180 Social Media Examples in Sports as Play Resumes

Sports are finally coming back! But, there’s no playbook for how teams and leagues should approach social media when resuming play during a pandemic.

Announcing the return of sport on social media with both creativity and sensitivity is no easy feat. To help social media teams get their creative juices flowing, we’ve found 180 social media posts and tactics from 50 different leagues and teams who are announcing their return.

This unprecedented time in sports merits ingenuity, and that applies to social media as well. As play resumes, likely with empty stands, fan expectations around the digital experience are set as high as they’ve ever been. Sports social media content creators and marketers have an opportunity to rethink how they can best engage fans right now.

As part of our deep dive, we looked around the globe and found 15 leagues and 36 teams who have resumed their season with the most social creativity. We found that social media tactics that drove awareness and engagement and provided relevant information to fans. We’ve organized them into these categories:

• We’re Back: announcing the return to official play
• The Restart: setting the stage for the return to play with fan updates and protocols
• Game Content: covering games with remote fans and staff
• Digital Stadium: curating an enhanced digital game day experience for fans
• Fan Engagement: Helping fans feel connected to the team from home
• Social Good: addressing social causes and supporting the efforts of players

And some of what we found includes:

• Leagues exploring creative ways to attract first-time fans from other sports
• Teams taking fans on virtual stadium tours via Instagram and Snapchat stories
• Organizations actively engaging and creating content with fans through UGC (user-generated content) campaigns.

Whether you’re leveraging creative storytelling to make a compelling return video like NASCAR or documenting the specifics behind your return plan through a comprehensive Twitter thread like the English Premier League, this playbook has you covered with ready-to-use sports social media examples.

Put your own spin on them to set the bar even higher for those that follow. We’re eager to see what you create!