LaLiga clubs achieve 45% more social media engagement in 2021-22

Every Spanish club with a TikTok account experienced significant growth on that platform.

The 2021-22 LaLiga Santander season was another pulsating campaign and it was one worth posting about on social media. This is made clear by the data collected by Blinkfire Analytics, with the 20 clubs of LaLiga Santander having grown their follower counts by 13% and the engagement with their publications by 45%.

Between July 1st 2021 and June 30th 2022, the collective follower counts of all 20 LaLiga Santander clubs across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Sina Weibo, YouTube and TikTok grew from 664 million to 752 million, an increase of 88 million or 13%.

Comparing this past campaign with the previous one, the total number of interactions with the posts of LaLiga Santander teams rose from 3.555 billion in 2020-21 to 5.159 billion in 2021-22, a rise of more than a billion and a half, of 1.604 billion to be precise. That represented a rise in total engagement of 45%.

It’s interesting to note that engagement per post grew too, from an average of 9,298 interactions in 2020-21 to 12,246 in 2021/22, which translates to 2,948 more interactions per post, an increase in engagement per post of 32%.

Which were the most popular social media platforms for LaLiga Santander clubs?

In terms of the most popular social media platforms, Instagram has overtaken Facebook as the place where LaLiga Santander clubs have the most followers. The total number of Instagram followers when adding up all the LaLiga Santander clubs is 254 million, courtesy of growth on this platform of 17%, which places it ahead of the 243 million Facebook followers of the clubs of Spain’s top division.

It’s little surprise, then, that Instagram remains the top social media site for engagement for a second year in a row, with 3.828 billion interactions on the IG posts of LaLiga Santander clubs in 2021-22. Interestingly, there was a 759% increase in video views per post on Instagram this past season, highlighting the appetite that football fans have for video content, in particular Instagram Reels.

Users are consuming more short-form videos and this has seen TikTok continue its rapid growth. LaLiga Santander clubs’ TikTok follower counts more than doubled this past year, rising by 116% from 20 million to 43 million. TikTok has even reached the point where it is the platform experiencing the most engagement per post, with 104,794 interactions per video.

Which clubs enjoyed the most social media growth in 2021/22?

Blinkfire Analytics also has statistics on specific clubs and the clear winner in terms of follower growth was Cádiz CF, which grew by 69% over the past 12 months, from having 860,000 followers across the six platforms to boasting 1.456 million followers. The other clubs to have grown their follower counts the most in percentage terms were Rayo Vallecano (45%), Villarreal CF (34%), Real Betis (30%) and Elche CF (29%). As for pure volume, Real Madrid amassed the largest total number of new followers by adding 44.9 million, which was 16% growth for the Spanish and European champions in percentage terms.

There was a lot of growth on TikTok, as every club that has a profile on this platform enjoyed growth of at least 34%, while Real Betis achieved an incredible 1,762% growth on this one site, adding 667,000 new followers.

As for engagement, Rayo Vallecano stood out here as they increased season-long interactions from 2.244 million to 5.908 million in their first campaign back at LaLiga Santander level. Rayo Vallecano’s engagement growth was 163% in percentage terms, while they were followed in the engagement growth rankings by Real Madrid (100%), Real Betis (79%), Villarreal CF (40%) and Cádiz CF (27%).

Ultimately, this continued growth in follower counts and engagement is a major boost for LaLiga Santander clubs when it comes to negotiating sponsorship deals. The two brands that enjoyed the most engagement through Spanish clubs last season were Emirates first and Adidas second, both of which sponsor Real Madrid.

What type of social media content worked the best?

Logically, success on the pitch can translate into success on social media and many of the clubs mentioned above enjoyed impressive campaigns, such as Real Madrid with their LaLiga Santander, Spanish Super Cup and Champions League wins, Real Betis with their Copa del Rey triumph and Villarreal CF with their run to the Champions League semi-finals.

However, the use of humour was important too and Cádiz CF and Real Betis in particular became known for their fun and light-hearted posts across multiple platforms. Villarreal CF even showed how to combine both these factors, for example with their post about “Raulandowski” after Raúl Albiol won the Man of the Match award in the Submarino Amarillo’s elimination of Bayern Munich.

While the quality of the publications is the most important element, quantity helps too and LaLiga Santander clubs posted 10% more frequently in 2021-22 than in 2020-21. Real Madrid significantly increased their number of posts, doing so by 52%, and this showed in the performance of their accounts.

As LaLiga Santander clubs invest more and more resources into their social media departments, both the quality and quantity of posts can keep improving further. This should, therefore, lead to sustained social media growth over the coming years, in terms of followers, engagement, video views and all the other key metrics.

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