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Conte.ai research reveals what English Premier League clubs are doing on social media

by Alex Bogins • 15 minutes read • updated on January 11, 2023
Which of the EPL clubs has the lowest fan engagement on social media?
The Premier League is the world’s most watched football league and a global marketing sensation. As a result, it’s not surprising that its 20 football clubs have fans from all over the world. They express their admiration for their beloved clubs not just in football stadiums and living rooms worldwide but also on social media. Imagine, together, the EPL clubs have almost 700 million followers on social media!
We studied how English Premier League clubs behave on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. We researched the type of posts every single club publishes, whether their posts reflect the agenda, what types of posts make accounts stand out, when the clubs’ followers are most active, and much more. From examining the figures on each social media platform, we selected the three most followed EPL clubs on social media and performed an in-depth analysis.
Parts of the study were carried out by our analysts, and others were completed using AI. We found a perfect blend of artificial and natural intelligence to present a highly detailed report on English Premier League clubs’ (season 2022/23 members) behaviour on social media.
To begin with, let’s see what we found about the EPL clubs on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in general. Then we’ll move on to the three clubs with the most followers on social media and continue to each of the social networks separately.
Table of contents

What’s common on the EPL clubs’ accounts

98.75% of the EPL clubs’ accounts don’t have any numbers in their links. 1.25% have.
90% of the clubs publish posts on a daily basis. 10% publish weekly.
75% of the clubs have their official hashtags on social media. 25% have fan-created hashtags.
74% of all EPL clubs’ posts are published on Twitter. 26% are scattered across Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
90% of the clubs show on their social media that they are into the LGBTQ+ agenda. 10% don’t publish anything related to LGBTQ+.
75%
of the clubs don’t publish any posts about sustainability or ecology. 25% do publish about them.
70%
of the clubs publish posts related to charity. 30% don’t talk about charity on social media.
85% of the clubs don’t publish any content related to politics. 15% do publish political content.
75% of the clubs publish posts about their club’s women’s team. 25% don’t show them on their social media accounts.
70% of the clubs promote others and place ads on their social media accounts. 30% only publish non-promotional content.
70% of the clubs publish quotes from their team members and managers. 30% don’t publish such quotes.
60% of the clubs publish photos and videos of their fans. 40% don’t show their fans on their social media accounts.
85% of the clubs publish news about the goals during matches as well as match results in real-time. 15% do it without reference to time.
80% of the clubs don’t publish their players’ success stories. 20% reveal how their players reached the top clubs.
65%
of the clubs don’t post humorous posts. 35% make fun of their team members.
70%
of the clubs don’t publish historical flashbacks for a specific day in previous years. 30% do it (mainly with the #onthisday hashtag).
70%
of the clubs don’t publish any historical posts about the team. 30% do it.
75%
of the clubs don’t publish posts with touch or heat maps of matches. 25% do it.
85% of the clubs don’t publish any interactive posts for their followers. 15% publish quizzes, ticket draws, and votes.
1.3% of followers on an EPL club’s account interact (like/comment/share) with a single post on average.
During the week, followers interact with posts most on Sundays but least on Wednesdays.
During the day, followers interact with posts most actively between 20.00 and 23.00 GMT
Interestingly, we found behavioural patterns and specific features that every EPL club shares on social media.
100% of the clubs...
...have accounts on each of the studied social networks: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
...have business accounts on Instagram.
...use standard accounts on LinkedIn.
...use emojis in their post descriptions.
...congratulate their players on their birthdays.
...publish posts about their players and mention them there.
...dedicated posts to Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
...publish posts about their team successes.
...publish posts about their club stadiums.
...publish match and event announcements.
...publish match episodes in videos.
...publish their team news.
...with more than 10M followers on Instagram publish more posts than those with less than 10M followers.
...with more than 1k employees on their LinkedIn accounts have more than 100k followers there.
...follow less than 300 profiles on Instagram.

Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea on social media

Followers make social media alive. English Premier League followers’ leaders (further: top three clubs) are Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea. Let’s take a closer look at their accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
57%
of all EPL clubs’ followers are scattered across the top three clubs’ accounts.
All the top three clubs have the same average number of likes/comments/shares for every LinkedIn post.
All the top three clubs don’t follow anyone on Facebook.
90%
of all hashtags used by the top three clubs are placed on Instagram.
Let’s move on and look at each of the top three clubs in-depth.

