The NFL Season has nearly arrived! And Eli Manning’s 2nd Superbowl Trophy is far off in the distance as all 32 teams gear up for another run at a championship.
Eli can take to heart that he has two rings and Tony Romo has none and the Cowboys have only one playoff win since 1995 but that doesn’t change the fact that when we dove into the most LIKED teams facebook pages for the NFL Tony Romo and the Texas Star trumped Eli and the Giants. The struggle between spamming your fans on facebook and giving them truly unique and behind the scenes info still rages on, so today we will delve into the teams with more than two million likes. We will take a minute to find out if they are holding the trophy for facebook relevance and interaction or just another page with a “lot of likes.”
Eli will take the 7th place finish in the facebook standings if it means a 3rd Superbowl Trophy is on the horizon for him this season I would venture to guess.
Onto the teams!
The Most LIKED NFL Team Facebook Fan Pages
1. Dallas Cowboys – 5,058,599 LIKE’s
They are the most popular team in the NFL, but only have one playoff win since ’95, so it comes as no surprise they lead in a considerable margin over every other NFL team. Tons of interaction, comments, and what stands out to me is they actually are doing contests that benefit the user from following the team on Facebook. Including a Gatorade contest and a 70% off special on merch. Provide value on facebook, if you do that then the LIKES and interaction will come!
2. Pittsburgh Steelers – 4,663,892 LIKE’s
The Steel Curtain page jumps out to me that the link is not found at facebook dot com / Pittsburgh Steelers. If I were not writing an article I would probably stop there. Steelers is not far off but I think it is easier to find by listing the whole team’s name. The one post they seem to love though is showing play by play updates of the game every five minutes or so while the Steelers are playing. Most likely fans are already watching or listening on the radio already though and know what is going on during the game. For me, the Facebook page needs to have something that I can’t get just by watching the game and the Steelers page doesn’t provide that.
3. New England Patriots – 3,741,360 LIKE’s
That is the stretch pic for the Pats facebook page. Just my personal opinion but I would have a photo of Tom Brady throwing a deep ball or Vince Wilfork’s gut and bulging muscles stretching out to take on three offensive lineman. But that’s my personal opinion. You have the best football player on the planet, market him! Other than that they do a great job, I actually like their page and have for some time even though I am not a Pats fans because I find their posts relevant, funny, and informative.
Keep it up Pats!
4. Green Bay Packers – 3,253,898 LIKE’s
Great info here on the Pack’s page! From the ability to email the team president, do a live video chat with Aaron Rodgers, to the oodles of funny teenage girls who post “I LOVE YOU AARON!” on here for a non fan of the team there is a lot to offer.
They keep it non spammy and light and aren’t just regurgitating the game or traning camp recaps so two thumbs up here!
5. New Orleans Saints – 2,816,757 LIKE’s
I would have enjoyed seeing one of the free Sean Payton shirts on the page for sale like the one Jimmy Buffet rocked during the Final Four in New Orleans! But you can’t get everything you want. One thing that I do love is right now they are posting a ton of info and safety tips for the possible Hurricane. Sometimes sports teams I feel forget they need to be human too. The Saints love their fans and care about their people and aren’t just being robots right now. They realize there is more than just football in life and are trying to help their fans out. Two Thumbs Up and I hope everyone down there is safe and the impact is minimal.
6. Chicago Bears – 2,527,597 LIKE’s
This was a photo the Bears Page posted that a fan had sent in. They also had a poll of last night’s play of the game. They are listening to their fans, responding to their fans, showing their fans love, and interacting with their fans.
That is what a business facebook page needs to do! Well done Chicago!
7. New York Giants – 2,439,834 LIKE’s
They don’t mind being number 7, they would rather win Super Bowl’s every few years! Page is good and interaction is up but it should be as they are the defending champs. If you can’t get your people excited about your team after two super bowl wins in five years what else can you do?!
Notable Omissions From The Top LIKED List
Washington Redskins – 1,124,894 LIKE’s
#2 Most Valuable NFL Team (Forbes) – What are they doing wrong?
They aren’t winning! They are valued as the #2 team because of their location, their huge sponsorship dollars, their stadium deal, and their luxury boxes. Facebook interaction depends on their most loyal down to Earth average Joe type fans and the Redskins are losing them on a daily basis. They can be valued at high dollars by billionaires but the regular 9 to 5 guy isn’t spending a lot of time interacting with the team right now because they aren’t putting a good product on the field. Win and they will come.
New York Jets – 1,455,771 LIKE’s
They will always play second fiddle to the Giants but there a LOT of people who live in the New York and New Jersey vicinity so you would think they would be able to get more love on here. But once again…there team is a hot mess. So what else can you expect? They also do nothing outstanding and their page is hard to locate.
There we have it. The winners and some of the losers of NFL Facebook Pages. For me it still comes down to pointing your most loyal fans to the page with contests, interaction, and valuable info they can’t find by just watching the game or logging onto the team website. Make it a focal point to be different and appreciative of their support and you will increase the readership of the page!
Photo credit: All current team logos
Thanks for reading everyone!! Anyone we miss that does a great job but doesn’t have the numbers?? Drop a note here or tweet us back and let us know.
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