Engagement Is Money: The Untapped Revenue in Football’s Social Media Strategy

The die-hards. The ones who show up, buy merch, and live for their team.

Social media is built on community and connection, yet many clubs treat it like a megaphone instead of a conversation. And the cost of that? It’s not just missed engagement - it’s lost revenue.

Social Media Moves Fast. Connection Still Wins.

Social platforms reward speed. Algorithms push shorter, snappier, fast-scrolling content. Trends shift in real time.

But what makes people stop scrolling? Two things: connection and relevance.

For brands, this means:

• Tapping into shared conversations—giving fans something to engage with.

• Humanising the club—interacting in ways that go beyond promo content.

And the easiest way to do that? Actual conversation.

• Replying to fans in the comments.

• Answering DMs.

• Continuing dialogue, not just starting it.

Football teams can measure all of this. Response rates indicate internal efficiency. Sentiment analysis tracks fan mood and engagement trends. Replies create user-generated content, which can fuel even more conversations.

It’s not just about keeping fans happy. Social metrics have real business value.

In other industries, social engagement is a vanity metric. In football, it’s the difference between landing a sponsor or not.

The Corporate Mindset Kills Social Engagement

As clubs have grown into businesses, it’s easy to see why social media has become corporate.

• Social media managers report into marketing teams—not fan experience departments.

• Risk aversion is high. PR teams operate on eggshells, fearing backlash over anything remotely playful or controversial.

• Volume is overwhelming. Most clubs operate one global account for millions of fans. They simply don’t have the resources to respond to everyone.

So, clubs play it safe.

They post generic content. They use automated replies that miss the nuance of fan sentiment. They pre-schedule posts that go live after a painful defeat—turning frustration into PR disasters.

The logic makes sense—until it doesn’t.

Big global brands face the same tightrope, yet they don’t get it wrong every week.

The Few Clubs Doing It Right

Some teams are testing the waters.

• Liverpool engages with fans in multiple languages, responding in real time.

• Derby County leans into rivalry banter, using humour to deepen engagement.

But these moments are outweighed by missed opportunities.

Automated replies can’t read the tone of an angry fan. Pre-scheduled content after a 4-0 loss fuels frustration. Clubs delete posts instead of managing the fallout.

It’s not a crisis—yet. But for how long?

The Business Case for Engagement

A 2023 YouGov survey (commissioned by the Football Supporters’ Association) revealed:

62% of Premier League fans say they’d be more likely to buy club merchandise if their team engaged with them directly on social media.

Put that into numbers and there’s a real case for change:

• Manchester United has 36M Instagram followers.

• 62% of them = 22.3M potentially engaged fans.

• The average Premier League fan spends £75/year on merch.

• If engagement increased spend by just 10%, that’s £7.50 extra per fan.

• 22.3M fans x £7.50 = £167.25M annually.

All 62% won’t spend more. But even a 10% increase means £16M - not small money in a world obsessed with Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

No bad for some organic responding.

Clubs are chasing new revenue streams when the easiest one is sitting in their inbox.

Will Clubs Change? Probably Not. But They Should.

No one expects overnight change. Clubs fear backlash, have resource constraints, and aren’t built to be reactive.

But the evidence is there. Fans want engagement. Social media is measurable. And for clubs constantly hunting for new revenue, the lowest-hanging fruit is the conversation they’re already ignoring.

At some point, they’ll need to listen. Because the fans who stick around in the comments?

They’re the ones who actually care.