Manchester United

The three most used hashtags throughout Man Utd’s presence on social media:
#manutd#mufc#premierleague
The number of followers on each of Man Utd’s social networks by the report publication date
79M followers are on Facebook
61.3M followers are on Instagram
33.8M followers are on Twitter
286k followers are on LinkedIn
On average, the number of followers increased by 9.7% on each of Man Utd’s social networks within eight months.
The number of followed profiles - employees number on LinkedIn - on each of Man Utd’s social networks by the report publication date
173 profiles are followed on Twitter
161 profiles are followed on Instagram
3.9k employees are present on LinkedIn
On average, 2.7% of followers on Man Utd’s profile interact (like/comment/share) with a single post.

Liverpool

The three most used hashtags throughout Liverpool’s presence on social media:
#lfc#liverpoolfc#ucl
The number of followers on each of Liverpool’s social networks by the report publication date
44M followers are on Facebook
40.9M followers are on Instagram
22.7M followers are on Twitter
223k followers are on LinkedIn
On average, the number of followers increased by 14% on each of Liverpool’s social networks within eight months.
The number of followed profiles - employees number on LinkedIn - on each of Liverpool’s social networks by the report publication date
357.8k profiles are followed on Twitter
356 profiles are followed on Instagram
2.1k employees are present on LinkedIn
On average, 2.5% of followers on Liverpool’s profile interact (like/comment/share) with a single post.

Chelsea

The three most used hashtags throughout Chelsea’s presence on social media:
#cfc#ucl#bluesintheusa
The number of followers on each of Chelsea’s social networks by the report publication date
52M followers are on Facebook
36.2M followers are on Instagram
23.1M followers are on Twitter
178k followers are on LinkedIn
On average, the number of followers increased by 10.4% on each of Chelsea’s social networks within eight months.
The number of followed profiles - employees number on LinkedIn - on each of Chelsea’s social networks by the report publication date
302 profiles are followed on Twitter
151 profiles are followed on Instagram
2.5k employees are present on LinkedIn
On average, 2.2% of followers on Chelsea’s profile interact (like/comment/share) with a single post.
Those were the leaders. Now it’s time to look at each of the social networks separately. More categorised data relating to the EPL clubs’ accounts on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is presented below.

Five random facts about English Premier League clubs on social media

Over time, EPL clubs have experimented with the style and design of their social media posts.
The clubs make the most posts per day on a match day. On average, they publish 5-10 posts.
There is no relation between the year the club was founded and the number of followers on social media.
Chelsea has the shortest profile descriptions or doesn’t have them (on Instagram and Twitter). That doesn’t stop them from being one of the top three EPL clubs on social media.
Manchester United created their Twitter account three years later than Liverpool and Chelsea (2012 vs 2009 for both). Yet, Man Utd has the most followers on Twitter.

Instagram as the EPL clubs’ playground

75% of the clubs have the ‘Highlights’ section on their Instagram accounts. 25% don’t include it.
65% of the clubs don’t publish ads for their own products on Instagram. 35% place them there.
45% of the clubs have 1-10M followers, 30% have more than 10M followers, and 25% have less than 1M followers on Instagram.
95% of the clubs’ posts on Instagram are less than 160 characters long, 4% are 160-1000 characters, and 1% are longer than 1000 characters.
The three most interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Instagram:
43% of followers interact with posts (with a video) about funny moments from training;
36% of followers interact with posts (with a video) about the players’ emotions during the match;
33% of followers interact with posts about meaningful moments and people in the team’s history.
The three least interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Instagram:
0.0072% of followers interact with posts with no people on photos;
0.0069% of followers interact with posts in another language;
0.0017% of followers interact with call-to-action posts with a poster.
2.2%
of followers on an EPL club’s account interact (like/comment/share) with every single post on Instagram on average.
143
posts is the average number that EPL clubs publish on their Instagram accounts per month.
During the week, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Instagram, most on Sundays and least on Wednesdays.
During the day, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Instagram most actively between 17.00 and 20.00 GMT

