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SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT – USF FOOTBALL

Claire Maloney

SPB 4717

October 10, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Company Overview........................................................................................2

Number of Posts............................................................................................2

Engagement.................................................................................................2

Types of Media.............................................................................................3

What Works Best...........................................................................................4

Encouraging the Best Engagement......................................................................4

Suggestions for Improvement............................................................................5

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COMPANY OVERVIEW

USF Football is a Division I football team that play in the American Athletic Conference
(AAC). The team began play in 1997 when they blew out Kentucky in a commanding 80-3
victory. USF Football was not established until forty-one years after the school was originally
founded in 1957. The organization focuses time off the field to get involved in their
community. From visiting Tampa General Hospital, to fostering inclusivity in everything they
do, the team’s mission shines through. Though USF Football has been plagued with
disappointing seasons in recent years, it still has a very large following compared to other
teams in the AAC and is dedicated to providing an excellent experience for both fans and
student athletes. After an analysis of their Twitter and Instagram accounts, there is a lot to
take away from successful and unsuccessful strategies the team has implemented.

NUMBER OF POSTS

Over the period of September 1-October 7, the team posted on Twitter 231 times and
on Instagram 89 times. There is no specific time during the day the team tends to post at but
there are more posts on or around game days than other days of the week. For this reason,
many posts are made between Friday and Sunday. Since this team posts in game updates,
they tend to post on Twitter far more than Instagram; also posting mainly between Friday and
Sunday.

ENGAGEMENT

Weekly engagements for the team have been on a steady decline for the team since
week three of their season when they played the University of Alabama. The tables featured
below show exactly how posts have been doing each week of their season.

Looking at the table representing Twitter’s performance, you can see an increase in
metrics for week five when the team had an unexpected victory over the Navy. After the
team lost to UAB in week six, the account’s performance tanked aside from comments;
however, they were almost all negative comments which reflects poorly on the quality of the
brand.
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Twitter Engagements

Looking content posted on USF Football’s Instagram account, there has also been a
steady decline in engagement as the season has progressed, though not as steep as the
decline on Twitter. Interactions had also been seeing a steady decline until week six after the
UAB loss, which led to poor engagement from fans.

Instagram Engagements

TYPES OF MEDIA

USF Football posts a large variety of content, from team updates to uniform reveals,
to philanthropy events, all have been featured on their socials. The first table represents how
each post type has performed on Instagram from September 1-October 7. Highlight videos
tend to receive more likes than other posts and have an average reach that reflects that, but
reels still reach a large audience as well and need to be utilized properly for the team to be
successful on social media.

The second table is a further in-depth view of how each type of reel performs
compared to all others. Highlight reels still perform much higher than any other category but
team and player personality reels get watched significantly more.
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Twitter posts a much larger variety of content but one post that frequently gets made
is the uniform reveal before each game. The table below shows which types of media fans
like to consume uniform reveals as well as what format they should be posted in to perform
the best.

WHAT WORKS BEST

Posting funny graphics, team personality videos,

and highlight reels will almost always outperform any other post.
For example, the Rice graphic to the left was posted after USF
Football beat Rice as the underdog and performed better than
any other post this season by almost every metric. Though the
in-game success of the team greatly helped the post’s
performance, the humorous nature of the post caused it to be
shared two times more than any other post between
September1-October 7. Additionally, in-game action shots and
highlight videos also perform incredibly well on both Instagram
and Twitter. Fans get excited when their teams are successful so
posting player feats and achievements will get more attention
than other, less exciting content.

ENCOURAGING THE BEST ENGAGEMENT

Posting fun videos and graphics on Instagram and Twitter

leads to more positive interactions and engagement from fans.
For example, the graphic to the right was posted the week prior
to USF’s game against the Navy and many fans commented about
their appreciation of the graphic. Capitalizing on positive
performance from the team is also paramount for their social
media success. If the team comes off a game with an impressive
win, when they post more recaps, posters, and highlights they are
engaged with far more than other posts. If the team loses, they
shouldn’t post as much, but should still post a highlight reel or a
tweet highlighting what the team did right so that fans are still
invested in the brand.
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SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Implementing a play of the week segment might help grow the team’s following on
both Instagram and Twitter. It’s hard to market a losing team, but there are almost always
highlights, even in losing games. Posting great plays from bad games might help fans continue
to believe in and support their team. USF Football already has some of the largest reach in
the AAC so their main objective should be engaging current fans and turning casual viewers
into fans. Another way to address this would be by posting a question of the week video to
showcase player’s personalities and team dynamic. For example, a reel was posted where
players were asked who had the worst hair on the team and it had a watch time of 250 hours,
which is three times more than the next reel with the highest watch time. Continuing to
highlight the current team and the individuals on it might help fans be more supportive and
less likely to leave negative comments, even after losing games.