Social Media and that round of 59!

Social Media and that round of 59!

On Friday 13th September Jim Furyk became the 6th person to shot a round of 59 on the PGA tour.

We have looked at the impact of the posts and tweets this amazing round of golf has had.

Here’s a brief review of how the tournament, brands and players engaged with golf fans around the world via social media.

What Happened On Twitter

The reaction to this low round was somewhat muted on Twitter to start with. We suspect that players who are prolific users of this medium were still out on the course, or on their way to the airport after missing the cut!

Jim posted only his 16th Tweet by way of celebration.

The Reach Of Twitter

As you will have seen, Jim Furyk has 286 followers. This has only increased by 10 since the historic round on the 13th.

What is impressive that with only 286 followers, his celebratory Tweet has been retweeted by 10 people. This is a 3.49% engagement level.

The retweets reached a further 1,061 Twitter users.

The tweet was also marked as a Favorite by 7 followers, providing a further reach of 5,729

What Happened On Twitter

We liked these Tweets from Justin Rose, Trevor Immelman and Paul Azinger.

@BMWchamps on Twitter

The official Twitter feed for the BMW Championship is followed by 5,780 golf and / or BMW fans.

They published 3 great tweets to break the news, which collectively went on to be retweeted to an audience of 23,240.

@BMWchamps on Twitter

BMW Championship on Facebook

The official page of the tournament on Facebook did an amazing job with a live news feed as it became obvious that something special was taking place.

These posts included images taken during the round, as they happened (see next page) and helped to create a level of excitement with golf fans around the world.

The first post received 2 Likes

The announcement of the round of 59 received 97 Likes and 14 shares

The ‘official’ photo of Jim and his ball marked with 59 received 214 Likes and 25 shares

Jim is a Callaway staffer, and their social team were quick off the mark with this very stylish infographic posted on their Facebook page. The results are almost as impressive as the round of golf!

98% of this engagement was within 24 hours.

© C

alla

way

Inc

73 Comments

486 Shares

2,577 Likes

FAN ENGAGEMENT

A single line post with a great image resulted in 37 shares and 459 likes.

That’s great brand awareness for Living Essentials and their 5-Hour Energy Drink.

© J

im F

uryk

Sponsors – Opportunity Taken

5-Hour Energy, one of Jim Furyk’s sponsors made sure their brand involvement was recognised with a lovely congratulatory Facebook post.

The post anatomy is perfect: link to the Jim Furyk Facebook page and the PGA Tour page and hash tags for the BMW Championship and the magic score of 59.

Web.com posted a great picture on their Facebook page.

They also took to Twitter to offer their congratulations and to remind their customers that Jim will be speaking at a customer event later in September.

I bet those tickets will all be gone by now!

Sponsors – Opportunity Missed

There are other brands who sponsor Jim Furyk.

We have not been able to identify social media content related to this event on their social media accounts.

In our view this is a missed opportunity to provide audiences with a news story related to a brand, as opposed to simply filling timelines with product announcements and other corporate content?

Social Media Scorecard

  Opportunity   Golf fans want to engage with pro golf events and players

  Tour events, brands and sponsors need to provide opportunities to engage via social networks.

  Timing   Analysis of the social media engagement levels demonstrates that

timing is everything.

  Callaway received a lot of social engagement with their infographic – 98% within the first 24 hours.

  Don’t wait until the next day, or week, to join in with the conversation.

Sometimes when you play golf you need a caddy to select the right clubs

Social media marketing can be like that – think of us as your caddy

We help you make the right selections

The Digital Golfer team are specialists in using social media and digital marketing to create awareness and generate demand.

Our range of services will help you build a stronger marketing presence and deliver greater results for you and your partners.

David@TheDigitalGolfer.com | Phone: +44 330 7000 100 | Web: TheDigitalGolfer.com | @GolferMarketing