Twitter as the EPL clubs’ playground

60% of the clubs registered their Twitter accounts in 2009, 20% registered in 2010, 10% registered in 2012, and 10% registered in 2008.
EPL clubs’ profile descriptions on Twitter:
45% don’t mention any other accounts in their description;
30% point to their club’s related accounts on Twitter (e.g. women/academy);
20% point only to their club’s help accounts (they are usually present in @namehelp format);
5% point to both the club’s related and help accounts.
45% of clubs have 1-10M followers, 30% have less than 1M followers, and 25% have more than 10M followers on Twitter.
88% of the clubs’ posts on Twitter are less than 140 characters long, and 12% are 140-280 characters.
The three most interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Twitter:
25.7% of followers interact with posts about a player’s health conditions;
12.8% of followers interact with posts with a player’s shots during a match/training;
8.6% of followers interact with thanks posts.
The three least interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Twitter:
0.0014% of followers interact with call-to-action posts about unhabitual things;
0.001% of followers interact with quiz posts;
0.0007% of followers interact with posts about an event during the specific minute of the match.
1.4%
of followers on an EPL club’s account interact (like/comment/share) with every single post on Twitter on average.
834
posts is the average number that EPL clubs publish on their Twitter accounts per month.
During the week, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Twitter, most on Sundays and Mondays, but least on Wednesdays and Fridays.
During the day, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Twitter most actively between 21.00 and 23.00 GMT.

Facebook as the EPL clubs’ playground

60% of the clubs use the word ‘welcome’ in their profile descriptions on Facebook. 40% don’t include this particular word.
90% of the clubs don’t follow anyone on Facebook. 10% follow others.
90% of the clubs have the ‘Shop’ section on Facebook. 10% don’t use it.
45% of clubs have 1-10M followers, 30% have more than 10M followers, and 25% have less than 1M followers on Facebook.
87% of the clubs’ posts on Facebook are less than 160 characters long, 10% are 160-1000 characters, and 3% are longer than 1000 characters.
The three most interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Facebook:
17.4% of followers interact with posts (with a video) about a player’s goal in the match;
15% of followers interact with thanks posts;
14% of followers interact with posts about players’ reactions to a trophy win.
The three least interesting post topics for EPL clubs’ followers on Facebook:
0.0036% of followers interact with posts about unhabitual things (e.g. a digital shirt);
0.0027% of followers interact with posts with only a link;
0.0022% of followers interact with posts that include shop offers on a one-colour background.
1%
of followers on an EPL club’s account interact (like/comment/share) with every single post on Facebook on average.
138
posts is the average number that EPL clubs publish on their Facebook accounts per month.
During the week, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Facebook, most on Sundays and Mondays, but least on Wednesdays.
During the day, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on Facebook most actively between 21.00 and 23.00 GMT.

LinkedIn as the EPL clubs’ playground

95% of the clubs have their longest profile descriptions on LinkedIn. 5% have their longest description on another social network.
95% of the clubs publish posts on LinkedIn. 5% don’t publish anything on their LinkedIn accounts.
70% of the clubs have less than 100k followers on LinkedIn. 30% have more than 100k followers.
82% of the clubs’ posts on LinkedIn are less than 160 characters long, 12% are 160-1000 characters, and 6% are longer than 1000 characters.
The three types of posts that EPL clubs publish the most on LinkedIn:
52.6% publish team news and announcements;
42.1% publish ad posts;
36.8% publish vacancies.
The three types of posts that EPL clubs publish the least on LinkedIn:
27.6% publish information about their club’s women’s team;
23.7% publish congrats for celebrations (national, international, etc.);
19.7% publish posts related to charity.
0.7%
of followers on an EPL club’s account interact (like/comment/share) with every single post on LinkedIn on average.
12
posts is the average number that EPL clubs publish on their LinkedIn accounts per month.
During the week, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on LinkedIn, most on Mondays and Thursdays, but least on Fridays.
During the day, followers interact with the clubs’ posts on LinkedIn most actively between 19.00 and 21.00 GMT.

Time to sum up

We discovered that the football clubs studied shared not only the Premier League presence but also their social media behaviour. However, among the common features, there is something that distinguishes the club’s account from the rest…
Below is a list of types of posts that are unusual for most EPL clubs’ accounts but are found in one or some of them:
  • Posts about team successes in comics;
  • Posts with stats for football betting;
  • Posts including not just factual information about squad changes but also with gratitude for what has been done to those who leave the team;
  • Posts with player’s room tours;
  • Posts with educational content (e.g., how to perform first aid);
  • Posts with videos of the team’s trip to matches - from an airport to a pitch;
  • Posts with the video in the backstage;
  • Posts about players’ life outside their clubs;
  • Posts with voting for a club’s coat of arms.
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