The Sport Social Media Index is an annual league table of all 148 British professional football, rugby and cricket teams, ranked according to the best use of social media by their official club channels.
Launched in 2013, the annual Index is compiled by measuring the social media performance of each team based, not just on an algorithm, but research from a team of seven people who looked at eight social networks. The data was analysed by a panel of four judges who presided over the final results.
The Index, produced by PR and social media agency Umpf – and partnered once again by William Hill – includes an overall table of all 148 teams ranked top to bottom, plus nine additional tables showing rankings based on each sporting league.based on each sporting league.
Last year, Spurs topped the overall 2013 Sport Social Media Index, but this year newly-promoted Premier League side Leicester City topped the 148-team league (see case study, below). None of the six Premier League sides in last year’s top ten made this year’s top ten.
In fact, the balance of power within the top ten shifted from the Premier League (six teams in 2013; one this year), to the Football League Championship (two teams in 2013; four in 2014).
Other notable inclusions in this year’s top ten included rugby Premiership’s Leicester Tigers (9th this year, up from 12th in 2013) and Super League’s Castleford Tigers (6th this year, up from 84th in 2013 – see case study, below).
Congratulations to Leeds United (Championship), Leyton Orient (League One), Plymouth Argyle (League Two), St Johnstone (SPFL), Castleford Tigers (Super League), Leicester Tigers (Premiership), Warwickshire (CC Div One) and Worcestershire (CC Div Two) who topped the table for best social media performance in their respective leagues.
There was an overall 11% improvement in the average team score across the 148 teams, from 49.9 last year to 55.6 this year. The average score of the top ten clubs improved by 7.5% from 63.9 to 68.7 this year from a possible total score of 100.