feeds]