A fascinating month for yacht racing and sailing brands on Facebook with several big events generating huge amounts of content for online audiences. The Volvo Ocean Race started, the America’s Cup went to it’s ‘home’ market, the Transat Jacques Vabre took place and Banque Populaire began a new attempt at a round the world record.
Here’s a look at some of the Facebook stats for the month. The Top 30 Sailing brands on Facebook are here…
Top 10 Yacht Racing & Sailing Properties on Facebook.
|
Pos |
Brand |
Fans |
Fan Growth |
Fan Growth |
|
1 |
Sperry Topsider |
110,609 |
5.07% |
5,340 |
|
2 |
Volvo Ocean Race |
73,655 |
26.10% |
15,245 |
|
3 |
America’s Cup |
41,560 |
44.09% |
12,717 |
|
4 |
Jessica Watson |
29,672 |
0.15% |
44 |
|
5 |
Barcelona World Race Game |
28,571 |
0.05% |
13 |
|
6 |
OmanSail |
27,728 |
11.05% |
2,759 |
|
7 |
Cammas Groupama |
27,686 |
31.92% |
6,699 |
|
8 |
North Sails |
25,615 |
1.45% |
367 |
|
9 |
Oracle Racing |
18,355 |
4.62% |
811 |
|
10 |
Sailing Anarchy |
18,228 |
3.02% |
535 |
The staging of the America’s Cup World Series in San Diego finally gave the fledgling event some traction on Facebook. The America’s Cup grew by 44% in November, but didn’t manage to out-do the Volvo Ocean Race which attracted more fans in the period.
Cammas Groupama, competing in the Volvo Ocean Race built their fanbase by 32%, getting half as many likes as the entire America’s Cup. One of the ways in which the growth is being driven is a Facebook game that requires you to ‘Like’ Cammas Groupama in order to play.
The other change to the Top 10 is the inclusion of Australian sailor Jessica Watson. This week Watson helped launch the latest Sydney Hobart Race. She is also an ambassador for the Perth 2011 World Championships. No doubt we will get a few emails and comments about this one – good.
Top 10 Fastest Growing Sailing Facebook pages.
|
Pos |
Brand |
Fans |
Fan Growth |
Fan Growth |
|
29 |
Transat Jacques Vabre |
5,985 |
128.87% |
3,370 |
|
56 |
Team Telefonica |
2,773 |
94.46% |
1,347 |
|
23 |
Banque Populaire |
8,239 |
73.89% |
3,501 |
|
17 |
Volvo Ocean Race Game |
11,441 |
63.51% |
4,444 |
|
58 |
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing |
2,663 |
59.75% |
996 |
|
47 |
Camper ETNZ |
4,228 |
58.17% |
1,555 |
|
60 |
Team Sanya |
2,165 |
51.72% |
738 |
|
69 |
GreenComm Racing |
869 |
48.04% |
282 |
|
3 |
America’s Cup |
41,560 |
44.09% |
12,717 |
|
7 |
Cammas Groupama |
27,686 |
31.92% |
6,699 |
This is the chart for the fastest growing facebook pages by percentage. It favours teams and brands that are coming of a ‘low base’ – for example, GreenComm Racing are barely on our list at position 69, finding just 282 new facebook fans in November, but this nearly doubles their previous number.
Two events which have been dormant for a while, but had big activity in November are the Transat Jacques Vabre and Banque Populaire’s record attempt. Both found an audience on Facebook growing well in terms of pure numbers and percentage. The Transat Jacques Vabre went from position 56 to 29 on our list, while BP went from 38 to 23.
Most Engaging Sailing Properties on Facebook.
|
Pos |
Brand |
Fans |
Fan Growth | Nov Engage |
|
23 |
Banque Populaire |
8,239 |
3,501 |
45.90% |
|
56 |
Team Telefonica |
2,773 |
1,347 |
40.64% |
|
47 |
Camper ETNZ |
4,228 |
1,555 |
18.07% |
|
53 |
Loick Peyron |
3,127 |
281 |
16.37% |
|
7 |
Cammas Groupama |
27,686 |
6,699 |
12.76% |
|
65 |
Energy Team |
1,729 |
327 |
12.20% |
|
2 |
Volvo Ocean Race |
73,655 |
15,245 |
10.60% |
|
58 |
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing |
2,663 |
996 |
9.61% |
|
17 |
Volvo Ocean Race Game |
11,441 |
4,444 |
9.51% |
|
11 |
Puma Ocean Racing |
17,754 |
2,069 |
9.48% |
It’s one thing to flood social media channels with content. It is quite another to engage the audience. The average engagement number across all the pages we monitor is about 4%. As you get more likes, it is harder to engage the ‘edges’ of your fanbase – most of the pages in the Top 10 have an engagement number closer to 1.5% – which is why the Volvo Ocean Race and Cammas Groupama stand out in this list.
The other obvious stand outs are Banque Populaire and Team Telefonica, both of whom talk to non-english speaking markets.
And a birthday present for Loick Peyron. 3 out of the top 10 most engaging Facebook pages involve the French sailor – which is perhaps not a coincidence. Peyron has embraced social media with the help of Fred Eagle, with a focus on fans and the fans are responding.
