It was so simple in the early days.
When social media first hit the sports world, most teams and leagues had their single @ handle or official Page across the few major platforms. ‘Content’ mostly consisted of links to press releases, website videos (which were mostly interview scrums and the occasional ‘feature story’), ticket links (oh, yes, ticket links with camefrom codes), and answering the occasional fan question about logistics or policies.
Safe to say things have changed a bit.
The scope of social media for sports teams has transformed, to say nothing of the nature of social platforms in general. (Some may argue it’s inaccurate to call most of the major apps ‘social’ networks these days). Fans have more options than ever to learn about and engage with their favorite leagues, teams, and athletes. Even when they ‘follow’ the official accounts, there’s no guarantee they’ll see the content those accounts post. Heck, even what it means to be a ‘fan,’ or a general consumer of ‘sports’ content, has such a loose definition nowadays.
So what is the purpose of a team’s social media presence in 2026? How can they even begin to earn attention amidst the crowded sports ecosystem across social? These are a couple of the questions Andrew Taylor and his colleagues wrestle with day to day.
“You need to rely on what makes you unique content-wise,” said Taylor, Senior Manager of Club Social Strategy for the NFL. “For the NFL clubs, that’s access to their players that no one else has. We call it helmets-off content.
“So all those fun videos of them walking around at practice, answering the funny questions — we call that helmets-off content. And that’s the best performing content across NFL clubs, because it gives fans the opportunity to see a side of players they don’t get to see on the field, that they don’t get to see on ESPN or Fox or CBS on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, occasional Saturday. The content is what really drives everything. And that access.”
It’s that access approach to content that will get football fans to consume what’s on team accounts, because they’re not getting it elsewhere. The actual football? Whether that’s highlights or X’s and O’s or transactions or hot takey arguments — there is no shortage of sources for that. So teams do what only they can do to earn fan attention and engagement.
But, at the same time, sports teams want more than a larger slice of the existing fan pie. And in today’s content-driven, interest graph-fueled, recommendation-based feeds, users are ripe for attraction. New fans need not form first from an exciting touchdown, a buzzer-beating three, or a home run robbery. Their first exposure could be only tangentially related to the sport or team; the fan funnels are as numerous and diverse as ever. Team social media strategies have evolved to take advantage of this new world, Taylor explained.
“You’re casting that wide net, especially on social, where we’re in this post-TikTok world, where followers aren’t as important as they used to be, because content is being served to so many different people,” he said. “This is life in social — you have to react to what the platform algorithms are doing. And the platform algorithms are saying you need to be broad and reach a wide group of people. Yes, it’s still important to cater to your diehard fans. But to survive on social, you need to do what the platform is telling you.
“And I think that’s just the top of the funnel,” Taylor added. “And then they like a video because they like food, they like an NFL video because they like fashion…”One of the best performing videos last year from NFL clubs was their kitchen staff going through what a team eats every year. And I think the broader an audience you can go after, that’s a win.”
Reaching a broad audience and flooding the top of the fan funnel is only part of the strategy, however. And while a viral kitchen staff video deserves to be celebrated, those massive metrics exist in a different bucket than the ones tied to content that creates lifelong connections to the team. These goals don’t exist in a vacuum; it’s perfectly fine to have fans of your content, even if they don’t end up caring about the team’s playoff push. The deeper consideration is how much the content leaves a mark on someone, such that there’s a connection to the brand, and it’s not just another faceless account with an interesting piece of content amidst the sea of others.
Billions of views happen daily, and users don’t know, and oftentimes don’t care, who produced the content they’re watching. That brings both opportunities and challenges, adding a wrinkle in how to think about social media strategy, KPIs, and defining success in this new era.
“I think there’s a difference between having quality interactions with fans and more vanity interactions, like a post that goes viral,” said Taylor, as we discussed how impact differs across content. “Yeah, it’ll hit a lot of people, a lot of eyeballs. But are people going to scroll through and they’ll like it, but then are they going to remember it in two posts, or two hours, or two days? Whereas if you have a really compelling piece of content and it maybe reaches a quarter of the audience as that other post, but people are still thinking about it two days later — what’s more valuable?”
One of the best ways, historically, to know if content was truly developing fans was tracking follower growth. That metric still matters, but getting someone to click follow was once the biggest factor by far in determining the potential audience for content. Today, a user’s following status is just one factor among many affecting to whom content gets served. Which means that while reach and engagement metrics going up can represent meaningful success on social, they’re not as directly tied to fan growth.
Despite this new reality, Taylor and his team still track follower increases and decreases among teams. Because there’s still value and insight in that number.
“I think [follower count today] is best to be used as a barometer,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily important as like an end-all number. A good example is, when a player signs with a team, we can see on the day that you announced the signing, or the day that you posted a video of him coming to practice for the first time, your follower count spikes. That’s usually an indication that people who are fans of this player are now coming to be a part of your team for this journey …
“I still think it’s always important to see growth. But I think it’s just important to see kind of like when there is a spike in followers, why. And I think understanding that why just kind of helps you understand your fans’ behavior. And I think that’s a really important thing … Follower growth can still be powerful. It’s not the same as it used to be, but still it’s a good indicator of popularity, and what’s happening at that given time.”
The breadth of potential audience and the size of the top of the funnel have had significant implications for the scope and strategy of social media. Back in those single @ channel days, arguably no one had a more comprehensive view of everything happening inside the organization than the social media manager. It meant going a mile wide but often an inch deep in most areas. Then the single @ multiplied into many, and all of a sudden there were dozens of channels across several platforms. There is more value to capture, more opportunity to lean into a specific department or element with a unique POV, strategy, and content production.
Org charts expanded and roles evolved, whether it’s the vertical video specialist, the YouTube strategist, the UK account manager, or, as Taylor offers as an example, the person running one of the increasingly massive mascot accounts.
“I think the smart organizations will have their social team do it all,” said Taylor, reflecting on where the teams overseeing the ancillary accounts reside within an organization. “And I think if you have the resources, you can have someone who’s just the mascot person, or just the international accounts person.
“And I think that, similar to kind of what we talked about back at MLB, it’s so important to know everything that’s going on. So if it’s your job to just know everything that’s going on with the mascot, that makes your life so much easier. That makes the content that much better … That’s, again, where resources come into play. It’s crazy to say, oh, we have one person on social that just does a mascot account. That’s the use of a very precious head. But then you can be like, well, this mascot generates these millions of views for our organization, which you wouldn’t be able to do without the person running it behind the scenes.”
So what started way back when as a simple feed of glorified press releases and a one-person show has evolved into an ever-expanding team telling stories that extend beyond sports into lifestyle verticals, and finding new ways to reach people and define ‘fans.’ The old joke that the social media reins were in the hands of the intern is farcical now, with social an indispensable part of the business, not merely an amplifier of everything else, but the fulcrum around which the organization’s strategies get built and implemented.
The earliest social media coordinators and managers are among the senior leaders in sports now. They recognize the power of these platforms: that with focus and investment, you can turn just about anyone into a fan. And that may be the most important evolution of all.
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