Chicago Bears most “engaging” NFL team on Social Media, says study

While the Dallas Cowboys clearly win the NFL’s popularity contest, the team’s fame doesn’t translate in to fan engagement. Unmetric gathered data in terms of Likes, Comments, Shares and Impressions to determine average engagement for each of the NFL’s 32 teams.

The Chicago Bears are the league’s most engaging, with an average engagement score of 320. The Ravens, Packers, Cowboys and Texans round out the top five as the most engaging teams on Facebook.

What’s more, the Bears’ Facebook fans posted 1249 times during the time period measured, which is best in the NFL and 377 more posts than the AFC-leading New York Jets. While the Bears get the most fans talking, the Detroit Lions talk mostly among themselves, posting a league-high 400 times on Facebook and 1188 times on Twitter. Quantity clearly doesn’t mean quality, though, as the Lions are also the worst team in the NFL at actually engaging their fans – each post generates remarkably few Likes, Comments and Shares compared to all the other teams.

So at the end of it all, who wins the NFL Social Media Smack Down? According to Unmetric, the Dallas Cowboys earn the ring with a combined Unmetric Score of 96. But perhaps more surprising is the second place Green Bay Packers. Despite the small population of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the team earns a combined score of 90—making the cut for the top five teams in total number of fans and followers, engagement on Facebook, and average reply time and growth on Twitter. Notably, on Twitter alone, the NY Jets outrank both teams with a score of 44.

Here’s a breakdown of some notable metrics, gathered from the first month of the NFL 2012 regular season, from September 5 to October 5, 2012:

Facebook

Total Fans

1. Dallas Cowboys –  5,187,791
2. Pittsburgh Steelers –  4,733,141
3. New England Patriots –  3,807,010
4. Green Bay Packers –  3,325,319
5. New Orleans Saints –  2,868,875

Growth

1. Houston Texans – 5.1%
2. St. Louis Rams – 3.8%
3. San Francisco 49ers – 3.5%

Carolina Panthers – 3.5%

1. Denver Broncos – 2.7%
2. Oakland Raiders – 2.5%

 

Highest Engagement (Calculation of Likes, Comments, Shares and Impressions that each FB post receives)

1. Chicago Bears – 320
2. Baltimore Ravens – 303
3. Green Bay Packers – 274
4. Dallas Cowboys – 266
5. Houston Texans – 259

 

Lowest Engagement (Calculation of Likes, Comments, Shares and Impressions that each FB post receives)

1. Detroit Lions – 11
2. Indianapolis Colts – 44
3. Cleveland Browns – 52
4. Miami Dolphins – 53
5. Kansas City Chiefs – 59

Most Fan Posts

1. Chicago Bears – 1249
2. New York Jets – 872
3. Houston Texans – 800
4. New York Giants – 766
5. Baltimore Ravens – 775

Most Admin Posts

1. Detroit Lions – 400
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 227
3. Oakland Raiders – 211
4. San Francisco 49ers – 203
5. Pittsburgh Steelers – 182

Admin Response Rate

1. New York Jets – 11.3%
2. Atlanta Falcons – 5.3%
3. Philadelphia Eagles – 3%
4. Baltimore Ravens – 0.5%
5. St. Louis Rams – 0.4%

Average Admin Response Time

1. New York Jets – 1 minute 58 seconds
2. Philadelphia Eagles – 2 minutes 11 seconds
3. Baltimore Ravens – 2 minutes 30 seconds
4. Chicago Bears – 4 minutes 2 seconds
5. Cincinnati Bengals – 7 minutes 26 seconds

Twitter

Unmetric Score

1. New York Jets – 44
2. Pittsburgh Steelers – 41

3. Green Bay Packers – 41

4. San Diego Chargers – 40

4. Seattle Seahawks – 40

6. Carolina Panthers – 39

7. Atlanta Falcons – 39

7. Dallas Cowboys – 39

9. Buffalo Bills – 37

 

Total Followers

1. New York Jets –  463,999
2. Dallas Cowboys –  431,335
3. Pittsburgh Steelers –  406,764
4. New York Giants –  362,293
5. Green Bay Packers –  344,608

Growth

1. Seattle Seahawks – 20.7%
2. Baltimore Ravens – 16.7%
3. Green Bay Packers – 13.8%
4. Dallas Cowboys – 13.7%
5. Houston Texans – 13.5%

Most Tweets

1. Buffalo Bills – 1395
2. Atlanta Falcons – 1221
3. New York Jets – 1212
4. Detroit Lions – 1188
5. Washington Redskins – 1166

Most Replies

1. New York Jets – 878
2. Philadelphia Eagles – 237
3. Pittsburgh Steelers – 202
4. San Diego Chargers – 193
5. Carolina Panthers – 180

Average Reply Time

1. Indianapolis Colts – 1 minute

Detroit Lions – 1 minute

1. Oakland Raiders – 2 minutes
2. Buffalo Bills – 3 minutes
3. Cincinnati Bengals – 4 minutes
4. Green Bay Packers – 6 minutes
6. Methodology:Unmetric compiled its NFL Social Media Smack Down report by sourcing data from its social media benchmark platform. Facebook and Twitter statistics were gathered for the first month of the 2012 NFL regular season, from September 5 to October 5, 2012.

 

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.