Increasingly, our customers and partners approach us for data and insights that can help them implement social media strategies for growing participation in their events and delivering stand-out experiences for those participants. Like the customers we serve, we are keenly invested in leveraging social media, and particularly, Facebook to further our goal: to make the world a more active place.
According to social media data from last month, athletes today are turning to Facebook for information on sports, events, nutrition and health, with Facebook delivering 17 times more unique visits per month than Twitter. Top-performing content from our ACTIVE.com Facebook profile, our most popular social media channel with nearly one million fans, reveals the content formats and topics that make athletes click as well as which days and times of day they’re most likely to respond to that content.
Analysis of the data shows that Facebook posts that focus on Hiking, Health, Fitness, Running and Nutrition (in that order) achieved the highest reach for the month of September. Hiking likely ranked as the top-performing topic for September due to cooler fall temperatures and the corresponding increase in enthusiasm for outdoor activities.
Video is king. While video delivered nearly six times the reach and engagement of any other type of content, it is interesting that links to 3rd party online content ranked as the second top-performing type of content.
When it comes to timing your Facebook posts to drive the most significant reach and engagement, content that posts on Mondays delivers the highest levels of reach and engagement, second only to weekends, with Sunday and Saturday delivering the second and third highest levels, respectively. The 12:00-3:00pm time period ranks number one for reach and engagement, with the late night/early morning hours of 12am-6:00am representing the second highest levels of reach and engagement.
So, your best bet for inspiring an athlete to see and engage with your content during the month of September on Facebook would be to post a hiking- or health-related video on a Monday between 12:00-3:00pm!
